Panasonic PV-D4744 Progressive-Scan DVD/VCR Combo , Black
Panasonic comes through again
I have always been very pleased with the Panasonic products I've purchased, so I was delighted to find this \\"combo\\" at a very reasonable price. Setup was very simple and everything worked immediately. I particularly like the two switch buttons placed approximately in the middle of the remote, one for VCR and the other for DVD.     Now for the caveat: I bought this unit for our small home gym, where we wanted something that would play both VHS and DVDs. The television there is simple, verging on primitive. It doesn't even have dual channel audio inputs or an S-video input. In two other rooms, we have switch boxes to select input, but I wanted something simpler this time, and something that could be completely controlled from a remote (no one wants to get off a cardio machine to switch TV inputs). The Panasonic combo is working out very nicely. I can't say, however, how the machine would work with HD TVs or with more sophisticated systems. For what we wanted, it was a pretty much perfect solution. It also takes less space than the previous Toshiba 5-disc DVD player we had (which now seems to be unable to recognize the presence of a DVD).     Extras: the twenty buttons on the bottom of the remote that another reviewer mentioned perform a fair number of functions that you would usually have to return to the main menu for, such as subtitles. Very clever indeed.    All in all, a nice, solid performer and excellent value.    Followup: Turns out, we liked this machine so much, we ordered a second one less than a week after receiving the first. The real joy of the machine is that it makes life so much simpler. At first I scoffed at the idea of a combo, dismissing it as convenient but basically silly. Wrong again! Convenience wins out. You eliminate yards of cables and, over time, hours of needless frustration. So much simpler to press the VHS or DVD button on the remote. Thanks again, Panasonic.