I have had this video player for some time now, yes I know what the hell am I doing with a video player. Well truth be it I have 3 video players in my house, I still have a need for them and until I stop using them I will keep them.
**Searching**
As usual my searches takes me to a few local electrical stores, usually I decide to buy from Argos or Currys. This particular Video player the Aiwa HVGX1400 was available in Currys at a £149.99. I was able to take it away that day from the store. I purely chose this model over all the others mainly due to the fact that it was on special offer and the sales assistants kept telling me how good it was. SOLD
**Getting it home**
The part we all love! You will be pleasantly surprised when you get this video player home. In its little cardboard box which is fairly small you will find the following~
Instruction booklet~ this is very well detailed, a thin booklet only written in English that covers all aspects of this great video player. From getting set up to
problem solving you will find all the information in here. Should you not be able to solve the problem you have you will find all the
contact details for Aiwa at the rear of this booklet. This is certainly a decent instruction booklet that will definitely help anyone.
Scart Connector~ provided free of charge from Aiwa this connecter is a great way to connect your video to the television. It gives you the best possible picture and sound quality available.
Batteries~ you are provided with 4
AA batteries which are for the
remote control, now the control only takes 2. So why 4 you ask? Well I tell you they provide you with 4 in case that the first 2 don't last that long.
Remote control~ when you first see it you will think OH MY GOD! There are so many buttons on it when you first look, but as soon as you have taken the time to look at the buttons you will soon notice that there are not all that many different buttons. There are a total of 26 buttons which control everything from the power on and off, eject, Ad-skip, video plus and many more not to mention the usual play, rewind, forward, stop, record and pause. I love the fact that you can control the entire video from this rather cool remote control; the control is not that big is size and is grey in colour.
Guarantee Card~ Direct from Aiwa they ask you to complete it and return to them to ensure you get your one years guarantee. I never completed this as I am aware that should the have any problems with the video during the first year, you can take it back to the shop you bought it from along with your receipt and they will arrange to be fixed. **The Look**
A neat silvery/gold colour this video player was certainly a looker in its time. The video is the entire one colour with only a difference at the front control panel. There is a LCD display panel that allow you to see what you are programming. The time is always visible on the display panel.
**Setting up**
Easy as you would expect it to be, all you need to do is plug the scart lead in to the VCR and then in to the TV, Attach some power to the VCR by plugging in the standard power plug.
When booth TV and VCR are powered up your TV will change to av and you will see a searching in progress menu. When the search is finished it will show you BBC 1 on your TV this is coming via your VCR player. I suggest that you just check that the channels are in the correct order, as often with this automatic installation they can order the channel wrong. Now that you have the channels tuned in you are now able to watch normal television via the video player i.e. bbc1 2 itv etc. When you insert a video tape the television automatically turns over to AV as long as you have sued the scart connection, when you switch the video off your TV set will go back to the original channel. Now its time to set the clock on the video all you need to do is select the menu button and follow the instructions for changing the time.
**First Use**
This video has many great features on it including~
*Video Plus~ a great feature that is so
easy to use even my wife can use it; on the remote control you have a button situated at the very bottom that activates the video plus. When you press this button you will see on the
TV screen that it's asking for the video plus code (Numbers) these are the ones that you will find in the TV guide. After you enter this all you need to do is press the ok button to confirm.
*One touch timer~ I found this by accident, just like most VCR remote controls there is a red record button. Now when you press it the once the VCR will start to record and of you press it again it will tell the VCR to stop recording after 30 minutes. Continue t press the record button and it will programme to stop recording after a longer period to a max of 240minutes. Don't worry should you accidentally press the record button more than once all you need to do is continue to press it until it resets.
7 day timer~ very useful and easy to set up. After a few buttons have been pressed you can be assured that you will be recording all your programmes. Set up easily by accessing the menu screen and then selecting 7 day programme. You can set this up to record as many channels as you wish during the 7 day period. Just make sure that you have enough tape and that the clock is set correctly. This is certainly a very reliable way to record all your favourite programmes
Speed control~ you have the option to record on short play or long play, a simple press of one button allows you to change the speed. If you use the LP function it will double the available time on the video tape
Child Lock~ oh yes this older video player still has it. You can lock all the buttons on the remote control along with the buttons on the front of the video player.
Ad Skip~ you know what it's like you record a programme which is on sky TV or channel 3 and what do you get 20mins worth of commercials. Now this little video player has super function that will automatically skip all adverts! Yes I said skip them all.
TV/VCR~ you are able to jump between TV and VCR from the remote control by pressing one button.
Zero Return~ if you want to rewind a tape to where you started recording or where you have left of. You can use the zero return function that will return to 000 which is not always the beginning of the tape it just depends where the counter started. Or you can book mark a section of the tape, Ok here we go lets paint the picture, its 11pm and you are getting tired and did I mention that you are watching your recording of your favourite programme!!. Options A~ switch TV and vcr off and suddenly be awake, B Go to sleep and try and find the part you last seen tomorrow, Or C bookmark the tape? Correct answer bookmark the tape, this cool video player allow you to bookmark any part of the tape at a touch of a button. It allows you to easily locate the bookmarked section at a later time.
Auto tracking~ VCR will automatically search for the best picture whilst playing any tape. Should it fail to find a super clear picture you are able to press auto tracking yourself again.
**Quality**
Overall I have to say that this VCR player always gives the best possible quality. I have always been happy with the quality from playing old tapes to recording direct from the television. Now the quality of my recording is always very good as long as I use a fairly new video tape. I used the same video tape for about
6 months and after a while the quality began to disappear slightly.
**Other uses**
If you have a
camcorder you are able to
plug in directly in to the front of the video and record your film on to video tapes. I think having the connectors at the front of the video player makes it so much easier and saves you fighting to get to the rear of the video player.
**Rear of the video**
You have 2 scart sockets here along with an ariel connection.
**Front of video**
Other than the normal play, stop, fast forward etc you also have video and audio in points.
**Manufacture**
Aiwa first started out way back in 1951 and taken the market by storm some years later in 2002. They then joined forces with wait for it XXXX you guessed yet? Answer below. Aiwa now uses XXXX part to produce top quality products ranging from VCR to TVs and many more in between. Just think the next time you see a cheap Aiwa for sale, your getting a bargain as it is full of XXXX parts.
Answer is ~ SONY
More info available from~ http://www.aiwa.com/
Email questions to Aiwa via this link~ http://www.eu.aiwa.com/en/contactus.php
**Sizes**
Depth~ 10.5
Width 14
Height~ 4.5
Remote sizes are~ 6.5 long x 2 wide
All sizes in inches
**Price and availability**
Searching online tonight I can only find one retailer that is selling this VCR now.
Price if £109.99 with a 14% saving off meaning you pay £94.68
http://www.afcbournemouth.avenue-one.com/asp/product.aspx?i=1222&t=1
© Robert Aka Marcellep~
Still going strong 
