5 comments about Aspire Digital AD-8091 Progressive-Scan DVD Player/Recorder.

1. I shelved this piece of junk moonths ago. It doesn't always record as scheduled; the machine sometimes doesn't turn itself on to do a scheduled recording. If you have weekly recordings for the same day, only the first one will be recorded. If you set the machine to record once a week at, say, 8pm it will turn itself on everyday at 8pm. If you try to play a blank DVD, the machine will freeze. The clock is faster by one minute each month. In its first year, the tuner stopped working. I got a new unit with the manufacturer's warranty. A year later it froze every time I tried to record. Needless to say, that's game over. This piece of junk is useful only as a player, not as a recorder.



2. In less that 3 weeks after I received this item it became defective by having only audio - no picture. I wrote them an e-mail using the address that was in the owner's manual. There was no response to my e-mail. There was no way that I was going to use the phone number listed in the manual and have to be on hold indefinately, all the while paying for the phone call myself.
   
   An e-mail to Amazon was returned in less than 24 hours saying they would give me a refund and pay for the postage to return it. My thanks to Amazon for standing behind their sales even when the manufacturer won't.



3. I saw many bad reviews for this recorder but for the price of $76, the cheapest I could find at this time so I purchased it. The remote was not working and could not set up or program. I could open and close the tray from the recorder without the try but nothing else. Had to return to amazon. No wonder the price is getting cheaper but it will not be worth to try this recorder.



4. I was fortunate to get this product on sale and am very satisfied with it.
   It includes the option to record and play DVDs in PAL format (used in
   Europe) and it is great. I would recommend to anyone, especially to
   users of multiple formats. It creates up to 6 hrs of very good quality DVDs.
   The product was delivered in a timely manner in excellent condition.



5. So much to say but where will I start I bought this in 2005 from Walmart brand new I currently have my third and final dvd recorder, not because this one is a keeper but because my one year warranty is up and has been for a while. This I will be throwing in the street just to watch it crash!!! It was good when I got it I loved it, but now not only will it no longer timer recorder(atleast a year), it will not OTR it will not play a disc without begging and pleading from me and when it does pLAY A DISC IT WONT GIVE IT BACK!!! Yeah it keeps the dvds I have to pry them out and be careful not to scratch the dvd's! So I say absolutely positively DO NOT BUY THIS RECORDER don't think you'll be the lucky one with this recorder your just not gonna be.

5 comments about RCA DRC8060N DVD Recorder with Commercial Advance.

1. I've had this machine for a year now, and you know that scene in the movie "Office Space" where the guys take the printer out to a remote location and beat it to smithereens? Well that is exactly what I am doing with this lemon when I replace it.
   It does what it wants, when it wants to. Now it has taken to erasing what I've recorded when I try to access the disc or turn off the machine. Sometimes I cannot turn it off and have to unplug it to get it to reset itself and unfreeze. (It's not an Apple product, is it?:-)
   Most aggravating of all, (since it is a minor thing that could easily have been made right but was not,) is that the clock does not keep proper time. When you go to your manual to find out why, it tells you that it doesn't keep proper time and basically you can go jump in a lake if you don't like it.
   The dumpster for this one.



2. I ordered this unit and Amazon, great as ever, delivered in under 24hrs (shipped from adjacent state) with just super saver free shipping. Unfortunately, the unit was running scorching hot after about an hour of use. I felt behind and found the fan wasn't working. I double checked visually and could see the fan twitching ever so slightly but not actually running. I am currently packing it up to return to Amazon. Shame, the unit seemed like it was solidly built and worked good on the two discs I tried on it (Memorex RW+ 2.4x and Ridata RW+ 4x). Due to other poor reviewes I decided not to exchange and hope for a good unit. Even with the fan not running I think this unit should not have been running so hot; it was uncomfortable to the touch. Heat is the enemy of electronics. I doubt this thing would have lasted more than a few weeks of use.



3. Ok. I just bought this hunk of junk from Wal-mart yesterday. I got home, and set everything up, being sure to upgrade to the HDMI out port. Well, I got home from work today and tried to watch a dvd in this thing and guess what...NO SOUND! I switched to AV1 to see if the HDMI was working for the cable tv and it was. I then unplugged the cord and put it back in again while trying to watch the dvd and stil no sound. I called customer no-service at Thomson and they walked me through a series of steps. The rep ultimately decided that it was the HDMI cord. I asked her why it worked for cable if it was messed-up? Her answer was that she did not know, and that I should unplug the unit for 30-min to let it "reset". She told me to call her back in an hour because it might have to be sent in for repairs...what a croc!



4. I bought two. The first one died in just over one year with an estimated $450 repair bill. The second one died in less than ten days. RCA offered to replace the second one, with a same model or a similar model. I refused, wanted my money back, and they refused. The retailer came through with a refund. Now I just buy a hammer when I want to bash myself in the head, and I still have something usefull (the hammer) when I'm done.



5. Stay away from Thompson RCA products. They a junk and the customer service is worse!!

5 comments about Sharp DV-SR3U DVD Player/Recorder.

1. I have 4 DVD recorders.I have 3 Panasonics (great machines) & wanted a 4th but because of the IR remote I was limited to 3.So I needed another brand and SHARP had a good price (it seemed, incorrectly)so I got the SHARP.It is an amazing BAD machine.It doesn't work correctly and getting it fixed is a nightmare. I just sent it back for the second time,it returned today and they fixed NOTHING.It is a true Nightmare,STAY AWAY!!!



2. This is the first dvd recorder I've owned. I basicly wanted to burn my old vcr tapes and record from the TV. The Sharp DV-SR3U records dvd-r,dvd-rw discs. Rewritable discs can be recorded in video and VR mode.DVD-RW recorded in the VR mode can be edited after recording,but will only playback on this machine. The dvd-r, dvd-rw(video mode) seem to play in most standard players. The operation manual is 100 pages, well written, but somewhat complicated for a non-tech person. I don't like the flip open remote, but most often used keys are on top. Easy to set up timer recording from TV. Overall this is an excellent recorder and fulfills my needs!



3. The recording quality of this recorder is excellent in SP or FINE mode, and pretty good in LP mode, but I found the EP mode could be better. Variable bit rate recording allows you to record up to an extra eight minutes in FINE mode.
   
   There is a defect in this recorder that will not allow you to set a recording timer for channels 54-60. Sharp wanted me to send mine in so they could fix the problem, but it wasn't that big of a deal to me, so I kept mine as-is.
   
   This recorder will absolutely not record anything copyrighted, so those of you looking to copy your store-bought DVDs will be disappointed.
   
   Operation of this machine is very quiet, I know some of the others can be quite loud. The remote control is very comprehensive, including about every function I could think of and more. There is a slight delay between pressing a button on the remote and the recorder performing the desired function. This is almost unnoticeable unless you are trying to fast-forward to or pause at an exact point.
   
   Overall, I would recommend this product. It has more outputs and as many analog inputs as any other recorder (although the lack of DV input may turn some people away), and excellent recording quality in FINE and SP make this recorder stand out. A fairly easy-to-use GUI doesn't hurt either. Just don't expect it to duplicate Star Wars or The Lord of the Rings, or timer record channels 54-60.



4. From day one I have the same problem with this dvd recorder
   It will not record to dvd-rw discs;I tried 5 different brands with no luck; I took the recorder to an authorized repair center and they couldn't fix it; they need the codes or firmware to reflash the unit but Sharp never gave the codes to the shop
   
   Sharp does not answer my emails, and I had been sending them for weeks; stay away, there is no support
   And yes, the remote is a joke; who could imagine the on screen display to be hidden under other buttons? the part flip open remote is not easy to use and if you try to fast forward or rewind a dvd, it does as in little image jumps, not continuisly



5. We have had our Sharp DVD player/recorder for a year and we are now having problems with it. First of all, the "open/close" takes about one minute before opening. Secondly, I have had many brand new, out of the box DVDs to lock up on the screen in the middle of a movie and then I have to literally unplug the DVD player, then plug it back to eject the DVD, which takes exactly one minute to do. It is more trouble than it is worth. Don't waste your money on this particular brand....shop around and ask around before purchasing.

No comments about Pioneer DVR-650H-S DVD Recorder and Hard Drive - Designed for PAL SECAM Use.

No comments about ZipSpin DVD/ CD Master.

5 comments about Panasonic DMR-E95HS Progressive-Scan DVD Recorder with 160 GB Hard Drive.

1. I have owned this model since March 2005. Almost all of the time the TV Guide hasn't worked (I have heard this might be a ploy by my cable company to push people to their DVDRs). At any rate I gave up on this feature.
   
   For the first year the unit had a tendency to go to "SELF TEST" whenever I changed disks, either DVD-R or DVD-RAM. After "SELF TEST" it almost always burned a good disk. This would have been OK excepte for wasting 15-30 minutes every time this happened. I stuck to major brand disks. Panasonic will tell you to use their disks but they are not easy to find in stores and don't come in large muffins so they tend to be expensive.
   
   Surprisingly, at the 1-year point the unit started working perfectly. I went from March 2006 to August without a "SELF TEST". Today it refused to recognise the same disks it had been burning for weeks. So I will have to take it in on the extended warranty.
   
   Panasonic customer service is terrible. Don't waste your time phoning. You will be on hold forever. About a year ago I wrote Panasonic and received a call eventually (still in the warranty period). They won't acknowledge that there is a systematic problem with this unit. They try to blame it on the disks. They also would not make any adjustment other than offer to sell me another unit at a discount.
   
   I like most things about the user interface. It allows very precise editing. When it works it produces great disks. The hard disk holds a lot.
   
   Forget about the lousy TV Guide feature!



2. I love the concept of this product but the Panasonic implemetation is WEAK! I originally purchased a DMR-E80 and it worked very well long enough to get past the one year warrenty then failed. I was told that the logic card needed to be replaced for $300 parts plus labor. A little shopping around on the net abnd I found the DME-E95H (twice the disk space) could be had for $360 from Beach Camera.
   
   The E95 didn't make it out of warrenty before failing. The unit was mailed to a service center and it was repaired. I have had the unit for about two months since the repair and it has started to exhibit the same symptoms as before.
   
   Symptom: at power-up the unit displays "Please Wait" for about 15 seconds and then displays "self Check" for about 30 seconds. The unit then appears to function normally for about 60 seconds and then fails to respond to commands from the remote. Shortly afterwards the unit shuts itself off (displayes "bye"). The disk or cable output from the unit continues for a short period (even though the unit appears to be shutdown) and then stops.
   
   Fortunately, Panasonic offered me an extended warrenty (what were they thinking?) that I took advantage of. I will continue to return this unit to the panasonic service center as my way of extracting revenge.
   
   I strongly recommend that you avoid Panasonic DVR products. My experience with two models has been extremely disappointing.



3. If the description here is correct, this set is completely crippled compared to other Panazonic models. It is said it will only read DVD -R written on other Panasonic recorders (!!!) and that it can only write to and read DVD -R. Panasonic used to make recorders limited to writing DVD -R, but since then has produced sets that can write to DVD -R DVD + R and DVD -RW. Why the jump backwards? I've never heard of any model that can only read DVD -R produced by recorders only of the same brand. This is absurd!
   The price listed is also about double wha it should be.
   Add all this to the other complaints and it's avoid at all costs.
   I incidentally own a Panasonic with a 80 GB hard disk and have recorded many hundreds of hours to the HD and made hundreds of DVDs without a problem.
   Anyway, I wouldn't buy ANY DVD recorder now unless it has an ATSC tuner included. Otherwise it becomes obsolete in two years when analogue TV is supposed to disappear.
   Manufacturers, including Panasonic, are making sets with the digital tuners for the European market. Why not in the USA?



4. This thing sucks. there is little else to say other than there is a class action lawsuit somewhere here. PANASONIC this is FRAUD!!!!! Or outright robbery. No support. Does NOT work. I say anyone who has had success with this unit is probably lying or a plant from panasonic. Errors all the time and never loads the TV Guide BS. Just a giant waste of money!!! If there were an option for no stars I would have used that. Amazon should not even be selling this. It is not fair to loyal customers.



5. I purchased one of the first panasonic dvr with the lifetime membership. When the HD went out and replaced, it was a expensive repair. The second one quit. My son replaced the HD and opening the unit found the HD encased with foam. Overheating????? yes! Programing soon became a problem. Panasonic support is terrible. I would never buy a panasonic product again.
   Had a comcast dvr, not a good product. Called Comcast regarding using TiVo with the cards that need to be installed and they said I had to upgrade my services. Called TIVO, you do not need to upgrade and they will do a 3way call with comcast when you set up your unit for the cards. MJS

1 comments about Sylvania ZV420SL8 Dual DVD / VCR Recorder.

1. Beware of this and other brands on this page.
   
   In the past year i have purchased or received as a present, Three (3) of these devices. ALL - each and every one lasted just beyond the 90 day waranty and my requests for assistance to the manufactures went unanswered.
   
   I located the parent co. for the above and behold...they are the parents of many brands making these same devices and the parent co. of my three devices.They too, have not responded to request 2 months ago.
   
   FUNAI is the parent of the following and all their brands (listed below) come from the same enginers and pile.
   
   Brands: Sylvania....Seyesphere....Emerson....Adventurer....Durobrand....Ero....Magnavox.... Murokai and under the parents name.....FUNAI
   
   Good luck, buy one that will work for more than 91 days.JVC DRMV99B DVD Video Recorder&VHS Combo with Built-In ATSC Tuner

3 comments about Emerson 80 GB HDD/DVD Recorder/VCR Combo, EWH100F.

1. I bought one of these from Wal-Mart. Three months later the Hard Drive went out. When trying to record a DVD from the hard drive, it would record about 3 seconds, then stop. Wal-Mart would'nt help me because it had been over 90 days. So, I sent it in to Emerson. About 4 months later, I finally got it back. It worked great for about two months, then the same thing happened. Now they are telling me they can fix it, but I have to pay for the repair. I don't think so. Save yourself a headache and do not buy this recorder, or anything from Emerson for that matter.



2. I have to agree with the other reviewer. I am having the exact same problem where I cannot dub what is on the DVR Hard Drive to a DVD (thankfully it happened after only 3 weeks) so am heading back to Walmart to return it this weekend. Quite a serious problem to have when you pay almost $300. It looks to me like there should be a recall issued from the manufacturer to solve this (which there isn't), but I guess Emerson figured most people would encounter the problem after the warranty was up.
   
   To be fair, if you just want a DVR and don't plan to put many of the recorded programs to DVD this product may be right for you. However, if you are looking to transfer lots of VHS to DVD or build up your recorded off TV collection in DVD you should avoid this item and continue your research. I spent an extra $20 to buy the Pioneer DVR-640H-S DVD Recorder with 160GB DVR (cheapest price around offered by Amazon) and it has great reviews. Will review that one once I get it and had a chance to test it out.



3. I bought mine with extreme reluctance but I thought well I have had some luck with other Emerson products, so just maybe....... It worked great for approx 4 months. I then noticed one day the clock was not accurate. I couldn't reset the clock. Trust me I tried multiple times. Now I'm 38 yrs old, having owned too many gadgets/electronics, I never heard of the clock going bad first. That was a sign of things to come. So I marched forward setting all my timer recordings based on "Emerson Time". That worked well for about 2 months. At that point, the clock just quit showing up as a display. So then I decided to just use it as a video cassette player. Well after 3 weeks of work, now I just don't get power going to it. I plan to recover the tape that's in there, take it out back and shoot it and vow to listen to my inner voice the next time I decide to by ANYTHING Emerson.

5 comments about Philips HDRW720 DVD Recorder with 120 GB Hard Drive.

1. I bought a refurbished unit primarily so I can recode video from my DV camcorder to DVD. The older Philips like this one will write the recording date and time to the DVD as subtitles. This is a great idea. I don't know how people can save their videos without this feature. Newer Philips don't do it anymore.
   
   Once we got it, I started liking the idea of using it as a hard drive recorder. The 120gig drive has plenty of room for lots of stuff. Recording quality is very good, I even think the 8hr mode is watchable, but you don't need it cause you have so much room.
   
   The idea of the TV guide is great. Get free listings, just highlite the show you want and its scheduled to record. The recording even saves the description of that episode.
   
   Everything sounds good right? Just one problem. IT DOESN'T WORK!
   
   I have it scheduled to record 4 shows a day. I don't think it has every properly recorder the 4 shows. It will completely miss some recordings, sometimes record part of a show, often start recording but forget to stop and record almost 6 hours of whatever. It appears that it crashes frequently. When it crashes while recording a show, red lights light up around the DVD recorder and power switch then it powers off.
   
   I haven't figured out anyway for it to work. I tried unsetting the TV guide, I tried setting explicit times to record, I tried setting the time manually. All for naught. It crashes. I wish I could find some magic hint on the internet to help make it more reliable.
   
   I "assume" its a software problem, not a hardware problem.
   
   Oh, and the usability is amazingly bad. Take whatever function and you'd never guess how unnatural an interface they came up with. Worst is the time buffer. Too many issues to describe, but again I think its related to problems with the TV guide and poor software. If it worked, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.



2. I have one phillips dvd recorder and player with hard drive, it was very expensive , but is a very bad appliance here you have the reasons to avoid it :
   
   1) The quality of the image is poor , even when it is reading a dvd it might be similar to a VCR.
   
   
   2)I tried record all my personal stuff ( which I had in VHS) to dvds but the quality I got is very poor, I got also a lot of digital vibration on the images, it is very annoying to watch , it is much better to see the all VHS.
   
   
   3)Problems with the remomte control. To use the remote control I have to point the tip of the control to the DVD I have to be very careful or it won t work , another possibilty is to come closer and then use the remote control , it does not make any sence .
   
   
   4) A little problems functionality :
   
   it doesn t have an eject button , it the remote control so you have to come to the appliance each time you want to eject the discs.
   
   
   5) It is too expensive , I paid less than 50 dollars for my second dvd and it works much better ( from every point of view ) the phillips dvd should not cost more than 120 only because of the hard drive .
   
   
   I hope do not not make the same mistake I did.
   
   regards



3. The DVR arrived dead out of the box. I was refunded my purchase price but lost the $20 I paid for shipping plus the $9 it cost to return the unit. I purchased Toshiba RD XS55 DVR units with 250 GB hard drives from another source and they worked without problems. I would never try any Philips products again.



4. This is a great idea if it would work better. Is there a better model out there?



5. When it works, it's great, but operation (esp. with TV Guide feed) is extremely unstable. Will tend to reset, hang, lose TV Guide channel/program information, "forget" to record programmed shows, forget to stop at the end of a recorded program, and probably a few other things that I forget because they didn't quite happen frequently enough.
   
   This is clearly a prematurely released product. If had a dollar for every time this box crashed, it would have earned its purchase price back long ago.

5 comments about Philips DVDR77 DVD Recorder.

1. I bought this from a competitor, wish I had bought from Amazon.
   
   We have had it for a few months, have never been able to get it to record.
   
   The book says 1 year warranty. Philips would not honor the warranty, because they said, they no longer had in their data base, even though we have only owned it for a few months.
   
   After many headaches and shipping expense, and a restocking charge, the competition is taking it back.
   
   We are going to buy a Panasonic or Sony now



2. I bought this from a competitor, wish I had bought from Amazon.
   
   We have had it for a few months, have never been able to get it to record.
   
   The book says 1 year warranty. Philips would not honor the warranty, because they said, they no longer had in their data base, even though we have only owned it for a few months.
   
   After many headaches and shipping expense, and a restocking charge, the competition is taking it back.
   
   We are going to buy a Panasonic or Sony now



3. I bought a DVDR895 for $900 (+ $100 for an extended warranty) when they came out a few years ago. That unit failed multiple times. Ruined a bunch of DVDs. Philips couldn't fix the unit, so they provided me with a replacement unit under the extended warranty (at least they honored the warranty). But the DVDR77 started showing the same problems. This second unit has been serviced twice now and isn't working again.
   
   I had never tried to use the Digital Photo Manager functions... and now that I do, it shouldn't be a surprise that it doesn't work either.
   
   Don't waste your time or money on Philips DVDRecorders. Those people that write the positive reviews are either very lucky to have a DVDR that works or they are telling tall tales.



4. I have bought 3 dvd recorders over the last few months only to be severly dissapointed up until I bought the Philips DVDR77. It is one of the only recorders I have seen with component input and since I am recording video from a Tivo-esque device and had to run it through the recorder having a good connection was important. I am using Philips DVD-R's with it and have recorded about 25 DVD's as of now all without any problems; highly recomended recorder.



5. On June 23, 2006, I bought a Philips DVD Player at Wal-Mart. I could have purchased a cheap DVD player for $30.00 or $40.00, but frankly I spent more than that because I have other Philips products, including another Philips DVD player, and, up until now, was always pleased with the products made by them. The DVD player, even though it was not used much (it was kept at a vacation home), stopped loading disks at the end of September, 2006. I took it back to Wal-Mart, but Wal-Mart would not accept the return because the purchase was slightly over three months old and the limit for store-returns is three months. However, Wal-Mart printed a proof of purchase for me and advised that the manufacturer's warranty still applied. The Wal-Mart proof of purchase even specified the telephone number for the manufacturer.
   
   Accordingly, I called the number listed. I was first advised to use a disk cleaner. I purchased a Philips disk cleaner, but it did not solve the problem. (The first and second times I called, I was at first advised that the purchase date was back in 2005 and so no warranty would apply. I then was able to confirm my purchase date and the representatives "updated" the information and told me it was under warranty.) Each time you call, you get a different representative.
   
   After I advised that the disk cleaner did not work, I was given a fax number to fax my proof of purchase and I did so; I was told the player would be replaced. My letter attaching the proof of purchase was included. After I faxed it, I received a call asking me to re-fax it and I did so. I then heard nothing for two weeks. On October 30th, 2006, I called to find out the status of matters. I was told two inconsistent things: First, I was told it was under warranty but that only parts were warranted and it would cost me $40.00 for a replacement. Secondly, and obviously inconsistently, I was told that my proof of purchase from Wal-Mart was insufficient, even though the store specifically printed it out for me as my "proof of purchase." The underlying message was, "We are not going to do anything for you and even if we did, it would cost you forty dollars." I told the representative that I could buy a brand new player for that price and that I have no incentive to ever purchase a Philips product again. I have all sorts of electronics that are still working fine after years. I do not think it unreasonable to expect that a device will work for more than three months!
   
   I wrote to the CEO of Philips and heard not a thing back. Why would ANYONE buy products from such a company? Never again.