RCA VR911HF VHS VCR

I have owned a vr911hf for about 1 month and I am very happy with it. To take advantage of the D-VHS capabilities you must have a DirecTV receiver with the required D-VHS connector such as the Hughes B4, D45, or E45. There may be others but I am not aware of the model numbers and although the RCA manual refers to other compatible products, I believe nothing other than certain DirecTV receivers have the required digital I/O port. This VCR is capable of timeshifting DirecTV programs with picture and sound that is virtually indistinquishable from the original. High grade SVHS tape or DVHS tape is required for D-VHS recording. The DirecTV receiver is required for playback as well as recording of D-VHS tapes as this VCR records and outputs just the raw data stream. This also means that no picture is available in search or slow motion modes. It does offer a still frame picture however. The lack of any search picture does make it difficult to find a certain place on a tape.

With the D45 or E45, recording of Dolby Digital audio is accomplished when you can find a Dolby Digital broadcast. Only Starz! and a couple of PPV channels are currently broadcasting Dolby Digital programs and only occasionally. Again the audio is indistinquishable from the original to my ear.

The vr911hf also doubles as a better than average standard VHS Hi-Fi VCR in my opinion, although I do not plan to use it much for that. Build quality appears to be better than most current VCRs but only time will tell.