Customer Reviews

Toshiba SD-V392 DVD/VCR Combo , Silver

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(26)

 

 

I was scared off of Sony and Panasonic by some of the reviews, especially stories of the DVD door problems and the poor service. The specs for this combo DVD/VCR seemed to include everything I wanted. I almost passed on this one too because the dimensions as shown were too big for my cabinet. But I checked the Toshiba web site and found that the dimensions as shown on the Amazon page were incorrect. I notified Amazon and they have corrected the dimensions. I bought it and so far am quite happy with it. The remote has far more buttons than I have ever seen, but the manual is quite thorough. The set up is simple and the DVD door opens and closes quite smoothly. Everything I tried so far works.

Pros:
- I was also scared off Sony and Panasonic after reading many bad reviews, and had locally heard good things about Toshiba.
-The unit is reasonably easy to hook up to tv and satellite dish.
-The sound on the TV improved after unit installed.
-Everything works so far, recording, dvd player, etc. Haven't tried special effects on DVD yet.
-The TV image while viewing a VHS tape or a DVD is good.

Cons:
-The VCR only records in SP and SLP, there is NO LP (4 hours on a tape) SETTING! This is the setting most people use, and the most efficient, so why are all the manufacturers dropping it??? The new Panasonic units also do not record in LP, they also
only use SP and SLP.
-Most of the internal components are plastic now, my old 1995 Panasonic weighs at least five times as much as the new Toshiba, as on the older unit most of the internal parts are metal.
The salesman said that on the newer VCR's they have at least a 30% return rate in the first three months, due to broken plastic components.

In the past I have always spent big on DVD players, TVs and other home cinema equipment as watching movies etc is one of my favourite things to do. In the past I have happily paid over
$1500 for a DVD player and home cinema kit (was back in England so with currency conversion it was more like $3000) - this was about five years ago when the things were still fairly new on the market.

However I recently married and moved to the states - we are furnishing our first home from scratch so we have had to budget accordingly. Having recently purchased a $40 DVD player for a friends birthday and been impressed with it I was willing to risk buying my own first "low-price" player. And I do not regret it.

The playback for both formats is awesome and it records as well as VHS is going too, the sound quality is great (but that also depends on what you are playing it back through - for us its a low end sansui TV and its still ok. It looks sharp with nice lines and it doesnt feel cheap. Its much smaller and lighter than the first wave of combo players too.

It is quiet whilst operating, the buttons are all clear and easily accesible. The player and remote have all the features you would expect and was all tuned in when hooked up. It also has RGB hook-ups on both front and back which I like - i can have the permanent cables from the back and out of sight and we can then quickly attach games consoles etc to the front when needed.

Its a small thing but I actually really like the fact that this player has a clock - its something that most DVD players dont have and not many combo players have either.

For $80 this really is a great little combo player - would have been a great little DVD player on its own for that price too so the VCR is a bonus.

My one complaint about the model though is that it is one of the few (in hindsight as are most Toshibas) DVD players that cannot be "remote control hacked" to make it multi-region. I have a stack of DVDs I bought from the UK and I just cant watch them!

I've had this unit for several months now. It's always been picky aobut the DVDs it will play. Some skip badly, some won't play at all. Yet these same disks play just fine in other players.

This unit takes forever to power up and come on. The disk drive eject time can be measured with sundial (very slow).

Tonight the whole unit just quite working. It freezes and then powers off. Of course, it's out of warrentee now....

Don't buy.

Pros:
- Really great image for the price
- Works great with the ''original'' stuff

Cons:
- Didn't have any problem until I tried some DVD-R and recorded cassettes. On the VCR, there were some white lines on the TV. When I tried DVD-R product, the image froze, paused, etc.
Bottom line: I couldn't watch DVD-R with this, even if the DVD is supposed to be able to read them. I read some reviews on the Internet and there seems to be a lot of ''compatibility'' problems with the DVD-R and DVD in general. So be careful.

I've had this DVD/VCR combo for about 2 1/2 months and it has performed quite well. It was very easy to set up and connect (first for cable and then for satellite). It has worked very well for VHS playing and recording. The DVD player is excellent for the price.

The only downside that I see (or can't see) is the remote control configuration which is quite hard to read and use, especially in the dark.

I have waited several months to give using this unit a fair chance to prove itself, but there are just too many features that are not user-friendly to warrant anybody else getting stuck with this piece of junk. A few of my gripes:

1. There is nothing intuitive about setting the timed recording features. One almost has to learn and remember a programming language to be sure to get it right given the bewildering array of all-too-small buttons.
2. As some one else said too -- it won't record in LP; just standard and super long-play.
3. It freezes up all too frequently in DVD. Not fatally, but annoyingly. Taping often have major "static" bursts recorded.
4. For some reason it turns on DVD when it shuts off after recoding a TV program in VHS. If you try to record two sequential programs on different TV channels it won't do it while you're watching the TV.

All-in-all, not something worth buying. Hardly worth bothering with as a gift.

I purchased a Toshiba VCR/DVD combo but the DVD door was stuck. Word of caution.... if you don't test your electronic purchase before the 30 day return period you're stuck with it. It happened to me and now I am stuck with a broken VCR/DVD and Amazon will not replace the item or refund my money. You're better off purchasing at a 'brick and mortar' store.

I own this combo, and think it works fantastic. The picture is great (way better than our last GoVideo), everything works perfect, easy to use and easy to install. I have not had a single problem and would consider purchasing another. After reading the other comments, I am unsure if I am missing something, or if I was one of the lucky ones who got a great model! I would definately recommend this unit.

I've long been a fan of Toshiba electronics. For my money they have been amongst the most reliable producers of TV,s VCRs, DVD players, and stereos anywhere. The Toshiba SD-V392 is an outstanding combo player and an outstanding value. The DVD player is capable of playing CD, Video-CD, DVD-R, CD-R/RW. MP3 & WMA discs as well as being a jpeg viewer. The picture quality of the SD-V392 is terrific. Using component A/V connections the DVD picture is absolutely beautiful. Skin texture and colors are lifelike. I just can't imagine they could look any better. The zoom, search and fast forward/reverse modes work flawlessly.

The unit has a display clock on the front panel which is a welcome sight since the clock is being eliminated on many DVD/VCR players today. The VCR is a 4 head 19 Micron system making for equally outstanding viewing of VHS tapes. JPEG slide show mode automatically advances to the next picture every 5-15 seconds. The unit is compact and lightweight, but not cheap in my opinion. It's a workhorse unit that does both DVD and VCR jobs well. At Under $100 it is an outstanding value and better than many more expensive units in my opinion.