I haven't ever really tried a head-to-head comparison between an S-VHS deck and regular VHS deck when watching movies, but I haven't seen any startling differences. If your current VCR is a decent unit, you may not really benefit.

It was mighty handy for using the 1050's video switching because everything was native S-Video (the 1050 does no composite/S-video conversion), although in your case you are probably using component for the DVD player so that won't make any difference for you.

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review