JVC HRS3901U 4-Head S-VHS VCR, Black
Best buy for the money
At first I thought I wanted a Sony, since that's what professionals seem to prefer, but I could never get them to play my old tapes well (on reading customer reviews, I saw I wasn't the only one with that problem). After reading all the reviews, I went with this machine. It plays all my old tapes better than my old machine. It does a great job with new recordings on my old tapes, and a phenomenal job with Fuji H471S S-VHS tape, which I'm told is the best out there right now ...While I had to use the manual, I found the programming to be more intuitive than on Sony or Panasonic machines, and have come to like the event programming options quite a bit. Sure, it has a lot of plastic, but they all do. The next step up would be the 5000 series with flying erase heads (which is useful for precise editing, and may reduce the rainbow flicker in the first few seconds of recording). My only complaint is that I wish the on-unit display was more informative, adding a full-time clock (rather than clock or channel choice). I'm told this unit and the 3900, 3910, and 3911 are all the same, with the differences being color; the 10 and 11 being the newest model, with more internal plastic parts. I don't think you can beat this one with features for the price, and if you want to play old tapes, this one's a winner.