Anyone familiar with Hitachi VT-F99EM Multi System VHS VCR?

[DB83]

Well I am glad to read that you now have full color.

But just to throw a little spanner in to the works, MESCAM, as far as I am aware, is not compatable with the French variant of Secam. If you have a commercial vhs, or a home recording for that matter, from France that will still not be playable in color in this vcr

[digicube]

Well I am glad to read that you now have full color.

But just to throw a little spanner in to the works, MESCAM, as far as I am aware, is not compatable with the French variant of Secam. If you have a commercial vhs, or a home recording for that matter, from France that will still not be playable in color in this vcr

Yeah just found that out on this VCR. Funny though, I can't seem to find a MESECAM tape on ebay. Are they only for homemade recordings and not commercially available?

[DB83]

You will not find a MESECAM tape anywhere. It is purely a home-recording format.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SECAM

[dellsam34]

I'm not using any standard signal equipment. I use a ADVC110, it accepts NTSC, PAL, SECAM inputs. Hitachi VT-F99EM should be playing NTSC and SECAM tapes in FULL COLOR through it.

VT-F90EM plays SECAM according to the manual you linked, not the VT-F99EM, So you bought the wrong model:

[digicube]

VT-F90EM plays SECAM according to the manual you linked, not the VT-F99EM, So you bought the wrong model:

Thanks. Will keep a lookout for this model.

[dave_van_damme]

I wasn't expecting it to convert different signals but I was expecting it to decode different signals. This VCR is not decoding NTSC and SECAM tapes anymore. You don't understand how this machine functions. Here is the service manual for Hitachi VT-F99EM, read the specifications.

What are you talking about?...."decode"? What the hell is that supposed to mean?

An NTSC tape, in a PAL machine, is output as PAL60(exactly what the Hitachi is doing). This PAL60 signal CAN BE viewed on a PAL television in color, but is VERY DIFFICULT to capture in color AND will show up as Black And White on an NTSC television.
A French SECAM L tape will ONLY play in Black and White on a PAL VCR. Even a PAL VCR with MESECAM playback abilities.
I understand perfectly how this machine functions, I have two PAL VCRs right here in front of my keyboard, right next to my computer monitor.

You are completely wrong.

Multi-System VCRs existed in Hong Kong and Singapore. They output true NTSC (not PAL60), PAL, SECAM and are truely multi region machines. I live in HK and they were the standard here.