OK unit, but mine was DEFECTIVE

I purchased this DVD recorder/VCR from B&H. Item was NEW, not open box or refurb, and was DEFECTIVE. The signal processor for the DVD player was defective. ANY DVD, whether burned by me or a purchased movie, showed "digital artifacts" in the picture--black dots, yellow or green pixel-looking marks. I'm not just being picky, this was VERY noticeable if anyone watched anything for more than half a minute, and was visible on all outputs (HDMI, component, and analog video) which negates the output as the problem. Will send out for warranty repair/replacement. This really damages my faith in SONY. I wonder if this has anything to do with the fact that this unit is marked "Made in CHINA" while all my older perfectly-working items from Sony were "Made in JAPAN."
Other than my dud unit, I liked the features and the VHS portion of the unit worked wonderfully, and the digital tuner pulled in stations without a problem (even though it takes 20 minutes to scan through them on setup). The upconversion of the images wasn't bad. My only other gripe is that Sony does not use DVD-RAMs as RECORDABLE media. If you want to erase/rewrite, you're stuck with CD /-RWs, which are NOT as flexible for recording/erasing as DVD-RAMS. I'm buying a Panasonic DMR-EZ47K for a friend, and may just keep it. Panasonic DOES allow DVD-RAM recording, and I've always been pleased with my old Panasonic DVD/HDD recorder. My old Panasonic (DMR-E85H) has been a champ for three years, even though others with this model has had some problems (see afterdawn.com forums), never right out of the box!! I guess nothing is perfect, but I expected more from Sony.