md55,
Yes, that's correct about S-VHS. No point unless you have a library of S-VHS tapes you want to play back with S-VHS quality. For a time there were a number of brands that offered "quasi-S-VHS playback". Those would play back S-VHS tapes but with only VHS quality. You could still view them, however.
In my experience the older Toshiba VCRs from the late '80s and early '90s were excellent--very reliable with very fast rewind times and a very good internal tuner. Next best was Panasonic. The least reliable were JVC and NEC, although both of those brands often had innovative technical features in their time.
Regards,
