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Sony RDR-VS515 DVD / VHS Recorder / Player
We gave this DVD recorder a try after having problems with the first upconverting Samsung Recorder. This Sony recorder does NOT upconvert - the TV handles that process - but we thought we'd give the unit a try anyway. The Sony provides component video output - i.e. a separate channel for each color, which gives a high quality signal. It can send a max signal of 480p, which is the highest that any standard DVD player can create. Note that "original" TVs could only handle 400p which is why a DVD has always had a sharper image than normal TVs could show.
The layout is the typical side-by-side with the DVD on the left and the VHS on the right. This means it fits nicely into a stereo rack. When you turn on the unit and hit the 'eject' button you find the first problem with this unit. It takes - literally - up to 5 full seconds for the drawer to come out. Now, 5 seconds might not sound like a lot of time. However, if you're sitting there with a DVD in your hand, having pushed the button, and NOTHING HAPPENS for a full 5 seconds, you begin to wonder if everything is working properly. It's really bizarre and annoying.
The general functionality of the unit was OK. Unlike the regular Sony (non-recorder) DVD/VHS unit we are using, we had no "jamming" glitches at all. We were really glad to see that Sony had fixed that issue. Our regular unit jams pretty much once on every play-though, usually in the middle of a critical scene :) If you turn the unit off, and turn it back on again, it remembers where in the movie you were. That's a nice feature.
The other thing besides the eject that drove us completely insane with this unit was the pause. If the phone rings or something, you hit the pause button. It pauses, which of course is fine. However, if it goes more than a few minutes, it STARTS PLAYING AGAIN WITHOUT WARNING. It got to be a game, if we could get through whatever the issue was quickly enough before it started up. Our previous Samsung, if paused for too long, would go to a "holding" screen. That makes much more sense to me. For the unit to just start up playing on its own is really annoying.
In general, we just weren't happy with this unit, and returned it after doing our 30 days of testing.
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