Good performance for the price.

Substandard clock.

I am very pleased with the performance of this unit, given its fairly modest price. It has been in service for almost five years without any problems. Recording and playback in SP is very good and performance in EP is more than acceptable. Stereo audio quality is also good. The tape transport starts and stops quite precisely, even when switching from fast forward / reverse to play. I've never had a problem with this unit's tracking ability. The firmware features are adequate to my needs and the unit remembers settings without reverting to its own defaults. It has the features I need and it delivers on the performance I want. On the other hand, I have never liked the method of setting the recording time. The unit does not let you enter the recording time directly from the keypad - you have to scroll the hours and minutes up and down. It works, but is inconvenient. The clock is the least accurate of the five VCRs that I have owned, losing about a minute every three weeks or so. This is quite poor, but would be less annoying if the auto clock set actually worked - it doesn't.

Similar Products Used:

Sony, Sanyo, Mitsubishi, Toshiba.

I really have not used my Sony SLV-N50 VCR that much over the years and now all of a sudden the tapes stick in the machine--a huge annoyance. Other than that, the VCR has been pretty good, but that's kind of important to be able to get the tape back out of the VCR...

good video and audio from recording TV programs

tracking old pre-recorded tapes

I bought it to replace another Sony (SLV 900), which by the way, I bought in 1995 sor $350.00 and was a "lemon" from the very beginning. Any way, I have no complaints from this one. Then again, I only want two things from a VCR: good quality video and audio when I record TV programs, because I hardly use it to watch my old VHS tapes collection.

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic Sony

Quiet tuner. Great recording and playback even in EP mode.

None at this price.

I purchased this model from a dealer who forgot this was in stock, what a surprise! The quality of this model is great considering the price. It has a WAY better picture compared to the SLV-N77 which replaces it now from China. It has the same large head/drum as the new top of the line SLV-N99 model. I find the tuner to be much quiter than all the new models from Sony too. Great product!

Quiet tuner. Great quality in playback and recording. Fine audio. Well made.

Not at this price.

I purchased this model from a dealer who forget this was in stock. What a surprise! This performs WAY better than the new model SLV-N77 which is now made in China. This one is still from the Malaysia plant and uses the same head and drum of the new SLV-N99 model. The tuner on my sample is first rate compared to the others. Great recording and playback even in EP mode. This one is a keeper.

Excellent picture on record and playback. Compact. Inexpensive. Like the remote.

no 4 hour speed

I was in the market for a new VCR to replace my aging Sony. The old beast still played well but was showing its age in recording. I went back and forth between a few models including a highly rated Panasonic. The Sony seemed a little better constructed than that model and my old Sony had served me very well- so I went with this model. (Specifically the front panel A/V jacks on the Panasonic wiggled when touched- ew)

I've been very pleased. I've already given it quite a workout. Its been recording my favorite broadcast everyday for about the last 3 months or so and it performs wonderfully. The recording on SP is superb and EP is above-average. Setup is intuitive and the remote is a breeze. Sony has discarded the Shuttle control of my previous model and replaced it with a slick circular button layout. I love it- FWD, RWD, Pause- all respond as quickly and accuratley as the edit-style shuttle.

Audio is also superb tho i have yet to connect it to a real system (thats what I'm working on now- procrastinating :-)).

For the price you'd be hard pressed to beat it- tho I do agree with the gentlemans statement about Sony's reliability. Do yourself a favor and get an extended warranty (with any VCR for that matter).

Highly recomended.

Similar Products Used:

Sony SLV-585HF

COMPACT SIZE & PICTURE AND SOUND ARE VERY GOOD

TRACKING PROBLEMS, CRUMMY DISPLAYS

WELL NOT BAD BUT THEY COULD HAVE DONE BETTER. THE TRACKING ON EP SPEED REALLY BITES, TAKES A LONG TIME TO ADJUST, ABOUT 30 SECONDS. AND ALSO IT KEEPS ADJUSTING WHILE PLAYING, AND SOUND CUTS IN AND OUT. NOT ALOT OF FEATURES BUT THIS IS THE CHEAP-O SONY MODEL. ALSO TAKES UP TO 20 SECONDS TO START RECORDING, CAUSING YOU TO MISS THE BEGINNING OF YOUR PROGRAMS. THE BELOW POSTS ARE RIGHT-THE TUNER PIC QUALITY STINKS, THE DISPLAY STINKS, DOESNT EVEN TELL YOU WHAT THE THING'S DOING LIKE PLAY, REWIND, ETC. AND YOU CANT SHOW THE TIME WHILE THE POWER IS ON. ANNOYING. FOR THE MONEY I FEEL I COULD HAVE DONE BETTER WITH THE JVC OR RCA MODELS I LOOKED AT IN THE SAME PRICE RANGE. JVC WAS ACTUALLY 99 BUCKS WITH SAME FEATURES. WHEN THE THING IS NOT FIDDLING WITH TRACKING THE PICTURE AND SOUND ARE GOOD. I FEEL THIS IS A FLAWED MACHINE AT BEST AND PROBABLY WOULD BE RETURNED HAD I STILL THE RECEIPT. GO WITH ANOTHER UNIT IN THIS PRICE RANGE. YOU'LL THANK ME.

Similar Products Used:

OLDER SONY HI-FI'S, JVC

?

Poor quality picture. Motor became very noisy after 3 mo.
It whines so bad that I cover it with a thick blanket
to deaden the sound while hoping that it will overheat and
die so I can justify buying a new one.

Don't waste your money.

19 micron heads... whatever. Just another label. Perfect for the world's blind society. (yes, that's not a strength)

Front RCA outputs look stupid (no cover, either). Picture quality looks like an Atari hand-me-down. High shock risk. No high shock risk warning label easily visible. What the hell is with the "commercial pass" feature? No nice features. Auto-clock set doesn't set. Doesn't keep accurate time to keep up with normal, compotent clocks. Extremely expensive for what is being purchased.

I really should've bought a Mitsubishi.













FOR THE LOVE OF GOD...DO NOT BUY THIS PIECE OF JAPANESE CRAP!!!!

Similar Products Used:

Magnavox

Good picture quality and sound. Easy set-up and easy to use remote. Has been reliable so far.

Time is not displyaed while machine is playing or recording. This more of an annoyance than a weakness of the product.

Very satisfied with this product.