Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony SLV-N750 Full Chassis 4-Head Hi-Fi VCR

If anyone shopped for a VCR today and tried to compare it to "the one they used to have", that's a mistake in my opinion.

Best Buy only sells 4 VCRs, ranging from $60 (Panasonic) to $80 (Sony). I bought the JVC for $70 and took it back after reading reviews here and on Epinions.

This SONY had a grand total two very positive reviews. That's it TWO! And that was more than any of the others that Best Buy sells. What are we supposed to do if we need a replacement VCR? So, I bought the Sony, added $20 to the mix and got Best Buy's 2 yr. warranty.

Now that I've used this Sony to record and playback and also to just playback a Blockbuster's rental, all I can say is that it works OK. Is it terrific? No, it had flaws and has been "dumbed down" like all the other ones.

No it doesn't have a TV-Out channel slide switch for Ch3-4. You have to set it and if you lose power, you have to set it again. No battery backup any more. But then, the new JVC and Panasonic worked the same way.

The antenna-out cable connection is monaural, like the JVC I returned and most others. That stinks, of course, but they probably all have that restriction. If a person cares about getting stereo on their TV, they have to use the three RCA plugs for stereo and video. But then you can't watch a different program if you're taping, unless you ALSO hook up the RF out antenna wire. Gotcha! Better get an A-B switch or just live with monaural.

I took advantage of the "Auto Tape Speed" feature and it leaves much to be desired. You have to configure the recorder EACH time you insert a tape to tell it the size tape you're using (T-120, T-160 ...) and then set your recording on "Auto". If it sees that your recording is too long for the tape it applies some mathematics and at some point switches from LP to EP so the whole program will fit. But, who wants to configure the VCR for the tape length each time ... and besides you don't even know the tape length unless you always keep the longer tapes in their original jackets ... many are marked ever so faintly on the cartridge ... life is too short to live that way.

Finally, when it switches from LP to EP you could immediately see the drop-off in quality. On the Sony the picture became less sharp, although the sound didn't seem compromised. Is this a Sony problem? Probably not. I've always recorded everything using EP because we all jam stuff on our tapes. How many programs are less than 2 hours ... and that's without the President breaking in and taking a half hour from us. I don't even compare SP to EP quality since I don't use SP. This begs the issue of whatever happened to SLP which gave us 4 hour recording time?

So far as I can see, you might as well buy this Sony with a 2 yr. warranty from the store and get on with your life. I've come to the conclusion that all VCRs today are probably compromised. Surely I wouldn't touch a combo DVD/VCR machine anticipating the VCR component will fail and I'll be adding a standalone VCR to the "stack" anyway and living with a crippled combo machine.

If you really want to get yourself upset, buy a VCR based on any criteria which makes sense to you, like an Amazon or Epinions review, the brand you used to have and liked, a friend's recommendation, or price. Then when you go read more reviews and see the complaints registered against it, you'll probably be sorry you bought it (no matter what you bought).

One bright spot is that the Sony has separate Stop and Eject buttons and can even eject from the remote. Not too many can do that.

Good luck with whatever you buy. You'll need it. Just get an extended warranty so you don't have to buy another one every 91 days.

-- Sam

My old VCR quit after 14 years! They do not make them like that anymore!

I purchased this VCR and was able to set it up in less than 5 minutes... I am not exaggerating the time, less than 5 minutes and I am not an incredibly technical person. It was so easy and straight forward that I did not even have to read the instructions! Plug it in, plug in the output to the TV, and your're done.

The VCR itself works great, and is very straight forward. The quality is good too. My only complaint is that it is clearly not made very well (but I bet none of them are). It's cheap plastic and I'm sure if I dropped it 2 feet it would be toast. I would be surprised if I get 5 years out of it.

I was surprised to read all of the bad reviews on this site, the customer reviews on Circuit cities web page are a lot more positive. The Sony VCR I purchased has a very good picture, both on tapes that were previouly recorded and on tapes from this machine. I also bought all new connecting wires to make sure I get the best image. With my old wires my picture was not as clear as with the new wires. It is also best to replace all old wires, if you're having a problem with picture quality. That may be the problem, not the VCR.

No matter which VCR you buy, make sure you use the Audio/Video (AV) hookup, that way you get the best picture and sound quality. This is the best VCR that Best Buy and Circuit City sells. If you want a better VCR, buy a Mitsubishi or JVC in the $350.00-$450.00 price range online. Otherwise this VCR is a good choice (for $80.00 it fits the bill and does what I expect).

This is the one to get, especially if you already have a Sony WEGA TV. I needed to replace an 11 year old JVC model which served me well for a long time. I'd rather do all my recording on a DVR, but my son has a lot of shows already recorded on VHS. This is a solid-feeling VCR, featuring a whisper-quiet tape transport mechanism. My VHS tapes haven't looked this good in years, particularly shows recorded on this VCR. Colors are brighter. Images are sharper. And the comemrcial skip button is a nice, helpful feature. I also like that the VCR displays the name of the whatever show you're watching. That's a fun touch. One minor gripe though. The RF cable Sony includes is one of those clip-on jobs, rather than the more secure screw-on coax connector. After about two days of staticky picture, I tried jiggling the RF cable and immediately realized that the included cable was providing a bad contact with the VCR's RF output. I connected a proper screw-on RF cable and the picture instantly became the best VCR picture I've ever had. If you have one and are unsatisfied with the picture, try checking the RF cable and see if you got a cheap one too. Compared to other recording devices on the market today, this would only get 3 stars. But compared to other VCRs, five stars.

I have read some "disappointed" reviews on here. There are a couple things you can try before blaming the VCR itself. I would agree with the suggestion of trying better cables, but I also improved viewing quality by just reducing the sharpness control on my tv.

I purchased the Sony SLV-N750 for a tv in the basement using antenna input. I am restricted to two or three channels where I can get acceptable viewing. I also had to use a couple adapters to convert the antenna for use with a 4 ft. coaxial cable to connect to the VCR.

Here's what I have experienced.

TIP 1: I achieved a significant improvement by just reducing the sharpness adjustment on my tv set. Increased sharpness actually contributes to harsh and jagged displays. Go figure.

RECORDING/RECEPTION:

The quality is definitely a function of the signal you get.

TIP 2: I achieved another noticeable improvement by replacing the standard 4 ft. coaxial cable I had, with a premium 4 ft cable to the input connection on the VCR.

PLAYBACK:

Play back does not seem to be a problem with older recorded or commercial tapes.

With the two changes above, I am getting reception and recording quality I would say is close, if not equal to, some of the more expensive VCRs I have purchased in the past.

CHEAP PLASTIC:

It does feel cheap. The input panel in the back yields like it could snap off at any minute. But for the price paid, more than satisfactory value.

OTHER COMMENTS:

The default is cable, so if you use antenna input you will need to go in the menus to change it to antenna input, or else you will just see a blue or blank screen. The display showed AUTO as soon as I plugged it in. I guess it was setting up the clock. It has commercial skip which is handy. And it also has manual tracking buttons in case the auto-tracking is not sufficient.

Some have complained about the coast feature as being imprecise during fast rewind or fast forward, but after having gears go bad on older VCRs from sudden stops, it may be a blessing. You can work around this by getting close and search while in play mode.