Posted by Lenny on 09/15/06 23:11

"MarMac1" <marmac2768@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:Ca6dnQs64sDjhpbYnZ2dnUVZ_tidnZ2d@comcast.com...
> Perhaps a gripe, more of a call for advice!
>
> Can anyone here answer a question for me? Over the past year, I have
> purchased 4 DVDRecorder/VCRcombos. Three of them are GoVideo machines. One
> is a Sharp. Each one of these have quit working on the DVD recording side.
> One of the GoVideo machines lasted a year and it just messed up today. Two
> of the GoVideo machines quit within 60 days of purchase. The Sharp machine
> quit working 7 months after I bought it. It is in the shop now. It is
> still under the "parts" warranty, but I will have to pay between $60 and
> $100 labor.
>
> I have owned about 25 VCRs over the past 20 years and each of them has
> lasted several years before just wearing out. Just kissed them goodbye,
> thanked them for their service and threw them in the trash. Five of these
> have been GoVideo dual deck machines. I still have two of them, each one
> about 5 years old. Work great! What is up with DVD Recorders?? Why the
> sorry service on these??
>
> I've been transferring about 1200 hours of VHS to DVD and have been using
> them a lot, but not nearly enough that they ought to quitting on me. I've
> probably only done about 400 hours total over the past few months on two
> machines. I might just have to wait a while and keep using my VHS machines
> and tapes.
>
> I do copy some DVD-DVD from time to time, not for resale, but for time
> shifting purposes. One of the nice things about the GoVideo machines is
> that I was able to "trick" the machines Copyguard by using a DVDPlayer/VCR
> combo unit as the source machine. If a disk was playing and it popped on
> screen that it could not record because it was copyrighted material, I
> could just push the "VCR" button on the source machine which would let the
> recording start on the recording machine and then push the "DVD" button
> and start the DVD player. Worked on a number of disks. The Sharp will not
> let me do this. When the movie would start playing, it would stop the
> recording process.
>
> Does anyone have any recommendations as to a good, RELIABLE brand of
> DVDRecorder/VCR? Do you know of any that use the same type of copyguard
> system that would let me do what the GoVideo would?
>
>
> Thanks.
>
> Marty

IMO DVD recorders. have had the longest curve of (not) being ready for prime
time of any consumer electronics item I've seen. You will get anecdotal
reports of this Panasonic, or that Toshiba, or this Pioneer being great on
an individualized basis, but, while those are IMO the three best brands,
even those companies have their issues. I agree with the poster above that
you may be overtaxing the machines in question, although, in a better world,
that shouldn't be the case. If your tapes are that important, DVD/VCR combo
recorders have gotten cheap enough where I'd consider buying two machines
(one Panasonic, one Toshiba?) and splitting the duties, or buying a new
Panasonic to switch off with the repaired Sharp. I'm sure the reliability
of the GoVids will be called into question, but I'm not convinced that the
reliability of the medium across the board is all that great.

[Back to original message]