Review on 📼 Sony RDR-VX560 1080p DVD Recorder/VHS Combo Player (Tunerless, 2009 Model) with Improved SEO by John Hattalli

After 1 month of use I was very happy with this unit. (Note: I reserve 5-star ratings for items that exceed my expectations or offer exceptional value for money.) You should also consider the specific purposes I had in mind when purchasing (in order of importance Priority): 1. Dub your vast collection of home videos recorded on Hi8 and D8 cassettes to Sony Handycams.2. TV recordings from my cable box (non-premium channels)3. Dubbing from old VHS tapes recorded at home4. Playback of commercial DVDs (rarely). Before I get into the usage details, I would like to share my #1 online shopping tip: >>> Go to the manufacturer's customer support website to download the user manual, then read it carefully! <<< I'm amazed how many one star reviews that basically say "It didn't do what I wanted it to do" could have been avoided because either A) the manual never said that would do it, B) the manual implies he might not - which usually means he won't, or C) the manual specifically says he WILL NOT do it. Of course, reading the manual wouldn't help those who seem to have a few lemons. .Example "B" above saved me from frustration. As I said in the first paragraph, my first priority was dubbing Handycam tapes. I downloaded the manual for Panasonic DMR-EZ48V which I considered instead of Sony. There in the fine print on page 29 under "Notes" along with all the other problems you might encounter was the line "Compatibility with camcorders from other manufacturers is not guaranteed". I found someone with a similar model and of course Panasonic and Sony handycams didn't work well together. Video freezes were repeated on the dubbed DVD. Sony and Panasonic seem to have different interpretations of the IEEE 1394 standard. This unit was easy to use to dub from my Handycam to D8 tapes. It took less than a minute after reading the manual before hitting the one-touch record button and everything was up and running. I was frustrated that for some reason I couldn't do this with my Hi8 tapes. It was possible with my previous Sony recorder, but with this one I had to use manual mode (simple overwrite). I had no problems with a simple timer recording from the TV. I haven't found the correct codes to use Sony to change the cable box channels yet, but that doesn't bother me too much. I was happy dubbing old VHSs to DVD and noticed only the slightest loss when dubbing. (Yes, Virginia, transmission loss always occurs when analog media is involved.) Also, I'm not stupid enough to think that every newer device from Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba, etc. overwrites copyrighted tapes. So I didn't unnecessarily berate this product with a low review for not doing what it said; see pages 3, 31, 33 and 84 of the instructions for use. I've played several commercial DVDs on this unit and luckily haven't experienced the "stuttering" that some have reported. Most of the playback is done on another device as I bought this specifically for recording/dubbing. I have not attempted to record to VHS as I have no reason to. All my DVD recordings were on DVD-R and -RW media. I would recommend this device to a friend for the above purposes.