Cons: Broke after 2 months. Unusable. Waste of $150.
The Bottom Line: It is completely unacceptable for a product like this to break in just 2 months of moderate use. I would avoid Sony until they go back to being reliable.
wrldtravler's Full Review: Sony RDR-VX560 DVD Recorder / VCR Combo
I am not a huge fan of Sony products after the last two DVD/VCR units I bought from the Sony outlet stopped working ... but for some reason, I bought this unit. Probably because at $149, it was not a bad deal and had all the things I needed. After about 2 months, the DVD tray that slides in and out to load the DVDs stopped working and the unit does not work at all. So for about $149, this unit lasted two months and Sony only offers a 30 day warrenty.
I bought this because DVD/VCR units are getting hard to find and I collect a lot of old VHS movies that are pretty obscure and not on DVD yet. I need a VCR, but watch all my movies on DVD. The fact that this also was a recorder was a plus because I figured I could get some of the obscure VHS tapes onto DVDs. Also, on Wednesdays and Sundays, a local cable chanel runs the RAI Italian television for 4 hours and I always record it because I miss Italian television programs and enjoy watching them over and over.
This is not a simple machine to figure out. You would think one touch recording would mean you put a VHS in one side and a DVD-RW in the other and touch the one touch dubbing button ... but that is not true. A lot of set up and menu set ups go into this before you can use the one touch dub, which often times does not work unless you do everything perfectly. This is not simple to set up ... and it is not really simple to perfect getting the hang of. If you are good with electronics and set ups, you won't have a problem with it. But if you are not a technology person, the instruction manual will give you the same sort of feel as when you are putting together something you purchased from IKEA.
The unit itself is fairly cheap and made of lightweight plastic and metal. This is not a durable unit. The tray that slides in and out stopped working about 2 months after I used it. Now the unit is useless because without the DVD player, it is pretty much just a VCR. The door didn't just get stuck, it appears as though a part may have broke off and lodged inside the DVD player because the drawer cannot even be closed by manually pushing it into the machine. So it goes beyond just a motor burning out. This is a shame because Sony's warrenty covers it only 30 days after the purchase and it was 60 days or so before the tray stopped working. And I do not use this constantly, only 4 times a week or so to watch a movie or maybe make a VHS to DVD once a week.
The downside of Sony products is they are constantly updating the units (probably to stop people from returning them as they break.) They may change the color of writing on the doors and call it a new model. They may add a knob or move a feature over to the other side. So, once you get one ... there will probably be a slighty adjusted model coming out within a few months making it impossible to return yours if it breaks.
The picture quality was okay. Nothing amazing, but no problems with the picture quality. One thing I did notice is that the dubbing really did affect the picture quality on the DVD-RW that was made. Another thing I noticed is that the Sony machine skipped more than any other brand I've made. I rent a lot of RedBox DVDs, which occassionally have small scratches or smudges on the disc. When this happens, the machine will skip and become jumpy until it eventually just freezes on a scene and you have to fast forward through the scene or turn the unit off and then back on again. I am extremely dissapointed with the anti-skip technology on this unit. It skipped frequently (when it was working) and not just because of a noticable fingerprint ... sometimes a little scratch or slight smudge is all it would take.
This is an unreliable unit with a decent picture and very poor performance when it comes to skipping. There aren't many features on this for the price, either ... there is the one touch dubbing. It does not feature a USB port, like many of the similar units from Pioneer do.
There are also too many buttons on the remote, making it very hard to navigate through. I would avoid buying this based on my experience. After 60 days, the unit breaking is really something you should keep in mind before buying this. $149 is not cheap for a unit like this these days with all the big box stores ... and Sony has really gone down as far as a high end brand over the last few years. I used to buy nothing but Sony electronics and never had problems. The last few years, Sony products have been breaking and not working as they should. I think this is the straw that broke the camel's back and I will be boycotting the brand.
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