DuracellEnergizer said:

^A VCR not even a full three years old dies just like that? Damn, SilverWook must be right about how cheap last-generation VCRs were made. All the VCRs I ever owned (minus the three VCR/DVD combos I have/had) were bought second hand, and the one I held onto the longest lasted from 2002 all the way to 2007/2008.

It was a unit from the low-end company Sylvania. Even though it died I managed to score two high-end units from the late 1990's for free, one is from Hitachi and the other is from Quasar and both are excellent units. I use them for capturing VHS Tapes onto my computer so I can burn them to DVD.