RCA 390 - Manual (Page 19)

Special Effects and Features
Pause During Recording
Press the PAUSE button when you are recording to prevent
recording short passages of unwanted material. Press the
PAUSE button again when you are ready to resume recording.
Avoid pausing for more than three or four minutes, because the
spinning heads that do the recording are still in contact with the
tape and will eventually wear off the active material. This will
cause streaks or spots in the picture when you play the worn part
of the tape (called dropouts).
Pause for Stop-Action Playback
Press the PAiJSE button during playback to stop the action. This
lets you examine alt the details of the scene, similar to looking at
a single Irame of a movie film. When you are ready to resume
normal playback, press the PAUSE
button again.
The following suggestions will help you get the most out of this
feature:
• Your VCR is designed to give the best picture when you use
stop-action on tapes recorded at SLP. It you expect to use
stop-action frequently during playback, a sports event, tor
instance, be sure to record at SLP speed.
• The stop-action picture may tend to jump up and down slightly.
Adjusf the control marked V LOCK on the back of the VCR to
reduce this jitter. Once you have made this adjustment, you
probably won't have to do it again unless you use stop-action
on a tape that was recorded on a different VCR. (A small
amount of vertical jitter is normal.)
• Using stop-action on a single frame of the picture tor a long
time can wear the tape, as explained in "Pause During a
Recording." For this reason you should use STOP instead of
PAUSE
to interrupt playback for an extended time. The VCR
will automatically switch from Pause to Stop after five minutes.
Frame Advance
Frame Advance is a special featue that lets you view one Stop-
Action "frame" after another. Press PAUSE to begin stop-action
viewing. Then press F.
ADVon the remote control each time you
want to go on to the next "frame" of the scene. Press PAUSE to
resume playback at normal speed.
Slow Motion
If a tape is playing, press SLOW on the remote control to begin
slow-motion viewing. When you are using Stop-Action viewing
(Pause during Play) press PLAY
to begin Slow Motion. Sound is
turned off during slow motion.
To return to normal viewing speed, press PLAY.
It is normal to see some streaks and spots in the picture during
slow motion. Use SLOW TRACKING
to eliminate them as much
as possible. Turn the control first in one direction and then in the
other until you get the best picture. Notice that the center posi­
tion of the control is marked- You should return it to this position
when you are through with the tape.
The VCR will automatically switch from Slow Motion to normal
play after about five minutes.
Picture Search
The buttons for Rewind and Fast Forward become the Picture-
Search buttons when you are playing a tape. When you press
SEARCH
►► the VCR plays at a higher speed until you release
the button. When you press SEARCH -d-d the VCR reverses from
the normal direction and plays the tape backward at high speed
until you release the button. The sound is turned off during pic­
ture search because it would not be understandable at the high
speed.
Expect to see some streaks in the picture when you are search­
ing. The picture will be best tor tapes recorded at SLP speed,
although it can be viewed from tapes recorded at the other
speeds
Tape Counter
If you always reset the tape counter when you insert a tape, you
can note the counter reading at the beginning of each program
you record for future reference. The label kit provided with RCA
tapes can be used to list programs and counter readings.
1. Press COUNTER to display the tape counter in place of the
time.
2. Press RESET to set the counter to 0000.
Note: If is normal for tape to stretch slightly when it passes
through the VCR. For this reason, the counter may not return
exactly to 0000 after rewind, and it is likely to read 9998 or 9999.
This is normal.
Memory Stop
When you press COUNTER to turn on the counter display, you
automatically turn on the "Memory Stop" feature. When the
counter is displayed, the VCR will slop automatically at 0000
whenever you use REWIND
or FAST FORWARD. If you are
rewinding, simply press fhe Rewind button again to continue fo
the end of the tape.
If you press FAST FORWARD and the counter never reads 0000
between that point and the end of the tape, the VCR will continue
to the end of the tape, switch to Rewind, and then slop when the
counter reads 0000.
Since you can reset the counter to 0000 at any point on the tape,
Memory Stop is convenient lor finding the beginning of a record­
ing, or the beginning of a particular segment you want to repeat
This is the procedure to use when you are going to start record­
ing somewhere beyond the start of the tape.
1. Turn on the VCR and press COUNTER to obtain the counter
reading. (Pressing it again returns the clock display).
2. Use EAST FORWARD and STOP to locate the point where
you will begin recording. Then press RESET before you
begin recording.
3. Press STOP when you are finished recording and then
press REWIND. The cassette will rewind to counter reading
0000 and stop.
4. Press PLAY to view the segment you have selected, or press
REWIND to rewind the cassette completely.
Use this procedure during playback to mark a point to be
repeated.
1. When you see the beginning of the part you want to view
several times, use SEARCH -<-4 to locate a point slightly
before the desired scene.
2. Release the SEARCH button fo resume normal playback,
and press RESET just before the desired scene appears.
3. When you have played to the end of the scene in question,
press STOP and then REWIND. The tape will rewind to the
beginning of the scene and slop,
4. Press PLAY to view the scene again.
5. Repeat Steps 3 and 4 as many times as you like.
Tracking Adjustment
When you play tapes that were not recorded on the same VCR,
black and white streaks may appear in the picture. Adjust the
TRACKING control, located behind the auxiliary control door, in
either direction to remove them. Return it to its center position
when the tape has finished playing.
17