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GoVideo DVR4000 DVD-VCR Combo

GoVideo DVR4000 DVD-VCR Combo

List Price: $249.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY
Review: I had no complaints about this combo, until the DVD feature stopped working this past weekend. I only have it for 9 months, and now it no longer plays DVDs, doesn't matter what DVD I put inside, it does not recognize it. Since it's under the guarantee, I took it to have it serviced, but the guarantee only covers the parts, not the labor! Much to my surprise when I found out that the labor was going to cost me [money and I'll still have to look through my old receipts in order to get my guarantee for the parts, otherwise I'll have to give another[amount]for the part! Needless to say, I went out and bought myself a new DVD combo (from a different brand) because the money was just not worth it! Not even that, if it breaks again after 3 months, than I'll have no guarantee at all! Now I use this GoVideo combo as a VCR only... Use your money to buy a brand you can trust.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: DVR4000 - Not the most reliable DVD for the money
Review: I have owned my DVR4000 for about 8 months now. Over that time period, the DVD has continued to degrade. It began by not playing CDs after about a month. DVDs would then occasionally skip - a problem that became worse as time went on. Now, you can't get through a DVD without skipping/freezing numerous times.

I am an electronic technician, so I opened it up to have a look. The DVD has only one laser. Most quality decks have two, one for CDs and one for DVDs. The main DVD control PCB runs excessively hot! That could explain the problem.

I decided to call GoVideo/sonicBlue to see if I could get them to cover the problems under warranty. Parts are 1 year, labor is only 90 days. Funny thing, they have a separate 800 number for this model...sound like they have had a lot of problems?

My advice - avoid the DVR4000. The DVR4500 or 4300 seem to be better models and are less expensive at current prices.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: I do not recommend it
Review: I have purchased the combo player a few months back thinking that I can play my home made Video CDs (VCD). Though the on tha packing it says we can play Super VCDs, I was not able to play. After spending hours to reach the customer suppoert, the CSR asked me what is a SVCD (duh).

Another CSR asked to send the player for service. I did. Finally they returned the player with a note "Unable to test" and they did not returned my sample vcd also.

I was so happy that I was able to return this.

Features with VCR were ok.

Think twice before making any decision.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: good value for a combo player
Review: I just bought one of these players yesterday and had it hooked up in no time. I just looked at the back of my vcr and hooked it up the same way with the cables i already had. It took me a little longer than 5 minutes because I decided to read some of the directions first. I also noticed the difference in sound volume between regular tv and DVD but think maybe this can be solved with one of the many menus it gives you to adjust things. In any case it is no big deal. Actually the sound on it is better than my old my vcr(and it is 4-head Hi-Fi) which is all hooked up with the tv and my stereo and satellite. I would recommend this deck to anyone that wants to hang on to their VHS collection and get into DVD at the same time. By the way I paid 279.00 for it at Costco.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good Player
Review: I just purchased this player yesterday and I have to say I'm very pleased with it. It was very simple to set up versus the headache you would get trying to configure a seperate DVD player and VCR. The only downside is the huge difference in the sound level when playing DVD's. It doesn't affect VHS videos or music cd's though.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: DVR-4000 Very Good
Review: I really like this unit. The price is right and I like the idea of not having two units. Overall I'm very satisfied. Easy to program. Operation is good. The only thing I would have liked more is if it came with a multifunction remote.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Ugh
Review: I was really excited to finally get a DVD player. But I'd only had it about a month when it started to skip scenes and freeze periodically. It wouldn't even play some DVDs that I found played perfectly on my cousin's player. While playing one DVD, it froze every few seconds. This is a horrible player, and it's obviously cheap for a reason.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: GoVideo DVD/VCR
Review: I'm planning to purchase this unit today. I bought a GoVideo Dual Deck VCR about 10 years ago and it's still functioning very well. I've copied numerous tapes. It has required two trips to the repair shop for minor adjustments, and once I couldn't remove a tape...no big deal and repairs were inexpensive.

I was very leary of buying a two-deck VCR but have been very happy with GoVideo's quality. That's why I'm not hesitating to buy another product from them today. I also greatly appreciate all the other reviews! Thanks!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Does what it is supposed to do ... within limits.
Review: I've had the unit for about a month now. The good news is there's no volume problem, as suggested in prior reviews. Adjust the TV volume level and thereafter move around that level using the DVR-4000 volume control instead of the TV's. Done this way, there is no volume problem between DVD/VCR.

Bad news: the timed-recording setup is obscure. I actually am a rocket scientist and have found setting this unit up to record by the clock far more cumbersome than with my previous 12-year old VCR (obtained free as a gift from my bank).

Calendars and gizmos flash on the screen. There is a lengthy sequence of terse prompts along the top edge of the screen for which the desired response is obscure and specified in different ways: sometimes the response is 1, maybe 2 numbers. Other times, one has to cycle through a list of options. These options includes specifying tape speed, video input source and assorted other things no one should ever be bothered with more than once to set an initial default.

There is no simple start/stop time. Instead, you enter a start time, then have to compute the number hours and minutes to record. I've been through it 6 times now and it still takes 5+ minutes of fiddling to arrive at settings I'm not sure are right. Of course, if the remote is ever damaged or lost, the unit will be useless.

It may depend on what you are used to, but it seems 12 years of progress have actually regressed VCR operations.

The DVR-4000 does NOT play all DVD's; it only plays Region 1 (US and Canada) with NTSC video (like most other DVD players sold in the U.S.). I knew this when I bought the unit, but being new to the DVD world did not expect it to be so limiting.

For example, it turns out Hallmark owns the rights to the Laurel and Hardy films but prefers not to make any money, so is not releasing any of them in the U.S. However, a company in Europe does sell them, but encoded for Region 2 PAL systems. Thus, the DVR4000 cannot play them.

There are other DVD players...that play DVDs for any region and automatically convert between PAL/NTSC video signals as necessary. This is not illegal and the capability should be in every DVD player sold, especially a unit like the DVR-4000 which aspires to be multi-purpose.

If you are sure you will ONLY play DVD's you get from the local Blockbuster, the DVR-4000 may do. If you have specialized interests, you will eventually run into the problems designed into the DVD world by movie studios, apparently to limit their sales and restrict the amount of money they make.

I thought "Well, I can do without Laurel and Hardy indefinately", only to then discover ANOTHER major series I was interested in which will not play on "local" (Region 1) encoded machines ...

The DVR-4000 is for people need a new VCR and want to get a toe into basic DVD as well. If your present VCR is fine, you would be better off in the long-run getting a separate, more capable DVD player.

For my purposes, the unit is probably only two stars in that it doesn't really do what I want or is clumsy about it. On the otherhand, it does what it claims to do and seems to be of good quality.

For DVD newcomers: the only thing the DVD world really has going for it is that it is a more permanent (many decades?), more compact format. The "extras" one hears so much about (producer commentary, behind the scenes, etc.) are pretty worthless. DVD allows producers to control your viewing (no fast-forwarding through FBI warnings, intros, ads, etc.). The result seems to actually be less consumer-friendly than VHS, despite all the menu options and supposed flexibility. (It's flexible in ways that aren't important, less flexible in the ways that matter, such as respecting your time.)

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Sound problems too - but still good
Review: I've really enjoyed my DVR4000, but just wanted to let you know that I also noticed a difference in the sound between this unit vs my satelite receiver. Volume has to be turned way up on surround system. Warning - don't forget to turn it down before changing input LOL. Been there done that. However, I have to be honest in saying that there may well be an adjustment to the unit itself that I have overlooked in the manual.

I've also had problems with some DVD's getting stuck/pausing. Most of the time it is a smudge on the disc. Sometimes it's not and I don't really know if that's typical of DVD players or not. I still don't know what's more irritating: watching a VHS tape with bad resolution or a DVD that sticks. Being that this is my first DVD player, I have nothing to compare it to.

The VCR is good. It has the VCR+ ability for ease in recording. It is a 4 head, Hi Fi VCR, so I'm pleased since the unit replaced my old 2 head VCR. Love the tape speed adjustment feature that allows enough tape when running low. Tapes recorded on 2 head VCR's have pretty bad sound quality i.e. a lot of "wind" sound, but it's tolerable.


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