Sony SLV-N500 4-Head Hi-Fi VCR

It's been a while since I have used one of these ancient devices, but I liked this one... a lot! I paid $70 for this used VHS and my wife just about killed me. I too was astounded at how little VCR's had come down, even here on Amazon and then I started looking around. Only then did I realize that I got a fair deal. Just because these suckers are old, don't mean they're cheap! I don't even know where to begin to look for brand new VCR's but I did find VCR/DVD combos and they were all over $100. But enough about price, here's 7 reasons why I liked it: #1 Its got a kicking rewind/fast forward mechanism that is super fast. #2 It shows on screen how much time is remaining on each tape, as it should, but also includes a little diagram that displays where you are on the tape. Beginning-ish / Middle-ish / End-ish #3 It's built like they USED to build things. I must have run 50 tapes through this thing already, old, dirty tapes, fast forwarding, rewinding and this beast is still ticking. #4 The tracking is boss. I don't ever remember the tracking on these things being very good but this VCR gets it right all the time. #5 The memories - I mentioned that my wife was a bit ticked when she found out the price for a used VCR, well after watching hours and hours of old home movies, she is not so mad. #6 It has 3 audio visual connectors - 2 in back and one in the front. I love the front ones for convenience. I plan on connecting this monster to my PC via the EasyCapture system and capturing all those great memories. #7 The remote works great and has a decent reach for it's age and also includes an eject button. Buying ancient devices like this one can be risky and apparently expensive, so do a bit of research and try to get this model if you can. I haven't cleaned it yet but I do suggest purchasing a head-cleaner. You can buy them right here on Amazon.

The VCR literally did not work at all. Could not play anything on it. This was obviously sold defective.

I am so pleased with the VCR we ordered. I had ordered comparable VCR’s from other vendors and none of them worked. I plugged this one in, connected it to the TV and plugged in a tape and it worked flawlessly.

My unit arrived very well-packaged, in an original (but not new) box. It came with a genuine Sony remote control. All the features worked well in playing commercial tapes. Rewind and fast forward are quite fast. However, I have not tried recording anything, since I have no need for that function. I would describe the picture quality as only good. Color was good but sharpness was only OK. Part of that may be an unavoidable result of looking at a VHS tape on a 46 inch screen, which amplifies flaws that might not be noticeable on the smaller screens available when VHS was the only way to see recorded movies. But I think it is a little less sharp than it could be.

i bought this several months ago and have nothing but luck with, the clearity is perfect, the player is well worth the cost of a new one.

What I like about this VCR, is that it played my prerecorded tapes with excellent picture and audio quality. What I dislike was that every five hours of tape playing, I had to clean the heads of this VCR, and then I had to wait for a couple of hours until the solution that I cleaned the heads with to dry completely, so I can play some more tapes, but that was OK with me.

Defective unit and missing remote. Horribly packaged, Unit only turns on/off when you plug the units plug into a power receptacle or strip. Power button does not work. Eject button does not work. No operation manual. Ate my family heirloom tape. Very pissed customer! Garbage!

Needed a VHS player to view some old family 8mm converted to VHS. Unit arrived well packed with personal instructions who to contact if there's an issue. Unit looked and smelled brand new and had no issues using all functions. Unit did not come with a remote however, but it has all functions on the front, and you can still get a universal remote if important.