There's nothing at all wrong with these tapes. If you're still using a VCR, you better stock up on these while you can, as one day very soon you won't find them anyplace. Yes, I was afraid to order due to not knowing if they became brittle/old stored in the warehouse (BTW, I ordered mine direct from Amazon, not a third party seller).
The tapes I opened so far are as fresh and new as when I opened a new tape 10 years ago. High quality recording tape. I agree that the images aren't as good as DVD's but they really aren't that bad.