- Average user rating: 2.0 stars out of 23 reviews Back to product review
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16 out of 17 people found this review helpful
3.5 stars
"Good Choice - Lots of Features"
Pros: ONLY Tabletop Unit that supports DVD+R DL at this time
Cons: Can not copy movies from your own Tivo- Not enough Input Choices
Summary: I upgraded from a Phillips DVDR77 to this unit the other day. While this unit has some great features, the cons are very annoying.
First, it is obvious that Sony is high on controlling "GREAT" digital copies of anything, Therefore, this unit lacks both a Component Video Input AND an S-Video Input (On the rear panel.. there is one ont he front which is for a cam actually and is akward).
Also, it will NOT ALLOW me to dub movies from MY TIVO to the unit. it says they are copyrighted. Phillips unit does NOT do this. I am paying a LOT for Cable... a LOT for Tivo... A LOT for this Unit, and BLANK DVDs. So I would feel that dumping from Tivo to a DVD shouldn't be some taboo item. I am not looking to copy DVD discs illegally, but cmon... this is just making room on my Tivo for more shows.
Luckily this can be overcome by spending a hundred dollars on a video box at Best Buy. But still... Not happy about this.
The unit has some great features, but some missing. The menu looks good and organized, however you can NOT set the thumbnail that appears like you can on the Phillips (for DVD+RW, which is what I use mostly).
It also takes a LONG time for a DVD to load. I read that on the 500 reviews, and it is still the same here. However, I can wait a few seconds when it comes to that.
The picture looks pretty good, and this is the ONLY UNIT on the market right now (besides its sister unit the 315) which supports DVD+R Dual Layer discs. Which means you can store 4 movies of good quality on one disc. Also, at the worst quality setting, you can get 14 hours of video on there!
Overall, I DO LIKE the unit. Some peopel say the manual is hard to use, however, when you have tha tmany features, it is tough to make it EASY. That is why there is an index and a pdf you can search! The manual shows the basics then goes into more depth, like most.
This plays all sorts of media.. DVD+R, +RW, -R, -RW +R DL etc. it has powerful editing in the DVD-VR mode. The dubbing is good, and I was ablwe to get rid of my old analog VCR.. I hate analog things blech!
When you record a show off cable, it actually puts the show name in the title list which is convenient. Unfortunately, that does not happen if you use the video enhancer, which seems to stripthat info off as well as the "copyright" code.
I Do reccomend this unit, however, do note the cons I have wrote.
Mike
- 1 reply to this review
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Hello. Thank you for your review. Do you know if this unit will play DVD in PAL/SECAM format? Thank you very much.
Sony RDR-VX515:
