Sony SLV-KS1 VHS VCR
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- VCR Type: VHS
- Number of Video Heads: 4
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Consider ONLY for the Kids
Pros
Great features for kids - and kids only
Cons
Lack of basic features for adults
Recommended it?
No
The Bottom Line:
Good for kids, and kids only. Lack of basic features present on all similarly priced machines make it a bad buy for your second VCR.
When my 12 month old son finally mastered the many physical skills necessary to crawl, stand up and manipulate objects around him, I was very proud.
When he quickly developed an obsession with pushing the buttons on my VCR and opening the tape door, I was moderately humored.
When I came home one day to find that my trusty, feature laden 4 year old stereo VCR had mysteriously ceased operating, I was suspicious. I can't prove the kid did it, but he sure looked guilty.
Since my son was born the VCR went from being a useful tool to a necessity (see my review of the Baby Einstein videos). I went to the local Best Buy to replace the VCR, and saw this Sony product on the shelf - standing out with its bright colors and cartoonish appearance. Now that my son has the physical capacity to cause great harm to precision electronics, I was intrigued by the feature set advertised in this product.
Good Kid Features
This SONY has some great kid friendly features, which are well covered in some of the other opinions here. I won't go into them in detail here, but be aware there are a lot of pluses to this machine. It has a handy "child lock" on the tape door. It automatically rewinds and restarts tapes when they reach the end, and even displays a hardwired animated cartoon during the rewind operation, to distract the kids. You can also set a timer for how long the video will play if you want to limit "tv time". It is also brightly designed, making it perfect for placement in a play room.
The Other Shoe
Unfortunately, in designing this machine with the "kid friendly" features, Sony neglected to include some basic features that most everyone simply assumes would be present in any modern VCR. You need to be aware of these negatives if you are looking at this VCR, or else you could be real disappointed.
First off, the VCR has "line" capability only. That means that you cannot connect it to your TV or cable box using the standard antenna cable. You need to make sure your TV has RCA jacks in back so that it can receive the feed from the VCR.
Second, this VCR is NOT stereo. If you plan on using it in your main TV room, you can forget about that nice speaker system being used during Friday movie nights. This probably doesn't matter much if the VCR is used for kids' videos only, but The Matrix just isn't going to cut it on this thing.
Third, there is only one "Line In" connection available. In my main TV room, I have a DVD, VCR and a Sony IR receiver(for the camcorder) all connected to my TV. With my previous VCR, it wasn't a problem - the DVD went right into the RCA jacks on the TV, the IR went into the RCA jacks on the VCR (to let me record to tapes) and the cable went into the VCR, and then out to the TV using the antenna cable. The limited inputs on the VCR make this impossible. With this machine, I can't record from cable without buying a converter, and I had to disconnect my IR receiver, and I have to unplug and reconnect my DVD or VCR cables whenever I want to watch a movie on one machine or the other.
Fourth, there is no timer on the VCR - so if you plan on using this as a backup recorder to grab that Survivor episode your going to miss, your going to have to have someone there to press the record button.
Finally, there is no "tuning" capability - so don't plan on plugging your cable into this VCR and avoiding the expense of a converter box. Not going to happen.
The picture quality seemed satisfactory on my 27 inch television, but nothing to write home about.
Final Analysis
Overall, I cannot recommend this product fully. I think the idea is great, but I am baffled as to why Sony could not include some basic features which would make this an acceptable "general use" VCR. Adding more RCA jacks, stereo capability, or a record timer are minimal features that darn near every other VCR available at this time has. There is no excuse for not including them on this product.
This VCR is satisfactory for playing back kids movies in a playroom - and that's about it. The autorewind feature and locking front door are nice features, but look at it practically - how long do you really need those features? This would be perfect if you were running a day care facility in your house, but if it's for your family, wouldn't you be better off buying a more feature laden VCR and just putting it on a higher shelf?
If you can afford a machine for the kids only, this is a reasonable purchase... but don't plan on using this for a second VCR. I suspect Sony will release a new model in the near future, which will be a bit more of a functional machine, rather than this toy for tots.
When he quickly developed an obsession with pushing the buttons on my VCR and opening the tape door, I was moderately humored.
When I came home one day to find that my trusty, feature laden 4 year old stereo VCR had mysteriously ceased operating, I was suspicious. I can't prove the kid did it, but he sure looked guilty.
Since my son was born the VCR went from being a useful tool to a necessity (see my review of the Baby Einstein videos). I went to the local Best Buy to replace the VCR, and saw this Sony product on the shelf - standing out with its bright colors and cartoonish appearance. Now that my son has the physical capacity to cause great harm to precision electronics, I was intrigued by the feature set advertised in this product.
Good Kid Features
This SONY has some great kid friendly features, which are well covered in some of the other opinions here. I won't go into them in detail here, but be aware there are a lot of pluses to this machine. It has a handy "child lock" on the tape door. It automatically rewinds and restarts tapes when they reach the end, and even displays a hardwired animated cartoon during the rewind operation, to distract the kids. You can also set a timer for how long the video will play if you want to limit "tv time". It is also brightly designed, making it perfect for placement in a play room.
The Other Shoe
Unfortunately, in designing this machine with the "kid friendly" features, Sony neglected to include some basic features that most everyone simply assumes would be present in any modern VCR. You need to be aware of these negatives if you are looking at this VCR, or else you could be real disappointed.
First off, the VCR has "line" capability only. That means that you cannot connect it to your TV or cable box using the standard antenna cable. You need to make sure your TV has RCA jacks in back so that it can receive the feed from the VCR.
Second, this VCR is NOT stereo. If you plan on using it in your main TV room, you can forget about that nice speaker system being used during Friday movie nights. This probably doesn't matter much if the VCR is used for kids' videos only, but The Matrix just isn't going to cut it on this thing.
Third, there is only one "Line In" connection available. In my main TV room, I have a DVD, VCR and a Sony IR receiver(for the camcorder) all connected to my TV. With my previous VCR, it wasn't a problem - the DVD went right into the RCA jacks on the TV, the IR went into the RCA jacks on the VCR (to let me record to tapes) and the cable went into the VCR, and then out to the TV using the antenna cable. The limited inputs on the VCR make this impossible. With this machine, I can't record from cable without buying a converter, and I had to disconnect my IR receiver, and I have to unplug and reconnect my DVD or VCR cables whenever I want to watch a movie on one machine or the other.
Fourth, there is no timer on the VCR - so if you plan on using this as a backup recorder to grab that Survivor episode your going to miss, your going to have to have someone there to press the record button.
Finally, there is no "tuning" capability - so don't plan on plugging your cable into this VCR and avoiding the expense of a converter box. Not going to happen.
The picture quality seemed satisfactory on my 27 inch television, but nothing to write home about.
Final Analysis
Overall, I cannot recommend this product fully. I think the idea is great, but I am baffled as to why Sony could not include some basic features which would make this an acceptable "general use" VCR. Adding more RCA jacks, stereo capability, or a record timer are minimal features that darn near every other VCR available at this time has. There is no excuse for not including them on this product.
This VCR is satisfactory for playing back kids movies in a playroom - and that's about it. The autorewind feature and locking front door are nice features, but look at it practically - how long do you really need those features? This would be perfect if you were running a day care facility in your house, but if it's for your family, wouldn't you be better off buying a more feature laden VCR and just putting it on a higher shelf?
If you can afford a machine for the kids only, this is a reasonable purchase... but don't plan on using this for a second VCR. I suspect Sony will release a new model in the near future, which will be a bit more of a functional machine, rather than this toy for tots.
