Panasonic TV/VCR combinations

[radiotvnut]

It seems that most of the TV/VCR combinations that I've found have been made by Funai, which went from being trashy in the early '90's to being ultra trashy by the early 2000's. I cringe every time I see one.

Today, someone gave me a '99 13" white Panasonic model PV-M1379W (MSRP-$329.95) with the original remote. He said it likely had no more than 100 hours on it and was a great TV until it stopped working. He thinks a power surge got it and the only sign of life it will give is the green timer LED blinks. There is no response at all from the remote or the power button.

I have not done any troubleshooting; but, I did remove the back and the build quality looks better than a Funai. That could explain why I've seen more Funai built models than Panasonic/Quasar models. About 12" years ago, someone gave me an almost new 20" Quasar "crystal vision" TV/VCR combo. All it needed was a new HOT and I sold it to a friend of mine, who has been watching it every day since. That set has probably been on more than it's been off. So, I think that says something for Panasonic models. What do y'all think of them?

[JCFitz]

I'm in the repair business and I can say without a doubt Panasonic combos are way better than Funai built ones. They had some problem vcr decks in the early 90s but hadn't seen many for repair when they were still coming in in the late 90s,early 2000s. mostly what was coming in for repair all the time were the Funai built ones. I only saw later Panasonics with 3 way combos in later years. That reminds me. I've got one with the caps gone in the vcr power supply at the shop.(common in early 90s units) My boss says to toss it but I might save it from the dumpster and take it home.