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SONY SLV-D350P

This Sony SLV-D350P is a DVD/VHS combination player. I purchased it at Sears in May 2004 for $239.99 CDN. & later found it for $220. CDN (about $160 U.S.) at G&G Electronics. There were plenty of things I disliked about this unit (especially the extremely poorly designed remote control), but most other flaws were minor, so I would conditionally recommend this unit because it mostly worked well. Note, that this unit is shipped with the DVD black level set at the Japanese setting (OFF), you must go in the menu & turn the black level to the (ON) position if you are in North America using a standard definition TV.

Likes:

  • Using a calibrated test disc & waveform monitor, the DVD white levels (100 IRE) & black levels (7.5 IRE) were exactly correct (black level set to ON).
  • Using a calibrated test disc & vectorscope, the DVD hue is correct, color saturation was slightly high.
  • VHS playback of calibration tape into a waveform monitor showed that luma brightness levels (B&W) were pretty good (read 98 IRE, 100 is ideal) The hue & color saturation playback from VHS were also very good.
  • VHS record levels for luma, hue & color saturation were also pretty accurate.
  • The DVD player did properly display details in the black footroom brightness area (0 - 7.5 IRE) & white headroom brightness area (100 - 108 IRE) when using the Y/C (S-Video) or component out connections (this means none of the extremely dark or bright details will be clipped on a non Hollywood DVD). However the DVD player cut off details in the black footroom brightness area (0 - 7.5 IRE) when using the composite out connector & RF cable, so try to avoid using the composite or RF connectors for DVD playback.
  • VHS section has 4 video heads & HI-FI which I consider to be essential features.
  • Will play multi-session MP3 music or JPEG pictures on a CD-R or CD-RW (maximum 999 files).
  • Rescales JPEG pictures (on CD-R) very well to fit the TV screen & you can set it on automatic timer display to view the pictures like a slide show.
  • The pause button will pause & unpause (no need to press play to unpause).
  • Has 2X & 4X zoom on picture for DVD & JPEG pictures (nice feature for JPG pictures that are larger that 1/3 megapixels).
  • The 2X DVD fast forward speed has sound.
  • There is a dynamic range control for DVD audio.
  • Plays MPEG1 (VCD) from a CD-R, apparently also plays SVCDs.
  • Plays DVD-RWs. Specs say it will play DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R & DVD-+RW which covers all the burnable video media types.
  • For DVD it simultaneously outputs composite, RF cable, Y/C & component (no need to switch output settings).
  • VHS has "commercial skip" feature in play mode, which doubles as a frame advance button in pause mode.
  • Has S-VHS Quasi playback SQPB (plays back S-VHS tapes at VHS resolution).
  • Unit has the Progressive 480P feature, but that can only be used on High Definition TVs (HDTV).

Dislikes:

  • This unit is wrongly shipped with the DVD black level set at the Japanese setting. If using a standard definition TV (SDTV) you must go in the menu & turn the black level to the ON position if you are in North America. That is a very serious problem in light of the fact that the manual doesn't adequately describe what the black level is for on page 68 (it says "You can enhance the black level by increasing the brightness and contrast when viewing DVD's with the progressive indicator turned off"). When the black level is left in the OFF position for standard definition TVs (SDTV), users will not see the bottom 7.5% of dark detail & the picture might occasionally roll (luma picture content goes well below zero IRE with black level off). The manual should have said something like this "For standard definition TVs (SDTV) in North America set the black level to ON & in Japan set the black level to OFF. For all high definition TVs (HDTV) using the DVD component connection & with the "progressive" feature of this unit turned on, set the black level to OFF". The on screen menu for black level should have said "OFF for Japan SDTV, or any HDTV using progressive" & "ON for North American SDTV" & it should have been preferenced to ON for all models shipped to North America. A preference setting oversight & manual description screw up of this significance surprises me (I thought Sony was better than that). Fortunately you can correct the problem simply by turning the black level to ON in the menu.
  • The composite out video connector (RF connector too) cuts off black footroom detail (0 - 7.5 IRE) when viewing DVDs (use the Y/C or component output connectors for DVD viewing, which do not cut off black detail). Fortunately composite & RF video out did not cut off DVD white headroom detail (100 -- 108 IRE).
  • Remote control doesn't work with half discharged batteries (i.e. 1.4 Volts), so expect not to get long life from the batteries you put in this remote. Sony must know that this was a design flaw since they included batteries that have a much higher than normal new Voltage.
  • The Infra Red remote control signal is weak & needs a fairly direct line of sight to the sensor on the front of the DVD/VHS unit. It doesn't seem to work well at an extreme angle or bouncing off ceiling/walls like most other remote controls.
    I was VERY disappointed with the extremely poor design of the remote control which was not very ergonomically designed (not designed for easy use), nor was it very user friendly for "remote control challenged" people. For example, the mute & zoom functions share the same button, so you have to use the TV/DVD/Video slider switch first to switch functions (mute & zoom functions should have been on separate buttons). Since zoom only applies to "DVD" mode, when in the "Video" mode, the mute function should have worked on the TV, regardless of the TV/DVD/Video slider switch position. Likewise since this is supposed to be a universal remote, there should have been a separate on/off button for the TV, than for this DVD/VHS unit (not sharing the same on/off button using the TV/DVD/Video slider switch). The TV/DVD/Video slider switch should have been a 3 position switch, which would have eliminated the need for the extra "Video" & "DVD" buttons, as well as reduced the confusion & guessing as to which mode you are trying to control. The printing near buttons was often too small to read & sometimes confusingly worded. The pause button says "pause", but on the display of the VHS/DVD unit & on the TV it says "still" (come on Sony, get your terminology uniform). When using the remote to change this units TV tuner, if jumping channels, you have to not only select the channel with the buttons, but you also have to push "enter" to make the channel change which makes it unnecessarily complicated. There are so many buttons on this remote, that it would have been far less confusing if there were a slide panel that physically covered those buttons that were not in use for a given function (TV/DVD/VHS/TUNER). For example, the TV/DVD/Video slider switch could have been incorporated into a physical slider panel that not only switched between those 3 functions, but also concealed those buttons not used by that function, which would have greatly simplified the use for "remote control challenged" people. Certain buttons like "input select" which are hardly ever used (typically only ever used for RF cable input), should also be under a concealed panel so they aren't accidentally pushed, or removed from the physical buttons on the remote & the choice put only in the menu.
  • Sony has never been one to conform well to industry standards & this DVD/VHS unit is no exception in that the VHS stage & TV tuner will not accept industry standard universal remote control codes (not compatible with others branded remotes), so it can't be controlled by your existing TV or VCR universal remote control unless it's a Sony too. This isn't rocket science, there's supposed to be a universal industry standard for remote controls & players that manufacturers comply with, but a Sony rep told me that Sony purposely didn't release the non standard codes, so other brands of remotes wouldn't work this unit. So if you didn't also buy a Sony TV, then you have to use two remote controls, or use the Sony DVD/VHS remote for your TV too, but constantly be switching the slider switch back & forth depending on which unit you need to control (causes major confusion). From my perspective, this design of having the remote control be universal, but the DVD/VHS unit not universal, is intentionally Sony's marketing practice of making life more difficult if you didn't buy a Sony TV too. My elderly father is comfortable with the 4 year old remote control for his JVC TV & didn't want to learn something new, but because of Sony's non compliance with universal remote control standards in the receiver (DVD/VHS unit), he can't use his JVC remote to control the VCR or tuner of this Sony player. This is something to consider if buying a unit for a "remote control challenged" person. A "learning" universal remote control might work as a substitute because it can emulate the secret codes from the Sony remote.
  • There doesn't seem to be a "last channel", "swap" or "flashback" button so you can easily toggle back & forth between two TV channels (a feature which nearly all remote controls have these days).
  • The custom A/V mode "Cinema1&2/Standard/Dynamic1&2" in menu settings is really just a CONTRAST control which increases or decreases brightness. The manual description of what it does on page 39 is wrong. This control doesn't belong on a DVD player, your TV should be where you adjust contrast. Leave this control on STANDARD.
  • Compared to many other DVD players, this one doesn't play fussy discs well or at all, that have slight authoring or burning defects (fussier than most).
  • The display on the front of this unit doesn't show which speed your VHS tape is playing back at (only works in record mode) & neither does the on-screen display show the playback speed (only record speed). That's an oversight I haven't seen on any other VHS player, which makes it difficult to determine if a tape was recorded in the SP or EP speed.
  • Pressing the "enter" button on the remote for DVD use, takes a long time to yield results.
  • DVD has 6 fast forward speeds but unlike most other DVD players, this one doesn't say what speed the FF is in (i.e. 2X, 5X, 10X, 100X & so on).
  • Doesn't play PAL DVDs from other countries.
  • Plays MP3 music but doesn't display longer song names on screen.
  • Manual says that it will only play MP3 music recorded at 128 kbps (some downloads are at other data rates).
  • JPEG pictures use gamut standard #1 (RGB 0 - 255) & DVDs use gamut standard #2 (RGB 16 - 235), but Sony didn't bother to include a brightness converter between these two gamut standards, so JPEG pictures will appear too contrasty (will cover brightness range of 0 - 108 IRE, instead of 7.5 - 100 IRE).
  • When viewing JPEG pictures from a CD-R that you burned on a computer, this player ignores the folders & it only plays 999 pictures (there is enough space on a CD-R for over 10,000 email sized JPEG pictures).
  • The VHS video output area doesn't have a Y/C output connector. This is normal for VHS units, but a better quality picture could have been available for VHS if Y/C out were available & it could have simplified DVD viewing connections using the same output (i.e. no need to switch your TV input switch from composite to Y/C when switching between VHS & DVD playback for best quality picture).
  • This DVD/VHS combo unit is a few inches wider than most VHS units. I see no reason why Sony couldn't have made it the same width as most other VHS only units.
  • The timer menu if accidentally pushed is very difficult to figure how to get out of (menu doesn't properly describe how to exit).
  • Doesn't come with Y/C (S-video) or component video cables.

By Doug Hembruff.
Article first written in May 2004, last updated September 19/2004.
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