Rating: 
Summary: Good points, bad points
Review: Good points: great picture and great sound. That is what you buy a VCR for. Bad points: the motor is very loud (to me, but my wife insisted it was acceptable so I did not return it). A minor (to me) inconvenience is the remote--it does not work with my brand of T.V., and two universal remotes would not work the program function of the VCR; so when we program this one we use the original remote and use a universal remote for all other functions. But you don't buy a VCR for its remote.
Rating: 
Summary: Superb machine from a great company!
Review: I got this VCR to replace another (older model) Sharp VCR, the only reason I did was because I wanted to upgrade from mono to stereo sound, as you might guess I have confidence in this brand, as my older model has been with me for the past 5 years and has never even hinted on malfunctioning although I have taken it on the road time and time again.
I like to shop around, so before I finally settled for this model, I considered all my options until I was sure this was the best I could get; well I am one VERY satisfied customer, this VCR is awesome, it does everything that's advertised and does it great. It is nice looking, and runs very smoothly and quietly (except when rewinding but even then it won't get in your way and keep in mind that it does rewind at a very high speed). The remote control might take a little getting use to, I'm talking 1-2 days at most, but for me it wasn't a problem as it is almost exacly the same as my old models'. It has been upgraded though as the buttons are much softer and the plastic casing is better looking.
As far as the sound and video portion, it is flawless, this VCR has even better image quality than a 6-head Toshiba that I owe, and the sound reproduction is top-notch. Finally, if you are one of those people that has trouble programming a VCR than this is the one to get as it is a hassle free job, is incredibly intuitive. Among all the great features, one that stands out is the one touch recording, which allows you to start recording inmediately and with each press of the button you make aftewards the recording time increases by 10 minutes, this allows you to record anything you see right away and know that at the end the thing will turn off by itself unlike other brands' where you have to turn it off yourself (great for when you are watching TV late at night, half asleep and suddenly you wanna record something but don't feel like going through programming the timer function).
Finally for those of you that care about this, and I know many people do, the VCR is made in Malaysia. I personally stay away from electronics made in China and secondly in Mexico but have had very good experience with products from Malaysia. I know many people are conscious about this so I hope this as well as the rest of the review is helpful.
There are several reasons why I decided to write this review:
1- Give credit where credit is due. I owe several Sharp products and have never ever had one malfunction, it is a nonexpensive brand with top-of-the-line quality. No reviews where available at Amazon for this particular product.
2- As a way to thank Amazon.com for carrying such a great product and at a good price (next time you go out to Best Buy, Circuit City, etc try to find a Sharp VCR... good luck. They don't carry them!
3- In hopes of helping people make up their minds so that this model will sell well so that Sharp won't discontinue it.
Rating:
Summary: No problems - great machine
Review: I had thought at first that this VCR did almost everything well, but was worried because of a dark picture during playback. As it turns out, though, it was the copy protection interfering with the picture on the TV. Because I have a TV/VCR combo, it would darken everything from the new VCR. On other TVs without a built-in VCR, this Sharp model works perfectly.So it's got a great picture on any normal television, the sound is crisp and in stereo, which is a big plus. And its features are all clearly explained in the directions and easy to figure out on the remote. I was nervous about the backlit display being distracting or too bright, but it's not at all. Automatic tracking is good, but the option to manually track is nice to have. The fast rewind and fast forward are good about being careful with the tapes and slows them before stopping or playing them. This Sharp model was the clear winner in my shopping research, and my only complaint in the first place was the dark playback - but upon discovering that the problem doesn't lie with this VCR, I would recommend this unit to anyone interested in a good, solid, quality, and featured-packed VCR for a reasonable price.
Rating: 
Summary: Some standard features missing
Review: I'm amazed at how some standard features are steadliy disappearing from VCRs.
On this one, when you put a new video in it, the counter does not start over at 00000. It picks up where you left off on the last video. But you can't tell this because the display is always on clock, even when a video is loaded. You don't see the counter info until you push play.
You can reset the counter manually, but not while the video is just sitting in the VCR. It has to be moving (playing or rewinding) when you reset. Which means the 0000 is never quite where you wanted it.
The rewind is FAST. So fast it's impossible to stop just where you want. Hit Stop and it rewinds another 10 minutes before it actually stops.
Picture quality is fine.
Rating: 
Summary: Fool Me Twice....
Review: I've been looking for a solid, reliable VCR to replace my 12-year-old Magnavox (which I loved). Panasonic VCRs are known for their reliability, so my first purchase was a Panasonic PV-V4623S. The features and user interface were great, except that it made more noise during operation than a Boeing 747 and was annoyingly slow to respond to the remote controls. I returned it. I purchased the Sharp VC-H965U after reading the enthusiastic reviews on this site (thanks, guys). Right out of the box it had a problem: During fast rewind, the tape counter would "slip", requiring a tedious manual search to locate recorded programs. This happened almost every time. The remote has three times as many buttons as other VCR remotes, and their use is not always intuitive. The back-light for the display is turned off when the VCR is off, making the clock all but impossible to read. The user manual is not available on Sharp's web site. The VCR costs more than competitive units. This is the second Sharp consumer electronics product I have owned in my life, and I haven't been happy with either one. I'm returning this VCR.
Rating:
Summary: Great VCR, Great Price
Review: It was time to replace my old Sanyo VCR, and I went on the hunt for a new one. I read many reviews, compared prices, ratings, features, and finally settled on this particular Sharp VCR. All I can say it I love it so far. It is light, at least, lighter than my other. It rewinds super fast, but slows down before reaching the end of the tape which prevents it from getting yanked apart. It automatically sets the time (what a time saver too). It does an automatic channel scan and time set the first time you turn it on. The one thing that pleases me more than anything is it plays tapes perfectly that wouldn't play correctly on my other VCRs. Especially EP recorded tapes, and older previous rental videos that I could get the tracking to work. Another thing I really like is the double fast forward and double rewind you can use when you're actually watching the tape. If you are going to buy a new VCR, definitely do research into what features you want, price ranges, etc. But keep this one in mind. It's a great VCR, and it is priced well too!
Rating:
Summary: LOVE THIS VCR!!!
Review: This is a great VCR. I have had it for a few months and I had the previous version for several years. I probably use the VCR for recording or playing something two or three times a day. It has a super fast rewind, which is fantastic (for when you are trying to make it to Blockbuster by noon). I just wanted to write a review to say that there is a way to reset the counter, but clearly people have trouble figuring out how to do it. It is rather simple, you just make the display show the counter (by pressing the display button the the remote) and then you press the cancel button (on the remote) and it resets the counter to 00:00:00. Another thing, I noticed when I was reading deciding which VCR to buy that a reviewer or two said something about this not having a manual and I was very concerned by this. Well, it's not true at all. This VCR DOES come with a manual, when you buy it new. I would guess that some others buy it used or from other sellers, and well, at that point, it's really their own responsibility to make sure it includes a manual. Also, when I spoke with Sharp, and if you have proof of valid purchase of the machine, they will send a new manual. All in all, this is a truly excellent VCR, especially for the price. I have had more expensive VCRs that just have not been as dependable, they broke down much sooner, something happens with the clarity of the picture, or a problem starts to develop with the rewind or fast forward. I have had no problems with this VCR or its previous version. I would highly recommend this for anyone who is looking to save a little money, but wants a good, dependable machine.
Rating:
Summary: Never Again!
Review: This machine is the worse! It works when it feels like it, but when it does it does play pretty well. All-in-all I wish I had bought something else
Rating:
Summary: LOVE THIS VCR!!!
Review: We've now had this Sharp VCR for about 4 months now. The Sharp VC-H965U 4-head VCR is a good no-nonsense, dependable quality machine. I would NEVER have thought when I had to replace my Panasonic VCR (after just two years) that it would be so difficult to find a good quality VCR. Apparently it is getting harder and harder to find well-engineered ones, even those made by the more well-known manufacturers. I had always been told about Panasonic's quality in regards to its VCRs, and how "JVC had invented the VCR tape", and therefore I reasoned that my first Panasonic which died prematurely must have just been a lemon, or something of a fluke. So I (unfortunately) bought yet another Panasonic. After buying it, we had to return it within a week since it mistracked every tape I put into it almost immediately out of the box. Same with a "super-high quality" JVC "S-VCR"; I didn't even have it for 24 hours before I saw permanent tracking lines on everything I taped & watched. (Those tapes were forever damaged by that VCR and my second Panasonic.) After trying a VCR/DVD combo which ALSO didn't work properly, I purchased this Sharp unit and a Sanyo VCR hoping that ONE of them just might work. To our surprise, both units work flawlessly, were easy to program, and played all of our older tapes without any problems. And the price was less than half the price of the JVC and Panasonic units.
This VCR is not by any means perfect, but it is a very, very good and a safe bet. As someone here wrote, it does sound a little louder during the rewind function than some VCRs, but it is not unreasonable to live with. There is a slight problem in programming cable stations where the picture went out after the process, if you happen to have a live signal on channel 3, but the manual does address this. And the very polite customer service staff walked me through the problem after this first happened when I used the Auto-set feature. (This contrasts dramatically with JVCs "Customer service number" which was just a voicemail box, with no option to even leave a message) And the Hi-Fi recorded sound on this VCR is very clean. When viewed on my digital set, and the recorded picture is also clear, though an improvement it could use is that the Sharp is just a tad darker in the shadow areas than my two Sanyo VCRs. However, all around it is a solid performer, and exceptionally easy & reliable to program your favorite shows. I would buy another in a minute. Yet another winner from Sharp, whom I've come to respect more over the years...
Rating:
Summary: A good no-nonsense, dependable quality machine.
Review: We've now had this Sharp VCR for about 4 months now. The Sharp VC-H965U 4-head VCR is a good no-nonsense, dependable quality machine. I would NEVER have thought when I had to replace my Panasonic VCR (after just two years) that it would be so difficult to find a good quality VCR. Apparently it is getting harder and harder to find well-engineered ones, even those made by the more well-known manufacturers. I had always been told about Panasonic's quality in regards to its VCRs, and how "JVC had invented the VCR tape", and therefore I reasoned that my first Panasonic which died prematurely must have just been a lemon, or something of a fluke. So I (unfortunately) bought yet another Panasonic. After buying it, we had to return it within a week since it mistracked every tape I put into it almost immediately out of the box. Same with a "super-high quality" JVC "S-VCR"; I didn't even have it for 24 hours before I saw permanent tracking lines on everything I taped & watched. (Those tapes were forever damaged by that VCR and my second Panasonic.) After trying a VCR/DVD combo which ALSO didn't work properly, I purchased this Sharp unit and a Sanyo VCR hoping that ONE of them just might work. To our surprise, both units work flawlessly, were easy to program, and played all of our older tapes without any problems. And the price was less than half the price of the JVC and Panasonic units.
This VCR is not by any means perfect, but it is a very, very good and a safe bet. As someone here wrote, it does sound a little louder during the rewind function than some VCRs, but it is not unreasonable to live with. There is a slight problem in programming cable stations where the picture went out after the process, if you happen to have a live signal on channel 3, but the manual does address this. And the very polite customer service staff walked me through the problem after this first happened when I used the Auto-set feature. (This contrasts dramatically with JVCs "Customer service number" which was just a voicemail box, with no option to even leave a message) And the Hi-Fi recorded sound on this VCR is very clean. When viewed on my digital set, and the recorded picture is also clear, though an improvement it could use is that the Sharp is just a tad darker in the shadow areas than my two Sanyo VCRs. However, all around it is a solid performer, and exceptionally easy & reliable to program your favorite shows. I would buy another in a minute. Yet another winner from Sharp, whom I've come to respect more over the years...
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