Pros: Fairly simple to set up and use. Surprisingly good picture quality
Cons: Lmitted number of input and output jacks. Does not have a built-in tuner
The Bottom Line: Not a bad dubbing deck for the price. Connection options somewhat lmitted. Surprisingly good picture quality from DVD's that were created from VHS types.
gummyroach's Full Review: Sony RDR-VX560 DVD Recorder / VCR Combo
My trusty JVC dvd player that I had owned for about 5 years finally quit working, and so I was in the market for another dvd player.
I'm a bit of an old-school amateur audio/video enthusiast who doesn't always immediately run out and buy the latest and greatest gadgets. I still have many VHS tapes sitting around the house, I still record with an old Hitachi full-sized VHS camcorder, and I still edit on vhs tapes once in a while.
With the jvc not working anymore, I thought that while looking for a replacement dvd player, why not go a step further and try to find one that would also record dvds as well as play them. Then I thought I'd go even further and find something that would easily let me transfer vhs tapes to dvd, or vice-versa.
I'll be honest; the Sony RDRVX560 wasn't my first choice. I went browsing around on websites, looking at various dubbing decks. I initially had my heart set on a Panasonic model. I went to a major electronics retailer website that many of us are familiar with. They were having a big sale on dvd players. Their on-line feature to check and see whether they had the items in stock at the stores or not wasn't working correctly (and has been found to be inaccurate at times anyway), so I drove to the store to look in person. For a store advertising a huge sale on dvd players and recorders, I was very disappointed to find that they did not have a single dvd recorder in stock! What a bummer! You'd think they would have at least SOME of the models advertised in stock. No such luck. They had a few floor models, such as the Panasonic I was interested in, along with this sony deck. They refused to sell me any of the models. It would be over a week before they had anything in stock.
I'm one of those people who don't like to wait. When I want to buy something, I want it that same day. I don't like driving from store to store, trying to find what I'm looking for, or told that the item is on back order. Anyway, there was a home furnishings store around the corner, so I went over there to see if they had any dvd recorders. They didn't have the panasonic in stock, but they DID have this one, and it was actually priced lower than what the other store was advertising as their sale price, so I ended up settling for the Sony.
The Sony RDRVX560 is somewhat bare-bones when it comes to the number or types of inputs and outputs on it. I found though, that the connections on the back were just adequate for what I needed.
On the back, it has a component video out (3 RCA-style jacks colored Red, Green, and Blue), an HDMI out, Digial Audio Out (Coax (RCA style) only. No optical). RCA-style composit video in and out, Left/Right audio in and out, and an S-Video input. (There is no S-Video output)
On the front, behind the front panel, it has composit video and L/R audio in, a USB port for digital still cameras, and a DV8 jack for digital camcorders.
This dubbing deck has a timer for recording, BUT... it does not have a tuner. Remember those old-style VCRs that connected to your tv with that round, black, screw-in cable, and you had to tune your tv to channel 3 in order to watch it? Can't do that with this deck, and for good reason. We've come a long ways since the old channel 3 setup. DVD's are meant to be played on newer equipment capable of better picture quality than the old RF/channel 3 get-up. To connect this dubbing deck to your TV, your TV is going to need either RCA-style composite video and L/R audio inputs, OR... an HDMI input, OR.... those three RCA-style componet Jacks (Red, Blue, and Green). You cannot connect this deck to your TV's antenna or cable input. Those days are simply behind us.
In order to record a television show, you would need to connect this deck to your existing VCR (if you still have one!), or to a cable or satellite tv box that has composit video and L/R audio output jacks.
I found Setting up this dubbing deck to be pretty simple, but keep in mind that not everyone's home theater configuration is the same, so installation will vary depending on your home theater setup.
The dubbing deck features an on-screen setup area that takes you thru initial setup, such as setting the clock timer, selecting your tv screen type, and how your sound system is configured. I found this to be pretty straight-forward and convenient.
I did have a problem initially, trying to get the deck to conrol my old Samsung HD Direct tv receiver. It turns out that I was entering control codes meant for cable tv boxes, and that there was actually a separate page in the owner's manual that contained codes for satellite boxes. (There's a difference between cable and satellite receivers when it comes to control codes!) Once I had the right codes, it worked like a champ.
I like how this deck has a "One button Dub" option. All I needed to do was insert a vhs tape, insert a blank DVD, and click the button that corresponded with the direction I wanted to copy; either from tape to dvd or from dvd to tape, and away it went. This can be accomplished by pressing the button on the deck itself, or going thru the menus, using the remote control.
First tape I copied was an old movie from the 70's starring Timothy Bottoms, dealing with amusement parks. (great movie I might add, but hard to find). When I played back the dvd, I was impressed at how well the picture quality was. It looked even better than the video tape. Maybe this has to do with the dvd upconverting to progressive scan. It did an amazing job.
Next, I tried recording a few movies off of Showtime. No problem. It recorded very well.
Now some people in other forums have left negative reviews about this deck, particularly that they were having difficulties getting dvd's recorded on this deck to play on other dvd players. If you should buy this deck, it is probably a very good idea that you become familiar with page 30 in the owner's manual. This page contains a chart of the different types of DVD discs that are out there, along with the different types of recording formats you can use. In other words, this chart will tell you what disc type and what recording format works best for what purpose. Now I for one had no idea that there were so many different types. I always thought a DVD was a DVD. Who'd have guessed there's a type -R or a type +R, and that not all players will play all types. Looks like disc type -R, in video format is the most universal if I want my discs to work on "MOST" other dvd players.
The built-in VHS deck features 4-heads, and yes it is hi-fi stereo. The deck will also play S-VHS types, although at a slightly lower quality than true s-vhs. The deck will not record s-vhs however. I do not yet know whether it features a flying erase head. I'm not going to hold my breath on that.
Anyway, even though I initially thought that this deck was kinda mehhh, I've found that the connections on the back were adequate for what I needed, and that it performed surprisingly well. I really don't have any complaints about it.
This deck may not be for the very picky enthusiast, but If you're looking for a simple dubbing deck that will easily copy from vhs to dvd or vice-versa, or record from direct tv, you may find that this deck is actually not too bad, and may serve you well.
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