Panasonic PV-V4611 4-Head Hi-Fi Stereo VCR
Unique LP Recording Speed, But Flawed
I've owned/tried many VCR brands, like Magnavox, Sony, Mitsubishi, Sanyo, Toshiba, and JVC.  Currently I own a Sony SLV-N71 in addition to this Panasonic.  The reason I bought it was, and it is its only strength, that Panasonic is about the last VCR maker that gives you three recording speeds: SP, LP, and EP.  I wanted a second VCR to copy/edit home videos and being able to record in LP speed gives me more options and flexibility to fit different clips onto one tape.<br />I noticed the recorded video quality, compared to my Sony and other brands I had before, is subpar.  It looks a bit fuzzy and grainy, at all speeds.  Comparing the LP recording to EP made by my Sony(which doesn't have LP), the colors look richer but the entire screen looks somewhat grainier, like the video was shot thru a bug sreen.  It's not significantly worse, but definitely noticeable.  It looked even worse if played back on the Panasonic, and that I found out was due to tracking.  Even though the Panasonic manual claimed it has auto tracking, I found most of time it didn't work as it should.<br />But another more serious problem, which is reason I gave it only two stars, is that hi-fi audio keeps switching back and forth to mono.  I found that out by feeding the audio to my A/V receiver, then listening thru stereo headphones.  While watching MTV, VH1, CMT, GAC, etc., the stereo music shows good, consistent stereo imaging on my Sony, but on the Panasonic it flips back to mono once in a few minutes, like the TV signal is not strong enough.  Very bad for taping music videos.  This is not the problem if the Panasonic is recording from the Line-In jacks.  So apparently a bad TV tuner is to be blamed.  This tuner problem is not unique, as I exchanged three times from the store, all three machines acted exactly the same.<br />For copying video tapes, this VCR fits my requirement.  So I'll keep it.  Just have to remember to use the Sony to tape music videos on TV.<br />Last, the case has 17\\" width, like the Sony, it looks good when stacked up on top of other stereo components.  Only the top of the case is made of metal.  The machine weighs very light.  The remote is a little bulky, with many small buttons, and not all of them are backlit.