Low Priced And Loaded!
Written: Nov 11 '00 (Updated Jan 19 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Price, Features, Performance
Cons: Lightweight Construction
The Bottom Line: Great features and performance for the price. Lightweight construction raises durability issues.
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| kajguy's Full Review: Panasonic PV-V4520 VHS VCR |
I’ve always wanted a DVD Player, but, without recording capabilities, that means having to spend all kinds of extra $$$$ on the media: either buying or renting DVDs, or the tedious process of making my own. So, the VCR concept still holds tremendous appeal for me. And, thanks to the relentless promotion of DVD by the major electronics manufacturers, VCR prices are at an all-time low. What you can buy is now a fully-realized product with all the potential problems fully sorted out. I recently purchased this Panasonic at Best Buy for $99.00 and to say that I am delighted with it is an understatement.
Of course, I know a little bit about VCRs. When I was in college I worked for a design research company that was retained by Sony to develope the $2,000+ BetaMax, the first widely available consumer VCR. Those first Betas of the 70's could not even remotely compare to what is available for less than $100.00 right now. Think about it.
OK, I admit, this Panasonic VCR is now outsourced to Indonesia, which, while not as bad as China in terms of human rights violations, is simply not Japan, and it is as light as a feather, suggesting that it won’t last all that long. The last Panasonic VCR I had lasted for three years under heavy daily use and if this one will give me the same length of service, I’ll be very happy. That works out to about $33.00 per year or about A PENNY A DAY!
Setting up this VCR was as easy as you could ask for. The manual is skimpy and confusing, but not so confusing that you won't have this VCR up and running in about 5 minutes. It automatically sets the time and all the channels if you are on cable. The clock function also adjusts automatically for Daylight Saving Time (DST) and has a 24 hour back up in case of a power failure. The days of the flashing VCR time setting are clearly over.
The Panasonic also features "VCR Plus", which will take some time- consuming “programming”, matching up the Plus Codes from a TV channel listing with the VCR’s internal settings. This is/was a great idea, but it has never worked very well for me. Too bad they did not make this automatic as well. The program timer itself is super-simple to use, so I see no need to bother with VCR Plus, although I am still sorely tempted. Hope runs eternal!
The big draw of this particular VCR is the “Light Tower” Remote Control. However, I found the lighting feature for the keys on the remote to be rather dim and not evenly distributed among all the buttons. It's weak. The Light Tower is just a bunch of hype. However, the remote itself has all the expected features plus a "Tape Position Display" button that shows you how far through a tape you are, and how much tape is remaining, with an indicator on the front panel of the VCR. This has turned out to be a more useful feature than I imagined.
Another nice feature is "Commercial Skip", which will advance the tape forward in 1, 2 or 3 minute increments depending upon how many times you press the button on the remote. My last VCR did not have this so I'm going to chalk this up to "Innovation". Remember when the commercials were only 1 minute? The remote also has "Index Search" and "Program End Search" to make navigating through a tape relatively easy. Of course, this is nothing compared to a DVD. But, then again, I can’t leave a DVD on all night a record movies off of AMC or Turner Classic Movies for my collection while enjoying some THX-enhanced dreams of my own!
As soon as I had the PV-V4520 set up and had familiarized myself with the controls, I noticed that the quality of the picture (sharp and clear w/ vibrant colors) was about 10% better than what I had with my previous Panasonic VCR. The 4 Head system works great, with no lines on FF/REW, and the MTS Stereo sounded wonderful on my Surround Sound system.
I am still scratching my head wondering how Panasonic was able to do all this for $99.00. Go figure! Maybe THEY should take charge of the vote count in Florida.....
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
kajguy
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Member: Chris Opfell
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Reviews written: 42
Trusted by: 14 members
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