Rating: 
Summary: great features, easy setup
Review: I bought this vcr after reading as many reviews as I could find on the internet. Overall it seems like a great vcr but let me mention some positives and negatives.One thing I want to clear up is the Commercial Pass feature, since I had been confused on the Commercial Skip feture versus Commercial Pass, etc. Here's how Commercial Pass works: you are watching your taped show and once the commercial comes on, you push the Commercial Pass button on the remote. The tape fast forwards through the commercial but does NOT stop automatically once the commercials are over (as I had thought it would). You need to watch the screen yourself, and as soon as your show starts up again, you push the Commercial Pass button again. This stops the fast forwarding and then automatically rewinds the tape a little so you don't miss any of your show. At first I was disappointed that it didn't stop automatically, but this is still a helpful feature if you are one who doesn't like to miss a single second of your show. (With my old vcr, I'd fast forward through the commercials and when I saw my show start, I'd manually rewind it back, sometimes going back too far and then I'd have to fast forward again... very frustrating. This model elimates that. ) Even though it's not fully automatic, I think Commercial Pass is still better than Commercial Skip that other vcr's have, which skips forward in 30 second or 1 minute intervals, which is still not automatic. This vcr is very easy to set up... the self guided menu tells you exactly what to do so you really hardly need the manual. Another plus is that the quick record dial on the front makes it VERY easy to program. I fooled with the floor model at the store and figured it out in 30 seconds. The VCR + is also nice but haven't really tested it. The Child Loc feature is a nice feature, too, and easy to use. A few downsides: The motor is a bit loud when it records (even if TV is off). Other reviewers had warned about that so I wasn't too surprised. Also, even though the remote is supposedly multi-brand, my Samsung TV was not listed among the many brands that it is compatible with, so it looks like I'll still have to use my TV's remote. To remedy this, I would look for a universal remote, but I have yet to find one with the Commercial Pass feature on the remote, so I'll have to juggle the remotes for TV, DVD player, and TV. I also had an incident where the vcr played a pre-recorded video in black and white. I need to check into that to see what the problem is. Maybe I just need to adjust something. I hope this helps.
Rating:
Summary: great features, easy setup
Review: I bought this vcr after reading as many reviews as I could find on the internet. Overall it seems like a great vcr but let me mention some positives and negatives. One thing I want to clear up is the Commercial Pass feature, since I had been confused on the Commercial Skip feture versus Commercial Pass, etc. Here's how Commercial Pass works: you are watching your taped show and once the commercial comes on, you push the Commercial Pass button on the remote. The tape fast forwards through the commercial but does NOT stop automatically once the commercials are over (as I had thought it would). You need to watch the screen yourself, and as soon as your show starts up again, you push the Commercial Pass button again. This stops the fast forwarding and then automatically rewinds the tape a little so you don't miss any of your show. At first I was disappointed that it didn't stop automatically, but this is still a helpful feature if you are one who doesn't like to miss a single second of your show. (With my old vcr, I'd fast forward through the commercials and when I saw my show start, I'd manually rewind it back, sometimes going back too far and then I'd have to fast forward again... very frustrating. This model elimates that. ) Even though it's not fully automatic, I think Commercial Pass is still better than Commercial Skip that other vcr's have, which skips forward in 30 second or 1 minute intervals, which is still not automatic. This vcr is very easy to set up... the self guided menu tells you exactly what to do so you really hardly need the manual. Another plus is that the quick record dial on the front makes it VERY easy to program. I fooled with the floor model at the store and figured it out in 30 seconds. The VCR + is also nice but haven't really tested it. The Child Loc feature is a nice feature, too, and easy to use. A few downsides: The motor is a bit loud when it records (even if TV is off). Other reviewers had warned about that so I wasn't too surprised. Also, even though the remote is supposedly multi-brand, my Samsung TV was not listed among the many brands that it is compatible with, so it looks like I'll still have to use my TV's remote. To remedy this, I would look for a universal remote, but I have yet to find one with the Commercial Pass feature on the remote, so I'll have to juggle the remotes for TV, DVD player, and TV. I also had an incident where the vcr played a pre-recorded video in black and white. I need to check into that to see what the problem is. Maybe I just need to adjust something. I hope this helps.
Rating: 
Summary: This is the VCR for you if you hate to read manuals
Review: I'm not an electronics fan, but when my old Magnavox VCR continued to mess up the tapes, I decided to replace it with a more reliable brand. A DVD just doesn't yet replace a VCR in all its functions.
I bought this Sony for it's reputation and I can honestly say: It is well deserved!
The picture quality is great but what is really fantastic, is the fact that it is so easy to operate. If you are like me and you hate reading complicated manuals just to set the VCR you will love this one. The controls are simple and anyone can understand them within minutes. Pre-setting the VCR to start recording has never been easier. One of the niftiest features is that the VCR will set it's own clock by the signal it receives through the cable. Living in an area that endures frequent power outages this is one important feature.
At this price level one can't beat the value.
Rating:
Summary: Almost Perfect
Review: I've had this one for almost a year now. One of the few VCRs on the market that has full metal top/side cover, along with full 17" component width. The construction feels substancial and solid. The coaxial cable supplied is thick and of high quality. It supports XDS(Extended Data Service) that not only displays TV station call letters, but also program names in most cases. Too bad our local PBS station doesn't supply XDS clock signal that I can't get the auto clock setting to work. I can't tell how much the Adaptive Picture Control(APC) helps but video quality is about the best I've seen. Good stereo reception, much better than the Panasonic 4611 I've also owned. Doesn't rewind tape as fast as the lower model N51, but I use a tape rewinder anyway. I found the "Remaining time on tape" display extremely useful, saves me doing math with the tape counter. The auto head cleaner is a good thing as I regularly borrow tapes from public library. Also this model has battery backup built-in so moving the VCR from one room to another won't give me the headache of re-programming everything all over again. Misses are few. Like other reviewers pointed out, the Clock display is replaced with Tape Counter on the front panel whenever a tape is in. To see the clock you have to enter the menu system as if you were to change the time setting, or just turn the machine off. Like most of today's VCR, it doesn't support LP recording. And when playing LP speed tapes, auto tracking can never find the best setting. The Stereo and SAP indicators, when receiving stereo broadcast or playing a hi-fi tape, are only shown on the front panel. The newer 2002 model, SLV-N77, removed APC, the front QuickSet Timer Dial, and VCR Plus from the feature list. The front panel display also changed to a simpler and more generic version. I never used the VCR Plus nor that gimmicky dial, anyway.
Rating:
Summary: Almost Perfect
Review: I've had this one for almost a year now. One of the few VCRs on the market that has full metal top/side cover, along with full 17" component width. The construction feels substancial and solid. The coaxial cable supplied is thick and of high quality. It supports XDS(Extended Data Service) that not only displays TV station call letters, but also program names in most cases. Too bad our local PBS station doesn't supply XDS clock signal that I can't get the auto clock setting to work. I can't tell how much the Adaptive Picture Control(APC) helps but video quality is about the best I've seen. Good stereo reception, much better than the Panasonic 4611 I've also owned. Doesn't rewind tape as fast as the lower model N51, but I use a tape rewinder anyway. I found the "Remaining time on tape" display extremely useful, saves me doing math with the tape counter. The auto head cleaner is a good thing as I regularly borrow tapes from public library. Also this model has battery backup built-in so moving the VCR from one room to another won't give me the headache of re-programming everything all over again. Misses are few. Like other reviewers pointed out, the Clock display is replaced with Tape Counter on the front panel whenever a tape is in. To see the clock you have to enter the menu system as if you were to change the time setting, or just turn the machine off. Like most of today's VCR, it doesn't support LP recording. And when playing LP speed tapes, auto tracking can never find the best setting. The Stereo and SAP indicators, when receiving stereo broadcast or playing a hi-fi tape, are only shown on the front panel. The newer 2002 model, SLV-N77, removed APC, the front QuickSet Timer Dial, and VCR Plus from the feature list. The front panel display also changed to a simpler and more generic version. I never used the VCR Plus nor that gimmicky dial, anyway.
Rating:
Summary: Almost Perfect
Review: I've had this one for almost a year now. One of the few VCRs on the market that has full metal top/side cover, along with full 17" component width. The construction feels substancial and solid. The coaxial cable supplied is thick and of high quality. It supports XDS(Extended Data Service) that not only displays TV station call letters, but also program names in most cases. Too bad our local PBS station doesn't supply XDS clock signal that I can't get the auto clock setting to work. I can't tell how much the Adaptive Picture Control(APC) helps but video quality is about the best I've seen. Good stereo reception, much better than the Panasonic 4611 I've also owned. Doesn't rewind tape as fast as the lower model N51, but I use a tape rewinder anyway. I found the "Remaining time on tape" display extremely useful, saves me doing math with the tape counter. The auto head cleaner is a good thing as I regularly borrow tapes from public library. Also this model has battery backup built-in so moving the VCR from one room to another won't give me the headache of re-programming everything all over again. Misses are few. Like other reviewers pointed out, the Clock display is replaced with Tape Counter on the front panel whenever a tape is in. To see the clock you have to enter the menu system as if you were to change the time setting, or just turn the machine off. Like most of today's VCR, it doesn't support LP recording. And when playing LP speed tapes, auto tracking can never find the best setting. The Stereo and SAP indicators, when receiving stereo broadcast or playing a hi-fi tape, are only shown on the front panel. The newer 2002 model, SLV-N77, removed APC, the front QuickSet Timer Dial, and VCR Plus from the feature list. The front panel display also changed to a simpler and more generic version. I never used the VCR Plus nor that gimmicky dial, anyway.
Rating: 
Summary: If you have a DSS system, don't buy it.
Review: If you are planning to record from channels on your DSS system while watching others on your TV, do not buy this VCR. I understand why this is difficult to do, but the SLV-N71 gets no stars from me for not telling me ahead of buying it that it cannot do this.
Rating: 
Summary: Good VCR, but has key problem
Review: Just a heads up for those checking out reviews prior to purchase. I bought this Sony after going through 4 other VCR brands trying to find both good audio AND video quality (not having to choose between one or the other). The Sony audio is great, setup is great, solid construction is great, remote is easy to use. Even playback quality of pre-recorded tapes is good. But recording live programs is a problem because the tuner in the VCR is not up to par. Using the VCR as the tuner, obviously necessary for recording shows, results in a lot of video noise or "streaming" across the screen, which gets worse on higher channel numbers. I do not know if this is a video screen interval problem, bad tuner filters, video sync issue, etc. I have tried two of these Sony units, purchased locally, and had the same result. Very disappointing since everything else works great. The other non-Sony VCR's had other issues, but none had such poor video quality when using the tuner. At this point, it is worthless as a device to record programs, and frustrating to watch TV - I resort to using the TV's internal tuner. If you can't get good video response in a VCR, the rest of the bells and whistles don't do any good. Sure would like to know why the usual Sony quality is in the toilet on this one.
Rating:
Summary: Good VCR, but has key problem
Review: Just a heads up for those checking out reviews prior to purchase. I bought this Sony after going through 4 other VCR brands trying to find both good audio AND video quality (not having to choose between one or the other). The Sony audio is great, setup is great, solid construction is great, remote is easy to use. Even playback quality of pre-recorded tapes is good. But recording live programs is a problem because the tuner in the VCR is not up to par. Using the VCR as the tuner, obviously necessary for recording shows, results in a lot of video noise or "streaming" across the screen, which gets worse on higher channel numbers. I do not know if this is a video screen interval problem, bad tuner filters, video sync issue, etc. I have tried two of these Sony units, purchased locally, and had the same result. Very disappointing since everything else works great. The other non-Sony VCR's had other issues, but none had such poor video quality when using the tuner. At this point, it is worthless as a device to record programs, and frustrating to watch TV - I resort to using the TV's internal tuner. If you can't get good video response in a VCR, the rest of the bells and whistles don't do any good. Sure would like to know why the usual Sony quality is in the toilet on this one.
Rating:
Summary: All the goodies
Review: My 7 year old Hitachi finally died, so I read a few web pages and decided on this Sony. There are several features I really like about it: the remote works with my ancient non-Sony TV, the programming is easy (I don't use VCR-Plus+, I do it manually), and there's a little knob on the front of the VCR that allows me to program it without turning the TV on. As you push and turn the knob, the clock display turns into a programming display. It's a quick and easy way to do some last-minute programming as you head out the door. Or can't find the remote... I don't like the fact that you can't see the time of day when the VCR is turned on/playing/recording. Incredibly annyoing, since I use the VCR to turn channels and as such it's always on when I'm watching TV. The tuner is much stronger too, I'm picking up channels from where I used to live, a 2+ hours drive away--barely, but they're there. Another new feature to me was the display of the program's name as I turn the channel, and this is on broadcast TV, not cable. I'm not giving this a 5 star rating because of the clock issue, and because it doesn't have the 4-hour EP setting, and because you can not program it to record something more than a month away. Of course you can record M-F, one day a week, etc., but the first recording of that program can not start more than one month ahead of the current date. With my old VCR, I could enter any MM/DD/YYYY as the start date. The picture quality is much better than what I was used to, even though the Hitachi was repaired just 2 years ago, and the rewind/fast-forward are both faster as well. I'd buy it again, certainly, but only after I bought a small clock to put next to it so I could tell what time it is when I am watching a tape.
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