Sony SLV-D300P Progressive-Scan DVD-VCR Combo
generally good but have a major design flaw
I got this combo on December and I returned it and bought 4 times and I kept it at the end but I got the 2 years service plan from best buy. I never had any of the problems that were mentioned here, probably because I got it recently and that sony took care of the software bugs that were causing that. My problem though is different. First of all, if you use the RF (Coax) output, you will notice annoying digonal waves across the screen. This is caused by poor RF output-stage design that causes too much reflections and that shows up as those diagonal waves. It is a shame that sony would approve a poor design like that. Also I tested the sound you get from the RF output and it is mono not stereo, which is also so strange, there is nothing mono these days. While probably people wouldn't care any more about RF outputs, but RF cables are very practical if you want to wire the output of your player to your computer- which is usually more than 25 feet away- so that you can record/convert TV programs to DVDs through your computer. Obviously you loose quality if you use RF, therefore it's worthless.<BR>Second of all, The RCA output significantly degrades the picture quality if that picture is introduced to the system through one of the RCA inputs it has. So basically if I run the signal from my satelite receiver to my DVD then use the RCA output of my DVD to run the signal to my computer, I loose a significant picture quality than if I was to run the signal directly from the receiver to the computer.<BR>Third of all, the quality of the S-video output is less than the RCA output, which is just so strange. So basically everytime I want to do something, I need to change the wiring so that I can get the maximum picture quality, which is very annoying. I exchanged the unit 5 times to make sure it was not something specific to the unit, but it looks like it is a design issue. Why did I keep it? well They are the only ones out there that can read plus and minus R/RW discs, so no matter what format your DVD burner use, you can play it using that DVD player.