I was told, many years ago, that when you buy VCR's, you should buy ones made by Matsushita or any of their sub-companies. For instance, Panasonic is one of the sub-companies of Matsushita. I'm pretty sure Sony is not a sub-company of Matsushita.

Reason: I was told that the VCR transport mechanisms made by Matsushita are the most reliable. We have a Panasonic VCR that's been going strong for something like 7-8 years or something like that.

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Tony Fabris