[Jeffhs]

I have a Panasonic PV-4022 VCR, which I purchased some time in the 1990s or 2000s (I'm not sure just when, although it must have been some time after 1999; the machine replaced a similar Panny VCR which ate a tape, just a couple of hours (!) after I recorded a program).

Panasonic VCRs are very good machines. My present one hasn't given me five minutes' worth of trouble in the several years I've owned it. I reinstalled this VCR in my video system this afternoon and, as I fully expected it would, it worked absolutely great; as well, in fact, as it did when I purchased it.

BTW, I have not had any problems with my VCR yet, and I don't expect to. (Knock on wood; this also speaks volumes for the quality of Panasonic's products.) I will buy another Panasonic VCR if and when anything happens to this one, although as well as it is working at the moment, I don't see myself replacing it any time soon. I don't use the VCR that much, and I have used it even less since I purchased a DVD player a few years ago. I guess I just got tired of seeing all my VHS videos just sitting in a rack in my bedroom, unused, for years (!), which was why I finally took the bull by the horns this afternoon and reconnected the VCR to my entertainment system.

VCRs may be obsolete, having been replaced by DVD players (and who knows what will eventually replace the latter), but the former still have uses, especially if you have many VHS cassettes. VCRs, of course, will not record any longer without a cable box since the analog-to-digital TV switch about ten years ago, but they will still play old prerecorded cassettes so they aren't useless yet, not by a long shot. Most newer Panasonic VCRs either have no drive belts at all (direct drive) or just one (mine only has one, IIRC), so this is one less thing to worry about. I haven't seen any of Panasonic's products in a while, so I don't know exactly what they are doing with VCRs or, more likely, DVD players.

I am by no means certain, but I think Panasonic may have closed its VCR manufacturing plant some time ago to concentrate on newer technologies, such as DVD players. However, my curiosity is getting the best of me as I write this, so after I finish this post I will go to Panasonic's website just to see what, if anything, they are up to in the 21st century.