Whoooooeeeee, it's a good 'un, and chee-eep, too!
Written: Aug 20 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Just read my review
Cons: Ask me in ten years or so
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| isinga's Full Review: Panasonic PV-9451 VHS VCR |
First of all, this isn't about the Panasonic PV-9451. Like technologyrep before me, I couldn't find a listing for my PV-V4520, so just kind of snuk in here. Oh, well, I know no one is going to kill me, and y'all really gotta know about this one!!!
I'd had an Emerson HQ VCR for the past 10 years or so, and it was still doing an outstandingly good job of recording the video portion of broadcasts and movies. Still, with more and more programming coming in digital and Dolby and MTS stereo, my poor little monaural VCR just wasn't cutting the mustard any more. Accordingly, I headed off to the nearest big city (Fallon, Pop. 5000) here in Northern Nevada to see what I could find. Fallon, home of the Navy Top Gun gunnery school since the move from El Toro, is also the home of a fairly respectable sized Wally World - which is where I headed.
I stumbled across this particular model while looking for something a wee bit cheaper. Still, the price label said the MRP was $129, and it was regularly $111 at WalMart. It also said it was a close out with the current price of $86 and change! Well, even I can punch numbers into a pocket calculator (credit card sized, which I carry to verify best buys) and it told me that I could get this cute little bugger at a $43 savings over list. Since my Mama didn't raise no fools, I bought it without even bothering to look further than the box wording that said STEREO!!!
Did I mention that this critter is little? Well, it is. In fact, it's about 1 1/2 inches shorter than my old Emerson, about 1/2 inch narrower, and much lighter in weight. Isn't technology grand? OK, so let's take a look and see just what I jumped into at this ridiculously low price...
The wording on the little door where you stick cassettes warms my heart every time I look at it. It says, 4-Head Hi-Fi Stereo Omnivision VHS in bright gold letters. What's more, in using this little critter, I've become convinced that they mean what they say about it. For example, it said in the owners manual that this little cutie-pie would set its own timeclock in case of a power failure! Now, that alone (in the power failure headquarters of North America) was enough to set my heart to pounding. I mean, there is nothing quite as irritating as waking up in the morning to find the digital clocks on all your appliances blinking random numbers at you. I could now hope that this one would not join the crowd. Sure enough, as I set about connecting it to just about everything except my wonderful Braun coffee maker, sure enough -- it didn't even wait for me to set the clock the first time, it just went ahead and set it for me -- correctly, Daylight Savings time and all!!!
Are you starting to see why I wanted to tell you all about this little jewel of a VCR? So, what else does it have? Well, like most of the other VCR's these days, it can use the VCR Plus programming that I detest. Since I'm not obligated to use it, I don't hold it against the VCR and still think it's great. It has on-screen programming in no less than three (3) languages, two of which I speak and read/write and one that I can still figure out after not having had to use it in over 50 years. Oh, yeah, I have to control myself because right about now I feel an urge to giggle gleefully at the magnificence of my purchase!
What else? Well, with four heads it has Slo-Mo, freeze frame, and frame-by-frame viewing in addition to the regular three speeds available. About all that's lacking is Zoom, and even though it's hard, I can manage to get along without that --- for now.
It also has all kinds of search functions, which makes me go all mushy inside. I mean, I use search on my computer (Google, mostly) lots of the time, and to have such a blessing on a VCR is almost more than the human mind can absorb without yielding to hysterical joy. There is Program End Search (You don't need to watch the counter when surfing programs on your cassette), index search (which goes by the little index marks on the cassette window), and direct access (which utilizes those index marks to real advantage), and I've played around and tried them all. They all work, and can save lots of time finding a particular program on a VHS cassette! Finally, it has the commercial skip function that both my darling daughter and I simply LOVE! I mean, how many times can a person watch the Discovery Channel meteorite commercial ("oh the atmosphere -- ah the atmosphere) without the urge to purge?
The connection, setup and programming of the wee critter are very easy, being very well explained (with pictures) in the owners manual. Now, the key question -- does the stereo work? Well, having followed directions and having used the AV jacks for connecting, you bet your Bippy it works - for the first time since I got my MTS Stereo TV eight years ago!!! In short, I'm just as happy as a fat boar in a mud wallow, and you, too, can share this joy by getting your own wee critter!
But, wait, that's not all! The remote control! My darling daughter finally managed to neutralize my satellite remote some months ago, leaving me unable to operate the satellite system. I went to the local Radio Shack (yep, they're everywhere) and bought an RCA Universal remote for $42 that did ALMOST as much as my other remotes (including the defunct one), but not quite. Now, with my Panasonic Model PV-V4520 Omnivision VHS recorder, I also received a truly compact little universal remote that DOES do everything the others did (including the defunct one and the RCA universal) without the massive bulk of the others!!!!
I'm telling you, folks, whether it's monaural video, stereo video, hi-fi stereo video, or SAP (Secondary Audio Programming / sub-language programming), this little critter does it all. Not only does it do it all, it does it at almost a giveaway price for me. My recommendation is that, even if you don't get the same level of discount I did, if you need or are even just thinking about changing VCR's in your home -- find this little jewel and get it! It's the easiest, most trouble free (including clock setting after the three outages we've had since I bought it) VCR I've ever owned, and I now call it "Queenie!" Check it out. You won't regret it!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
isinga
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 - Top 1000 |
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Member: Chad Reeser
Location: Lovelock, Nevada
Reviews written: 413
Trusted by: 160 members
About Me:
Korea/Vietnam Vet, 75,angry over contemporary political corruption and the idiot voters supporting it.
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