Sony RDR-VX515 DVD Recorder/VCR (Progressive Scan)

Sony RDR-VX515

RDR-VX515 DVD Recorder/VCR (Progressive Scan) Review, by Melissa Perenson November 30, 2005

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• Reviewed by: toastie71

  Strengths: Great quality, sleek design, ease of use

  Weaknesses: none so far

  Overall: I absolutely love this product. I have shopped around for a quality machine at a good price, and certainly have found that with this item. It's a VCR/DVD player, and recorder all in one. It also offers +R/-R formats. A great combination, especially if you want a multifunctional unit that is nicely designed and space saving too. What's even better is that it is easy to use, even for those of us who aren't tech savvy.

• Reviewed by: rvanderson

  Strengths: VCR works well. DVD recorder compatible with many media types and offers many recording formats.

  Weaknesses: Disappointing DVD record quality in DVD Video mode - but may be the fault of media used instead of recorder.

  Overall: I recorded 4 DVDs onto DVD-RW media from video taped home movies, 2 in the default DVD VR mode and 2 in DVD Video mode. The DVD VR recordings seemed okay, but can only be played back on the same recorder/player. I had to erase the first DVD Video mode disk because of what appeared to be poor automatic tracking of the video tape being copied. My second attempt at DVD Video mode recording resulted in a disk which was playable on other DVD players, but of poor quality (lots of colored squares appearing at random throughout playback.) I don't know if the problem is with the recorder or the DVD-RW media that I used.

• Reviewed by: firensteel

  Strengths: Recording in many formats

  Weaknesses: Longevity.

  Overall: I bought my Rdr VX 515 about 16 months ago and have used it often to record from tv, tivo and comcast dvr hard drives. The manual is a little cumbersome and hard to understand at first. But then.After only a short while my dvr would not accept the first blank dvd I loaded, it always refused it showing "error" in the screen. I would have better luck at dvd #2. This situation has deteriorated to the point where the dvr will no longer accept blank dvd's of any type or brand. For playback of pre-recorded dvd's the machine will now no longer accept the cheap discs from Netflix and also refuses to play many other pre-recorded discs. I have checked the lens and no easy solution.I cannot recommend the Sony RDR VX 515 and am looking for a replacement for it right now.

• Reviewed by: gladiatorbk

  Strengths: Ease of use; quality of recordings; interface with Sony DVD handcam

  Weaknesses: None

  Overall: Sony does it again. They are the best in the market and they demonstrate it again. This DVD recorder/VHS unit is the best for the money. The quality of the recording is excellent and this product is easy to use. I especially like the easy links to the Sony handycam. You can do so much with this unit. I have recorded my entire VHS library on DVD. You cannot go wrong with this product.

• Reviewed by: rwcollins

  Strengths: Quality seems to be the best strength.Many features and compatabiliy points.

  Weaknesses: Operating manual difficute to understand, especially the setup portions.

  Overall: I have been using this recorder for a few days now. I had a problem connecting to an older TV. My TV has only a RF antenna connection. While this DVD recorder has an RF output, I could not get it to work. Called customer service and they could not figure it out either. Was also told that I could not watch DVDs using the RF output anyway. So I got a video to RF converter to connect between the Sony unit and TV. Works great this way. The operating manual seems to be hard to follow. Could be that this unit has so many features it is hard to explain them all with clarity.