The setup was so completely painless on this system I'd think a 5 year old could integrate this.

My only problem with this deck is that the display only shows hours and minutes, not seconds. So sometimes when you're recording something, you dont know that you are until you see the minute change over. Took a little getting used to.

All in all this is a great VCR at a great price

Huge improvement over my low-end model! (Rating: 5.00)
Review : The Toshiba is my 2nd VCR...my first was a low-end Funai bought in Feb. 1999. The Funai was very loud in playback and recording, and the playback and recording was poor quality. So when I went VCR shopping I made quality my 1st priority. I wanted to be able to watch my tapes without the picture going gray or snowy due to VCR tracking problems. I've only had the Toshiba W522 since Dec 13 2002 but I am amazed at the improvement over my low-end VCR. The picture and sound quality are amazingly clear. Many tapes, like my Wrestlemania 13 tape (which was taped by WWF Home Video in EP mode), would not play at all or made strange crinkling noises in the Funai but in the Toshiba there are absolutely no problems on these tapes! I'm not afraid to rewind a tape while it's in play mode either (something you just didn't do on the Funai). The second thing on my priority list is durability...obviously only time can test durability so whatever you decide to buy it's a bit of a gamble. You can't beat this price if all you're looking for is just basically a great performance from your VCR. You can be picky when looking at the tiny details/features but if that's the case you'll never be 100% pleased with any VCR. If my W522 works this well for as long as the Funai worked badly, I'll be very happy. I love this VCR!

You get what you paid for! (Rating: 2.00)
Review : This is a basic entry level Hi-Fi VCR. I have 3 panasonic VCR and this one was my fourth one.

The worst part was recording as you have to press 2 buttons in order to program recording. When it was recording, a big "REC" showed in the beginning and then replaced by tape meter which could confuse you as you might not realize it was recording. When programming, channels were not defaulted to those you had access but it went from channel 1, 2, 3...ie, it was a bit time consuming to program.

Remote was OK but it was quick enough if you do commercial skipping.

Soundwise, for some reasons, it was better than my hi-fi panasonic even with the same home theatre set up.

Durability wise, I bought mine from Nov 2002 & I broke it in early June 2003 when I tried to clean up the tape head. Something just fell out when I opened it and tried to clean it the 2nd time. I guess it was my fault. The inside of it was made with a lot of plastics which I don't think it would last long anyway. However, it is reasonable if you don't pay more than $ bucks for this unit. Now I have to deal with Toshiba people. Don't know the outcome yet.

Picture quality was good for me as I didn't have any problem like others.

Tracking was better than my 3 other panasonic. It usually found the right tracking for the tapes that we put in.

Noise was reasonable to me and was silent when playing. Rewind was quick as advertised.

It had good feature like showing you titles of TV programs when changing channels and auto clock setting.

not bad but not great either (Rating: 4.00)
Review : Okay, it was pretty cheap. It functions pretty much as advertised and is not a bad machine for the money. But...some of the functionality is frustrating. I've missed recording a couple of my favorite shows because of the fact that it won't record your programmed shows if you simply power it OFF when you're done using it. You have to remember to power it OFF and set the RECORD button also (this requires pushing 2 buttons on the remote simultaneously). On the plus side, the rewind is extremely fast and the counter display is "clock time" as opposed to just numbers counting up or down. (So if you want to skip a 1-hour segment it is very easy to do.) Overall, this has been a good VCR for the money, with a few minor inconveniences.

EXCELLENT VCR FOR THE PRICE (Rating: 5.00)
Review : Excellent Image. Can read S-VHS tapes created with JVC vcr's.
Rewinds faster than common VCRs