Entered CNET Catalog: 03/10/2007
SKU: RDR-VX555
Manufacturer: Sony Electronics, Inc.
Manufacturer description
Enhance your TV and movie watching with the high quality RDR-VX555 DVD recorder and VHS combo player. Intuitive graphical interface makes programming your recording easy. Seven VHS recording speeds let you record up to 8 hours per tape. Plus, enjoy the convenience of one-touch recording from disc to tape or the reverse. The DVD deck lets you experience high picture-quality playback from a wide variety of formats, including DVD, VCD, VCR, VHS, SVHS, music CD and more. Progressive scan playback, HDMI output and 720p/1080i upscaling from DVD/VCR deliver optimal picture quality. You can even control your DV and Digital8 camcorder for editing via the i.LINK interface.User opinions
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User Rating: 
1/10
No better than its predecessor
Pros: Style. Color.
Cons: Horrific freezing and skipping. It happened once or twice per minute on the last DVD that I tried. (The DVD works fine on other players). Sony told me to ensure it was not set on "progressive". It wasn't.
User Rating: 
3/10
Good results but impossible to set up and use
Pros: The picture and sound quality of VHS-to-DVD recording are fine but who knows about the rest?
Cons: This device is impossible to set up without phone tech support; the setup required to record from a TV broadcast is so complicated I won't even attempt it.
User Rating: 
2/10
will not accept sony dvd-r discs to record
Pros: none at all
Cons: no help from sony
User Rating: 2/10
Freezes on commercial DVDs
Pros: Not that hard to operate by a geek
Cons: Freezes/hangs on playback
copy some VHS to DVD as well as record programs from my DVR. It does these functions
OK. However, I expected that this would also replace my older DVD Player (DVP NS50P)
and provide better viewing with the HDMI connection capability. Well, almost.
On the large percentage of commercial DVDs that play properly, I can't complain. What
I do complain about is that about 5-10% of DVDs that I have tried in it will
freeze/hang or have jerky playback. Often it gets to the point of frustration where I
give up on the HDMI upshift and play the DVD in my old player. Better an image that
plays consistently than one that frustrates the heck out of me.
So I returned the unit to Sony for repair. They returned the unit with no note, but I
had previously talked to the tech and he had not found any problem at that point. It
still froze/hung on playback. So I selected a couple of DVDs that exhibited the
problem and returned it again for repair. This time Sony called and said that since
it would take a long time to find the problem, they would send me a new unit. Cool.
When I received it, I immediatly tested the same DVDs and it did not show the problem
again. However, over the course of a couple of months, I still run across DVDs that
won't play properly on the NEW VX555.
This must be a design flaw, since I have seen several postings on the web that others
are experiencing the same problem. So if I return it again for repair to Sony, I will
either get a new box or they will try again to see the problem. It has been about 5
months since I first purchased the box and will likely run into resistance at the
retailer when I try to return it for credit or refund.
Stay away if you want to watch commercial DVDs without getting frustrated.
User Rating: 2/10
Disappointing. Will be returned.
Pros: none found
Cons: Freezes up constantly.
I originally had a Mintek DVD player which is also a gigantic piece of just, but that what you get when you go cheap. I was finally so fed up with my DVD's freezing or locking up completely or even not being recognized by the player, that I went and bout this Sony. You can't imagine how loud I screamed when I put in "Season 9 of the Simpsons", got nestled in my bed, then started experiencing the same freeze-ups as with the stinking Mintek. STAY AWAY!!!
User Rating: 
7/10
An overall nice value and safe flexible features choice from Sony
Pros: General design and flexible list of features & specs
Cons: Unit seems a bit noisy. When recording unable to display time remaining.
Finally decided to get a dvd recorder/vhs combo unit and looked around briefly at what was out there and pretty quickly came across that Sony makes a couple (did not want to buy a no name or off market brand) so played it safe and got a refurbished unit (the RDR-VX555) rather than pay retail prices and saved a bunch. Given the huge cost savings this unit was well worth the cost.
I have already put the unit through it's paces with me recording a bunch of content from both our DirecTv non HD satellite service and from the VHS tapes to a Memorex DVD+RW and it performed very well so far. It took a few tries to figure out the recording methods / recording times, and features but the on-screen menu is good.
Summary: No major gripes, typical Sony black design/look, remote, buttons all of which i am used to and get the job done.
I think this unit is a bit noisier than other DVD players i have or had in the past but the room has to be pretty quiet and TV very low to even notice it...no biggie.
One other quirk is when recording something to DVD they disable to on-screen display that tells you basic info about recording time so it is hard to tell what is left to record...so you just have to ensure your getting things setup correct beforehand.
Note: i did no real direct comparison with other units like the Pannasonic DMR as this was not gonna be our primary Dvd or recorder.
Thanks, Steve
User Rating: 2/10
Disappointing
Pros: DVD and VCR Combo. Plays DVDs and CDs
Cons: Terrible recording. Too grainy.
User Rating: 2/10
Unit seriously underperformed expectations
Pros: Absolutely none
Cons: Multiple cons
Sony should be more careful with their name especially devices that cost more than $200! It was inexcusable when the player wouldn't start up. I guess I'll use my computer to convert my aging VHS tapes to DVD...
