33 out of 33 people found this review helpful.
Sony RDR-VX525 DVD VHS Player/Recorder; This IS the one that YOU want!!
Date of Review: Jan 6, 2008
The Bottom Line: This DVD/VHS Player/Recorder was a snap to hook-up, set-up and record on. The quality of the dubbed DVD's are excellent. They're straight-out duplicates of the original.
My wife purchased the Sony RDR-VX525 DVD Recorder/VCR Player for me last week. I have set it up and I'm now using it. For some reason or other I'm not a natural when it comes to setting up wires from here to there. I was fortunate though, the Sony Quick Start Guide took my hand and brought me through the process on a step to step basis.
What Does a Sony RDR-VX525 DVD/VHS Recorder/Player Do ?
The primary goal of my wife giving me this particular combo home unit is to turn the huge and cumbersome library of VHS tapes of family film that we own and turn them into DVDs that are size friendly and I could share with my children to keep as their own. We now have two huge drawers + filled with stuff.
This unit does that and more. The dubbing can be from VHS tape to the DVD and also go the other way having a DVD transfer information to a VHS.
I can also make recordings from the cable box to VHS or DVD. I liked that option.
Quick Start Guide
Thank goodness for the Quick Start guide. It made my life so much less complicated as I disassembled the VCR and DVD players that were hooked up and running well and followed the instructions for getting my new toy hooked up.
The player recorder does come with a 2 meter HDMI cable that I didn't need but will keep handy if I ever get a device like a cable box or DVD player that's got an HDMI female port to another HDMI device such as some newer HD-TV's and projectors.
The machine is set up to get started dubbing with a minimum of time and directly from each element as the recorder or recordee (Is there such a word?). The Quick Guide gave large pictures and concise text that made it easy for me to follow. The books directions are simply daunting. Thank goodness for the Quick Guide.
Line recording was set up easily and I soon had favorite TV shows ready to record. Again, it was an easy set up following the guides. It took me about half a hour to get all set including pairing up the remote with my cable box.
The quality of the pictue and sound was excellent and I get no skipping or freezing showing on the copied DVD.
Because the DVD player VHS player are built into one unit, I have a clean looking area above my TV. There are less wires in the back also. I like the idea of fewer wires. It's helpful for this electronics novice.
The VHS player has four heads and gives a clear picture.
For those who need it the directions are in Spanish and English. The box reminds all that this unit needs to have a separate cable, satellite, or off-air tuner with audio/video output to do any recording outside the DVDs and VHS tapes I own.
I don't know much about formatting but the box told me that this player recorder supports multiple formats for wider compatibility.
I do want to mention that I read another Epinions.com review of this DVD Recorder and that person stated that the DVD that were taken from VHS tapes worked in his home unit but not in others. Before I even opened the box I got in touch with two guys in the Electronics department of Epinions and gave them the link to that review. The both said that the writer did not give enough info to understand if they did the job right or wrong. It was mentioned that because this was a Sony product, one believed they would Not sell a product that wasn't compatible with other DVD players.
I did my dubbing and then brought over the DVD to be played at my son's home. All worked well! There was no problem with compatibility.
The player recorder is about 18" wide and only 4" high. It fits handsomely next to our TV. It's black with silver highlights.
I don't have much more to add except that I was impressed with the directions. They made the Hook-Up, Set-Up, and Recording easy. Best of all the quality of the VHS transfer onto the DVDs was as good as the original. The DVD recorder also set up the DVD in five minute increments so I could forward and reverse in an orderly manner. That was a big help.
The remote that comes with the unit was easy to set up to my TV and cable. The functions on it are easy to understand and the electronics respond to the commands immediately.
We had a lot of laughs as we watched and recorded VHS tapes of family onto a DVD. The one touch button to do the dubbing makes the actual transfer easy as pie. Once all was set up all I have to do is place in the DVD or VHS tape to be dubbed. After that It's just a single press of a button, video or DVD. It's easy as pie as the player does the rest.
