Panasonic PV-4564 VHS Hi-Fi VCR
A compact VCR with a Spatializer chip and a recording section that earned top marks from a tough reviewer.
Overview
The PV-4564 was Panasonic's VHS Hi-Fi deck with a Spatializer Audio Processor chip, developed by Desper Products. The chip processed the stereo signal to sound wider and deeper than plain two-channel sound. Panasonic gave the user a switch for two degrees of processing plus a defeat setting. That makes sense, because as the reviewer observed, sitting closer to the TV made the effect more pronounced. The Audio reviewer was candid that the Spatializer circuit "might be considered just a desirable gimmick" were it not for the deck's overall recording performance, which the magazine graded A and singled out as outstanding.
The deck is also physically compact. The feature list around the tape transport is what buyers of the era expected from a premium VHS Hi-Fi deck: MTS/SAP decoding for broadcast stereo and second-audio-program, VCR Plus+ programming, and Cable Box Control. The remote is a Program Director multi-brand unit that can drive a TV and cable box alongside the VCR, which in 1996 replaced three clickers with one.
A November 1995 retail ad listed the PV-4564 at $369.95, and by the time Audio published its February 1996 review the deck was being cited at $430. Both figures are period retail as printed, not street prices. This was not the bargain-basement VCR at the bottom of the circular. It was the step-up model with the audio processing and the multi-brand remote.
By early 1996 the VCR was already sharing shelf space with laserdisc players and the first DVD players. The Audio reviewer's own framing, that the Spatializer would be a gimmick but for the recording performance, sums up the deck. It is not a format landmark. It is a very good mid-nineties VHS Hi-Fi deck with a genuine audio feature and a top grade from a demanding magazine.
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