HOME EDITING MACHINE TRANSFERS MINI TAPES TO VHS.

Byline: Andy Wickstrom Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire

The small size of the 8mm videotape format made the lightweight mini-camcorder a reality, but it also created a big inconvenience. In order to view 8mm footage on the TV screen, one must either use the camcorder as a playback device or make a VHS dub and put it in the VCR.

Camcorder enthusiasts may imagine that copying a tape is a simple task, but for people who lack a tape editing suite in their home, it's rather a bother. Not many of us enjoy fussing around behind the VCR to connect and disconnect cables.

So it makes wonderful sense to borrow a design common in the audio realm: the dual-deck machine. The tape to be copied is put in one drive, and a blank tape is put in the other. Press a couple of buttons and soon enough you have your copy.

That process sums up the appeal of the GoldStar GVR-DD1 VCR, priced at $699, which combines an 8mm player with a VHS video cassette recorder. The unit has been in stores for more than a year, and it remains the easiest way to edit an 8mm home video production.

Surprisingly, the 17-inch-wide, dark-gray unit does not look bulkier than most VCRs. A plain hinged front panel covers the two cassette slots and can be left in that position when not loading tapes. All essential VCR functions - such as timer setting, tape playback and tape copying - can be carried out using the remote control, which has separate buttons for 8mm and VHS playback.

Note that the 8mm portion is a playback device only; it cannot record. Whether taping a TV show or making a duplicate tape, only VHS recording is possible with the GVR-DD1. Furthermore, the VHS sound is monaural - there's no stereo or hi-fi capability. In that sense it's a basic unit that happens to include some sophisticated editing features, including a flying erase head and audio dub with a microphone input.

The flying erase head helps to ensure a smooth transition from scene to scene. Having used the machine in several editing sessions, I was impressed that the edit points were not marked by momentary blips or instability in the picture.

The microphone input allows the user to replace the soundtrack originating on the 8mm tape so that the VHS copy has narration, sound effects, music or whatever. There's also a mix option, which means the added sound will be mixed in with the original sound. This kind of flexibility in straight VCR-to-VCR copying is rare.

The usual practice in copying a tape at home is to pause the copying machine to omit unwanted footage. You can use this unit in that manner, but there's a better way: It has an internal editing controller that allows five "begin" and "stop" points to be programmed. As you watch the 8mm tape, call up the on-screen editing menu. When you see a scene you want, press a button to mark its beginning and ending.

The menu shows the elapsed time at these points. Give the edit command and the 8mm tape shuttles to the appropriate point, starts the copy, pauses the copy, shuttles to the next point and so on, all with seamless transitions. You can even arrange the scenes in any order. And if you don't clear the menu, you can retain the edit points to make subsequent copies that are the same as the first.GoldStar has also provided a built-in title generator. It's fairly crude, but allows you to put a printed message on the tape in one of four type sizes.

The dual-deck VCR may never gain mass appeal (the only other manufacturer I'm aware of is Go-Video, which has an all-VHS model and an 8mm/VHS model). But home video-makers in search of uncomplicated yet precise editing should give it a look. It will avoid not only much frustration, but extra wear and tear on your camcorder.