Yes, according to the user manual of the Panasonic vcr, the component output is for plasma flatscreens, and can be set in interlaced or progressive, i understand it is allways better to have signals separated, instead of through one wire, but in the end all will come together, maybe one device or another will do a better job,
but most of the time one has no choice.
I also notice different tapes, have different tracking "bandwith" but the same is also valid for the vcr's, and again also for the build quality of the tapes and vcr's, the tape is a vulnerable medium...
I was surprised that the JVC vcr is in good working condition, it was bare stored in de atic, for several years, more then 15 years for sure, plus it did not perform good when i stored it, that was the reason to store it, most of the time rubber parts degrade, i have a Sony camcorder and a Sony (audio) cassette-deck that suffer from that,
the cassette-deck has even S-Dolby noise surpression....
I notice some of the FAQ's and posts are quiet old here, and now there is much more better hardware to capture video with, (DV/iLink/firewire is also a good option)
Like from BlackMagic Design, the costs are also reasonable, for an video hobby amateur, only thing is you need the right interface type, and USB isn't allways the right choice, some times you can adapt that, but better checkout if it is done before by other users, a recorder with (good) build-in stabilization is a good start, this isn't always known by the user, to purchase TBC hardware is difficult, because of the technology you need to know about, and 2nd hand availability + working state judgement, that's why i'm happy to own some good recorders, which is just luck i guess.
-- merged --
The only difference i can find between the HR-S8960 and HR-S8965 is that mine uses PDC for automatic tv program recording and the HR-S8965 uses Video-Plus for that, both versions have insert-recording i noticed, and can playback quasi NTSC (NTSC50) both have also BEST, a feature that continuously adjust record and playback quality, so when you want to capture, you need to playback more before your actualy start capturing.
Besides the "TBC" feature it has also a picture Noise Reduction feature, i don't know if this will do good to details in de video image....
Both have also a digital audio decoder (NICAM) which was never used in the Netherlands to my knowledge, UK and Germany did though.