Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony RDR-VX450 - DVD Recorder & VCR Recorder Combi

The 3 returned units either did not record on a DVD+R or did not play a VCR properly: the VCR picture kept breaking up.

The unit I have now seems to work. However I cannot recommend this model for obvious reasons.

...there is something peculiar about the VCR. I can record to it OK. It will play video tapes that I have previously made on a JVC recorder, but it is rather temperamental about playing some commercially-made video tapes. It fails to track these particular tapes properly and the picture keeps breaking-up. There doesn't however seem to be a problem with the DVD Recorder.

I bought this unit when my AIWA VCR died. I want to be able to transfer mini-DV to DVD, record onto DVD from TV and play my video collection.

First off, the VCR playback quality is surprisingly poor. I just wouldn't use this unit to transfer a video to DVD - you might as well just buy the DVD second-hand. Also, the picture you see with video playback is the digitised image, so you get the combination of video distortion with digital distortion. I have also experienced the poor auto-tracking that the other user mentioned. So, this part is a major disappointment.

DVD recording from TV seems to be fine. However, one annoying thing is that it gives you multiple recording quality options, but doesn't tell you how much time you can record for using a particular quality. So you end up guessing. Secondly, when I record onto DVD-RW, I can't fast-forward or backward with the picture, sound or even timer. You just have to guess when to press play and see where it drops you back. Haven't yet tried transferring from mini-DV.

In summary, I'm a bit disappointed by this unit. I'm seriously considering buying a second-hand VCR to watch my videos on, which kind of defeats the object of buying it in the first place.

I've had this for a few months and the main problem is that it is very temperamental about which discs you can use. I've tried about three different makes of Double Layer discs and i'm never that confident with the recordings. I've been through several +R's and RW's and finally after having some problems with Sonys own make discs, i'm now making arrangements to have Sony look at and hopefully repair the machine. I've seen plenty of negative feedback about this machine so i'm wondering if there is a general flaw with the machine and if repairs will actually make a difference?

Ideally, i'd like a refund and go for a more recent model with a hardrive as to be honest i haven't used the VCR function as the quality is so inferior to DVD's.

When the DVD recorder actually works, the picture is fantastic and the machine has some great features. However i cannot recommend this machine due to its faults.

Bought this in March 2008 to be able to watch VHS and DVD's, plus transfer between the two formats. The DVD element works fine; however the VHS part doesn't!
Tried using brand new VHS tapes, which was a slight improvement. Pre-recorded (commercial) tapes wouldn't play back without substantial tracking interference or dropping out completely to a blank grey screen. Tried transferring known good quality DVD to a brand new tape and this was 80-90% successful but with periodic dropping out to the blank grey screen. So there's a fault, or design problem, with the analogue VHS part of this equipment.
So I don't recommend buying it!
Surprising that someone like Sony could produce something as poor as this.