Cyberhome CH-DVR1600 DVD Recorder by CyberHome
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Digital camera reviews of Cyberhome CH-DVR1600 DVD Recorder
Digital camera Review: Great For Creating Space....Get Your Old Tapes Onto Disc
Summary: 4 Stars
This CyberHome DVD Recorder(DVR1600), has become a piece of equipment that has really given me my money's worth(actually my son's money, as this was a gift).Back before there was DVD, I was the mad taper. I was taping movies from Turner Classics, HBO, Cinemax, etc. I also bought many new ones, especially when I could find a VHS in the original theatrical specs(widescreen). Later, when I saw the wonderfulness of the DVD, I started buying them and upgrading VHS that I really loved.
So I kept having to add shelfspace. My cinema library was becoming competition for Blockbuster(only I think mine is better). I had to start cataloging the films. Now along comes DVD recorders. Of course it took a couple of years, but the price finally became reasonable. My son decided it was time for me to have a new toy and step into the 21st century. So let me first say..Thanks Matt..I'm having a great time with my recorder.
For my purposes,to make my personal video library more compact, the CyberHome DVR 1600 is a pretty good item. It took me a few attempts to get it hooked up properly. But eventually the light bulb when on, and I got it. The instruction booklet came with a quick setup guide, and also has a detailed instruction book for all functions, in both English and Spanish. All connections have pretty clear diagrams of what to plug in where, depending on what device or source you will be using to make copies.Connect to your TV, using S-video(You may need to purchase a special connection wire for this) or Prog.Scan, or to your DVD player. My DVD player is a combo unit with a VHS player as well, and I connected to that for video, and my receiver for sound. The first thing I tried was just playing a regular DVD on the recorder. it looked and sounded crystal clear. I already liked that part.
Copying my VHS to DVD-R took a little getting used to the menu and the remote, and at first was a little frustrating. But after I copied about 1/2 dozen I got the hang of it and quit talking to myself. There are several steps before you press record. First depending on your hook-up, make sure you are on the channel or input on your TV that the video of the DVD recorder is coming through. In my case I usually use CH 4, but with this I have to switch to the "input" button on my TV remote. After formatting the disc(very easy, load a new disc and it will ask you if you want to format, just press okay, it does the rest), you will go to set-up on the remote and decide what quality you want. You can set up for anywhere for an hour in HQ (High Quality) to SLP(Super Long Play), which is not as good as VHS. There are also SP(2hr) LP(3hr) and EP(4hr). So if you wanted to tape Gone With The Wind, and have it all on one disc, you would have to go with the 4 hour mode, which is not exactly DVD quality. I played back a few of the DVDs I recorded, in the various modes. The video quality is pretty much as stated in the book ranging from Highest to Lowest. Also, don't forget the sound. I found that was also effected by the mode I used. The longer I set up for, the music started to drag, like I had a record on the wrong speed. I first noticed it on the 3 hour mode. So that is something to consider. You can always go with 2 discs, especially if you are recording a musical. Lastly before you hit that record button, make sure you have entered the correct "source" set-up. This will depend on what connection you have used. The recorder will always default to one source, so you have to do this with each recording. For my hookup the source is Video-1.Check the book under the "making a recording" section, if youare not sure which source you are using. Once you have gone through the sources on the screen with you arrow buttons on the remote, press "enter" to lock in the one you are using. The menu screnn should disappear at that point, and you are ready make the transfer. Start the VHS with it's remote, then hit record on the recorder remote. VOILA! It will let you know(usually at the beginning) if your source(tape) is copy protected.
Other nice features include the ability to make chapter markers and add titles. If you go to Edit before you start recording, it will show you how much time you have left on the disc in each mode.You can also finalize the disc in the Edit Menu.
Not all studio tapes can be recorded. I had several that let me know right away that the tape was protected, and some didn't let me know till 30 minutes in. This was frustrating. On some of the very old tapes, I noticed that sometimes that the picture would jump or shake. This would only happen when I had the DVD recorder on. So I guess it depends on how annoyed you will be with that, as to whether you want to keep the original VHS.
There are many other uses and features including,pre-set taping from TV, Camcorders, and MP3 playback. I am only using this for making more room on my shelves, and for that purpose it's great. I cannot report on the other features, but there are many other reviews here, where the different uses are rated.
Amazon is out of stock at this time, but if interested, put it on your wish list or in your cart, and watch for a reasonable price. At just under 100 from the outside sellers right now, I think may be a little higher then Amazon had it listed. You might also want to shop around and compare prices and reviews.
I've got close to 20 recorded so far. The more I use it, the more I learn the different features. I'm donating my Vhs to the library, and already I can see a difference in my shelf space, with just those(some films were long and used 2 tapes).
Okay, time for my next film, it'll be just me and Clint!
Thanx....Laurie
Digital camera Review: Great Price, Poor Performer, Bad Tech Support
Summary: 1 Stars
I received this as a gift. I was very excited to have a unit with such capabilities. I immediately bought some CD-R's and set up the unit to record my favorite Broadcast shows. It worked well for about 4 months. I came home one day to find disk read errors. I always used new disks, so I was frustrated.
I purchased CD-RW(+) disks, but it got worse. I would have formatting errors about 2 out of 3 times. Went back to CD-R's and had trouble formatting as well. It was like the drive was out of alignment. This sits in a flat place, and only handled to place disks IN and OUT (only used remote, to avoid moving too much).
I sent an email to tech support (on the website), and received two CD-R disks, to upgrade the FRONT END AND BIOS. I did that, and I now cannot even read pre-recorded movies, previously recorded movies, or new disks.
The Tuner works well, and the unit has a lot of capabilities (S-VIDEO, Firewire, Composite, Tuner, Timer, etc). They must have put a cheap drive in the unit. All the other features seem to work.
If you buy this, get it with an extended warranty. The company has pulled their tech support site down, so you have to go to an alternate site, or send to support@cyberhome.com.
I am disappointed, and hope the company will make good on repairing the unit. With a 90 day warranty, and $24.95 for repairs 90 - 1 year, better get the $24.95 ready...or buy another product.
Digital camera Review: Great value for the buck, but not for everyone
Summary: 5 Stars
I must admit I was skeptical when I first saw this DVD recorder offered for less than $90, but I figured it was worth the gamble. I purchased the CH-DVR 1600MU1 in December.
Now after using it almost daily for the past three months, I think it was well worth the money. However, I did find some problems which I will explain later.
First the positives -
The recording quality is great. I usually use the SP mode and can record two one hour TV shows (I am a big Law & Order and CSI fan, and on those nights when I can't watch the broadcast, this unit has worked great!). The LP mode is a bit blockly, but I have used it when I need to record more than two hours. The high quality mode is also nice, but I like to record more than one hour of programming per DVD. The below VHS-like quality of the LP mode has discouraged me from trying the other longer recording modes.
Timer works well - The menu does take some getting used to, but it becomes easy to use once you have spent some time figuring it out. (If you do buy one, be sure to keep the manual next to the remote for the first few weeks.) As other reviewers have pointed out, if you can use TiVo, you should be able to use this product without any problems.
Does a good job with DVD+RW media. After I purchased this unit from Best Buy, my next stop was a Staples store where I bought a 10-pack of Staples branded DVD+RW discs on sale. I have recorded, deleted, reformatted and then recorded some many shows on those discs and they show no signs of failing soon. But I have had mixed results with the DVD+R discs. See below.
And what I do not like -
Do not buy this product for your parents! My dad just turned 72 and I know he would have a lot of problems with this unit. The documentation is skimpy, and as I noted above, the menus are confusing at first. I would only recommend this product to people who are somewhat tech savvy, unless you want to get a lot of support calls.
DVD+R burning results have been mixed. I picked up a stack of 100 DVD+R CompUSA-branded dics and was able to make about a dozen DVDs before it started giving me messages about using poor quality media. I tried using Memorex DVD+R discs and those haven't worked either. I just read where another reviewer had a similar problem and was able to fix it by burning a DVD-RW disc and then he was able to burn DVD+R discs again. I will try that myself, and hopefully I can resume burning DVD+R discs.
Remote is too small. Hopefully, your fingers are smaller than mine. This remote is among the tiniest I have encountered and navigating through the menus with these buttons requires some practice and patience. You can probably purchase a larger remote from another manufacturer that might resolve the problem, but Cyberhome should have made this thing larger in the first place!
Conclusion -
So after using the Cyberhome for a few months, I do like it, feel that I have gotten my money's worth, and give it five stars because if you can figure it out, this product does a lot of great things and yet doesn't cost a lot of money.
Still, I don't like the tiny remote and want to find a DVD recorder with a more user-friendly menu system. I have been watching the prices decline for brand name DVD recorders and plan to buy a more expensive unit in the next few months and I will then use the Cyberhome as a second DVD recorder with my Panasonic video camera.
Digital camera Review: I should have known better
Summary: 1 Stars
As a TiVo user, I had several programs on the hard drive that I wanted to transfer to DVD. After a trip to Best Buy, I bought the CyberHome DVR 1600. It played DVDs fine and my one attempt at recording was a success. However about four months after I bought it, just this week in fact [12/19/2005], it started to have difficulty loading commercial pre-recorded DVDs. Those that would load would momentarily freeze during playback. As attempts to play disks progressed, it finally stopped loading any DVDs. The troubleshooting guide is less than informative. It states that all of the problems with non-playback are from wrong region DVDs, dirty DVDs, or upside-down disks. Upside-down disks? The disks all played fine on both Sony and Pioneer players. I should have known that a sub-$100 recorder would be junk. Since the unit's more than three months old, it isn't worth spending anymore money on sending it back to CyberHome for repair.Digital camera Review: If you like reliable recording don't even think about this!
Summary: 1 Stars
I've had this "DVD Recorder" for about a year. I bought it when my VCR started eating tape. I was able to hook this baby up & use all in about 15 minutes and I've never used a DVD Recorder before. This worked fine, at first. Then it started malfunctioning. I would record directly from my TV tuner or from a VHS transfer and I'd get a variety of error messages. The problem was not user error it's this machine. Last night I've had it. When a person takes their time and energy to record something they hope they can watch in the future only to find that their DVD has turned to garbage it's not worth it!!!
Trust me on this. Is it really worth being able to record about 80% of the time?
This machine will stop recording, it will make noise like it's recording but that's your first clue it's not because when it records it doesn't make that sort of noise.
I called Cyberhome numerous times. During my last call some guy told me he'd send me a fix DVD but he didn't. I own a Cyberhome DVD player which works fine. I'll never buy this model DVD Recorder again!