Nice Idea but unit sucks

Author's Rating:

Pros: Easy to use

Cons: not reliable, stops working, wastes expensive discs, cost - price drop $150 in 2 months

The Bottom Line: 
Buy at your own risk - may be a jem, may be a dud

Author's Review
They have the right idea but unit sure has problems!

I bought the VR4940 (top of the line model) from Amazon.com in May 2004 for $426.49 with free shipping - a bargain at the time - retail is $499.99. Less than 3 months later the price is $349. And it's a brand new model! Should've held value a bit longer since no newer/better model is forthcoming.

Since I was having my house redone and the den wired for Home Theater, I stupidly let the unit sit unopened in the box for 2 months not realizing it had a lousy 90 day warranty. My advice - open the box the day you receive it and hook it up and start using it. Also, it was a bear to hook up to my HD tv with digital cable but I finally figured it out. Instructions were of little help. Why make high end equipment and then show you how to hook it up with basic S video and RCA cables?

Anyway, the unit came with only 1 LG brand DVD-R disc. Shoulda come with at least two. I read to never use Memorex brand - some kind of combatabilty problem. I bought Verbatims and they seemed ok - for awhile. My goal was to dub about 200 VHS tennis matches and some home movies on to DVD. Recording is very easy but don't expect to just pop in a tape or disc and hit record. Takes about 30 seconds for the machine to warm up plus allow for a disc to inialize. I copied a couple of movies from HBO in SP (2 hr speed) and Video Mode that came out real nice. They play just fine in older DVD players. I never tried the VR mode before the machine crapped out. Also Video mode has very limited editing - basically title and delete. Be warned though - delete just erases the title - the space on the disc is still used up and gone forever.

Dubbing the VHS to DVD wasn't very difficult but it was tricky to pause and start again on the tapes - I wanted to hit the stop button. If you do, it starts a new title and you have to start the whole process again. I got a few horrid quality home movies done and they at least wont get any worse on DVD. Tapes DO deteriorate! Then the problems started...

First when watching tv in DVD mode (while recording) the sound doesn't match the video - this was REALLY annoying! It doesn't do it on playback. I dunno if it did it on VHS since I never recorded anything on tape. Never had a chance.

Second - and my main problem: the machine would just shut down for no reason. I thought maybe it was getting too hot -the fan never shuts off and the machine is VERY noisy. It would turn off even if you were just watching cable (not recording) or mostly while recording. This drove me nuts - there was no pattern for when it would shut down. You could have the machine on 5 minutes or 5 hrs. Consequently, I wasted a crap load of discs - and they aint cheap. I called GoVideo and they never heard of such a thing. Funny, because a web search brought up other users with the same problem!

Third, about 10 discs into using the machine, I started getting "disc is corrupt" messages when I'd finish recording. I have no idea if it was the unit or my discs (all from the same batch). I was wasting HOURS and HOURS trying to make these copies - I couldn't take seeing Dad in his leisure suit from 1971 one more time! ACK! At this point I knew the unit had to be repaired.

I went to the GOVideo website and found a service center just down the street from me. I was thrilled since I knew shipping would be very expensive - the unit weighs 21 lbs in the box. I called GoVideo and told them the machine was messed up and they then informed me it had to be sent back to them in Arizona. A "service center could not be utilized and they could not involve a third party". What is that BS?! I was livid. The post office wanted $30 to ship it. In the end I shipped it FedEx ground for $7. Took 2 days.

I have yet to recieve a replacement unit. I know it will be a refurbished model and was told a new one would not be shipped since they are not tested, nor do they have the latest software upgrade for a problem with "disc full messages". I never had that problem. I explained I was leary of a refurb since mine may work 5 hrs or longer before it shut down and I doubted they would test a unit that long. Manager had no response but did offer me a brand new unit and still advised against it.

All in all, I liked the convienence of an all in one unit and since GoVideo has been around for a long time I thought the quality would be better than average. VCRS are getting hard to find and more expensive plus mine had crapped out. I figured now was the time to started dubbing those tapes. All in one units generally have better picture quality, too because there are no wires for the signal to run through. The down side is if one part breaks down, the whole unit is down. Here I sit with an awesome Home Theater set up and no DVD player or VCR.

Anyway, just some thoughts and things to think about. I don't know what the alternative would be and Lord knows I tried to do my homework before I purchased.