Price Paid:  $410.00 from Vanns.com

Summary:
The VCR I received has the worsy picture quality I have seen from a VCR at any cost. I did not report the problem to Vanns.com soon enough so they were not authorized to take it back. They recommended I contact JVC directly.
There is a lesson here: report problems immediately. In my case, on the first brief viewing, I wrote of the quality issue as a bad tape. My mistake.

JVC's solution is to take it to their one and only authorized repair facility in St. Louis. This is located in a part of St. Louis most people have sense enough not to drive through.
But repair is not an acceptable solution in any in event. I did not pay good money for a product in nedd of repair. JVC is showing no flexibility on the return/replacement issue, so at this point it looks like I am out the money. But I have not given up yet.

The bottom line is this. JVC ships shoddy product, they have a poor service network, and very unresponsive customer service people.
Beware.

Strengths:
Many features.

Weaknesses:
Extremely poor playback picture quality, especially with tapes recorded on the VCR.

Similar Products Used:
Sony. I wish I had not strayed from the fold. They are a superior organization from every perspective.