Preface

I needed to replace a rather archaic 1st generation Sony DVD player whose sparse functionality had been long since overtaken by advances in TVs. When I started my internal debate as to the best route to go I realized I was tired of having valuable entertainment center real estate occupied by two devices that performed the same task just with different media. Could I just eliminate the VCR as almost everything comes out on DVD now? No, the few things that are still video cassette only include many educational titles my preschooler enjoys. So it looks like a DVD/VCR combo is the way to go, but will I sacrifice features or quality by choosing an all in one.

What I found out in researching DVD/VCR combos is that the videophile features and quality I might be sacrificing were not really important to me. The VCR portion just needs to play my son's Big Comfy Couch or Wiggles videos clearly and on rare occasion tape a football game for decent playback. I wasn't as interested in fancy built-in TV guide channel tuning as that's what TIVO is for. And most of the combos had a pretty full range of DVD features.

After doing a tour of the local electronics stores and searching manufacturers websites I concluded that Sony's SLV-D370P was the way to go. I had previously owned several other Sony products including my last DVD player and all were very satisfactory.

The DVD/VCR Combo

Sony's SLV-D370P DVD/VCR player is a feature packed and very affordable answer to the dilemma of having two separate boxes for DVD and video cassette playback. The player is fairly small at 17" x 3 5/14" x 11 3/10" so it fits in smaller spaces than many standard size VCRs. One of the features I liked in setting up the player was its auto channel tuning. I like this in TVs and TIVO and this was a real time saver yet again. I had a Panasonic VCR several years ago that had this feature but for some reason it did not catch all of our available channels during its scan. With cable it can be a real pain in the neck if your TV or VCR stops scanning after 60 or so channels. In the case of the SLV-D370P it programmed all of the channels without a problem.

The VCR side of things includes a 4-head, Hi-Fi stereo unit which may not be videophile quality but is plenty good enough for our needs. For recording it includes 19 Micron Heads which make the EP (Extended Play) mode very clear on playback. Several VCRs we have previously owned have been very granular when playing back an EP recording. With the SLV-D370P it is virtually as clear as live TV. Another nice feature is the Flash Rewind which Sony says will rewind a T-120 tape in 60 seconds. That is very impressive. I haven't used the feature very often as we have a separate tape rewinder to save on the VCRs drive motor.

For the DVD player Sony again packs a lot of punch into this combo. The DVD player, besides playing DVDs, is capable of playing music CDs, VCDs, JPEGs, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, and MP3s. Wow! I especially like the multiple DVD recordable playback as we burn several home movies to disk each year. The DVD player also includes Sony's Precision Cinema Progressive™ Technology which gives you incredible control over finding just the right spot on a DVD while its playing, a very handy tool when you have a crying child who really needs to find out if Dora the Explorer saved the day. It also makes slow motion playback crystal clear. Handy when I watch the Buccaneers Superbowl DVD for the millionth time.

The SLV-D370P comes with a remote that as expected controls both the DVD and VCR and as an added feature can control a TV as well. Other features of the SLV-D370P include auto head cleaning, a built-in screen saver, and dts output for high definition audio. Video outputs include coaxial digital, RCA, and component. Video inputs include RCA and composite in both the front and rear.

Summary

The SLV-D370P has ended up providing us with all the features we could want in one small package for a reasonable price. As a matter of fact we liked it so much we got one for my mom.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 110.00