Let's stick with SONY- The Sony SLV-N51 VCR
Written: Jun 24 '01 (Updated Jun 24 '01)
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Pros: The 60 second rewind and Sony's High Quality.
Cons: None.
The Bottom Line: For the price, quality and many useful features, it would be hard to find a better VCR than the Sony SLV-N51 VCR.
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| patch3boys's Full Review: Sony SLV-N51 VHS VCR |
Let's stick with SONY- The Sony SLV-N51 VCR
After countless nights of my husband and I fighting with our children over who gets the TV with the VCR, we decided we couldn't take it anymore. It was time to get a second VCR.
My husband had just been awarded a one hundred dollar gift card for a project he completed at work, so we figured we would use that toward the purchase of a new VCR.
Our previous VCR is a Sony (I have written a review about that VCR as well if you would like to compare the two together. It is the Sony SLV-679HF VHS Hi-Fi VCR) We love that VCR, it has well exceeded our expectations. So going in, we already knew we would like to get another Sony, but were hoping to find one that was a little bit cheaper, since it is going to be our second VCR.
At Sears we were browsing through the VCR section (well, I was... hubby was nowhere to be found.) I ended up catching a glimpse of him over by the BIG screen TV's with a small group of men, all obviously other husband's who have strayed off to check out the latest and greatest that was on the showroom floor. After I "calmly" motioned him over and got his attention back to reality, we were approached by a salesman. Doing the normal "salesman thing" he started in with his pitch. "So, I see you are in the market for a new VCR, I have one on sale over here that I think may be just what you are looking for." We said okay and started to follow him. He stopped halfway there and said, "Also, I notice you have kids!" "Yes, we have 3" says hubby. "I bet your children watch lots of video's and just hate to wait for their tapes to rewind. Well, do you think they can handle waiting 60 short seconds for a video to rewind, because that is how fast this VCR reminds Video's!" Impressed, hubby and I glanced at each other. "Oh and did I mention it is a Sony and on sale for $99" he said as we walked up to this small stack of VCR's that were left. "SOLD" I yelled out! So, we were checked out and on our way home in a matter of minutes with our new Sony SLV-N51 VCR.
We again got very lucky to get another high quality VCR system at a fraction of the price that it would have cost us any where else.
****Helpful Tip: Sears is notorious for deals. If you haven't stopped by there to price some of their electronics, I was recommend that you do, because we have made many electronic purchases from them and have never once failed to buy anything without getting a fantastic deal.
I am going to talk about some of the special features on this VCR. I think everyone already knows the basic things that "every" VCR comes with and is capable of doing, so I will just skip over those things and talk about the added bonus'.
Rewinding
I thought I would start by talking about the rewind feature since I think that it is the coolest function of this VCR. The rewind is capable of two different functions.
•Lightening Quick Rewinding- When you are done with a tape and push rewind, your tape will be completely rewound in less than 60 seconds. This truly is amazing. Although the salesman told us of this feature, we really didn't appreciate it till we tried it ourselves. Wow..... I have never seen anything like it.
If you are a parent like me, I am sure that you have had this very same thing happen to you. You get your kiddo's all situated and ready for a movie. You go get the movie of their choice, pop it in, just to find out that it was never rewound the last time it was watched. Grrrr.... So, now you have to sit there and wait for the tape to slowly rewind while everyone starts to get impatient and fussy. Well, say good-bye to that with this VCR. As a matter of fact my kids have fun counting while the tape is rewinding to see how many seconds it actually takes.
• Playback a recently watched Scene- This VCR has the ability to rewind and playback a scene from a movie that you just watched and would like to see again. During playback, simply press REPLAY and your VCR will automatically rewind back 10 seconds on the counter and then automatically starts to replay. (If you want to do it back for more than 10 seconds just click the REPLAY a second time. Each click on this button brings the tape back 10 seconds.) This is really neat... especially if you have a VCR rewinding problem like me! : )
Picture Quality and Sound
Wow.... that is all I can say. This originally was supposed to be our boys VCR for their playroom. We of course had to use it for a while just to see how it worked. We ended up liking it so much and seen such a difference from our older Sony VCR (which I have to say, we have always thought was great), that we decided to keep the Sony SLV-N51 VCR for ourselves and pass down our older Sony to the boys.
The sound is wonderful. Just like our last Sony VCR, the SLV-N51 sounds very clear and has minimal to NO static. We experienced this same quality sound with both of our Sony VCR's.
As far as the picture, we noticed a very noticeable difference in the picture quality on the two VCR's. As a matter of fact, the first movie that we viewed on our new VCR, my husband's first words were "Wow... look how clear it is!" I agree. Crisp, clean picture..... Sony gets an A+ in this department. I have always known Sony to be high quality and have the latest in technology and that applies with this VCR as well.
***Note: This VCR can be played in either Stereo or Monaural. To play the VCR in Stereo, you must use the A/V connections.
How much longer until our movie is over?
The Sony SLV-N51 VCR has the ability to tell you exactly how many minutes are left before your video is over. After using this feature for some time, I just can't imagine what it would be like without it. When you first pop in your video and push play, a number will register on the front of the VCR face. (This number, which is in hours and minutes, tells you exactly how long the video is that you are about to watch. Then it moves backwards as you watch the movie, displaying how long you have left till the movie is over.) This is fantastic, I love it.
Audio/Video Outlets
Another really neat feature on this VCR, that I haven't seen on any others yet, is that the Audio and Video outlets are located on the "front" of the VCR for easy access. So you can hook up your video camera or your children's nintendo/playstation right there on the front of the VCR face, instead of fumbling with the back trying to find out where things plug in. How convenient!!!
Child Lock
You are able to lock all of the buttons on your VCR so that none of your settings can get "accidentally" canceled. It is very easy to do this.
•To lock VCR- Hold down on the POWER button on the VCR until the word "LOC" comes up on the display. Once that appears, all is locked. (You have to do this with the power button in the actual VCR, it will not work from the remote.)
•To Unlock VCR- To unlock the VCR, you do the very same thing. Hold down on the power button (again, on the actual VCR, not the remote), until the word "LOC" disappears from the screen. Once it disappears, all locks are off. Piece of cake!
Self Cleaning-
This is one area that we haven't experienced doing yet. At the time of purchasing this VCR we were told by the salesman that another great quality of the Sony SLV-N51 VCR was that it self cleanes the video heads. We didn't ask too much about this at the time, but were impressed with this added bonus and figured we would look into it later. Unfortunately we still haven't. So, I can't comment too much on that except to let you know that this VCR is capable of doing it. I am sure you will agree that is pretty neat.
Overall
Overall, we are yet once again, completely satisfied with a Sony product that we have purchased. I always recommend Sony to my friends and family because after all the many, many electronics that we have owned, we have never owned any other brand that has stood up to the same quality, longevity or reasonable prices as Sony has always given us. Until they prove us otherwise, Sony will be our first choice in electronics.
If you are in the market to buy a new VCR, I really want to urge you to stop and take a look at the Sony SLV-N51 VCR. I think you will find for the price, quality and many, many useful features, you can't find a better VCR. I give this VCR 4 stars.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 99.99 (sale)
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patch3boys
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