Sony SLV-N88 4-Head Hi-Fi Stereo VCR

• 4-head hi-fi VCR with plug-and-play setup
• Commercial skip, 60-second flash rewind, and multilingual onscreen menu
• Digital autotracking adjustment; 8-event/1-month programming timer
• Front and rear composite inputs, 1 set of composite outputs, and coaxial connector
• Hi-fi stereo recording and MTS stereo broadcast reception

First of all. Reading all the previous reviews about the clock being 21 sec in a week late and others gets me thinking. Personally , don't care about seconds per week ratio.

Nextplayability of some tapes. I used to own a video store so I still have lots of tapes left: old, used, retaped. Everything works. But one thing is for sure. I paid $89 for this VCR and I know what to expect. I also have Mitsubishi top of the line , bought 4 years ago for almost $360. And tell you the truth, you cant expect your Mercedes 290 to perform like Mercedes 500. The same with this VCR it gets the job done. It even played the tape that I couldn't play on my Mitsu(the screen was blue, because this Mitsu it very sensitive to some kind of tape imperfection). So it's well worth the money and don't wory that it doesn't have S-VHS. All the tapes hollywood still makes is VHS , because it's standard. and there will not be otherwise.

So if the price is right for you , just get it.

I'd give it 5 stars but it's just not a five star product.

Buy Sony SLV-N88 4-Head Hi-Fi Stereo VCR Now

i have used a vcr just like this one for about a year with no problems it is a good machine for the price. i have read other reviews saying it cant play certian tapes i have never had that problem. i really had questions about what they were talking about. the only thing i can figure is maybe they got ahold of a defective machine.

Read Best Reviews of Sony SLV-N88 4-Head Hi-Fi Stereo VCR Here

I bought this unit because the reviews I'd seen online suggested it had the best picture out there. The picture is good enough (though I haven't yet tried to play older LP tapes), but I'm not sure it's worth buying. The only feature (not counting head quality and the like) that it has over my 10-year-old Hitachi is VCR Plus+, which requires a lot of setup to remap the stations to local cable services. Compared to the old Hitachi, the features are generally harder to use and the menus are just as clunky. Unlike the Hitachi, this unit cannot be set to display the current time if a tape is loaded, and its timer display options are surprisingly sparse.

Worst of all is the internal clock. The time must be accurate for any programmed recording to work correctly, whether that be a VCR Plus+ recording or a manually-entered one. In theory, this unit automatically checks its time against a broadcast time signal whenever it is turned off. However, despite numerous attempts to use the auto-time setup, it never did find a time signal on my cable service. It may be that there is none, despite the two good PBS stations in my area; setting the clock manually is not all that difficult. However, the clock *loses time*. In my latest check, it lost 21secs over 7 days. This is not a great amount of time at once, but over the course of a full season it will play havoc with program recording.

The customer service people were very friendly, but since I am able to read the simplistic manual, they were useless, as their "technical support" seems to consist of people reading the manual to callers and trying to find five different ways of telling the caller to try the same thing. In several calls, and speaking to several people in each call, I did not once get connected to a person with any degree of actual technical knowledge. The unit is warranted on parts for one year but only 90 days for service, so I was told that to get my unit "fixed" I would have to pay $59 and they would give me a refurbished replacement. (I neglected to see if asking for the "resident geek" might have gotten me someone more helpful.) Their website is a textbook example of uselessness its idea of a FAQ is to enter the "troubleshooting" options from the manual as if they are real questions. The "knowledge base" isn't any such thing.

It's a shame. This unit has a lot of promise, but it doesn't quite deliver. The support just isn't there. If you do elect to purchase it, compare the time to a neutral source (such as the Weather Channel) at least once a week. It's a good enough performer, with a good picture, but do be careful.

Want Sony SLV-N88 4-Head Hi-Fi Stereo VCR Discount?

I have bought much audio, video, and other gear over the years. I run a recording studio, and I edit video for a living. This VCR is in my living room, though... this is NOT part of a studio, just home use.

This VCR is a piece of junk when it comes to playing VHS tapes. Tapes are hit and miss. I just recently purchased a brand new tape which won't play properly at all, manually adjusting the tracking doesn't work either. BRAND NEW tape.

I thought it was the heads, I thought it was defective tapes, until one by one tapes wouldn't work, or maybe they'd work for a little while and then stop tracking properly.

The worst part is it took me until the unit was out of warranty to realize it was the VCR and not the tapes, due to the fact that it's rarely used in this era of DVDs.

I have been a user of Sony gear for a long time, both their professional gear and their consumer gear... and honestly, if they care so little about their customers to release a product THIS bad I'm going to think twice next time. It doesn't matter that it's a cheap VCR, it STILL should play prerecorded tapes. There is NO excuse.

At the very least, DO NOT buy this VCR. I understand some people don't have problems, and I respect that, but there are enough negative reviews here to give you pause. BUY another brand.

The unit is a little over one year old. Realistically used about three dozen times in that span because it is in our den and we have other units in other rooms we typically watch TV in. At about nine months old the video playback became awful: it was very "scratchy" and the audio disappeared. I thought it must have been my kids' Disney tapes or perhaps just needed a head cleaning. Tried new tapes and cleaning the heads with a dry cassette that also demagnetizes. It didn't cure the problem and I wrote it off to the fact that the head cleaner was several years old. Unfortunately, I didn't purchase a new head cleaner until after the warranty expired and met with the same results. Called Sony, explained the pre-warranty expiration problem and was told I could get a refurbished unit for a flat rate; about $89 (for a freakin' unit that costs about $100 new!). Unbelievable! I pressed the tech to speak with his supervisor to overlook the expiration in light of my house being filled with Sony products and my long history of purchasing only Sony. I was told they would review my claim. Still waiting three weeks later I called to follow up and was told they do not have any record of my complaint. What a joke for this company. They again said a senior customer advisor would review my claim and get back to me. Still waiting and they won't answer my e-mails. {Gave up on the phone totally useless service.) Well, Consumer Reports rates Toshiba highly. Bought a DVD/TV combo that works great. We'll see in a year.