As an electronics technician, I have services many types of VCRs over the years and have come to conclude Sony VCRs to have been superior in both consumer and professional grade units. Most professional recording and broadcast studios still use Sony machines for control room editing. I have used a SLV-R1000 since 1994, and it still operates flawlessly. I did have to replace a guide arm gear and do a general cleaning about 10 years in but other than that, the unit works fine. The only shortfall is with a lack of toslink and /or HDMI connectors for output to newer TV/ monitors. However, there are several S-video to HDMI converters products that offer 740i/1080i video quality close to high definition

Superb image quality, flexible control

Did not last past a year.

This vcr was pretty awesome until 2003 came along, it is giving me shaky pictures and I don't know if it's fixable. I have take it to a vcr shop and see how it turns out. Having paid so much for it I thought it would have lasted me more.

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none

Great display and build. Input level adjustment. Picture sharpness adjustment.

Grainy picture, cumbersome remote

This is my first S-VHS deck and so far I'm pretty satisfied with it, even though it wasn't what I expected a first(I expected no difference between the tape and the source, so I guess I was expecting too much). I noticed that reds are faded when playing back recorded material on S-VHS tapes. Picture is a little grainy. I have 2 of these decks: 1 used and the other new. I wouldn't say that it's worth the $1000+ dollars that Sony sells it for, but it's a great quality machine and a reliable workhorse. To keep from wearing this good piece of machinery out, buy a videotape rewinder. I'm going to give this machine 4 stars.

Shuttle Remote, Front Inputs, Detailed Front Display, High Speed Rewind

Noisy Tape Transport System

Let's face it, this is an old VCR. When Sony came out with this model in 1993 it was $649 at my local authorized dealer. Now in 2001, on the brink of it's demise it's cost is in the range of $800 - $1100. There is only one problem:

This is still a great product.

This VCR comes from the time when you could buy a Sony triple CCD camcorder for around $1000. The machines all came from Sony of Japan and were of superior craftsmanship. This unit will beat all the other consumer S-VHS out there today in terms of overall satisfaction. I had the SLV-595HF (which is a standard VHS cousin of this model)for ten years and in many ways they are identical. The tape transport system is precise albeit noisy. This is in part to the large vent grill on the top of the unit. The backlit LCD display is very informative only when the front panel/door is in the down position otherwise you are restricted to counter info through the window. I have never seen anyone make High-Speed rewind like Sony did where they actually stow the tape back into the cartridge before revving the motors leaving the heads untouched. I've always loved the remote with a full shuttle control built in.

The picture quality is nothing more or less of what I expected. I understand that this is still the magnetic analog medium and is subject to slight noise and distortion.
But S-VHS recordings of high quality material to a high quality tape leaves me with no disapointments. The flying erase head to me has become more of an extra simply because I have moved editing to digital realm and no longer need it. But for those still doing it that way it cuts and inserts very clean.

I know this unit will last because I put my last unit through hell (over 10,000 hours of moving gears) and only went through one capstan motor replacement.

$800 plus dollars may not be worth it to some who don't care about holding on to Sony's glory days. I wasn't too far from riding out the last days of VHS with a Mitsubishi.

But then I wouldn't be a Sony man.

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SONY SLV-595HF

This is a very good VCR. The S-VHS quality is much better than standard VHS. I have a DVP-S7000 DVD player and when i record off of DVD onto S-VHS the difference is minimal. Its only about a 10% loss where as a standard conversion would be like 50% loss. The DVD transfer to S-VHS looks much better than store bought movie.
This unit has 3 S-Video inputs which i like a lot. My DSP-A1 integrated has 6 S-Video inputs so i have a total of 9 S-Video connections :-)
The volume bias is also a nice feature. You can crank up the bias for ultimate audio dubs.

Inside the unit you will see a very good video head. Probably the best video head ive seen a "consumer" product.

They are going around on the used market for about $500 and below. Well worth the price.

If you want to do a quick mod to your R1000 to allow a non-S-vhs tape to be able to store a S-VHS video simply open the unit up and snip the plastic tip that goes into the hole of a S-Vhs tape. (be carefull, theres TWO tips) If you use a good high quality Standard VHS tape such as sony V grade tapes there will be hardly a difference between the picture quality on a $15 S-VHS tape and a $2 V-Grade tape. Or you can just drill holes into your tapes if you dont want to mod your new deck :-)

5 stars!

-Mark

After 13 years with a JVC VHS Hi-Fi VCR that suddenly and catastrophically failed, I went out to purchase a replacement. I unfortunately found it impossible to find the qualities I wanted in even today's top-of-the-line models. My JVC had recording levels on the display screen, panel switches for combining audio inputs from the stereo with video inputs from the cable (important in these days of digital cable boxes which don't output stereo audio via the RF line but only via the lines going to the stereo), and the ability to playback audio from the HiFi tracks simultaneously with audio from the normal tracks. All these options seem to have vanished for some reason. Moreover, on screen displays seem to be the order of the day...very annoying as I frequently would set up my VCR for timer recordings without needing to turn on the television. Not anymore.

But I digress...I went to the Sony Outlet and found that they had two of these left -- refurbs -- at $549. Picked one up and brought it home. The unit beeped a few times when I plugged it in. The manual didn't say why it would do such a thing. The VCR was set to channel 8. I couldn't alter that with either remote or the box. After an hour of play, I found that some of the controls on the VCR didn't work, most of the controls on the remote didn't work (including the power button), and that the on screen display didn't work so that I was unable to reconfigure things. I clicked the Reset switch provided in the event of microprocessor difficulties, but this didn't result in improvement. What it did do, however, was play a tape, albeit with a somewhat noisy tape transport mechanism. In any event, I finally determined that the unit was DOA and returned it for a full credit. I ordered a JVC HRS9800 instead so will report back on that shortly.

I still don’t understand why the S-VHS format never became more popular, when the picture quality of a S-VHS recording is Head and Shoulders above a Standard VHS recording! Ultimately we the consumer decide any particular video or audio format’s fate. We buy it, it lives! We don’t, it dies! I don’t know, I guess the higher prices of S-VHS VCR’s contributed to it’s demise, but I have always been one willing to pay a little extra for quality, but I guess a lot of people aren't. That said, let’s get on with the review...
I believe the SLV-R1000 (Sony’s only consumer S-VHS VCR) has been discontinued because I no longer see it listed on Sony’s web site (sel.sony.com) but it should still be available at select Audio/Video stores. I found it at a local Camera/Video store for $700. Sony also offers a similar S-VHS deck, the SVO-2000 which they bill as a “Pro” VCR so you won’t find it on Sony’s consumer web site but you will find it on their “Professional” web site (bpgprod.sel.sony.com). The SVO-2000 looks almost identical to the SLV-R1000 but offers some upgraded features such as a removable three prong power cord and some refined editing features. It also carries a slightly higher price tag (I saw it advertised at cameraworld.com for $999). As for picture quality, I don’t know if there is a difference between these two decks because I have never done a side by side comparison. But I can tell you that the picture quality from the SLV-R1000 is excellent. Also take note that since the SVO-2000 is considered a “Pro” deck it uses BNC type connectors for it’s composite video inputs and outputs. This is not a problem for those who will be using the S-video connections, but for those who will be using the composite connections you will most likely have to buy some BNC to RCA terminated cables or buy some BNC to RCA adapters which you could probably pick up at Radio Shack for a couple of bucks.

Like I said earlier the picture quality on the SLV-R1000 is excellent and so goes the same for audio quality, Hi-Fi recordings sound great through my Mirage OM-6’s. As for build quality, it too is very good, better than anything I’ve seen from JVC or Panasonic as of late. The Sony also has some nice features, such as the cable mouse which is a device that changes the channels on your cable box for you (if you use one) very handy while using the VCRplus feature. The SLV-R1000 also has a host of editing features. Probably more than most will ever use, but it’s always nice to know their there if you need them.

I’ve never done any side by side comparisons with the Sony and other S-VHS decks from other manufactures, but I have seen other brands in action (JVC, Panasonic, Mitsubishi) and to tell you the truth, they all look pretty damn good, but I felt the Sony was a little better, picture wise and build quality wise.

Let’s face it though, picture quality and sound quality have a lot to do with your display and sound system. And of course the recorded material’s source. So if all those items are up to their task, the SLV-R1000 is certainly up to it’s.

In my book a five star rating would go to the perfect VCR, which I do not believe exists... or ever will, so I give the SLV-R1000 four stars.