To start, right out of the box, the thing was defective. This seems to be a reoccurring theme for me. I have now had a total of 4 brand new VCRs that have been defective. 2 Sonys which had interference. I believe they were defective by design. My Panasonic PV-S9670, which I originally thought was just the S-VHS tape. Now this VCR. This Maggy had red spurts on the bottom edge of the screen. Acutally looked like lava spurting up. My folks, who this was given to, didn't even noticed this till I pointed it out. They would have kept it if I wouldn't had said it must go back. They didn't find it displeasing, as I found it unbearably irritating. I either have good eyes or have a talent for picking out picture flaws, even if they are the design of the system that outputs the picture (Dot crawl, very minor pixellation, analog picture that has digital recording artifacts, noise, and the etc.). Anyhow, got this VCR exchanged and the new one looks much, much better. I recently purchased the Panasonic PV-9451 and Panasonic PV-S9670. I even had to exchange the 9670 for a new one!?! When comparing this VRA641AT to the Panasonic 9451, the Panasonic has a cleaner picture with less noise. The difference isn't staggering but the higher noise is there. That noise could also be masking more detail, as the Panasonic looked as if it had a bit more detail. The noise was the biggest difference between the two. The Magnavox does have alot of features the folks will care about more than this slightly degraded picture. All of their components are Philips Magnavox( TV, 13 year old mono VCR, CD changer, now this VCR). They tend to like the Magnavox name. The Panasonic would have been a nightmare for them. The Panasonic VCRs that I have, have the most confusing menus I've ever seen. They clearly didn't think this out or had Japanese citizens design these manuals, who weren't fluent in the English language. The Maggy should be alot less complicated to their NON-technical oriented minds. This Magnavox is the same price at the Panasonic PV-9450 which does not have VCR+, camcorder inputs, and the smart picture feature. This Magnavox is $20 less than the Panasonic PV-9451, but has all the same features, has smart picture, and a much easier to understand manual. The down side is that the performance lacks a bit, but that wouldn't be as much of a concern, as an easier to understand manual, to my parents. Over all, if this VCR had less noise, and a little more detail, it would be comparable in performance, which it's not. For me, the performance is what matters most, as I think the people who read this will consider the performance a priority also. I'll give it 4 stars for a decent VCR. I will not put the first defective model against it, as it's most likely just my bad luck.