Summary:
Picked this up Open Box at Best Buy for $96.31. Excellent value for the money. Picture is not as sharp as the Panasonics or the Sonys, but overall quality is good. Great no frills VCR (HR-A55U) if you just want to watch rented movies and the VCR+ is great for recordings. Can also play S-VHS recorded tapes in regular VHS mode. Observed much better picture quality when connected to the TV through the A/V jacks.

Strengths:
Great value for the money, Picture, Audio is fine too

Weaknesses:
Remote kind of complicated

Similar Products Used:
Panasonic PV9541

Summary:
Okay, so the guy below gave this VCR a really bad score. I have searched the internet for a similar review for my exact model # of this product (HR-A51U) but have not found it yet. What I have found is the HR-A55U and it is exactly the same as my A51U, so I figure that the 51U is just a subsidary off of the 55 line, maybe produced seperately for a certain company like Walmart, where i bought it for only $119. So, far I love it. 4head, HIFI stereo, Front and Rear A/V jacks, and excellent remote features make this a wonderful VCR. The guy below says there is no tracking, well, yes there is no tracking button, but there is a thing called "auto picture" which automatically fixes the picture to make it look perfect. I have already watched old home movies and new movies on this and they work great, it is a wonderful addition to my hometheater. The jogshuttle plus on the remote is great, with just a few remote taps you can go from slow frame to frame advance or rewind to still frame to very very very very slow frame advance or rewind to fast rewind/advance or even fast rewind/advance. Sound quality and picture quality are great and for this price class the front A/V jacks make hooking up my Dreamcast all that easier. I give this VCR a very high rating due to its cost and ease of use. Yes, if you spend an extra 50-70 dollars you can get a great VCR, but why when it is a dying technology. I spent that extra money on my Panasonic DVD-A120 player which I also love. For $109-129 you can't go wrong with JVC HR-A55 or 54 or 51U.

Strengths:
price, looks, remote jogging, sound and picture quality

Weaknesses:
none found so far

Similar Products Used:
sony, mitsubishi, quasar

Summary:
Very poorly constructed machine.I don't normaly berate JVC but this one I had not one but 4 diffrent machines and they all had problems after a very short while eventually playback failed completely.They were Colortyme VCRs and coming from them they do take a pounding.Although I had a Magnavox and now have an RCA from them and both work fine in fact my sister stills uses the Magnavox.So to sum it up this VCR has no redeeming qualities at all.I have two words of advice STAY AWAY.

Strengths:
??

Weaknesses:
Very poor playback with tapes recorded on other machines.No tracking control.

Similar Products Used:
Magnavox,RCA,Samsung,Goldstar,Panasonic,Colortyme,etc.