Price Paid:  $220.00 from Future Shop

Summary:
I found this on a clearance shelf at the Futue Shop store just before they pulled out of the States. This is the best VCR I've ever had - even better than the Panasonic 4821 S-VHS deck. Smooth tape handling, great picture quality in all three tape speeds (yes, even LP!), flying erase head makes editing easy, easy to program timed taping, commercial advance works better than my two Panasonics. This was a $400 MSRP deck, and it feels like it.

It's big claim to fame is the ability to ignore Macrovision and record from DVDs, which it does flawlessly. Most tapes will also play back fine on other decks, but a few have colored horizontal lines through the picture (The Royal Tennenbaums was one). They play fine on the Proscan, though.

Unfortunately, it seems to be pretty fragile. After about 1 year, several solder joints broke on the curcuit board, requiring a trip to the shop. Lately it has become intermittantly deranged, shutting off immediately when turned on, or not having an output, even from TV channels. It frequently resets the configuration, loses the auto time setting, etc. I haven't decided yet if it's worth trying to get it fixed, since you can get most DVDs for $10 or so now.

Strengths:
Great picture quality, flying erase head, commercial advance actually works, DVD recording

Weaknesses:
Fragile - Repaired once and dying again

Similar Products Used:
Various Panasonics, Magnavox, Toshiba

Price Paid:  $240.00 from Circuit City

Summary:
This review is LATE but if you can find one of these second-hand then grab it! It's the best composite VCR I've yet seen and not only because of its flawless recording but because of its myriad of programming options that, while time-consuming, is only so because the on-screen menus walk you through everything to be sure that you're recording what you want when you want. Quick recording works just as well however. The sound for a stereo VCR is the best I've heard.

Not only is the unit self-cleaning but the commercial-skip feature actually works with consistant accuracy over 80% of the time which is a small miracle for this sort of technology. Rewind and fast forward are both joggable from the front and the remote. The clock is self-setting and will even compensate for daylight savings time. Hallelujah!

And speaking of the remote I wish all were this good. Though it's big it's backlit and buttons are different shapes for intuitive control. Most of the buttons are even labeled on the button itself for reading in the dark. I use this remote for everything else.

The one flaw is the one I mentioned in the weaknesses section and even that isn't much of an inconvenience. Considering most VCRs have some quirk that annoys every ownder I have to say that short of this I couldn't be happier with this model.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, this VCR does not pass on Macrovision copy-protection and is probably why its production life was so short. I do not advocate piracy but it is a tremendously useful feature when copying DVDs to take to a second home, use in the minivan, or to let the kids use with their VCR. Not only are the copies drop-dead gorgeous with nearly S-video quality but the sound is just as good when copying in Dolby Pro-Logic mode. I have not seen any VCR capable of doing this though I'm sure there are some bargain-basement Chinese models of dubious quality floating around out there somewhere.

Because of its all-around excellent quality and its unique ability to defeat Macrovision-encoded DVDs I give this VCR 5s in both value and overall ratings.

Strengths:
excellent picture, easy programability, effective commercial skipper, low profile, profusion of setup choices, great remote, jog capable, self-cleaning, clock time synchs itself, and last but not least, defeats macrovision

Weaknesses:
stop and pause buttons on front panel are small and behind a flip-down door

Summary:
Searched far and wide in Jan.99 to find this VCR and finally found one an hour and a half drive away at a Circuit City where I was fortunate they had one in a TV stand under a Demo TV.

This VCR has quite a few nice features, including commercial skip, VCR Plus, and automatic clock setting. But I purchased it because it will make a perfect copy from a DVD, which I can then play in VCRs located in other rooms.

As far as I know this VCR was discontinued around June of 98, I would think it's ability to copy DVDs was part of the
reason.

Strengths:
Hi-Stereo, Flying Erase Head, Auto Clock Set ,Commercial Advance, VCR Plus, Records at SP,LP or SLP speeds and the quality of the picture is great at all speeds.

Weaknesses:
none