Price Paid:  $125.00 from Wal-mart

Summary:
This product is a HUGE LEMON! I purchased it for my husband for when he returned from Iraq, so it sat in the box awhile before we used it. The first time it was used, it froze in the middle of the movie. What a pain to have to either rewind or fast forward it a little to keep it playing. We've probably watched a dozen movies on it because it's a pain to use -- now it's locked up, frozen -- won't play ANYTHING to include a disc cleaner. The open/close even freezes up. Bought this brand DVD/VCR player to work with a Sony TV to ensure compatability. My little Colby $19 DVD player I bought after Thanksgiving works much better and the picture is better.

Strengths:
VCR works fine, but why pay over $100 for a VCR?!?

Weaknesses:
The whole DVD side of the machine. Not up to Sony's standards.

Similar Products Used:
GE 5-disc DVD player, PS2 console, Colby DVD player, JVC DVD player

Price Paid:  $95.00 from Sears

Summary:
If you want a DVD player, run away. Far, far away. The VCR works fine, but the DVD player is junk. As one reviewer aptly put it, a real turkey.

It randomly pauses in the middle of movies. What the heck? It's not the layer delay, I mean the movie STOPS at random points. You cannot press play to get it started, but if you rewind a bit, the movie plays normally after that.

If you stop and start the movie, Subtitles get turned on. What a pain! Also, sometimes the aspect ratio gets screwed up. The only option is to turn off the whole unit and start over.

Do yourself a favor and don't make the same mistake I did.

Oh, and it's not supported by other Sony remotes, since it's a "special" combined unit. @$#*&^$!^&*

-Joe

Strengths:
Space saving, nice VCR, plays CDs with MP3s and JPGs, which is nice.

Weaknesses:
Terrible DVD player. Horrible. Have I said bad?

Price Paid:  $170.00 from Circuit City

Summary:
My only Sony mistake, but a GREAT BIG GOBBLER OF A MISTAKE. This machine is turkey time for sure. As a DVD player, it fails it's primary task: playing DVDs. Some play with pixels throughout; many don't even play. Some play like the machine is running on dying batteries when it's actually plugged into a working outlet. And all are brand new releases. It plays, fromi the same set, a pixelated Two Towers, Disk One, but dies on Disc 2. Alien is fine, well, expect for the pixels, Aliens doesn't finish loading, but doe3s lock up. OH, AND if you stop the movie and then start it again, Closed Captioning decides is needed to be seen. The process for shutting it complex.

At my expense it was shipped to Sony for repairs still under warranty, but from the reviews I have read, making it work as intended, well, won't work. It needs a recall.

Strengths:
VCR's looked ok. The ONE DVD it played without a problem, (Lawrence of Arabia) looked great.

Weaknesses:
But that was it. Other major releases were beyond its meager capability. I never got to see the second half of Two Towers on it. Or Aliens. (Tho Alien was passable. Pixelated, but passable. And I got annoyed trying to turn off the CC which I never once turned on. Maybe it's a service they provide the hairing impaired. CC that goes on without being asked.

Similar Products Used:
Samsung combo, (but not progressive). This less expensive machine has never failed me, and plays everything the Sony rejects./

Price Paid:  $200.00 from Best Buy

Summary:
The Sony SLV-D300P malfunctioned at 90 days (intermittantly didn't want to play) and totally failed at 5 months-both occurrances out of warranty.
This is the second Sony DVD player to fail prematurely on me in the last year. Sony's quality certainly isn't what it used to be.

Strengths:
None

Weaknesses:
Premature laser failure on several models. If they last a year you're lucky!

Similar Products Used:
Toshiba, Yamaha