Sony RDR-VXD655 DVD recorder/ VCR combo

Great product, but mine was DEFECTIVE

By Yahoo! Shopping User  Sep 30, 2007 | 4 out of 8 found this Sony RDR-VXD655 review helpful

Pros: Great tuner, full-featured, upconversion

Cons: DEFECTIVE unit, can't record to DVD-RAM, coax RF out seems non-functional on NTSC TVs

I purchased this DVD recorder/VCR fNEW, not open box or refurb, and it was DEFECTIVE. The signal processor for the DVD player was defective. ANY DVD, whether burned by me or a purchased movie, showed "digital artifacts" in the picture--black dots, yellow or green pixel-looking marks. When viewing an all-black screen on a DVD, it was like watching the opening of The Matrix with all the green pixels all over the screen. I'm not just being picky, this was VERY noticeable if anyone watched anything for more than half a minute, and was visible on all outputs (HDMI, component, and analog video) which negates the output as the problem. Will send out for warranty repair/replacement. This really damages my faith in SONY. I wonder if this has anything to do with the fact that this unit is marked "Made in CHINA" while all my older perfectly-working items from Sony were "Made in JAPAN." or Malasia. Along with cutting production costs, did they skimp on quality electronic parts?!
Other than my dud unit, I liked the features and the VHS portion of the unit worked wonderfully, and the digital tuner pulled in stations without a problem (even though it takes 20 minutes to scan through them on setup). The upconversion of the images wasn't bad. My only other gripe is that Sony does not use DVD-RAMs as RECORDABLE media. If you want to erase/rewrite, you're stuck with CD /-RWs, which are NOT as flexible for recording/erasing as DVD-RAMS. I guess nothing is perfect, but I expected more from Sony. A MAJOR disappointment and blow to my "brand loyalty."