Rating: 
Summary: Not what I expected from Sony
Review: New or Rented DVDs would freeze, requiring to press "stop" and "play" again.
Not what I expected from Sony. Returned within 2 days.
Rating: 
Summary: Impressive tracking on VHS taped in EP speed
Review: I tried five different DVD/VCR combos and this one is the best for
playing tapes taped on another machine in EP.
Since I have a drawer full of taped movies yet to be watched, this
was important to me.
Rating:
Summary: Problems? What problems?
Review: I liked the features of this product, but almost got scared away by the rash of bad reviews on Amazon. If there were problems with this product, they no longer exist. I have not experienced problems playing either DVD's or Videos, or with recording and playback of videotapes.Don't be scared away. This unit does a great job.
Rating: 
Summary: Good but flawed product
Review: The VCR part works great, we've never had a playback problem of either a new or rented tape, and the rewind speed is awesome! The DVD part plays back fine, both video and audio, but does have the irritating problem, mentioned by many other reviewers, of occassionally pausing for some 20 seconds and sporadically freezing altogether requiring the stop button to be pressed followed by the play button. I take one star off for this annoying habit. As at least one other reviewer mentioned, there is a design flaw in the video outputs: only the standard RCA outputs share the VCR and DVD signal, the SVHS and component outputs are DVD only. If you want to use a single video cable for the VCR and DVD signals, it therefore has to be the standard RCA output. Our TV won't display the standard RCA signal if a SVHS cable is plugged in, so unless we want to connect/disconnect everytime we switch from VCR to DVD mode and back, we can only use the standard RCA signal for both VCR and DVD playback. I take a second star off for this design flaw.
Rating:
Summary: Absolute Disaster
Review: With a name like Sony behind it, it is embarrassing that this DVD player performs as mediocrily as it does. Every single DVD movie that we have attempted to watch tends to pixelate and/or freeze completely (forcing us to turn the machine off an back on in order to continue watching). The quality is beyond poor and very disappointing. We did play one VHS movie and it worked fine, but that's only one half of the combo, and most movie owners prefer the DVD format these days. Recording was not that good though (a blue line appears a few inches from the top of the screen). Overall, this is an absolue disaster of a player. No wonder every other reviewer has given it such poor ratings: it is not the cheapest in the market, and yet it is probably the worst DVD player that exists (and, hopefully, the only bad product in the sony catalogue). I am returning this piece of rubbish after all of our attempts to make it work. Do not waste time or money with it. It truly stinks :(
Rating: 
Summary: Good product
Review: I purchased my dvd/vcr combo(Sony SLV-D300P) from Best buy in June 2003, and had it runing myself. I have had no problems with the machine thus and far and I do have a 2 year warrenty with it as well.I can change from Vcr to DVD and back again without removing tapes or discs, and i can record as well(on the VCR part).In all it was a good buy
Rating:
Summary: My remote died without apparent cause
Review: First be aware that only the manufacturer's remote will operate this unit and there are few on-unit controls so without the remote you have a fairly useless piece of equipment. For me, out of the blue the remote just dies. I've done all Sony suggested, still nothing. Called the Sony warrenty people and they want me to send the remote off, and it will be weeks before I get it back. So, I figure I'll purchase a new remote, send the one that doesn't work off and then I'll have two. I'll need two I figure becuase they don't work. So, I call to purchase a remote and they tell me the cost is greater than 30% of what I paid for the unit and get this - they are backordered without a known shipping date and I'm told 60 to 90 days - at least! So, I sit with a useless unit. I purchase at Target, don't have the packaging and have had the unit 112 days so they won't take it back. I'm screwed!
Rating:
Summary: Sony SLV-D300P
Review: Right out of the box none of my front panel buttons worked eject channel,power,record, etc. What a shame my guess is tech at factory failed to connect a cable to front panel. The Time display worked fine and remote worked. Down side to universal remote is clunky switch to change between TV and VCR/DVD operation. Good Feature packed unit missing VCRPlus though it should have been included.
Rating:
Summary: caveat emptor
Review: The letter I wrote to Sony after returning the SLV-D300P says it all: On 24 July 03, I purchased a Sony DVD/VCR combo model # SLV-D300P, serial #0325864 3B. The DVD component works only intermittently, sometimes playing just as the directions say it should, sometimes not playing until after six or seven tries, following the directions precisely each time.
Even worse, the VCR leaves a horizontal blue line across the screen approximately five inches down from the top, which it goes right through the actor's eyes in most scenes. Not only do the programs I recorded from the TV have this blue line, but also when I played back a prerecorded video, it was permanently damaged with the same blue line. As a result I have an expensive, hard to find prerecorded video of the 1989 Tony-nominated production of Thornton Wilder's "Our Town" that now has a horizontal blue line running through 2 ½ acts of the 3 act play. When it dawned on me it was actually being damaged, I pulled it out half way through the last act. When played on a different VCR, the blue line stops at the point I pulled it out of the Sony.
When I called Sony customer service on 19 Aug 03, I was coldly informed by the female supervisor who would not give me her name that the fine print on the warranty card stated that Sony is not responsible for any damage done to media by its products. She actually whined that any other company that I might buy from would have the exact same policy.
What this tells me is that your customer service employees have been complained about so many times that they defensively do not give their names, that you do not have effective quality control because you don't have to, and that you neither believe in your own product, nor do you stand behind it. As I told your customer service employee, if I had bought some cheap brand, I would simply think, Well, that's what I get - but you're Sony! That's supposed to mean something! I can't believe you have so little value for your good reputation. I can't believe this is how you treat a return customer of over 25 years.
It is not my fault you let a lemon get out of your factory. There is no way I could have known a top of the line Sony would permanently damage my videotape. You are responsible for a $48.00 videotape being ruined.
Several years ago, I read a "Newsweek" article contrasting Japanese and American business ethics. It was noted that salespeople carefully look over merchandise in Japanese department stores, removing any damaged goods before the store opened because it would dishonor the store if they sold a cracked vase, for example, whereas in the U.S., a store owner would turn the crack in the vase to the back of the shelf and hope to unload it on a customer unaware of the defect. Clearly business ethics don't export as well as hardware - and it should make you ashamed.
I trusted you. You owe me $48.00 and an apology
Rating:
Summary: did not work until unit repaired, under warranty
Review: It would allow you to go from DVD to video thr the remote and would only sometimes let you set up through the Menu to let you record, etc.
It was not ever working correctly from the start. Finally when a tape stuck and could not be released, I was forced to go to a Sony repair center.
They fixed the entire problem, had to get a part from Sony...took about 10 days. And now it works just fine. But, I am not impressed..as it should have worked OK in the beginning. At least, Sony stood behind the product. Glad I had it fixed within the free warrantly period.
|
