Strengths:Easy to Set-Up and Use; 4-Head VCR Has Great Features; DVD Player Has Everything You Would Expect - Makes For a Nice Combo Unit.
Weaknesses:None Really - It will not play DVD-RAM Discs, but this is a minor complaint.
Posted Mar 30, 2006 - I bought this unit on sale from Amazon.com for only $88.34 plus $19.99 shipping. I am amazed at how much the prices have gone down on this kind of technology over the years. I remember spending several hundred dollars on a 4-head Sony VCR in the mid-90's, and a similar amount on a DVD players when they first came out. I primarily wanted a new VCR, and this DVD/VCR combo unit was priced so low, it was the same price (or less) than a standalone VCR (and a Sony to boot!). This unit has some great features. The VCR has a skip feature that will advance the tape in 30 second increments (you can hit it up to 4 times). It also has a Replay button, to replay the previous scene (15 seconds in EP, 10 seconds in SP or LP mode). The DVD player accepts the folowing formats: DVD-V, DVD-RW, VCD, CD, DATA-CD, DATA-DVD, and plays MP3 audio tracks. It has progressive scan, parental controls, zoom and angle capabilities, Dolby Digital and virtual surround sound capabilities, and the ability to play JPEG image files.
I have a 6 month old Sony Trinitron WEGA TV that I hooked this unit up to, so I must admit that it made the set-up particularly easy. The remotes are compatible, and everthing was "plug and play." I have a Panasonic DVD Recorder in my Family Room, and tried an old DVD-RAM disc in the unit and saw that it was not compatible (and the product manual confirmed this), but I can record DVD-R in the Panasonic (for later playback in the SLV-D360P) to solve this problem in the future.
Amazon offers a one-year extended warranty for $9.99, which I purchased. This completely reimburses the purchase price if the unit goes belly-up. I think this is a good use of $10.00. I did quite a bit of reseach on this unit (checking reviews on other sites like Amazon, Circuit City, etc.), and saw that some people had problems with the DVD player becoming tempermental after only a few months (but after the 90 day warranty period). I would have bought a longer warranty had it been available.
But I must say, I am very impressed with the unit, and would have easily paid $20-40 more without blinking. Ask me in 2 or 3 months if I still like it, hopefully, I will!
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