Price Paid:  $160.00 from Comet

Summary:
I bought the Thomson because the Grundig video heads were wearing out and I couldn't get replacements. Having got used to the superb archive facility of the 960 I needed something that would do similar. At first I thought I had found it in the 7090 but I am increasingly frustrated by the poor archive system. It was cheap though!

Strengths:
Naviclick is very handy. It downloads listings information from Teletext each morning (see below) so you just have to scroll through the list and select the programme you want to record. If you have a long-term timer set (e.g. a regular weekly programme) Naviclick doesn't do the morning download. But this just means you have to wait a bit until it finds the correct Teletext page.
Rewind/FF is quick (I think).
Still frame is rock solid.
The remote control does my TV too (not Teletext though).
Generally PDC works fine - it's nice and quick to start taping if you programme a timer for something that has already started.

Weaknesses:
The archive feature is quirky at best. It doesn't automatically recognize a tape as you insert it, you have to enter the number manually (no big deal). You can't assign a new tape an arbitray number - you have to start at 001 and work up. An upshot of this is that if you have three tapes (001, 002, 003) and delete all entries on 002, then put a brand new tape in, you have to call that new one 002 as well. When displaying the list of recordings on a tape it doesn't give their start/duration/end times or whether they were recorded in SP or LP. Even worse, if you have recorded more things than will fit on one listing screen it seems to get confused and you can't tell which order things are in. You can't manually add an entry to the archive or modify an existing entry. There is no search facility.
Sometimes it doesn't record on a timer - I had a weekly programme set and it just failed to tape (might have been PDC-related though).

Similar Products Used:
Grundig VPS960 (archive)

Summary:
Originally I had purchased a sony SLV-SE700 because I own
a sony Wega TV (which is OK). The recording was really bad and playback of rented tapes gave a lot of noise, and some kind of reflections. After returning it I took another sony because the first had a malfunction in the tuner. The recording was better, but still unacceptable iameg quality (lots of noise).
Then I switched to the Thomson, the image quality is much higher, the recording is very good, sound is OK. This is the
VCR I'm going to keep.
BTW, the naviclick is really cool. I have used it a few times and it really works. Programming can't be much easier anymore.
The rewind speed is low compared to modern standards, but it's not as noisy as was the case for the sony. On the other hand, who cares about rewind speed.

Strengths:
picture quality, naviclick, robustness

Weaknesses:
rewind speed

Similar Products Used:
sony SLV-SE700

Summary:
This is one intelligent VCR! Because I have a Thomson TV the VCR's setup was fool proof. Turn it on for the first time and it downloads all TV stations from the TV! Naming and order is the same. If you change the TV's channel order or name the VCR is automatically updated. No more "honey, what channel is Discovery on the VCR?"

And how about this feature: The Navi click program guide is updated automatically each morning at 8 am. This means you don't have to wait for the VCR to find the guide - Just scroll down the program list and select the program to record - Done programming!. Only flaw is if the Channel has irregular teletext program guides, the VCR can suggest faulty program info. Timer programming requires an awsome 15 entries and can only be done via the tv screen. Cumbersome when it happens to be the only way.

Picture is very good, freeze frame is perfect. Several editing features available (but not tested by me yet).

The VCR is a bit noisy during playback and recording.

Strengths:
Tape library, Naviclick programming, design, Rewind speed

Weaknesses:
timer setup is slow, noise

Similar Products Used:
Philips VR211, Panasonic NVHD610