Watch out for VCR Plus & time-shifting. I have a Philips/Magnavox vcr, and when I enter a weekly VCR+ program, it works fine for a while, then spontaneously vanishes. Manually entered programs are permanent however.
Does the VCR+ code possibly become outdated or something like that?
I also have a Sharp brand VCR with the 19 micron heads, and it’s the sharpest EP mode vcr I’ve ever seen.