Customer Reviews

Sylvania DV220SL8 Tunerless Dual Deck DVD Player/VCR Combo

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(26)

 

 

You ever have a computer crash on you? When it just locks up and freezes and the mouse and keyboard don't respond. Well, that's kinda what happened to this device. Within about a week of getting it the remote control stopped working, the on/off button wouldn't work and the controls on the machine stopped working. I left it off for a few hours and I turned it back, that helped for a few days but then it stopped working again. I tried keeping it unplugged when not using it, only plugging it in when I wanted to play it, but that didn't help. I plugged it into a different socket, still the same. It finally just stopped working so I returned it to the store where I'd bought it and the clerk there said that a lot of customers were returning this product! I ended up purchasing a more expensive DVD/VCR combo. Take my advice; don't bother with this model. It's no bargain if it doesn't last!

Oh My WORD!!! This unit is GARBAGE!! DOA!!!

We just received this unit yesterday from Sears and
It ate two video tapes. It shut off when we turned it on. It repeatedly ejected the tapes and made some weird noise{{UGGGH}}

Now I have to pay to have it shipped back to Sears because there isn't a store in my area and customer service told me it would take WEEKS before they can have UPS come and pick the unit up!!

At least if I would've purchased it from Amazon, it could've been easily returned at no cost to me.

Like Judge Marilyn Milian loves to say 'The cheap comes out expensive'

Don't be a sucker like me. AGAIN, DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT!

Not bad for the price.
To record, you'll need an extra video cable and a Y-adapter audio cable (not included).
SYLVANIA Unit
On the rear of the unit find 6 columns of jacks. The first 4 columns have "DVD" laveled at the top. The 5th column has "DVD/VCR" labeled at the top. The 6th column (the farthest to the right) is labeled "VCR" at the top. You'll use these 2 jacks; 1 Audio IN jack and 1 Video IN jack. Plug the audio and video cables to these jacks on the back of the unit. If you are using a standard audio cable and not a Y-adapter audio cable, you will realize that there is only 1 Audio IN jack for your 2 plugs (a red and white for right and left). It still will record if you only plug in one of the two cables.
TELEVISION
Next, connect the cables to the the Video OUT jack and Audio OUT jacks on your TV. Connect the Video cable to the Video OUT jack. Connect the Audio OUT cables to the Audio OUT jacks. Note, your television will probably have 2 Audio OUT jacks. Plug in both cables into the Audio OUT jacks.

I bought this unit, and it is only for playing DVDs and VCR tapes. Sure, it WILL record...but not in any useful manner.

There is no internal tuner. What this means is that you have to provide a line in from your tv or another source like a cable box. It does not, as most VCRs do, take a coaxial cable.

To record, you have to set the tv to the channel you want. You can't change the channel on the tv, or the vcr will record the new channel instead.

Also, there's no timer in the VCR. So you literally have to be standing there ready to hit RECORD when the show starts.

The whole reason I have a VCR so I don't HAVE to be there when the show is on.

I immediately boxed it back up, and it's going back. I'm giving it two stars only because I assume the DVD player works fine. I never even turned it on, so I don't know.

Although it is not listed in the description for this item, there is no internal tuner in this unit. Therefore, before you can record a program from tv you must first hook up an external tuning device. I don't know about you but to me, what is the point of a recording device that doesn't easily record? There are so many choices out there and it is confusing enough without something like this being clearly identified in the description. Anyway, hopefully this review will help someone before they buy. It does play videos and dvds great---just hard to record.

I purchased this DVD/VCR to replace an exact model which was destroyed when our
house was struck by lightening and burned out some electric wiring. (We were
lucky the house did not catch fire!). Anyway, I was very satisfied with this
model which enabled me to use my collection of DVD's and VCR tapes. Easy to
understand and use for a senior citizen!! Great price from Amazon.

I haven't converted all my old VCR tapes over to DVD yet... Some of those are precious home videos. I needed a player to handle them and still play DVDs without having an extra item and wires everywhere. Since I haven't converted over to BLU RAY movie watching, and don't want to create any more old VCR-style recordings; this VCR/DVD player is perfect. It worked as advertised, even better because I believe it is the quietest running video player I've ever had (either type).

The remote is intuitive enough that you can use all the basic functions automatically. The select and arrow buttons for maneuvering through menus are not obvious, like my old Magnavox's. So if you watch videos in the dark, you may need some extra light to find the right keys.

So easy to hook up, and operate that after 2 months I still haven't read the instructions!

I purchased this unit during the '06-'07 Christmas season. I was looking for an inexpensive unit, since I heard (and continue to to this day to) that DVD/VHS combos tend to be very touchy. I had a fair sized VHS collection that I wanted to be able to view, while not owning many DVD's, so for the price I figured I would give it a chance. MISTAKE! The few DVD's did play well, and the functionality was good. But the VHS never worked that well, even tapes that I had with little to no play on them yielded not much more than static. There is no tracking adjust!
So I resided myself to having a junky 70$ DVD player. Well, after I moved to a new residence, after plugging in the unit the VHS section began to spit back out any tape that I put in. Then the unit began to make a loud clacking noise and power off. I moved my belonings myself and know for fact that the player never even endured the slightest bump while it was repacked in the factory packaging during the move. Now, I cannot even use the DVD function as well as the pathetic VHS side of this unit!!!

Bottom line; I wouldn't own another of these models if I were PAID 70$!!!

We mostly liked this product for the first 3 1/2 months -- which cooresponds to the length of time it worked for us. I see others have experienced Sylvania Sudden Death Syndrome even sooner than we did. For the sake of the environment, avoid this product. It will just take up landfill space.

Now to see if we can get my son's brand new DVD (Christmas gift from Grandma) out of the piece of junk before we have its body committed.

The player arrived yesterday. We were replacing our old video player, and the DVD player was a bonus for us. Basic installation was simple. Both the sound and the image were well within our hopes and expectations for something in this price range.