Sony SLV-799HF Hi-Fi VCR
Poor VCR Tuner for UHF Stations; Interference Through CH 4
The UHF business station I record everyday moved to another, weaker, UHF channel.  I was forced to put up a powerful, commercial grade, Winegard outdoor antenna.  After installation, this weak UHF channel on my TV was  reasonably clear.  However, on my 6 year-old GE 4 head mono VCR it was very  poor, so I had to replace it.<br />The Sony SLV-799HF, while sending through  channel 4, gave a lot of interference or it simply didn't work well with my  2 year-old Sharp stereo TV.  When I used RCA cables, the picture was clear.   If your TV doesn't have the RCA-type inputs, I don't recommend this VCR.   Nevertheless, even with the RCA inputs, the weak UHF channel was WORSE on  the Sony than on my GE.  I tried using the Sony's manual tune feature for  the UHF channel, but it didn't help.  <br />Because it did a poor job of  picking up the new UHF Business channel, I replaced it (about 2 hours  later) without checking its playback capabilities.  If you need to receive  a weak UHF broadcast station with a lot of noise in the signal, the Toshiba  M-765 is a good model to get.  The Toshiba M-765 gives a very clear  picture, even with a UHF channel which only transmits at 3K watts.  You  might also want to look at the Panasonic PV-9664.  All of these models are  similar in price.