1) Like someone else wrote, I too get this disturbance at regular intervals when playing back with the SLV-N55. For me it occurs with some recordings made by other VCRs and pre-recorded videos.Every 5 to 10 seconds, the picture will jitter vertically for a second. I played around with the tracking to no avail. If it's because of the condition of the tapes or the recordings are a year old, that's still no excuse because these same particular tapes play perfectly stable on my other 3 Panasonic VCRs, and it should have no problem with pre-recorded tapes ESPECIALLY.
(Side Note: I have a Panasonic PV-V4522 that makes recordings with a severe vertical jitter on older tapes, leaving you with a bad recording, but if I re-record over the same tape at the same speed, that recording will be stable... go figure)
A hyper-sensitive VCR that requires mint condition tapes to play a decent picture (in the Panasonic's case, to record one)is not very useful then, because you'll WANT to watch and use your tapes and videos in the future, and you can't store your cassettes in a vacuum, electro-magnetic and gravity free chamber or something.
2) While so far the SLV-N55 has no problems playing back recordings made by itself, the quality of those recordings is not to my liking. It seems to record with more color bleed than other VCRs. Also there is this noticeable outline to the right of every object in the picture, resembling a slight "ghost" effect like with poor reception on a TV with rabbit ears or turning the sharpness too high on your set. (I get digital cable)
If this is what 19 Micron quality is all about, then no thank you. I had an Optimus 19 Micron VCR long ago and while playback of it's recordings were fine, playing back of those same recordings on another VCR was very grainy.
They should just keep everything the standard 26 Microns and all will be fine. So from now on I will avoid the feature "19 Micron Heads" like the plague. : P
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Product Description:
Don't miss a minute of your favorite shows or tapes. Sony's compact, 14-inch-wide SLV-N55 is packed with features like flash rewind, commercial skip, and Instant Replay so you can rewind T-120 tapes in less than 60 seconds, flip past commercials with the touch of a button, and replay sports or movie scenes missed the first time around. A camcorder or gaming console plugs right into the SLV-N55's front panel for hassle-free connections.
This model's four-head design ensures smooth slow-motion play (forward and reverse) and clear still-frame images, and with hi-fi sound the unit records and plays back stereo audio tracks. If routing the stereo output to an AV receiver, you can even enjoy four-channel (left, center, right, and monaural surround) Dolby Pro Logic mixes from TV and Dolby-encoded cassettes. The SLV-N55's dual-azimuth construction uses two pairs of recording heads rather than one, each optimized for a specific mode (one for SP recording, the other for EP), while 19-micron heads deliver the clearest possible picture when recording or viewing in EP (extended-play) mode.
Plug & Play guarantees easy set up with auto tuner preset and AutoClock set for all VCR tuner channels. ChildLoc circuitry protects tapes and kids from harm. Other features include index scan and a one-month/eight-event timer. The unit comes with a multibrand TV/VCR remote control.
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