Rating: 
Summary: Good basic recorder
Review: No amount of fiddling by the most electronically minded people I know could get this thing to work. The power kept shutting off within ten seconds of turning it on. Guess I'll return it and try paying more for one. I am VERY discouraged over all the radios, vcrs, ect., I buy at stores, because so many are defective in some way. After years of buying stuff from Amazon, this is the first time I've EVER returned anything.
Rating: 
Summary: Defective on arrival...
Review: No amount of fiddling by the most electronically minded people I know could get this thing to work. The power kept shutting off within ten seconds of turning it on. Guess I'll return it and try paying more for one. I am VERY discouraged over all the radios, vcrs, ect., I buy at stores, because so many are defective in some way. After years of buying stuff from Amazon, this is the first time I've EVER returned anything.
Rating:
Summary: Good player, bad sound-recorder (in slow speeds)
Review: Pros and Cons: Panasonic always gives you a universal remote control, but this one isn't quite as user friendly as in past models. Can record in all 3 tape speeds, though SLP speed picture-quality isn't as good as in past models. Auto-Tracking is still the best! Real downside is that recording in LP or SLP speed the background music will sound noticeably warbly. Also when playing back videos made on the vcr there is a color bar on the left side of TV screen, unless you move the vcr away from any electrical sources/vcrs. The mechanism is fairly quiet, quieter than the swishing, buzzing HIFI model 4522 (which has the same problem with warbly sound when played in mono or on mono vcr) or the buzzing Emerson/Symphonic brand. I exchanged the vcr but had same problem with sound. The low-end SHARP brand models (mono and HiFI) have same features and are actually better except you can hear some tape hiss, mainly on home-duped tapes (not as noticeable with pre-recorded videos).
Rating:
Summary: Broken in 4 months of light use
Review: The VCR gives an average quality picture, but broke within four months of light use (after the 90 day warranty expired, of course). The picture suddenly went bad on one tape, and after this other tapes we tried were almost unwatchable. We cleaned it with a cleaning tape, etc. but it never worked right after that. We only watched a couple tapes a week with it, so its lifetime is about 35 tapes. You get what you pay for, so I guess I shouldn't be suprised by the low quality.
Rating: 
Summary: Another Rare Find
Review: This is an above-average low-priced mono VCR, but it has one HUGE feature that no other widely available VCRs that I know of still offer - THE ABILITY TO RECORD IN LP (4 HOUR) MODE! Everyone knows that SP is the speed to choose for highest quality sound and picture, but when you want to record a 3 hour program and fit it on one tape, LP quality beats the heck out of SLP (EP) mode. I'm surprised sellers don't mention this as one of the features in their web site reviews, because LP record is the MAIN reason I purchased both the PV-V4022 and PV-V4523S (Hi-Fi stereo version, which also boasts LP record).Picture quality of SP and LP recordings are decent for this price range. Even the SLP mode is acceptable. Audio quality is on-par with what you'd expect from a mono VCR. This a pretty-good machine with a few more features than the lowest priced models of other brands. But if LP recording is a priority, you don't have much choice other than Panasonic, making this a "must-buy".
Rating: 
Summary: Could be a bit better.
Review: This vcr is definitely not the best of Panasonic. The recording aint that great because sometimes the voice is shaky. Plus you don't see the display numbers on the lcd when you play, ff, or rewind. It does play a very clear picture, though, and the stereo sound is outstanding. The lcd, by the way, displays the words play and other stuff like that extremely large. I still can't see the use of putting an eject button on the remote other than if you wanted to sleep and you don't feel like getting up to take the video out. The buttons on the vcr are very large and are easy to press. The av's are in front of the vcr so if your tv doesn't have an av outlet (it most likely will), you can hook up your game system through the vcr easier.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent choice all around
Review: Turns out (I guess) it's mono (not stereo) but I hadn't noticed. The price is right and it's easy to record. One touch of record starts the recording process. Need it to record for a prescribed amount of time? Just hit the record button again and you'll see on the t.v. screen momentarily that it will record for 1 hour. Need 2 hours? Simply hit the record button once more. We haven't tried programming days in advance, but we were able to program it hours in advance (same day) and that was easy enough. It comes with a remote control which works well with both the unit itself and a Panasonic t.v. if you have one. My only suggestion is a MUTE button, which I don't see. We bought it so when VHS is phased out we'll still have a reliable unit to play our old tapes on in case our other VCR stopped working. Turns out we like this unit so much, we retired our other unit and are keeping it for backup instead!
Rating:
Summary: Because It's Black
Review: Yes, the color was the first consideration. My three-year-old JVC 20" TV is black, my 6-month-old JVC slim DVD player is black, and so I wanted a black VCR to go with them. My nine-year-old Panasonic PV-4308 died (well, OK, I killed it trying to force-feed a video) right after Christmas. For the longest time, I enjoyed not having a VCR at all. I have yet to find one that doesn't take up any room or is as slim as my trusty JVC XV-N50BK DVD player. All VCRs are fat! However, I'm not prepared to spend an exorbitant amount on a PVR or DVD recorder yet, even though I can afford it. I think it's dumb to spend that kind of money on a gadget when there are people who can't eat, or are having their civil liberties taken away, etc. Besides, I'm still getting VHS tapes as presents, and I have a fair amount of tapes that I still enjoy. So, I finally decided to buy another one. Why didn't I buy a JVC unit, since it would be compatible with the equipment I have? They do have a black one, a model readily available at the discount electronic retailers, but it doesn't review very well. I'm puzzled that JVC would drop the ball on their video equipment when everything they make is top drawer, but I decided not to chance it. I stuck with a name I knew. Why not get a stereo unit for not much more? Panasonic's PV-V4523 VCR is readily available at the discount electronic retailer, but nobody likes it. The one everyone likes is the PV-V4623, but I ruled it out on three counts. One, it wasn't locally available, only online; two, I decided against stereo VCRs in general because it would be too much hassle to unplug my DVD player's audio output to run the VCR's stereo. A mono VCR hooks up through the antenna and plays the sound through the TV tuner. I don't have to go to the back of my set and pull plugs out every time I want to watch a different format. But I guess the most important reason I didn't get either is number three: neither one of them comes in black. I even considered one of those space-saving combo units that's half DVD and half VCR. That was ruled out, too, because then I'd have two DVD players and one VCR. I also didn't like the fact that I couldn't find any that were as low profile as my DVD player, which is also why I don't like the TiVos and other DVRs. And then there's that color problem: no black. So, I went and got the V4022 on Saturday in time for the Grammys and CBS Sunday Morning. It's sure a different animal from my former Panasonic VCR. The new remote is quite a bit smaller. It would be nice if I could get my DVD player's remote to work on the VCR, but alas, no record button! The rewind is downright frightening! I'm not sure what it's doing yet; it would speed up and then slow down, stop, then start again until it was through. Hey, I remember a time when VCRs didn't rewind at all; luckily all three of mine have had this feature. The record is slow on the uptake. There's some lag time if you use the one-touch, it's not quite as immediate as I'm used to. I listen to my TV through stereo headphones, so I really don't pay attention to the noise level. Outside of the whirring sound it makes when rewinding, I'm not sure how to grade on that. Recording is still possible in three speeds: sp, lp and slp. As usual the best quality is the fastest speed. Neither speed gives DVD quality. The manual is more like a folding road map rather than an actual book. I haven't fully studied it yet, other than to read how to hook it up and how to reset the channels. You'll need to know this. If you don't have cable, make sure to tell the VCR this after the auto channel setup. The factory set it up to look for cable channels, and you end up with way more channels than you need. This is only the third VCR I've had in eighteen years. One was an Emerson that lasted nine years. Next was the Panasonic PV-4308 that lasted nine years also. I really don't expect that kind of longevity out of this one, due to the fact that I will have gone digital and high definition before the next nine years is up. But until then, until I have to change to a silver HDTV, I expect this Panasonic V4022 will last as long as I need it to.
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