CompuServe Messages

I'm looking for a new VHS VCR for personal use. I'd like good video and sound, cable tuning, picture-in-picture, and those handy "remember this channel" and "return to last saved channel" buttons on the remote. Features like switching between several video/audio sources would be great, too. I'm ready to spend $500 or more. Any recommendations? I went to the local place, they said only TVs have PIP these days. No VCRs, and of course they don't sell cable converters. There's a gimzo in the Damark catalog. It's a cable converter box that offers PIP as well as switching between three A/V inputs, only $170. But I call, and it's not in stock. At first, salesdroid says it's backordered until third week of November, do you still want to order it. Yes. Whoops, now the computer says third week of December, do you still want to order it. Uh huh. So I called a few cable converter companies. They've never heard of "Roctec", the maker listed in the Damark catalog. They've heard rumors of upcoming PIP cable boxes, but they've never seen one. So I figure this Damark item is not yet in production, and they're just taking orders. It sounds interesting enough to order one, still. I'm constantly disappointed with the configurations of consumer video equipment… you can't buy a cable converter to save your life these days, they want to sell you a VCR instead. And they don't offer PIP except in the TV. And they don't switch between inputs. And they don't have feature X on the VCR remote, but it's present on the TV remote. You'd think they could jam a zillion features into one high-priced VCR, and sell it to the gadgetheads by the truckload. I want it all, and I want it in a little black box, and I want a remote for it, too. Am I starting to sound like Denis Leary yet?