Sorry for the triple post... manually adjusting the tracking cleared up the pops / clicks with the HiFi audio. There's still some hiss, but it is very quiet and is not audible unless you turn the volume way up during a quiet song. I don't expect perfection from analog / magnetic media, but the amount of pops & clicks I was encountering before was dreadful. :)

I received the JVC HR-S7600EU. It only says 220 ~ 240V, but works fine plugged in the US with a shape adapter.

It also plays NTSC tapes without a problem, despite not advertising this with a sticker on top like the Philips VR1000. Same vertical jitter with TBC enabled, again this probably requires manual tracking, but isn't the "BEST" system supposed to auto-adjust tracking for optimal results?

The JVC looks very, very similar to the Philips VR1000 externally, but the VR1000 is slightly larger in footprint. External buttons have different placement.