Samsung SV-5000W Worldwide VHS Format VCR
Very decent worldwide vcr
We have owned this vcr for almost 2 years now, and it is our \\"main\\" vcr, used for playing Pal(from Europe) and regular Ntsc tapes. We found that the receiver provides such sharp and vivid image, we use it as a receiver for the regular TV program as well (It looks way better than the built-in receiver in the Sanyo TV set). So it gets a lot of use and we never had any reliability problems. You may want to leave sufficient space around it for cooling, as it does generate a bit of heat. Some people may accelerate its demise by stacking dvd players, etc. on it. That is not a good idea. <br /> <br />People who remark on the quick wearout of the video heads probably use \\"head cleaning\\" products regularly. Such products are mostly scam, and at the least typically unneeded. The only \\"benefit\\" of their routine use is the ruination of the video heads. I have not had to clean the video heads yet on this machine, nor did I ever have to do so on the 2 other vcr's I own, and all have perfect picture quality after years and years of use. <br /> <br />The vcr does display whether you are rewinding or playing a tape, and there is a counter that shows elapsed time. In fact the built in display is rather informative. <br /> <br />The conversion quality from Pal to Ntsc is quite good, but one should not expect dvd quality from this technology. The unit does have some shortcomings: the input system setting can be difficult to adjust, the vcr itself is somewhat noisy (high pitched motor noise), and the manual is not all that helpful. Taken these factors into consideration, it still deserves a 4 star