There are so many things wrong with this unit that it's unusable and I have to buy another, different brand. It's the worst VCR I've had in 35 years.
Connectivity is limited, as noted by the previous reviewer. In my case, the hookup is RCA only so I can't connect it to an older TV with an RF coax.
Timer recording is so convoluted (actually, EVERYTHING is so convoluted) and you can't watch TV through the VCR while it's recording - it locks you into the DVD mode. In other words, if you set the timer, you can't watch TV or spot-record in the VCR mode. You have to shut off the unit to watch TV.
The sound level drops *depreciably* from the sound level of the TV, not only when playing VHS/ DVD tapes, but even when you just turn it on.
There's no auto-tracking and the tracking buttons do nothing to adjust the picture. The sound drops even lower playing VHS and you can't get rid of those rolling tracking lines. I haven't checked to see if this also happens on tapes recorded by this unit or if it just happens on tapes I've recorded on another unit.
The open/close button on the remote doesn't do what it's supposed to do. It either stops the action or else it cycles back and forth between open/close. I have to get up from the couch and manually press open/close from the unit itself.
Moving through/selecting the menus is primitive and so counter-intuitive. It takes forever. And the manual is totally useless.
The remote is convoluted and not user-friendly. It's also cheaply made - there are several spots where the plastic is splitting and I've only had it one month.
Rewind is excruciatingly slow.
I'm sure I'm forgetting some other really annoying problems. This unit is almost as primitive as VCRs/DVD players when they first came out. I bought Toshiba to get away from the SONYs I've been buying that die within a year, but it looks like I'll have to check out other brands now. Toshiba SD-V296 Tunerless DVD VCR Combo
I bought this recently at a Best Buy and was terribley dissapointed when I found out that there was no s-video for the vcr and the only way to have the vcr and dvd player share the same output was to use composite, and so after setting up this unit to two different inputs (one for composite and the other for component) I tried watching a movie on dvd and found that this unit responds almost instantly to commands from the remote and the unit only makes sounds when it's reading the disc. For the vcr, it plays fine, but since I only need it to play vhs tapes, I haven't tried recording anything, so I wouldn't know about that.
It's a great dvd player, but so-so as a dvd-vcr combo.
I bought this recorder to replace my Sony VCR that went bad after 8 years. This was probably one of the worst purchases I have made. Amazon got me the VCR in 2 days and the setup only took minutes but that is the last good thing I have to say. The remote control is extremely poorly designed. The rewind is slow under both modes. The search function was very difficult to use due to poor documentation. There is no slow playback function in either forward or reverse. The buttons on the remote are not in logical places causing a lot of hunting for the right keys. The lettering on the remote is very small and hard to see. The function I really miss is the one to let you know how much tape is left to be recorded. All in all, I am sorry that I bought this and will probably never buy anything from Toshiba again.
I purchased this yesterday at Best Buy. It (thankfully) was the last unit they had in stock. It won't load the tape properly. The tape loads crooked, with the left side sticking up in the machine. Needless to say, it won't play the tape in that position. I'm returning it this evening. I can't seem to find a "decent" VCR for dubbing my tapes to DVD anymore. I just want to dub from the VCR to the computer. :(
My review is a lot different from most of the people here.
I saw the reviews others wrote, which were very negative, and one or two that felt it was a good solid basic machine.
I have used toshiba in my profession and it is generally a solid, quality brand. Not schnazzy and spiffy, but solid. A few quirks, but it gets the job done.
What I have done/intend to do with this machine:
1--Replace my old vcr which my son destroyed
2--Play old VHS tapes that have been given to us by friends/family, mainly children's videos
3--Play DVD's (for the children and for us--playing them on my laptop it's too quiet).
On these three points, honestly, I couldn't have asked for a better deal. the price was under $50 when I purchased it last week, and it's brand spanking new, not a refurb, and everything works good. The sound quality for the VHS side is not extra quiet for my tv. In fact, I had to turn it down some. DVD worked great too.
What I have NOT tried to do/don't intend to do:
1--record old vhs's to DVD
2--Hook this puppy into a state of the art audio/visual home theater
3--set the timer for recording programs automatically.
In these more advanced digital age things, probably this is not the best tool. All I wanted was something that could play both vhs and dvd's mainly to entertain our kids and sometimes for me and my wife. Our TV is not enthroned in honor in our house, it is just a tool. Our life doesn't focus around TV programming, so all we really needed was something to play VHS and DVD when we need or want.
Now it's possible if you have a nice nice system, you've already spent hundreds of $$$ on HD stuff, then maybe you need something that is more compatible. Check carefully on brands and make sure they have the exact connections you need, or you can end up spending a lot of money.
Also, if you have a TV that only goes through Co-ax, you'll need a special box to convert the RCA to Co-ax, and the manual says you might find reduced quality if you do.
So if you just need a basic solid piece of equipment to play your vids, I think you can't beat this one. The price has raised since I bought it, but it's still the most affordable one as of today, and I'm glad I got one for well under $100. - Dvd - Vcr - Vcr-dvd Combinations - Dvd-vcr Combo'
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