Summary:
i returned this vcr because that discoloration was annoying me. i must say the picture and sound quality was very good and the DNR does help a bit. however i noticed a yellowish/greenish discoloration on the left side of the screen on 90% of the scenes during playback. it is a narrow stripe that runs vertically and you will see blue sky around it and the a greenish-bluish sky in that stripe. i person with a white shirt will hav a yellowish stripe when he is on the left side.

what is funny is that i see it on the every 7 series toshiba vcrs on demo in the stores and also i both tosh vcrs i owned (the first one was exchanged for the second one) and no one has mentioned anything about this on any review. is there someone out there who has seen a similar thing? u hav to hav a good eye to see it, its faint but there.

Strengths:
good picture on standard and EP mode playback, good sound

Weaknesses:
a discoloration on the left side of the screen

Summary:
I recently bought the M-785 for my home theater room. I pick this model becuase I had heard from a salesman at the local home theater store that Toshiba has a pretty good picture in their 6-head VCRs.

I happened to stumble accross this model on Altavista Shopping.com for something like $212 shipped, but they were
offering a free $50 off on your first order on anything above $200. So, needless to say, I got this thing for a whopping $162 shipped to my door. It would have nearly cost me that for the M-735 at the local store after tax.

Anyway, I tried this thing out on my cheezy little bedroom TV, and the picture was great. Very bright and clear. The remote is fine in my opinion, since I will proably never do any recording in the home theater room. I bought this only for playback. I don't mind that you have to hit two buttons or whatever to record, as earlier posts have stated.

The one downside I do see is that the motor mechanism seems to be a bit noisy, at least compared to my other CHEAP 4-head HI-FI VCR's. However, don't let this discourage you from buying this unit... you won't even notice it unless you are fairly close to the unit (within 4 feet) and it is not in a cabinet. If you have an enclosed cabinet with glass doors or something, this should be no problem at all.

ALSO, the M-785 (all the M-7 series, 6-head VCRs) comes with a 1-year warranty!! That is a step up from the 90-day deal it used to come with not so very long ago.

All said, I think this is a great purchase, especially if you can pick up for $200 or less.

Strengths:
Picture Quality
Features
Price

Weaknesses:
Motor mechanism seems a bit loud to me

Similar Products Used:
None

Summary:
Purchased this model for 2 reasons: Reviews in magazines and internet of this vcr. My dad has owned a Toshiba 36" tv for 3-4 years w/out any problems.

I received this unit in July and was very happy with it's performance. I agree with other reviewers as to ease of setup and quality of picture at slp speed. I also found it odd and awkward to push two buttons at once for timer recording, but didn't annoy me that much.

In mid November I noticed that the set wouldn't track correctly: when the picture was sharp the sound track was off. Conversly, when the sound was sharp the picture tracking was off.

Made a call to find the nearest authorized Toshiba VCR repair shop [53 mile drive], December 2nd, 1999 I made the trip to drop it off and had a major discussion with the shop personnel regarding the one year parts & LABOR warranty. They didn't have any documentation other than one year parts & 90 day labor. Ended up leaving the unit for repair with the understanding that I may have to pay for labor.

Today is January 15th, 2000 and the parts have not arrived to the repair shop yet. Over one month of my 12 month warranty [if honored] is ticking off while using my newly purchased Panasonic PV-9661 [$179 @ Sears]. If the Toshiba returns it will be assigned to the bedroom as a 2nd.

I'm extremely underwhelmed by Toshiba's performance, durability and ability to provide repair parts. Not to mention not notifying the repair shop of the one year extended warranty.

4 stars for the initial four month value/performance and 1 star for taking care of the customer.

Strengths:
Price [$212 delivered by UPS]
Quality of picture

Weaknesses:
Ergonomics
Durability

Similar Products Used:
Panasonic & GE VCR's

Summary:
This is the first Toshiba VCR I've bought that doesn't suffer from the co-channeling problem (green line on playback) that was caused by the elimination of a capacitor (at least, that's what my Toshiba dealer said)

Strengths:

1. Picture. I honestly can't tell the difference between EP and SP on this guy with the 19-micron heads on and the DNR perfect enabled. The DNR Perfect does a great job on older tapes or rentals as well.

2. Sound. Standard for Hi-Fi, but seems to be a little more stable for crackling than what I've seen.


3. Transport Mechanism. This may sound funny, but this mechanism SOUNDS like it treats the tape will and will last a long time.

4. XDS/Clock Set/Channel Mapping works really nice.


Weaknesses:

1. Remote. Do yourself a favor and go buy a remote that does a limited amount of learning. To record or use the timer, you have to press two buttons at the same time. Bad. I've got a One-For-All Cinema 7 Remote for about $30.00 and was able to program all the functions I needed into it without a hitch.

2. Time shift recordng. Only has six slots. Doesn't do Sunday through Saturday or Monday through Saturday. Only Weekly single days, one month individual days, and Monday through Friday. One plus is that it flashes when you have a conflict

3. Searching. No skip function. Fast Forward and Reverse lock, but if you press the key to "unlock" them, it goes into high speed rewind/fast forward. You must hit play to stop.

4. Display -- Doesn't display channel unless "display" is turned on. Then you have to click twice to turn it off.

Overall, this is a really nice replacement for my old Sony HiFi unit, and I'm very happy. Paid $229

Strengths:
Great picture, wonderful motor mechanism, DNR Perfect really works. Nice bright display.

Weaknesses:
The stupidest ergonomics I've ever seen on a VCR. Awful time-shift capability.

Similar Products Used:
Toshiba M-765, Older Sony Hi-Fi Products, Panasonic 8451

Summary:
I have to agree with BobK's general assessment of this machine: the picture and sound are great, but the ergonomics are way off. First there is the problem with the display of channel information: it is either continuously on screen or one has to double-click "Display" to get it off, then click it on again if one wants to see the channel number. What other VCR in the world makes figuring out the channel number so difficult?

Even more fun is the timer mechanism of the 785. Regardless of whether one schedules a taping session from the menu or the VCR+, scheduling is not enough. If one simply powers down the machine, the taping will not take place. Instead, one must first set up the taping schedule and then push the timer buttons. Best of all, there are indeed two--not one--timer buttons that must be pressed simultaneously, rendering useless my universal remote control. As a result of this curious way of setting up taping schedules, the forgetful among us will end up with unrecorded shows; the rest of us will simply be irritated every time we have to go through the whole process of getting things set up.

Once the timer is turned on, the power won't go on from the remote control, though if you walk over to the VCR and turn it on there, it will work, canceling the timer and necessitating another run of punching the timer buttons. I have seldom seen anything so ineptly conceived, and I know for a fact that this process will bother me as long as I use this VCR.

Finally, the 785 allows only 6 preset tapings, in contrast to the 8 I'm used to on my Sony VCR. This too will cause some inconvenience every now and then.

So why not send the VCR back? Because the video quality is great, particularly with the SLP setting, which looks virtually as good as the SP setting and sounds almost as good too, though the sound is slightly muffled in SLP. Even better, this machine does a great job of playing SLP tapes recorded on other VCRs. Tapes that I recorded on a Panasonic VCR and tried to use in the Sony VCR I just replaced looked and sounded terrible on the Sony, and I could never get them to track properly no matter how much I fussed with the tracking controls. On the 785 they look great. So one puts up with the irritations in order to get the great picture and sound quality.

The sound of the motor mechanism on the 785 is also much more pleasing than the clunking and whining I always got out of my high-end Sony VCR, suggesting a quality machine.

I would also mention that Toshiba is currently offering these VCRs with a full year's warranty on both parts and labor, a considerable improvement on the usual 90 days labor/1 year parts. This also suggests Toshiba's confidence in their high-end products.

Strengths:
Picture and sound quality, especially in SLP mode, one-year warranty

Weaknesses:
Ergonomics

Similar Products Used:
Equivalent Sony VCR