Sony SLV-D350-P DVD/VCR Combo Problem

[Abigal]

Hello ...

I am a new member of VideoHelp. I am hoping someone might have some suggestions for me.

My old Sony DVD/VCR combo has stopped working. I can't remember exactly when I purchased it, but I think it was around 2007.

I've been looking for a used replacement. I found a Sony SLV-D350-P at a Goodwill. I know that the Sonys aren't considered to be as good as some of the other brands, but this particular model would work with the remote from my old unit, so I decided to try it.

I was very hopeful when I set it up. But I ended up returning it because I couldn't get my VHS tapes to play properly. Now that I have discovered this forum, I am wondering if there is anything I didn't try that I should have tried. If so, I will go back to the Goodwill and see if they still have it. I just returned it yesterday.

The DVD portion worked fine. In fact, it worked better than my old one, because it played some DVDs that did not play on my old one.

However, when I tried to play some VHS tapes, I experienced what I thought were tracking issues. I tried three different tapes that I've used to record things from the television. They all showed the same result -- the garbled, jumpy issues that are usually due to tracking. I then tried a tape of a movie. This was a commercially produced tape, not one that I recorded myself. It had the same problems.

I tried adjusting the tracking with my remote. No luck. Then I saw that the unit had tracking buttons on it. So I tried that. After I played with it for a while, I got the picture to work on the tapes I recorded from the television. But the sound was still off. It was very muffled and somewhat garbled.

Then I tried the commercially produced tape. On that one, the sound was okay, but the picture still had tracking issues.

So after trying for hours to get it to work, I gave up and returned it.

Is there anything else that I could have done? I would loved to have been able to get this unit to work. It appeared to be otherwise in very good condition -- and it looked even better after I cleaned it up a bit. It would be a great option for me if I could just get the VHS tapes to play properly.

If there are other things I could try to get it to work, I will go back to Goodwill and see if the unit is still there.

I have been to six Goodwill stores, and I am discovering that both DVD/VCR combo units and VCR-only units are in short supply. I would prefer not to purchase one online via Amazon or eBay because I don't want to have to pay to return it if it doesn't work properly, and I know there are also risks involved in shipping a unit.

I have also been thinking about just purchasing a VCR-only unit so that I will have something on which to play my tapes, and then purchasing a new DVD player for my DVDs.

I don't want to just give up on the idea of some sort of VCR because I have many VHS tapes that I want to continue to play. I don't have a DVR, so I was still using my old DVD/VCR combo to tape things from the television.

I might go ahead and purchase a VCR-only unit, too, if I can find one that works well at Goodwill or through Craig's List. I would keep that as a back-up. But I'd still love to be able to get that Sony combo working!

If anyone has any suggestions about other things I could try to fix the problem with the Sony SLV-D350-P, I would appreciate them very much.


Thank you!

[october262]

maybe the vcr heads needed to be cleaned.

[hech54]

Combos were notorious JUNK. There are plenty of (still) good, used VCRs on Ebay that are very inexpensive....just make sure to check the reputation of the seller.....and stay away from any more combo units.