SonyDVDirect DVD Recorder VRDMC5

Those of us who have been around a while (i.e., older than 40) have, I'm sure, accumulated their fair share of VHS tapes -- either pre-recorded videos or blanks onto which we've recorded any number of TV programs and movies. Of course, this was our only option until DVDs came along.Today, DVDs are THE format. Now, while movie studios have been quite good in putting out the older movies on DVD, there are still those select few whose videos are strictly on VHS and will never make it to DVD. For example, NFL Films has made the decision not to re-release old team video highlights on DVD. I have several of these which I'm not about to throw out, but I do want to preserve them.This Sony DVD Recorder is the perfect solution. I can now go through all my VHS tapes and copy them to blank DVDs. Granted, I've only used it with a VCR. But it still works like a charm. Very easy to hook up (although you must supply the A/V cables). The viewfinder is very helpful. And the finished product is very professional looking.If you have old VHS tapes, keep in mind they will deteriorate over time. If you want to preserve them, do yourself a favor and invest in this product. Otherwise, you'll wind up spending a lot more having it done by a video-copying service.

This product is simply amazing! It's so easy to use that it's just incredible. I was able to start copying my old Hi8 camcorder tapes to DVDs in literally just minutes. And the results are fabulous! I played back my first DVD on a 52" 1080p LCD TV using a Blu-Ray player and the DVD videos copied from my 12-year old Hi8 tapes looked absolutely magnificent! I couldn't believe my eyes! It has an easy to use menu to guide you quickly through the setup. Aesthetically it's a homely little device, but it's very well laid out, trivially easy to use and quite versatile. And who can beat the great price and speedy delivery from Amazon! I highly recommend this product!Update: I have now used it to burn an AVCHD-formatted DVD directly from my Sony HDR-SR12 Hi-Def camcorder. This is done via an included USB cable. It turns out that this is even easier than doing a Hi8 to DVD burn, plus you get complete retention of the hi-def recording and it plays on a Blu-Ray player with full 1080 resolution. It even includes the 5.1 surround sound audio from the Sony camcorder. Fantastic result and it only took minutes to do. A regular DVD disk, of course, won't fit very much hi-def content--but still it's terrific quality and very quick and soooo easy to do!

I bought this for two tasks: First to transfer family video shot on a Sony HC-1000 and secondly to transfer old VHS video no longer available for sale to DVD format. The first task was executed nearly flawlessly. The interface is simple and easy to use without looking at an instruction manual. You put in a disk, connect the firewire which is not included(make sure you have 4 pin to 4 pin), select video transfer, then select DV and then it will prompt you to format the disk. You hit record and it does the rest. When you're done it will ask if you want to do any more recording. If not it will finalize the disk and out it pops. I transfered an about ten hours with only one flawed disk. I used highest quality although I probably could have selected standard. I was very impressed with the image as it appeared. Much better than IMovie transfers.The Second task was handled fairly well although I had quite a few coasters, maybe one out five using TDK -R. There may glitch in that I noticed that it doesn't recognize blue screen as not receiving a video input although it did when receiving handycam video. The result was it would keep recording until there was no room and when it came to finalize it would spin and spin and then say failed to record. This happened several times when I walked away entirely. There is an auto stop setting that seems to work. I'm not sure yet if it was coincidence or a bug. I did notice though I had no problems when I was on hand and hit stop before the disk was full.One other annoyance was that the box did not recognize my USB connection nor is it able to download videos stored on Compact Flash.On the whole though it's great and could be made even better with a few tweaks.

Purchase it used. It worked on setup stage, but wouldn't function for the recording to DVD process. Basically said it needed to connect a camera, however the camera was connected and video play was on recorder's screen. 🤦🏽‍♂️Item was returned for full refund.

I have only scratched the surface of what it can do, but the manual is rather extensive and perhaps intimidating. But setting up to burn a DVD from a VHS tape was intuitive, and about the only thing I had to reference was the chart in the manual for recording time. So far, I have only used it to transfer VHS tapes to DVD.The main glitches I have found is a loss of signal in some of my tapes. No idea why, but that makes the DVD into a coaster. It is a real time transfer, so a 1 hour VHS tape will take 1 hour to burn the DVD.The small LCD screen shows exactly what is being burned into the DVD, so it is easy to pause and edit out something. And when recording, the record button is outlined in a red light, so if the signal is lost, it is easy to see at a distance. The LCD screen also contains a complete menu, and it is intuitive.I normally burn the DVD, then put the DVD on my computer to check if it is a good copy, by fast forwarding portions. So far, I have not found any faults in the transfer process other than signal loss. And normally, when the signal is lost, it is lost for good, not just an intermittent loss. And that loss usually occurs within the first 10 minutes of recording or so. When the signal is lost, the recording stops, so it is not as if you record 58 minutes of blank screen.There is no connection between the device and a computer.