Panasonic PV-V4520 4-Head Hi-Fi VCR
Okay For General Use
This is basically a good VCR for general recording and play back and offers some nice features: a remote that can be VERY easily programmed to control your TV and cable converters channel and volume functions; easy switching to SAP (Spanish), stereo or mono; fairly good slow motion for frame to frame viewing; a commercial skip function to fast forward thru your tape 60 seconds at a time (not 30 seconds like one review states); easy on screen programming and setup; a cool indexing and searching feature to help scan the tapes in your library once marked; and if your cable service supports it, the VCR can automatically program all the channels and time/date with a couple of button pushes.<br />However the unit isn't perfect. Although the remote will back light some keys it only does the biggest, easiest ones to figure out in the dark (play, stop, rew, ff, vcr, tv, dss cable) and ignores the rest. The manual for this VCR is somewhat poorly written and should be read at least once before plugging in the unit to avoid any problems. The layout for the buttons on the remote can be annoying especially having the record and tape speed buttons right next to the channel up and down buttons. The unit also only displays the tape counter on your television screen and not on the unit itself. When forwarding through a tape looking for a specific time, the counter disappears making it difficult know exact where you are on the tape, until you return to play mode or stop the tape. The plug was also shorter then my old unit by about two feet, requiring an extension cord to reach the outlet in the location the unit was being used.