Review on Sony SLVD560P DVD VCR Combo by Ryan Arthur

I can't remember exactly how long I've had this unit but I would say around 10 years (I bought it new from ABC stock). It was used almost daily on both DVD player and VCR. I used to shoot with it almost every day and tried to clean the video head regularly (recommended every 20-25 hours of use). After almost a decade of regular use, everything was still working, but there were a few inconsistent issues. From time to time the VCR would rewind the tape and then it wouldn't play until I took out the tape and hand rewound it until the VCR recognized the tape. the last few months he hasn't played at all, no matter what I've done. Commercial cassettes seemed to work fine, only blank recordable tapes gave me problems at times. Since the device was new, the DVD player was very sensitive. The slightest scratch or smudge could cause a disc to skip or a picture to freeze, so renting a DVD was never a good idea. I usually just buy my DVDs new and keep them pristine, so most discs haven't been a problem. About a year ago I found a brand new unit still sealed in the box on eBay for just over $300 and considering it could sell for a higher price. for $600 at the moment i decided to buy it as i am so lucky with mine and still love to record from tv from time to time. I decided to use the old one for a while as it still worked but finally decided to pull out the new one about 3 months ago. Shortly after using it, I noticed a problem with the DVD case. I tested everything briefly when I first bought it to make sure it worked properly, but I missed it. Everything worked fine, but when I closed the disc tray after ejecting the DVD, it made a grinding noise for a few seconds, and about every 5 or 6 days it did so for 15-20 seconds. Upon disassembling the unit I found that the DVD drive was not lifted high enough to contact the round plastic bearing that sits on top of the DVD and after the drive ejected the tray closed and the drive began to lock turn. a round piece of plastic, but since it didn't fit snugly, it spun freely and made a crunching noise. Everything worked, but it seemed that it could fail at any moment. Needless to say I was very upset considering the amount of money I spent and the fact that Sony no longer supports this product as it has long been discontinued. I was lucky enough to replace the DVD block myself with another new block and now everything works great and this new block seems to play in places where the old DVD capture laser would have gotten stuck. I don't use a VCR as much as I used to, but I still like having one and use a DVD player almost every day. I just hope this new device will serve me as well as the first one.