JVC HRS3911U 4-Head S-VHS VCR, Silver
Seeing through a VCR noisily.
I was looking for a VCR with S-video input and output connectors and hoping that the quality with S-VHS tapes would be a significant step up from VHS.<br />I tried several different brands of S-VHS blank tapes ... but never got a significant improvement over VHS recordings. In some cases, especially with large areas of blue or black, random dancing pixels caused by tape noise detracted noticiably from the the video fidelity.<br />Furthermore, I found that the machine was susceptable to interference from the TV receiver. This resulted in a travelling black vertical bar that swept the picture once every 5 seconds or so. This only happened when recording one show and watching a different video source (e.g. DVD). I assume this is due to inadequate magnetic shielding of the record head allowing some coupling to the scan coils of the TV cathode ray tube.<br />On the positive side, the contols were easy to use and picture quality was Okay (except when recording near an unsynchronized TV set). Playback of pre-recorded VHS tapes was of high quality and the use of S-VHS connectors help to reduce picture distortion.<br />For Satellite TV users, one of the nicest features is the ability to automatically record when a signal is detected from the Satellite box. This avoids having to set up two timers (one in the VCR and one on the Satellite box).