Great picture quality. Natural lifelike colors. Commercial and Movie preview advance. SVHS and SVHS-ET. Great sound quality.

Crappy remote unit, noisy fast forward and rewind.

I've owned this unit for more than a year and last night I used the advanced features for the first time. I set the recorder to record from cable with the commercial advance function. It recorded flawlessly and the commercial advance was atleast 90 percent accurate. The picture quality is excellent, even in the extended long play mode. Very natural colors and good detail. Setup is very easy and straight forward. I don't use the vcr very often but so far I am very happy with this vcr.

Similar Products Used:

JVC, NEC

Good picture, Very good commercial advance and movie intro skip.

Extremely poor remote, counter-intuitive menus, plasticy look and feel.

I purchased this VCR online for it's purported picture quality, commercial/movie features and what promised to be a good remote.

What I found was that while the picture and pause were pretty decent, the remote was so badly designed that it was a deal breaker; the button groups are badly broken up and laid out- play/stop/FF/Rew are at the top and the jog wheel and pause are down at the bottom. so you have to jump around a lot to control the pause/slow features. The Jog wheel is not very well implemented - it has too strong of a spring and very sharp edges. The vol. and channel buttons are really small and they get lost in the other buttons. And it has an awkward shape, making it hard to hold. If you plan on using a universal remote to control this VCR, it is not as much of an issue, but it you want a lot of control over search/pause and menu functions, as I do, this will be problematic.

Also, I had some reservations about buying a Panasonic, but all the good reviews swayed me. I should have followed my gut, because to me, the 4820 has that gaudy looking, plasticy non-purposeful feel that I have always associated with brands like Panasonic.

So I am going to return the Panasonic and give the Philips VR1010BP a try. It got a great review from eTown and it has a true jog/shuttle wheel on the remote (something that no other S-VHS VCR under $500 has). The Toshiba W808 was a close runner up, it has a nicely laid out remote, but alas, no jog/shuttle wheel. I will report back on the Philips when I get it.

After about 2 months of VCR shopping, I am finding this to be one of the most difficult purchases I have ever made. Some of the realizations that I have made are: 1. VCRs are nearing the end of their usefulness, so companies are building them much more cheaply; There are a lot of really poor quality VCRs compared to 10 years ago. 2. There are no clear cut winners in the S-VHS market; you must decide which compromises you are willing to live with, or spend $1000.

Features like: S-VHS-ET, Commercial Advance, Movie Advance, Sound and picture quality

The remote does not have a last channel button

This unit has all the bells and whisles that you will need to tape movies from satellite or just from cable.
The S-VHS-ET feature makes a regular vhs tape into a remarkable picture. The advance feature work flawlessly and the sound almost equals cd-quality so if you tape a concert or movie you get almost the same as what you saw originally.
Highly recommended....hey it's only another hundred bucks and when you're building a home theatre, that difference is gonna really bug you if you don't go for it right off the hop...and 379 Canadian is still cheap for a piece of a/v equipment that gets used almost every day....

Similar Products Used:

Lots...Hitachi, JVC...yuck

S-VHS ET picture quality, sound, remote, commercial advance, high-speed FF/REW

Ability to play tapes recorded on other machines

I was thinking about getting a second JVC S-VHS ET VCR so I could view S-VHS recordings while taping other programs. Then I saw a 6th Ave ad for this VCR at $165. The Wiz matched the price plus 10% of the difference, so how could I resist at this price? I've been comparing this unit to the JVC 3600U (see my review on this site). Although I have none of the audio tracking problems of the JVC, playback of standard VHS tapes made at the SLP speed on another machine is poor. Bright scenes always cause a ripple effect on playback. At higher speeds, or with any speed S-VHS ET recordings (even those made on the JVC), playback is fine. DVDs copied onto standard-grade tape at SP using the S-VHS ET mode are quite good (roughly equal in quality to a pre-recorded VHS tape), and even SLP recordings on standard tape made in S-VHS ET mode show improvement over standard mode. To those who complain about the JVC being noisy, I say you will have no better luck with this VCR. It can be quite noisy. I'm not thrilled with either of these VCRs, but short of a D-VHS machine, they're the best options out there (especially for people who don't want to spend the money on S-VHS tapes). Like the rest of you, I can't wait for the $400 DVD recorders due out later this year! Value rating is high due to the low price paid.

Similar Products Used:

JVC 3600U

Many as listed below

can't cook or take out the trash

I just ordered this unit based on all of the favorable reviews here. Thank you to everyone. 800.com will match other internet retailers prices, so use "pricescan.com" to find the lowest price, then call them and ask them to match. I am getting mine delivered for $206 Total (US Dollars) no tax. I did look at this unit at Good Guys and they want $279 + tax (over $300). It looks like a good quality unit. I have a 6 year old Panosonic that is still going strong but I want the (new) S-VHS ET clarity for my Dish Network Satelite system. I am giving 5's based on previous Panasonic products....

top notch picture, great surround for a vcr, commercial advance, s-video connection

slow scrawl when setting up start and end times for vcr recordings

When using this unit with DTH satellite the recordings are as close to original broadcast quality as I have seen in a vcr. I use this unit primarily for recording television shows, and with the commercial advance feature that marks the start and end of commercial breaks, you start the one hour show and sit back, relax, and 42 minutes later, you haven't moved a muscle and the show is finished. It cues it up right after the break flawlessly almost every time. Sure it's a little more expensive than a regular v.c.r. but I enjoy the commercial advance and I have enjoyed the higher quality of picture because just because it's t.v. doesn't mean I don't mind it looking lowsy when it's recorded.

I had bought the Jvc 3600(not positive on the model number anymore)and took it back. The picture was fine, but the transport was so noisy I couldn't even hear dialogue clearly.

This is a superior unit and I can't find fault with it except the nitpicking point that when setting up timer recordings this unit is slow because the numbers change slowly.

Similar Products Used:

sony, jvc

picture, dbx sound, commerical pass, cable box control

none

I want to thank all the reviewers here in steering me to this unit. I am usually a SONY buyer but I was very disappointed with their VCR offerings. The picture, especially when recorded with S-VHS is very sharp and crisp, commerical pass works automatically and accurately, and the cable box control is ingeniously integrated in the top of the unit. No need for a cable mouse like SONY. The DBX sound processing is excellent for TV and does a better job than normal surround.

Similar Products Used:

Sony

most back for the buck

unit died 3 days before 90 day labor warranty expired

Picture quality is impressive and was overall happy with unit until yesterday. Unit started to malfunction big time (too many things to list here) so I check my warranty information. And guess what, 3 days to go before the free 90 days labor warranty expired! First I fired a nasty email to Panasonic then took unit to service center. They told me they get $125 just to crack the cover if not under warranty! Wow, glad the unit decided to give up the ghost under warranty because if not it would have become a throwaway.

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic PV-1700/RCA VR756HF

Good features at a reasonable price for a Super VHS VCR. Commercial advance useful. Has rapid fast forward and rewind.

Quality control and longevity of Panasonic VCR's at issue.

Many of the positive reviews touch on the many useful features this VCR has to offer, and I am in agreement with them all. Many people reviewing VCR's do so just after purchase, and I wanted to add my two cents from the perspective of someone who has used the VCR heavily for just about a year.

I time shift all of my television viewing, mostly to spite commercials, and I have a network of VCR's that tape a range of programming. Among them, I have five different Panasonic units with the 4820 being the top of the line model for me.

I have noticed a longevity problem with Panasonic VCR's manufactured after 1999. In the last three years, I have had to retire two Panasonic units just after their first birthday. The reality of today's VCR market is that units are designed to be disposable, and repairing them is usually not worth the expense if it involves any circuit board work or mechanism replacement. It falters, you trash it and buy a new VCR.

Unfortunately, Panasonic's legendary limited warranty is a testament to their lack of confidence in the longevity of their product. At just 90 days labor/1 year parts, Panasonic's warranty is designed to catch manufacturing faults more than problems related to long term use of their VCR's. Labor often costs far more than the parts anyway.

I am rarely a believer in extended warranties, particularly on disposable electronics products, but heavy VCR users who can find a good one at a very low price might want to consider it for Panasonic's higher end product line. There seems to be little difference in the quality of parts between their higher end models and the budget units, and my own experience has shown me that low end or high end, the failure rate seems the same. The only factor is the price of your investment in the VCR. At more than $200 for the 4820, this is definitely high end in a marketplace where most general purpose home units sell for $130 or less. It might be worth consideration.

As to my intentions, I'll take the 4820 to a VCR repair shop offering a free estimate, but my past experience has shown that the chances of that estimate exceeding $90 is high, making its repair worthiness questionable.

If your primary use of a VCR is to watch time shifted programs or rental tapes, you can do better with a non SVHS deck that offers commercial advance and high speed fast forward and rewind. Panasonic offers several in the $120 range, which might be a better choice considering the potential longevity of the unit.

If you want SVHS, Panasonic has a new lower cost deck, the 4821 worth considering.

Similar Products Used:

Running five Panasonic VCR's, one Sony, one Toshiba

Playback of digital cable is darn near broadcast quality

S-Video "pass-through" slightly degrades digital cable video

I always like having 2 VCR's because I like to dub rental tapes, and I record off the radio a lot (an unappreciated VCR functionality, IMHO). So when my old 1986 mono MGA VCR finally died, I needed another VCR to supplement my Sony VCR. Since I recently got digital cable, which I find to be excellent, BTW, I thought I'd upgrade to S-VHS.

The Panasonic records digital cable in S-VHS ET mode on regular cheap ol' VHS tapes so well that it looks and sounds better than my old analog cable. And the convenience of chaining the s-video signal from the digital cable box to the S-VHS VCR and then to the TV simplified all the hooking up and switching I would otherwise have to do. The excellent cable remote runs the VCR, and the cable box's "VCR Commander" means I NEVER have to program the VCR itself! No more missing programs! I hardly ever really need the Panasonic remote, which is kind of a loser remote, IMHO. And the super-fast REW and FF are much appreciated after using my slowpoke Sony.

So... at $200 it's a bargain.

On the down side, the need to pass the s-video signal through the VCR means I must power the VCR up to watch TV - acceptable given that the cable remote makes it so easy - but the video signal's excellent sharpness is a little degraded when watching "live" TV. A little bit of a bummer, but a trade-off I have decided is worth the benefits provided by this set-up.

Also, regular VHS tapes, especially older, beat-up ones, get more noise and distortion through the Panasonic than through my old VHS VCRs. But clean VHS tapes do show up really well through the Panasonic. Ever piece of equipment involves some trade-offs, in my experience.

Since there are no half stars, and I don't want to spoil the party here, I'll give 5 stars, although I still wish I could have the sharpness of direct s-video hookup from digital cable to TV...

Similar Products Used:

Sony, Panasonic, MGA (Mitsubishi) VHS VCR's