Editorial Review:Item Description:Enhance your TV and movie watching with Sony's RDR-VXD655 DVD and VHS Recorder Combo Unit. Seven VHS Recording speeds let you record up to 8 hours per tape. The DVD deck lets you experience high picture-quality playback from a wide variety of formats. Progressive scan playback, HDMI Output and 720p/1080i upscaling from DVD/VCR deliver optimal picture quality. You can even control your DV and Digital8 camcorder for Editing via the i.LINK(R) interface. Set-Top Pass Through lets you watch Video on your RDR-VXD655 even when the TV is off. The intuitive graphical interface makes Programming easy. Watch and record your favorite shows and films with this versatile, convenient and easy-to-use player. VHS & S-VHS (SQPB) playback 2-Way One-Touch Dubbing HDMI output 720p to 1080i upscaling 32-bit, 96 KHz Audio Digital-to-Analog Converter CD Playback for CD-DA, CD-R and CD-RW On-screen display Child lock for the Disc tray & parental controls for safety Dolby Digital and DTS Decoding playback Includes Remote Commander(R) Multi-Brand Remote Control
Availability: Usually ships in 1 to 2 months
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
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* This is the one to buy! ...
Needed a machine to copy tapes to disks. Bought a brand other then Sony. After following directions (5 times..thinking my fault) there was no way it would copy. I read other reviews on that brand and found out that it wasn't MY fault. Audio Beach accepted this return even though it had been more then 30 days...full return. I ordered the Sony and no frustration. Easy to hook up, easy to follow directions. Spent more money, of course but well worth it. I could use a couple of VCRs with digital but cannot find any. Are they THAT obsolete?
Rating: -
* Won't disply CC on network channels ...
Everything seems to work well except I found that the closed captioning from the network channels only will not display on my TV (Sony XBR4. It will record CC and display when played on any other VCR connected to this TV. But it will not even display CC on network channels that were recorded on other VCRs. Called Sony and they could not help. Said they often get this complaint on this model but blamed it on the cable provider. This makes no sense as the Sony TV and all other brands of VCRs display CC on these channels. It may be a design fluke that Sony just does not want to recognize.
Rating: 
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* Lousy ATSC tuner mars an otherwise good device ...
I bought this unit to extend the lives of both a 17 year-old TV set and my VHS collection. I watch only broadcast TV provided by rabbit ears. Since good reception is critical in my case, I evaluated this unit's tuner against a brand new Insignia NS-DXA1 DTV converter box purchased from Best Buy.
While the DVD recorder and VCR portions of this unit appear to be top-notch, I simply could not get the ATSC tuner to receive even a majority of signals that I received in analog. One key problem: digital channels can be added *only* by a 5-10 minute auto-scanning process. Once the scan is done, digital stations can only be deleted, not added. That's fine if all your TV signals come from one direction; that is not the case in my area.
Even putting aside the scanning limitation, this Sony's ATSC tuner is not the best available. Using the same antenna in the same location, the Insignia box can receive a number of channels where the Sony shows only a broken picture or nothing at all. The Insignia provides a full electronic program guide; Sony provides only child-lock based on program ratings. The Insignia has a signal-strength display that is very helpful for adjusting antenna position; Sony provides no such feedback.
Other Positives:
1) Provides a plethora of DVD recording modes to control the amount of compression used.
2) Supports watching VHS while recording DVD from tuner, and vice-versa.
3) Can record ATSC to VHS. Some competitive units cannot do this.
4) There is no special "timer mode", a welcome change from most VCRs.
Other Negatives:
1) No mute button, even though other TV functions can be controlled.
2) VHS tape cannot be moved to a specific time index.
I would not recommend this unit for over-the-air use for anyone who has less-than-perfect analog reception or who needs to rotate their antenna (indoor or outdoor) at all. My unit is going back for a refund. Hopefully Sony's next design will pay more attention to the needs of those of us in antenna-land.
Rating: -
* dvd/vcr recorder ...
Very impressed with the quality of the product and the resulting video picture quality. However, I find there to be a major problem with not being able to download video pictures from my camera and then making more copies for others in my dubbing machine. I also think it is unfair not to be able to record movies from the TV. I needed to know this before I made the decision on a new machine.
Rating: -
* Sony RDR-VXD655 VHS DVD Recorder ...
I have not tried recording from TV, but I have converted VHS tapes to DVD with excellent results. I like the ease of operation & the recording options given. Overall a good buy for me.
