CyberHome CH-DVR 1500 Progressive-Scan DVD+R/+RW Recorder and Player , Silver
By: Cyberhome Average Rating: 2.0 Total Reviews: 136
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 On: 2008-06-27
This was the worst electronic purchase I have ever made. Only lasted a few months for recording then just played dvds now it does nothing but collect dust!
 On: 2008-02-18
Sure its a DVD recorder, and yes it can transfer your old time VHS classics. But its lazy. what I mean by that is that the player works when it wants to, he accepts only certain types of blanks, you can only use DVD+R all others will not function, if you want to watch a movie it takes an eternity for it to load. Plus it has the worst fast forwarding feature I have ever seen: instead of fast forwarding the picture it lags even more. The player brings 3 DVD+RW blanks that records but cant be used in another player. The finalizing process to make your DVD recordings compatible with other players takes an eternity as well. Sometimes while finalizing it erases everything; basically everything you recorded is gone. Sure it works, it records, and it has good picture quality. But it sucks and its slow and lazy. Simply put.
MY PERSONAL RATING: 2 OUT OF 5
On: 2007-11-26
I used this product for burning not more than 10 DVDs - none of them were consistent. Some did not work on most DVD players, others did work anywhere.
After struggling with it for 6 months(I am a infrequent user as I burn my kids video on this), this machine broke on me and hasnt worked since.
I couldnt trace the company for followup and I had lost my CCity receipt to go back - overall useless blow up of my money (75 dollars when I bought it)
Be careful on warranty if you are brave enough to buy this.
On: 2007-11-25
Just wanted to add my two cents here. I have never been more disappointed in a product. I purchased one and had to return it on the same day. The disk tray got stuck and wouldnt open or play. I returned it right away and have had the "new" one for less than a year. Attempted to record several programs recently (I dont use it daily) and it appears to be recording but doesnt record ANYTHING! The disk tray only operates intermittently so dont put a disk in if you dont want to run the risk of losing or damaging it.
Cyberhomes website is up for sale so I am assuming now that they have gone under. That means you will get no tech support on this product! I dont remember what I paid for it now...probably around $100 but after reading some of the other reviews I think it is a sham of a product - never intended to really operate for any length of time.
On: 2007-04-23
Please note that it is no longer possible to get ANY customer support, warranty coverage nor even downloadable manuals or upgrades. Purchasing a Cyberhome model of any kind is a poor proposition, owing to their high rate of failure, and, oh, that detail about their being out of business. [...]
On: 2006-10-03
I bought this recorder a week ago and it only works with the 3 included DVD+RW. If you try to use any other blank disc it will be ruined. I returned it to the store and will never buy a cyberhome product again.
On: 2006-10-02
I bought this recorder a week ago and it only works with the 3 included DVD+RW. If you try to use any other blank disc it will be ruined. I returned it to the store and will never buy a cyberhome product again.
On: 2006-02-14
Do not buy a Cyberhome product. I have the 1600 model and started having problems viewing DVDs and using the DVD recorder 2 months after purchasing the product. The customer service was terrible. I e mailed them several times without receiving an answer. The labor warrenty was only 3 months. I contacted them via phone, was on hold for an hour, and finally talked to a rude man who told me that I should have updated my firmware via downloading it from the wedsite. The download wouldnt work and he stated he would send me a disc. It never arrived. Awful company!!!
On: 2005-12-04
I bought this unit from QVC about six months ago. I have really never been able to set this up. I have a tv with all the connections but have no idea how to set this up. I have tried many different ways & when I do either one part of the setup works or none of it works. When I put it to DVD Live/TV the picture is all snowy. Anybody have any ideas on how to give me easy directions on what the correct way to set this up is. I also bought Monster cables for the Component setup & that doesnt seem to work either. When QVC had this on they said it was an easy setup. I will never buy another Cyberhome product again. JUNK, JUNK, JUNK!
On: 2005-11-14
I purchased this unit back in March of 2004 from HSN. When I got the unit, I was immediately turned off at the picture quality via the units tuner. The tuner volume was also very low. I was also upset with the fact that the audio and video were out of sync with each other. This was more evident when watching programs through the units tuner, but it was just as frustrating when I tried transferring old VHS home movies to DVD. It is noticeable, believe it or not. Its like watching a Kung-Fu movie where the voices dont match the lips. I even noticed this on the units playback of pre-recorded DVDs, although it was less noticeable with these. In November of 2004, I sent the unit back to the factory and exchanged it for their updated 1530 model. The unit I received had much better picture quality through the tuner, and the volume was very loud (just what I wanted). However, the problem of the audio and video being out of sync still existed both through the tuner, and also when I recorded VHS tapes to DVD. This is the biggest turn-off so far with the unit. I am going to assume that all of these units are like this because I doubt this was a freak accident that both models had this same problem. If you already own this unit, do yourself a favor and look for this "audio and video out of sync" problem. I guarantee that youll see it. Its so darn annoying. I dont think I will ever purchase another Cyberhome product again. Also, their customer service is terrible. It took them almost six months to finally get back to me after badgering them continually via email and their toll-free "leave a message" number. My suggestion is, do an Internet search on the next DVD Recorder youre thinking of buying, and read the customer reviews. Had I read the Amazon.com Cyberhome 1500 reviews in advance, I would have never purchased it.
On: 2005-09-17
I recieved the Cyberhome DVR-1500 last Christmas- by March it was acting up- not recording previously scheduled programs-error messages-stop rec- I contacted Cyberhome and they had me ship it to them at my cost $13 and they sent me a new one which was slightly different. Now 4&1/2 months later (out of the warrenty period) this one is doing the very same thing!
On: 2005-07-15
bought this thing from hsn about 2 years ago. i could never get it to work. had my son work his magic and got it to work for about a year. could only rec on rw discs. week ago took a recorded disc out of the tray and it hasent worked since.willnot respond to any comandes except on and off by the rear switch. what a piece of ----
On: 2005-07-06
Well, here it is, July 2005, and I have the 1530 model. I also bought it from HSN. It also lasted 5-6 months. Of course the warranty is for only 3 months. Pure junk. I will never buy a Cyberhome product again. I wish I could take back the compliments I gave about it the first 2 months that I had it. It worked great in the beginning, then I experienced all the problems that everyone here has mentioned. I have noticed that many stores no longer carry this model. Maybe there were just too many complaints.
 On: 2005-05-04
My unit wouldnt burn a dvd or play one, or even go into setup.
I opened the box by taking out the screws and lifting the cover from the back first then got it off. Then I placed a paper between the battery clip and the battery, leaving it there for an hour, till the unit was dead, no battery. Then removed the paper, put the cover back on and it was just like it came from new. The people that do the movies have a way of screwing it up while it is burning a movie( actually stops it burning I think). It has a read only memory that is programmable. So removing the battery resets everything to factory. Now I need to finalize my 179 movies so I can put on the updated software from cyberhome.com Go there, then look for downloads and print the instructions and download thr 2 files for update. Make sure the serial number on the machine is before the X. check instructions. Like a new one, not perfect but works!!!
On: 2005-05-02
I also had it about six months and the darn thing just wont work. After about a month it started getting error messsages when I tried playing something I just recorded. I went and bought new dvd+rs and it worked fine. But now it wont do anything. I turn it on and it says cyberhome for twenty minutes and then it says reading for another twenty minutes. Finally it said no disc so what do iI do? I push eject and nothing happens. I cant turn it to standby.
On: 2005-04-29
Just got this a couple of weeks ago. So far I havent had any trouble getting it to record TV shows. The manual could be written a little more in depth. I havent been able to figure out how to make copies of my old VHS tapes, so I guess I will have to get my 12 year old to help me with that. It took a couple of days to figure out how to get it to record TV programs with the timer, but eventually I figured it out.
I think I got a good deal when I figured out how much it would cost me to take all my home movies somewhere and have them made to DVD...that is...if I can figure out how to do it!!
When I emailed their customer service dept. I had a reply within 48 hours.
On: 2005-04-27
Bought this unit March04. Worked OK for a few days then.... First, the unit froze up when recording. After turning off Reset/Power switch in rear, everything was fine, except for the fact that the recording had to be started over again. This would happen every 8-10 discs. This unit has a mind of its own and I cant list every problem. I have read all reviews and found nobody gives it 5 stars. Hopefully, someone from Cyberhome reads these and reacts. Im kind of tired of paying good money for things that only last a short time.
On: 2005-04-15
If you have the money to waste, CyberHome products is your one stop shop. The CH-DVR1500 recorder is easily outclassed by any cheap AM portable radio. Any blank disc inserted into the machine will automatically go to the format mode (even if it pre-formatted) and hang up until the power is turned off. Tried five different brands of blank DVDs with the same result. Never got the chance to record anything. The playback mode with pre-recorded discs gives a mostly fuzzy picture. The built-in channel tuner didnt recognize 12 cable channels so the unit just bypassed them during setup. I have never in my life been so disappointed with a purchase. Even more disappointed with customer service. It is mostly non-existent and if you manage to get a human voice you are more than likely talking to someone less useful than used egg shells. The only comfort I got out of this machine was when I took my 20lb sledge hammer to it.
On: 2005-04-12
Pro.
1. The product has good features.
Con.
1. The product will not work long.
2. The company has poor customer service.
3. When, there is a problem,
they will expect you to ship it to them at your own expense
for either a repair
or for a replacement that does not have the same features
as the one you originally bought.
I recommend avoiding Cyberhome products altogether.
Its worth it to pay more for a reputable & dependable companys
product.
On: 2005-03-20
Please do not waist your $$$$
This is junk. And most cyberhome products are made not to last.
And by the way their customer service stinks.
Its less then 2 years old and going to the dumpster
 On: 2005-03-15
It seems that the Cyberhome 1500 had some kind of defect with the power supplies that caused the unit to lock up permanently with whatever disc you had inside at the time. Cyberhome has an offer on their web site to replace defective units with the same or a newer model. I chose the 1500 because I like the editing features on it. Since I received the replacement unit I have had no real problems to speak of; all dvds play fine, it records fine to dvd+rs and dvd-rs, the recorded discs play in my stand alone dvd players. The record quality is really good, and the progressive scan output is crystal clear. Not sure why so many people are saying they have problems unless they have the trouble-proned early models.
On: 2005-03-07
I received this recorder as a birthday gift last March. It was working great until September when the eject froze and the machine was being very sluggish if it was working at all. I took it to a repair shop in December and the guy said it was a quality machine with a few crappy parts. So he replaced the parts and I havent had a problem since. For the cheep price I think it was worth the little bit of hassle that it caused. Its a good first recorder to practice on and to see if you really will use it as much as you think you will.
On: 2005-03-06
I guess Ill join the legions of other reviewers who will attest that this product is junk. I wish I had read these reviews before buying mine. After turning the unit on for the 1st time and sticking in the blank DVD that came with the unit, it just says "format" on the player screen for a few seconds then wont do anything, not even eject the disc. I have to turn the player off & back on just to get the blank disc out. Tried multiple brands of DVD+Rs and all had the same problem. Contacted Cyberhome customer service via email & they replied that discs need to be formatted, but there is no info about how to do that in the manual. Posted for help on a Cyberhome user message board & others told me you do not need to format DVD+Rs as they are preformatted and there is no way to even do that on the player. So, bad unit, plus bad info from their tech support. Basically I now have a $200 DVD player, not a recorder.
On: 2005-02-28
Ok, here is the deal with the cyberhome 1500 dvd recorder. Ive had mine since 4/04, I had it serviced once, it can be an annoying unit but there are ways to get around it, read on....
It is very particular about the software you are recording on
Use only TDK or SONY DVD+R
Personally, I hate finalizing discs. I am frightened of transfering a 6 hour VHS to dvd and then the disc fails in the finalizing process, For this reason the only discs I use to record are TDK DVD+RW You can get them for $35 per 25 pack. Worth it because you DO NOT HAVE TO FINALIZE RW DISCS!
Among the problems I have had with this unit are:
Locks up for any apparent reason. (Turn it off, Unplug it, then turn it back on)
Disc was stuck inside (Wrong type of media, actually my own fault, serviced for free by RCA, returned working better than ever).
Disc errors.i.e.: during finalizing a disc, rejects request, loses all data (Used inferior software DO NOT USE FUJI, MAXELL, ANY CHEAP BRAND, and ESP MEMOREX). Verbatim DVD+R are not bad,but sometimes can be unreliable.
The only problem I have been able to figure out so far is:
Sometimes on an older VHS tape the unit will stop in the middle of a recording. I guess there are too many inperfections in the tape source so it tricks the DVD recorder into stopping.
The RCA cyberhome is a decent unit. Its not perfect, but very good for the price range.
The proof is in the pudding:
I HAVE BURNED OVER 300 DVD+r and +rw discs from my personal collection.
I feel Ive gotten my moneys worth, everything else is gravy at this point.
On: 2005-01-29
I have had my Cyberhome for over a year now and for the most part it works, well for at least 75% of the time. Of course, the one I have had for a year was my 3rd unit from the store after having returned the previous two. I just decided to keep this one with its flaws. It is frustrating because on some days the unit works fine and on other days it doesnt work at all. I have no idea why. For the most part its easy to use and when it works the quality is good. Some features on the unit such as the timer have never worked at all. But for the price and the 75% success rate it was worth it.
On: 2005-01-08
I agree that when playing after recording it & trying to FF it will always jump to the end which was nerve-wracking. Also typing in the title or name... too tiresome using the remote. The quality of the recordings even at 3 hour was great. I never tried to program the timer. The menu could have been better, but it was ok. You couldnt delete chapters even on DVD-RWs, only the entire disk. The main problem was after 2 weeks, while watching it record a VHS, it seemed to pause. Turning off the VHS unit didnt help, hitting stop, etc. I had to turn off the recorder which made the almost full DVD-R useless. It worked after that, but I obviously dont trust it anymore. I bought the GoVideo R6640 DVD Recorder after this one. I miss the cyberhome in comparison! Least cyberhome worked GREAT over 20x. But shouldnt electronics work for at least a d**n year? On an added note, it let me actually copy some copyrighted lecture videos that GoVideo & also Panasonic wont.
On: 2005-01-08
I cant figure out how to change the number of rating stars when editing this review -- believe me, I now give this thing only 1 star. I previously wrote the positive review that you see below, because it looked like my particular unit was working OK. Only about a month later, I started experiencing all the same problems of failing to read perfectly good disks and just freezing up. Its now useless and Im throwing it away. DO NOT BUY THIS MACHINE, NO MATTER HOW CHEAP YOU CAN GET IT.
Here is my earlier review -- little did I know:
I guess Im one of the lucky few -- I bought my player on Ebay over a year ago and its still working fine for the most part. It may be because I dont use it all that often, I might watch 1-2 DVDs a week, record a few per month. I like its features and its easy to use. I do find that sometimes it refuses to read a particular DVD -- either a blank disk or a commercial movie, and sometimes a DVD that I record on it simply wont load when put into another DVD player. Its a bit frustrating, but you get what you pay for and this unit was pretty cheap. One feature I like is you can program it to read DVDs from all Regions [...]
On: 2004-12-30
I bought my DVD recorder 5 months ago and its already in for service. Unfortunately most of the bad reviews were posted after I purchased it. Like many others the machine just locked up.The tray wont open, it wont respond to anything and it reads "no disc" although there is one in there. I couldnt get my DVD out and have sent it to the company (hopefully they will return the DVD). I will say though that the company offered to repair/replace the recorder free of charge since it just went out of warranty. I also have a portable DVD player from Cyberhome that gives me problems occasionally (the screen goes black) so I am really having a problem believing in this company. I also just realized that this recorder, unlike many others record on DVD+R/RW which makes them unable to play on many players! I never realized that most recorders and players are DVD-R/RW compatible. I am currently looking to get a DVD player that also plays DVD+R/RW and let me tell you they seem to be far & few in between! I wouldnt recommend this product & would hesitate to recommend any other cyberhome product.
On: 2004-12-30
My husband bought it for me last Christmas - we have never been able to get it to work. We tried calling the company and got the run around. We even tried to return it and they didnt even respond to that. A WASTE OF MONEY!!!
On: 2004-12-29
Dont buy this. Ive had it for a day. Its going back tomorrow. Locks up. Will record for 30 seconds or so and just shuts off. Its destroyed 3 DVD+Rs. Dont waste your money.
On: 2004-12-24
I purchased this recorder in December 2003. It worked well for about a month. Then locked up. I called about four times on the telephone. Left my number with no response. Emailed with no response. Finally called and got a tech rep. He was helpful, we tried various tricks to open drawer. No luck. He said ship it and we will repair. I shipped to Los Angeles area at my expense. It was back in 7 days as promised and worked adequately. Sometimes it seems to not respond to commands, other times it just doesnt do what you want. Sometimes DVD+RW disks dont play on other machines, even new ones. After 11 months it locked up again. There are suggestions for unlocking it on other web sites. None of the suggested methods worked. Including opening the cover and carefully pushing the button hidden on the DVDR component in the right front corner of that component. It is suggested that you can send your machine in with about $80.00 and they will repair it (in the one year labor warranty period I guess). I have given up and am researching a new machine, perhaps a Lite-On, which has similar specifications. In my opinion if you buy one of these recorders, they are still on the leading edge of technology and a three year service contract would be a good investment. Many other machines, in the same price range have one year parts and labor warranties. After reading many reviews of this unit on various web sites it looks to me that my experiance has been the experiance of many buyers.
On: 2004-12-23
DO NOT BUY THIS MACHINE!!!! I purchased mine just over one year ago, have burnt approx. 12-15 DVDs, and never really used it for watching DVDs, then the thing just quit working, no warning, just states no disc, but drawer will not open to load disc.
On: 2004-12-13
DVD tray locks up, no release, customer service very poor,unresponsive to emails, warranty returns? You pay shipping, video display fades in and out, finally returned mine for store credit. I would not recommend this if it were under $100. Had they made an effort to assist I might feel better.
On: 2004-12-08
this is the worst piece of electronics i have ever seen and owned. timer recording doesnt work all of the time. seems like it works only if it wants to. its slow in every process it runs. my warranty has expired so no help there. DO NOT BUY THIS RECORDER!!!!!!!!!
On: 2004-12-01
I bought this DVD Recorder about a week ago. You cant beat the price, which is the lowest Ive seen, but I have problems with the sound going out when I try to do a timed recording, and at various other times for no obvious reason. Im going to return it and try another brand. Even when the sound is working, it moves very slowly through the menus, takes up to 10-15 minutes to finalize a DVD-R disk, and often has long waiting periods when you do a simple function, like press "stop."
On: 2004-11-21
I bought this recorder a couple months ago and the darn thing broke!!!It ate our CD, wouldnt open the disk tray, and then we couldnt even get a video feed through it. I would recommend NOT buying this DVD Recorder for your own safety.
On: 2004-11-19
This is crap, I bought it used it for 8 months and then it died. I tried to email tech support and they never responded.
So I bought a new one. I wrote this one off.
On: 2004-11-18
This is crap, I bought it used it for 8 months and then it died. I tried to email tech support and they never responded.
So I bought a new one. I wrote this one off.
On: 2004-10-28
I have had FIVE units since November 2003! I have had the 2500, 1500 and the 1530, all were junk! The 1530 (which I have had two of) did not work from the first day I received them! Cyberhome customer service is about to send me my sixth unit.
On: 2004-10-27
I have had FIVE units since November 2003! I have had the 2500, 1500 and the 1530, all were junk! The 1530 (which I have had two of) did not work from the first day I received them! Cyberhome customer service is about to send me my sixth unit.
On: 2004-10-26
I have had this recorder since May 30th and by the 1st part of Oct. I cant use it. It started to freeze up where it wouldnt do more than show the logo on the TV. I was able to get it going by removing and reinstalling the plug the first few times then I couldnt even do that anymore. I also would rate it a zero if that was on the choice list. I emailed Customer Service about a week ago but so far no response. I purchased a Lite-on 5101 for $139. 2 weeks ago at another retailer and it seems to be much better.
On: 2004-09-20
I see alot of you are having problems with your CH-DVR 1500s, and i cant help but think it HAS to be something with ordering from amazon. The one i have works PERFECTLY besides that 2400 hour format (which is extremely annoying)
someone said there was a firmware upgrade to fix this, i wanted to know, how exactly do you upgrade it?
On: 2004-09-05
I bought the cyberhome Dvd recorder the day after thanksgiving. now it is dead. it lasted only 8 months. the trouble started a month ago. when i turn it on the display would read CH 042 ME. and while the diaplay read ME none of the buttons would work, on the remote or the machine itself. and i could hear a slight knocking noise comming from the drive. then after a time it would finaly come on and be usable. i tried e-mailing cyberhome. but got no responce from them. if you want a dvd recorder, DO NOT Buy from Cyberhome. Spend the extra money, Buy SONY. or you could be like me, the owner of a dead dvd recorder, without the money to buy another recorder.
On: 2004-09-05
Cyberhome finally responded to my requests that my 1500 model is locking up. They offered to send me a new 1530 model. Has anyone done this and actual received the new unit from this company? If so how does the new 1530 model work? I dont trust Cyberhome, I can see me paying shipping and getting nothing back!
On: 2004-09-04
I bought the cyberhome Dvd recorder the day after thanksgiving. now it is dead. it lasted only 8 months. the trouble started a month ago. when i turn it on the display would read CH 042 ME. and while the diaplay read ME none of the buttons would work, on the remote or the machine itself. and i could hear a slight knocking noise comming from the drive. then after a time it would finaly come on and be usable. i tried e-mailing cyberhome. but got no responce from them. if you want a dvd recorder, DO NOT Buy from Cyberhome. Spend the extra money, Buy SONY. or you could be like me, the owner of a dead dvd recorder, without the money to buy another recorder.
by: Anonymous On: 2004-09-04
This thing works great for six months, just like everyone else says, then just starts having all sorts of problems. It says "no disc", then "reading", then it says "open", but its closed, then its stuck reading "ch 003 ME". I just emailed cyberhome, and am still waiting for a response, so well see how this all pans out. But by the looks of everyone else, probably not so well. Can anyone say lawsuit....cause I smell one cooking. Im not throwing out money without a fight. Anyway, DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS!!
by: Anonymous On: 2004-08-27
I was so disappointed when I found out that cyberhome can record only audio only in mono (not stereo). I returned it to the store.
On: 2004-08-18
This DVD "recorder" is an ABSOLUTE piece of JUNK!!! Like all the other reviewers, Ive had mine since January. I used it 4 times before it started acting up. Now I get no response at all!! To anyone looking at buying one of these units: STAY AWAY!!! It is true that you get what you pay for. Spend the few extra bucks and get a DVD recorder from a reputable manufacturer that you already know and trust. Believe me, itll be worth it! The only reason I gave it 1 star is because I cant submit a review with 0 stars.
by: california_lady On: 2004-08-03
DO NOT BUY THIS UNIT. I had two and neither worked correctly. Out of 20 DVD-RWs I probably got 5 that I could use in other players. Disc get stuck in tray and you cant open it, error messages tell you that there is no disc when there is...on and on. This unit is nothing but JUNK!!
On: 2004-08-02
DO NOT BUY THIS UNIT. I had two and neither worked correctly. Out of 20 DVD-RWs I probably got 5 that I could use in other players. Disc get stuck in tray and you cant open it, error messages tell you that there is no disc when there is...on and on. This unit is nothing but JUNK!!
On: 2004-07-21
I want to change my last review until We reach a verdit. They are going to send me my 4th recorder.I am hopeing that they have one that works.If they dont I will get back to you.
On: 2004-07-17
All of these reviews are correct! Mine lasted for about 6 months. I copied over 100 VHSs to DVDRs. It worked great.
Then it quit. Customer service from Cyberhome is non-existent! The unit over heated and fried 2 capacitors. This is a very common problem with this unit. I am going to try a different brand and I will NEVER buy from Cyberhome again!!!
On: 2004-07-17
this product did not last 6 months. it will not play or record and i cant get the disk out of it. cyberhome will not return by e-mails and i cant get any where when i make a phone call. save your money and buy something else
On: 2004-07-10
Ive only had this unit for three months and it no longer works. It will no longer read nor play discs. It is just a $250.00 paper weight. AVOID THIS DVD RECORDER!!!!!!!!!!!
by: Anonymous On: 2004-07-08
I bought the CH-DVR 2500 from HSN.com last December. The main difference between this fossil and the 2500 is the color (the 2500 is black). The unit never worked as advertised. And forget about customer service; I suspect their "engineers" double up as customer service reps because the quality of CSR is as good as that of this piece of junk (it is non-existent). Sent them email and a letter asking to get the machine taken back (sometime in February); I am still waiting for a response. The machine died within six months: I must have used it for all of 5 hours because I spent most of the time trying to get it to work: locking up, even their DVDs not finalizing, and the works.
I believe it is time for a class action lawsuit since several people are finding that their units die within six months. I normally do not post opinions; this is my first one. It simply is an expression of the sense of outrage I feel that Cyberhome can blatantly do this and get away with it. I guess I got fooled into purchasing this unit based on my experience with their CH-DVD 500 which is a decent DVD player.
On: 2004-07-08
DO NOT BUY CYBERHOME!
I received the DVR-2500 Recorder for Christmas last year. I have used it seldomly for playing movies, and barely at all for recording DVDs. 6 months later, the unit is dead. Wont turn on, wont light up, nothing. In fact, the only thing doing less than this piece of junk recorder, is Cyberhomes customer service. No response whatsoever! LOOK AT THE OTHER REVIEWS. THIS COMPANY IS A JOKE. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY!
by: Anonymous On: 2004-07-05
My DVR1500 had all the troubles and symptoms described here. However an electronics engineer at my workplace examined it for me and discovered a design flaw. Two of the main capacitors on the motherboard are smaller in capacity than they should be and this allows the voltage to surge all over the place ultimately leading to the demise of the machine. He replaced them for me with larger capacity ones and the machine cooled down and now works like a charm. Dont know if Cyberhome has discovered this or will admit it, but it seems to be working for me. The 4-star rating is for post repaired machine.
On: 2004-07-05
cyberhome will try to make good on its product,they have good tech support but this is not a good recorder. I would have given it a o but I had to choose 1-5.With all the trouble I have had with it,I would not consider this product. Jimmy Allen 7/4/04
by: Anonymous On: 2004-07-02
This worked well to start, once the labor warranty goes, so does the machine, and FORGET service from the company, stayed on hold for over an hour and never got to speak to anyone, wont respond to e-mails either. Will now look for a different brand that hopefully will last more than 3 dvd recordings from my camcorder
by: Anonymous On: 2004-07-02
i bought this machine it said it would read vcds and svcds jpgs and mp3s only on dvd blanks it would not read any iof the pre recordered cd-rs or cd-rws i tryed every brand dont waste your money.
by: Anonymous On: 2004-06-30
I love the features and ease of use of this DVD recorder. Too bad it doesnt work. Then the disk tray started freezing up along with the on/off switch. I sent it to Cyberhome for repairs and got it back. It worked once and then froze up again. I have a Panasonic and tried a Sony DVD recorder. They are more complicated to use and do not have some of the desirable features of this model. Thus far the Panasonic works reliably but is more difficult to use, e. g. in editing. Wish Cyberhome could work out the bugs in their product because its so much easier to operate (when it works).
by: Anonymous On: 2004-06-30
This player lasted 6 months and locked up. I tried firmware upgrades, removing the drive and manually opening the disc tray, and the suggestions offered on the Cyberhome website. Nothing worked. Dont waste your money on this cheap player.
On: 2004-06-24
I purchased my Cyberhome DVR-1500 form HSN. I used it one time and then the eject tray froze up. I e-mailed Cyberhome for support (yeah right), but what they advised didnt work, This was back in May. After 4 more e-mails asking for service I havent heard from them since. Their phones (or should say phone because they must only have one) is always busy. The unit also is always very hot. Please dont buy this your wasting your money. After seeing all the bad news about this product I am going to write a complaint to the better business bureau and I advise everyone else to do the same. And Stores should stop offering anything from Cyberhome. If I could give no stars I would. I may have to take the loss and burn the unit in a bonfire ceremony.
On: 2004-06-21
junk,junk,junk,junk,junk,junk,junk,junk.
no service no answer to e mail or phone call
.
On: 2004-06-21
If you are considering the purchase of a Cyberhome CH-DVR 1500 recorder, caveat emptor, " let the buyer beware." Great price, great features, poor product. The bottom line is that you get what you pay for. We have had this unit in operation for no less than 5 months. We recently encountered a problem with the tray not ejecting. Despite going through the manual and trying literally everything in the book, the tray would not budge. The display lights up "open", but the tray does nothing.Now, if you attempt to contact Cyberhomes support. forget it. You will get a message that they are unable to contact you within 24 hours. However, they do not tell you exactly when they will get back to you. Dont hold your breath. I have been waiting over two weeks, with no response.
There is no contact number for support. If it breaks, you might as well forget it. You have lost your money. A DVD recorder may have a great price and tons of features, but if it has a life expectancy of less than 6 months, why bother? This product is a piece of junk, and has no right to be in stores such a Wal-Mart or Best Buy. Indeed, I visited a Wal-Mart store last night, and every CH-DVR 1500 had been repackaged, indicating returns of the unit. I have pretty much resigned myself that I have lost my money on this unit for 5 months operation. I will now research for reliability, and be sure that I purchase a service contract for my next purchase.
On: 2004-06-19
I agree with all of the bad reviews others have left. My recorder kept freezing up and I would have to restart it all the time. I finalized a dvd the other day and it froze, then after I turned it off it came back on and said formating and then said no disk. It wont let me eject the disk. Even after unplugging for a day or two it still wont eject the dvd. So now it is a completely useless dvd recorder. And of course it only has a three month warranty and I look and it has almost been 4 months. It seems that they put a 3 month warranty on it because they knew it would go out right after the 3 months. DO NOT BUY THIS DVD RECORDER or any other one of this brand. Dont make the same mistake I did. I only wish I had checked these reviews before I bought the stupid thing.
by: Anonymous On: 2004-06-17
My unit died at 4 months of use, just beyond the 90 day warranty. the internal DVD burner drive basically stopped working, or it burnt out. the unit gets hot, and the housing design basically does not allow for the heat to escape. Cyberhome customer support is awful. they do not answer emails, or pick up the phone when you call in for a Return Merchandise Number.... they will charge you another $90 to replace your unit. its true what they say, you get what you pay for.... avoid this too good to be true deal!
On: 2004-06-13
This recorder worked pretty good until the warranty ran out. Unfortunately, the full warranty is only for three months. The unit ran extremely hot and had numerous lock-ups before the end. The heat led to a blown capacitor on the board. This seems to be a common occurrance with other users of this product. Anyway, great dvd recorder, but horrible design. If you decide to buy one (I highly advise against it), open the cover to allow a little bit of cooling. It might last a few weeks longer. One other thing, Cyberhome does not seem to stand behind their products. Forget about tech support...
by: Anonymous On: 2004-06-10
The recorder did not detect disk just passed 90 days warranty period..the worst part was no way to reach the technical support..even you had the right phone# , you would put on hold for at least an hour.. I gave up after more than 10 calls (total waiting time..at least 7 hrs). I only found out recently that they charged $89 to repair the recorder...forget it..it cost about 1/3 of the purchase price
I bought a pc of junk...dont ever think to buy this brand
by: Anonymous On: 2004-06-09
DO NOT BUY THIS!!! I figured, hey how much of a piece of junk can this be. I am an IT director I can figure it out and make it work. So I went out to best buy and picked it up. Everything seemed simple enough to understand and setting it up was easy. The firmware didnt need upgrading it already had 128A. I put in one of the supplied CD+RW and tested it out. Recorded a couple minutes and watched the results, not bad. Next step to tape a program on a CD+R memorex(on their TESTED list). Recorded the show and went to standby, recording done. Pressed the standby and never got past the CYBERHOME Screen. Locked up solid. Best Buy had to take it apart to get my DVD out. DO NOT BUY THIS!!!! Going to try the Philips dvdr75 next.
On: 2004-06-05
I have all available updates and have the following observations:
1. Power-on or even just changing disks always resets the Source to the Tuner input. It should remember that I left it at S-Video In 1
2. I never use DVD+R recording anymore. Too many disks wouldnt finalize even after only using recommended media brands. I record to DVD+RW and copy to +R or -R on my computer. That works 99% of the time.
3. Contrary to some reviews, there is a menu command to set the clock to 12 hour mode. Only problem Ive had there is occasional problems if I try to set a timer to end between 12 noon and 1 PM.
4. One reviewer said that there was no way to erase words when editing a title. Navigate to the end of the word and use the "C" button on the remote. I would like it if the C-Skip button doubled as a "Change case" button when editing. Editing titles is cumbersome, but gets the job done. Id like to be able to edit the record date and time. The 0 through 9 keys are a convenient way to insert characters in the middle of a title or quickly navigate to near the start of the upper-case or end of the lower-case series.
5. Ive never been able to get another DVD Player or computer to recognize Chapter marks that Ive inserted on DVD+Rs. Also, inserting Chapter marks and the Title thumbnail is a hit-or-miss proposition. They seem to land about 1-3 seconds later than what you thought you set. Trying too many times to change the picture or Chapter marks seems to make finalizing less reliable, also.
6. Lockups are a constant annoyance. Make sure you keep the wall-cord or back panel switch where you can get at it. I agree with another reviewer who said that Eject should override any other command.
7. When I was using DVD+R disks, the "Edit Title" command was the first item in the Edit menu. The first time I recorded to a DVD+RW disk and went to the Edit menu, I discovered to my horror that "Erase Title" was the first menu item. "Erase Title" means erase the recording, not just clear the title of the recording so it can be re-entered from scratch. There was no confirmation message and the 4 hour recording I had just made that couldnt be re-recorded was lost forever. Was I upset?
8. Would I buy it again? Probably not. Id look for something with more editing features and more reliable.Update on 6/15/2004: I recently installed the U0407200401XA firmware update. So far, it seems to have corrected the lockup problem if you tried to leave Standby mode with a disk in the drive. My unit had totally locked up before I upgraded the firmware. Fortunately, I found the instructions on-line for forcing the disk to eject so I could update the firmware. It involves taking the cover off. See
http://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=192028&highlight=chdvr+1500
(If address is split into 2 lines, they will need to be combined in your web browser address window.) I found I didnt need to unplug the ribbon cable to get it to eject. It still doesnt reliably finalize DVD+Rs for me. I dont know if others are having that problem, but since Im past the 90 day labor warranty, Im going to live with it. I learned my lesson not to buy anything with less than a 1 year parts and labor warranty. Its also added a new "feature" that leaves a small yellow rectangle on-screen if you edit a title. That goes away if you toggle between "Live" and "DVD". Also, I just bought a new HDTV receiver. What I thought was an OK picture from the Cyberhome is now noticably lower resolution than what I get directly from my Dishnetwork receiver (not HDTV), even when I use component output and progressive scan. My next unit will probably be a Pioneer DVR-520 or DVR-720, scheduled for release soon.
by: Anonymous On: 2004-06-02
I have had nothing but problems with the CyberHome product I purchased. The machine will not record on timed recordings, sometimes there is color, other times, no. The customer service @ Cyber Home is a joke, no responses. The sound quality leaves much to be desired, and recording quality is not good. You may only use certain types of discs with this machine, I have found only one type to work.
by: Anonymous On: 2004-06-02
If you in the market for a $300 paper weight that looks like a DVD recorder this is the product for you! If not, stay away from this product!! After having numerous problems including, frequent crashes, recording problems, media issues, and finally a terminal lock up that could not be remedied, I decided to have a look at the inside of this thing. Much to my disbelief this thing even looks bad on the inside with some very sloppy assembly (I bought it new with a factory seal). I am astounded that this low-quality product ever made the mainstream market. It is a piece of junk fresh out of the box and I recommend avoiding it at any cost!!!
As far as the few good reviews it has received, just wait a few weeks until theirs permanently locks up and see what the review looks like. Mine worked also for about a 6 weeks before it was demoted to paper weight status. There is no fix for this (and other issues) and support is useless (I submitted a support request over a month ago and have still not heard from them).
by: Anonymous On: 2004-06-01
If you in the market for a $300 paper weight that looks like a DVD recorder this is the product for you! If not, stay away from this product!! After having numerous problems including, frequent crashes, recording problems, media issues, and finally a terminal lock up that could not be remedied, I decided to have a look at the inside of this thing. Much to my disbelief this thing even looks bad on the inside with some very sloppy assembly (I bought it new with a factory seal). I am astounded that this low-quality product ever made the mainstream market. It is a piece of junk fresh out of the box and I recommend avoiding it at any cost!!!
by: Anonymous On: 2004-05-29
Had great luck with this second unit for almost 3 months. Then on day 87 of my 90 day return period the recorder would only work for 5 or 10 minutes of recording, then shut off! I was archiving tapes I had done previously, and there was no reason for this. Apparently Cyberhome self destructs just about the time their warranty is up! Fortunately the store where I purchased it, which is known for low quality imported merchandise, took it back for a full refund. They no longer sell this item in the stores, only online. Makes you wonder how many thousands they had returned....
by: Anonymous On: 2004-05-29
This unit works fine but the nightmare begin as soon as u need support. My unit start to lock up a while back. Send them countless emails to ask for help and never get any reply. Finally get a hold of their support phone number and I gave up after being on hold for 2 hrs each - 2 times in a row. If anyone from Amazon is reading this: You guys should stop carrying this brand.
by: Anonymous On: 2004-05-28
I was very disappointed with this product. First of all, when it was very difficult to connect and Im usually pretty good with connecting any electronic unit.
Secondly, when I recorded my first dvd, it had the worst quality picture; worse than a tired old VCR. It had no color at all and the sound quality was horrible! I have used VCRs that were much better than this one!
I would not advise anyone to buy this unit. Stick with name brands that you know: Gateway, Panasonic, Sony, etc. They may cost more, but you wont regret it in the end.
Maybe my unit was just a dud and I should have ordered a replacement, but it really put a bad taste in my mouth for the manufacturer, who I tried to contact on several occasions and only received messages. I tried leaving a message on their website and they never responded to me! What bad customer service!
by: Anonymous On: 2004-05-23
I had one of these recorders which was a dud. Purchased another and it has been perfect in every way since Feb. 29th. (Had posted review previously with more info.) It does everything it is supposed to, and I even use mostly Kypermedia (cheapie) discs. As a matter of fact, it is archiving an old vhs tape right now--the fourth since yesterday. Have done a total of about 150 I think, as well as doing tv programs.Yes, just plain dumb luck I guess! I love it. I gave 4 stars since I did have to return the first one.
On: 2004-05-22
I bought this peice of junk three months ago from my local Radio Shack. Right out of the box I had trouble, the unit did not record to any of the discs I bought only to the ones supplied with the machine.So I went to the cyberhome web site and left them an E-mail. Better than a month went by before I received a reply from Cyberhome explaining that I had to use 4x type DVDs, Ok so I went out and got some 4x DVDs. All was fine for the first two DVD-RW discs, the third recorded really great to until I tried to play it back, NOTHING and I mean nothing this disc was trash,six hours of My time waisted not to mention the cost of the DVD. Bad disc? Ill try the brand new pack of DVD-R discs that just cost Me twenty some odd bucks Again recorded like a pro playback zippo try the disc in a nother DVD player not a thing the CH-DVR1500 did nothing to this disc but ruin it. Tried another DVD-RW disc just for the hell of it worked like a champ on record and playback. A mionr glitch? The recorder not set up properly? Dream on, Now for the icing on the cake. Tonight I go to remove that last disc that worked so I open the tray, remove the disc, and go and put a new blank disc in the tray closes and all hell lets loose. The display reads "ch-oo4 mp" and thats it. unplug the unit and restart it, now the thing spends five minutes reading the disc and then tells Me there is NO disc in it. Cant eject the disc, cant pull up the menu, cant even watch the damn TV. And to think all of this cost Me around three hundred dollars.
Do what I should have done, spend the extra money and buy yourself a real DVD recorder like Sony,RCA,Panasonic ect.
On: 2004-05-21
I had a Cyberhome 1500 for less than a week when it started to lock up the disk drive and need reseting to do anything. This was the case for several weeks until it began to lock up for hours at a time and COMPLETELY UNRESPONSIVE TO THE DISK DRIVE.
As the last straw...if failed completely. After several phone waits exceeding 45 minutes each, I was told I would get a new one if I sent it back. WRONG. Instead I was contacted by a RUDE and EXEEDINGLY DISTASTEFUL individual who said I need to send $89.95 to get it REPAIRED not replaced. Cyberhome products are unrealiable, the service stinks and the staff are RUDE. Nothing good to say. I will NEVER buy another Cyberhome product. I promise.
by: Anonymous On: 2004-05-19
Tray Wont Open. Wont allow to watch tv. Beware.
On: 2004-05-07
I BOUGHT THIS PRODUCT 6 MONTHS AGO AND IT WAS GREAT. NOW IT IS UNRESPONSIVE. WILL NOT READ DISCS. TRAY WILL NOT OPEN. WILL NOT TURN OFF..MUST UNPLUG. TAKES 15 MIN TO TELL ME THAT THERE IS NO DISC. CYBERHOME CUSTOMER SERVICE IS POOR. NO RESPONSE FROM EMAIL AND WHEN CALLING IT IS OVER A 20 MINUTE WAIT. PLEASE DO NOT BUY!!!
by: Anonymous On: 2004-05-06
After setting up my first recorder I realized that the tray does not open. A part inside was bent and stopped the tray at the front panel! If you have not believed it yet: they do not have any quality control. The second unit was a challenge. It just did what ever it wanted to. Im a computer freak and know a lot about electronics, but this one will drive you crazy.
Finally it refuses to respond to any button.
If only the support at Cyberhome would respond to your questions. The only thing I can think of is they are overwhelmed with unsatisfied customers and cannot handle all the issues reported to them. If you decide to buy: Good Luck! You will need it. Cyberhome will get two things from you: your money and your error reports.
On: 2004-05-05
i bought this product and have had nothing but trouble. i couldnt get a response from their website either. i got the phone number from the company where i bought the product and waited for 45 minutes to get a rude customer service rep. i sent back the product (6months old) with a check for $89 and all of the wires and remote. got back just the machine without any way of using it. dont buy this product unless you want frustration and to spend more money!!!!!!
by: Anonymous On: 2004-04-30
If you need to transfer your old 1980s "Matlock" and "McGyver" VHS recordings to DVD ASAP, and youre short on cash, this DVD recorder will fill your need. If youre just a casual TV recorder and just looking to upgrade from VHS, cough up another 200 bucks for another brand or wait a year or more for prices to drop.Look everyone, Cyberhome is not Sony. Cyberhome has some quality control issues so dont be surprised if you intially get a dud. I bought this recorder because its CHEAP not because its the highest quality. I mainly use this machine to transfer my quickly deteriorating VHS tapes to DVD, and it does a great job at this task. Recording from my VCR was easy. The picture and sound quality was exactly like the VHS picture quality. The DVD editing features were good overall. I also taped from my digital cable box and the picture quality closely matched. The recorded sound quality was not quite equal to digital cable, but good overall. Playback of pre-recorded DVDs was very good. Picture and sound were similar to my old DVD player (a Pioneer). VCDs, CDs and other disk-based media played well also. Major gripes: The recording timer doesnt always work, so dont depend on it. Also, my recorder runs real hot. If I use it more than 6 hours, it has problems reading the discs. I have to turn it off and let it cool down for an hour before running it again. Be careful what quality DVD+Rs you buy. If you buy cheap discs, 20% of them will not be readable by the recorder. Minor gripes: Fast forwarding over 16x speed doesnt always work. It will randomly skip to the end of the DVD. Also, the sound on the main DVD menus doesnt always play. Editing the recorded DVD titles can be tedious. Too many characters to choose from and you cant delete words in the title, only type spaces over them. I also wish it would record sound in Dolby Digital or something similar, but hey, I got what I paid for.
by: Anonymous On: 2004-04-22
I received my recorder for a Christmas gift. So far I havent had a problem with it, although I do agree with the other reviews that state the dvds are hot when removed after playing. I, also, am not crazy about the 24 hour clock!! So far I have only recorded from the tv ~ live and on timer ~ and have no complaints. I just have to figure out the wiring of dvd player-to-dvd recorder (for copying) and vcr-to-dvd recorder. Nothing to do with the product, I just need to get in gear!!
by: Anonymous On: 2004-04-22
Update of two previous reviews...this is my second unit--the first was a dud-- and this one does everything it is supposed to do. I hope it will last. There is not one thing in the manual I have not tried with complete success, including editing titles, etc. I did no upgrades at all.No, the picture is not what one would expect as a DVD quality. The color is a little flat and it does not have the resolution you might want from a dvd. However, it did copy all my vhs-c tapes, old special tv event tapes, and live concert tapes we have had for years. If I play these dvds in my RCA dvd player the quality is better for viewing and I have archived irreplaceable tapes. Since everything I am recording is in analog form and my cable service is not digital yet I am satisfied with the results. A movie from tv cable has almost the same resolution as a SP vhs recording, and is space saving storage. Have been using constantly since March 1 and have done about 150 recordings on various brands of discs.
by: Anonymous On: 2004-04-21
This recorder has lots of promise - good price, great features. Too bad you cant get it to work when you buy it. I have had two units, and now it is going back for refund. The machine locks up - no button functions, the disk is inside the tray and will not come out. Turn it off, unplug it, push every button - still locked up - BOTH units did the same thing. Each time after an attempt at a timer record. You will see lots of mention of lock up on reviews of this machine - I wonder if anyone has one that actually works - if so, your odds are 1,000 to 1 that you will get the one that works. VERY DISAPPOINTING, especially when you are looking forward to owning a DVD recorder. I do not understand how a company can sell a product that does not work.
On: 2004-04-21
such a deal.(...) (...)if the darn thing worked consistently day to day, if the timer-record function didnt seem glitchy and unpredictable (despite the available firmware upgrade, which, while a lame thing for any manufactuer to have to rely on to fix their product, ive nevertheless dutifully installed), and if, at any time cyberhomes customer service were ever available to assist consumers with their problems (cyberhome sux. soooo much silence... not even a auto email response to my query), this would be a fine machine to own. however, since none of the above actually applies to the cyberhome dvr 1500 in practice, i must reluctantly say: theres no good reason to save a few bucks and buy this machine rather than a competitors slightly-more-expensive-but-likely-way-more-stable machine. im a fairly avid audio/hometheater geek; i enjoy pulling wire, learning new systems and functions, and enjoying the results of my efforts in this regard. that said, i must admit: my cyberhome dvr 1500 still puzzles me, despite hours spent attempting to master its apparently-basic system; it still fails to abide by my programming commands; it still does weird things (records a solid red screen, records with strange vertical bars on screen etc.); still locks up for reasons unexplained, and still makes me regret making the purchase. its a lame piece of home electronics and not worth the investment, regardless of the price. i would take it back if i could. period.
On: 2004-04-15
I too bought this system a week ago thinking I was getting a dvd recorder that would record in dvd quality - I was wrong. First of all when I opened the box and began setting the unit up I noticed a rattle inside the unit itself. Yes thats correct there were loose pieces inside the unit. I thought - well I will plug it in and see if it works anyway. It worked - but the quality of the recordings at the Highest level on my PC dvd was not what I expected. Every recorded dvd that I tried "SP and HQ mind you" lacked color depth. It seemed as if was watching the dvd through a fog. Anyway unit is going back!!! And I will probably pay more for something with quality.
On: 2004-04-15
Its a good thing that it has a thirty day warranty. Good for me because I saw how big of a waste of money this was within the first week that I had it. You get what you pay for, this I know, but still - if youre gonna shell out $245 for something, it should atleast give you a little bit of quality. First, it records everything in a dark, kinda black and white tint. You dont get full fledged color at all. Second, it cuts off automatically while taping things and the quality isnt that great.I HATE IT. IM TAKING MINE BACK TODAY. It also gets overheated, and the discs are so hot when they come out, that its not funny.
On: 2004-04-12
I BROUGHT THIS RECORDER IN DECEMBER OF 03 I WANST OFFERED THE 26.00 "KEEP AS NEW" Warranty and on april 02 the recoreder just stopped working i dont want to send it out because i may not ever get it back so when it did work it record fairly well no it wouldnt get pass protected movies ok i can live with that but im seriously disappointed with this machine and i havent heard from cyberhome yet
by: Anonymous On: 2004-04-10
This DVR is great for the price. You can get it at walmart.com for $248 or Radio Shack for $250, if they dont have it in stock theyll UPS it to you, no shipping fees. There is firmware to upgrade it and its easy to use, just follow the directions on Cyberhome.coms website carefully. It writes good quality DVDs and played on all DVD players that we tried it on, it records in +R and +RW, although -R and -RW are more universal, we had no issues.
On: 2004-04-09
I hope the CyberHome engineers who designed this product will read this review as it may help them fix some of the fundamental flaws in this product.
Lockup problem: - as other users have reported, any unknown disk issue, which the firmware does not know how to handle, such as unfinalized CD, non English MP3 file names, some VCD CDs, certain brands of blank DVD +RW disks - causes a lockup, i.e., the recorder will go into disk "Read" mode and stay there forever. It will lock up and not respond to any command, not even after a long power off that should normally reset MOST computer controlled devices.
I suggest the following design solutions:
a. Inititialize the software program at every power-up.
b. let the "stop" and "eject" commands have absolute and unconditional priority. If the software/firmware does not know how to handle a disk, let the controller go to the error handling mode and ALWAYS allow the disk to be ejected.
c. provide a pin hole in the front panel to allow a manual emergency disk eject, similar to PC DVD/CD drives.
d. provide a RESET button on the back panel.My final advise to CyberHome: please, test, test and test again your prototypes before you release them as products to the market. DGAL, NJ USA
On: 2004-04-03
First, this is not a perfect dvd recorder. Second, its only $248. Third, it will do what it advertises: burn dvds, and do so rather painlessly. I bought this dvd recorder through Wal-Mart.com for $248, at least $50 below the next lowest priced recorder, and several hundred below name brand models. I bought it primarily to burn dvds from vhs tapes I have recorded for my classroom. It does that flawlessly. I use only DVD+RWs and have never experienced a problem. I plug the cable through the VCR then into the DVD recorder then into the tv. It will directly copy any tape that is not copy protected onto a dvd with good resolution, no matter the quality level I choose. Having said that, it does its fair share of quirks. The clock ONLY works in the 24 hour format, despite upgrading the firmware. With the upgrade, you can switch to a 12 hour format, but it will not display the correct time, often displaying bizarre times such as "17:34 AM". It also does not have a lot of editing capabilities. You cannot delete sections of a dvd, only hide them. The remote, which you use to create titles, chapters and such, is very basic, which means lots of button pushing. It is also only "mono", or at least "kinda mono". It will take a stereo vhs tape and burn a stereo dvd. But it will only play it in mono, and will only record directly from the tv in mono. Very odd. More expensive models will have more extensive features. The old adage is true, you get what you pay for. Most of the quirks you can work around. Given that three years ago, DVD recorders were running $1,000, this is a very good deal. For $248, this is an ok basic recorder.
On: 2004-04-02
I have now had the third Cyberhome 1500 for a month now.This is the THIRD one I have brought back from Wal-Mart.Here is what I did wrong and what I did right....First thing I did was not to READ the specs for the unit as it calls for +r or +rw disks.Sony +r disks were bought and would not finalize.Second oversite was on Cyberhome,I could not edit the dvd title as the instruction book clearly stated I could.So back to Wal-mart goes the first recorder...Second recorder:Found the website for Cyberhome and read all there was to read,downloaded the upgrades(both)and installed,now clock will not keep time,but now able to edit movie title on dvd+r or +rw (Memorex DVDs as website calls for).
Back to wal-mart goes the second.Third recorder:Went back to the wesite and downloaded the first upgrade (U0226200401XA.ZIP)burned to cd and ran upgrade.All works!!Clock has right time,dvds finalize,titles are editable on +rw or +r(Memorex)and disks I have burned will play on the Cyberhome,Emerson,Sylvania and JVC players I have.So hard lesson learned,read the specs on the disks to be used.Follow the upgrade instructions to the T!.Decide if you need or not need the servo upgrade after looking again at the version you have.That is what messed up my second recorder as you really have to figure out what version it is and what YOU have.I also have used the "new picture"function and the edit title on both +r and +rw Memorex DVDs as well as about all the other functions this unit has.Also there is a hack to make the player region free but as for now have been unable to
find one for Macrovision.And finally dvd+rw disks DO NOT have to be finalized to play in the above mentioned players.That is a good thing because if you get tired of the movie you burned you can always get the full disk back and record something else to it.I found one problem I could not correct.When recording open air the sound is very low,no fix for it YET..Hope someone will find this usefull and remember,wal-mart has a "keep it new" warranty for $26 and some change on their web site.If you mess it up,take it back........
On: 2004-03-31
Yesterday, I bought CyberHome CH-DVR 1500 from RadioShack for $249. I already read all comments from here before I decided to buy it. I took it home, upgrade all firmware then play with it. It lock up several time, but turn off/on the main power switch help solve the problem.
I set it to auto record before I went to bed. In the morning, when I try to turn it on, it lock up with the disk inside. This time, no matter how many time I try to turn off/on the main power switch, it didnt help. I then decided to flip it around while power on. At some angle while I flip it around, I heard the disk spinning. This help it to reset and read the disk again.
It seem this trick do the job every time it locked up, but I think its not worth the hassle, so I returned it and bought the Panasonic DMR-E80H at CircuitCity which is on sale for $495.* Things I like in CyberHome CH-DVR 1500
- Very cheap.
- Quite easy to use.
- Picture quality is very good.
- Use DVD+R/+RW format. * Thing I hope they can improve
- Fix the lock up problem as soon as possible. If its not lock up this often I would give it 8 out of 10.
On: 2004-03-31
I BOUGHT THIS MACHINE APROX. A MONTH AGO HOOKED IT TO MY 54 INCH HI DEF. SONY REAR PROJECTOR T V AND HOOKED THE SOUND TO MY DIGITAL PIONEER ELITE RECIEVER POWERED BY BOSE AM-10 SPEAKER SYSTEM. FOLLOWED THE INSTRUCTION MANUEL AND BOY AM I EMPRESSED WHAT THIS INEXPENSIVE RECORDER CAN DO. I USE IT TO MAKE RECORDINGS FROM MY D.V.R. AND I MUST SAY THIS UNIT REALLY IS VERY IMPRESSIVE, I THINK THE SONYS AND PANASONIC"S AND THE OTHER BIG BOYS HAVE ALOT TO LEARN ABOUT PRICING AND GIVING THE CONSUMER SUCH A QUALITY PRODUCT FOR SUCH A AFORDABLE PRICE
I ALSO RECCOMEND GOING TO CYBERHOMES WEB SITE AND GETTING THE PROPER FIRMWARE UPDATES TO KEEP YOUR UNIT IN TIP TOP CONDITION
THE PROGRESSIVE SCAN AND DIGITAL SOUND REALLY ARE IMPRESSIVE
BUY IT ...FOLLOW ALL THE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY AND I THINK THAT YOU WILL BE AS HAPPY AS I AM
by: Anonymous On: 2004-03-28
Update of early March review. Returned one unit since it started giving error messages every time you breathed on it. This replacement works perfectly. Even the remote buttons have a different response. Have had no problems at all, transferring my vhs-c and vhs family tapes to dvds, old vh-1 special programs, recording from cable and network tv. I used it for about 4 hours a day so far, some days 11 hours, trying to transfer the family videos before machine started to act like the one I returned. I usually use the hq setting as I want the best possible results for archiving videos. I did not do any firmware updates or anything else. I made sure to buy at another branch of store so I didnt get one from same batch as the first one. Hopefully this will last for a while. Have been using this one for 4 weeks, with Maxell,Memorex,CompUSA and Kypermedia blanks. All work fine.
by: Anonymous On: 2004-03-27
I just returned this product. This machnie works for copying silent movies and Kung Fu...since when it records the lips and the voices dont match up perfectly. You cant ignore that problem either. Believe me I tried.The picture quality isnt all that great either.
On: 2004-03-24
hi.. i bought this item in december 2k3..it worked fine until the second week of march 2k4..then the dvd ejector wouldnt work..wouldnt open, stated no disc (there was one it)..wouldnt recognize the remotes commands.. nothing in the troubleshoot worked. Called the company at least a dozen times sometimes I could leave a message ,other times it wouldnt let me, left 4 email messages..no reply from either ever. Finally my husband opened up the machine, we found that many of the components melted and there was like a crayon wax melted on some of them as well. The dvd burner burned out.. The machine sat on top of the entertainment center, no child touched it just us 2 adults. It wasnt near a heater either. Even though it was under warranty, I couldnt get help from the company.. nonexistent customer service!!COMPLETE WASTE OF MONEY!!! SAVE your hard earned money and go with another brand!!!! I wish I read some of the comments from the consumer reports web site and this web site before I chose to buy it... COMPLETE WASTE OF MONEY!!!
On: 2004-03-24
Not even worth one star ... No customer service..Have shipped to cyberhome via rma each taking 10 days to return and each time I get it back it does not work.... They say they can repair or replace and it does not have to be new...SO what I am getting is someone elses problems...for 299.00 for 2 months use and now after 3 weeks and 3 returns still nothing....Cannot get through on phone line they say they will just put you into voicemail but dont even try everything is full on their voice mail..I think it is time to go to court...Oh and I purchased this from HSN and they said they cannot help as it has been over 30 days...enough said for helping their customers.
On: 2004-03-20
Tray lockup from discs left in recorder overnite, or unattended, usually result in tray lockup. I have had this problem, and have found the removal difficult.From another forum, this user has a workaround for tray lockup: Turn power off in back. Press and hold STOP button on front of unit, while powering back on....tray should then open. He insists it works! I will test this workaround myself by purposely creating a lockup situation....worth a try! Cheers!
On: 2004-03-18
Like everyone else here, and in other forums, I was impressed with the Wal-Mart price of $248.00..... Also, I like recording in real time with hardware Mpeg compression. This is improvement to slow process on the computer burner. I got 3 units before I finally got a good one, back in early February.Unit #1. NO cord in box.....back to Wal-Mart. Unit #2. Skipping and stuttering toward end of discs in HQ mode. Low sound output from onboard tuner and poor high frequency response. Also, Sony +R discs incompatible with my Sony player, burned lots of coasters....back to Wal-Mart.....at this point, feeling sorry for Wal-Mart (not their fault!) Unit #3. Read about similar problems of others, so realized that Wal-Mart returns was not the answer.....raised heck with CyberHome by sending nasty e-mail. Told them "I want a unit that works as advertised"....! Sometimes I tend to cheer for the underdog, so I did not want to "give up".....UPS/Insurance, sent my unit to CyberHome via RMA. They told me that I would be happy with the repaired unit. BTW, I contacted sales via e-mail to get immediate action....forget service and tech support! 4. Got repaired unit back from CyberHome in around 10 days (total turn-around time). It was packaged and shipped like new.
Unit has worked well since then. Have applied the latest firmware upgrade, without incident. Minor problem for me: Video Output from onboard tuner sometimes "washed out and too bright" on bright areas of picture.....a little overdriven, similar to "blooming". Not that bad though, and generally acceptable. Was not going to complain about this unit, as all the other problems were solved....TV recording is not MY concern, anyway. Pretty much happy, now! Yes, frustrating, but all in all, lots of bang for the buck, even though its made in China.....and what isnt these days? A new technology that needs refinement, for sure. The unit is slim and attractive, which impressed me. The included accessories and excellent packaging also impressed me. Video/Audio quality is superb! For the low price, are we all expecting perfection here? I would recommend the CyberHome DVR 1500 as a good, low priced, entry level recorder. A little buggy, but CyberHome will eventually solve all of them. With all the returns, they will have to do something!! WARNING! Do NOT use cheap media, like that sold on ebay. tried it, and forget it! Not the recorders fault, either. Stay with Maxell +R/RW media. Like for me, they work the best, and NO coasters! CyberHome compatibility list is reliable. Cheers!
On: 2004-03-14
I purchased this unit at my local walmart for $260.40 in the beginning of february. i have used this unit so far with no major problems, however there are a few things i think buyers should be aware of.
1. you need to do firmware upgrades, and software upgrades when you get your unit. this allows you to use different brands of dvd+r/RW discs.
2. The timer function is in 24 hour military time format. (i dont mind this format, im a 911 dispatcher) but for people that have trouble converting the times, etc, this would not be good model to get if you cant convert the times.
3. the clock display is bright! i have to cover it with a cloth at night so i can sleep. its bright enough to keep me awake.
4. when doing timer recordings, the TV has to be TURNED OFF for the Recorder to begin recording.
5. Unit is rather large.
Other than these minor things, the dvd recorder works fine. i wouldnt be able to get a recorder, i dont believe anywhere brand new for this price, this is a great Starter DVD Recorder!
UPDATE*** on 4/9/04, i mailed cyberhome my unit. (at my own expense) to have it repaired, OVERHEATING, LOCKING UP, ETC.
the unit i sent them was manufactured in dec, 2003. the unit that i recieved from cyberhome was manufactured in October, 2003! what a SCAM AND RIPOFF! i promptly returned the unit to walmart for a full refund. im now a proud owner of a philips dvdr75, with no problems at all!! CYBERHOME IS JUNK! DONT BUY IT!!!
On: 2004-03-11
After only a week of recording it would not recognize or finalize discs that are compatible with the recorder. After recording it shows nothing was recorded and then comes up with an error message. The machine gets burning hot which I think might be the main problem. Evidently alot of other people have experienced the same problem. I certainly would not recommend throwing away your receipt as you will be taking it back within 2 months guaranteed!
On: 2004-03-07
Great Machine easy hook up easy to navigate,super clear Images.No problems so far Purchased from ... last November,Recordings Ive made Play Just FINE On my 1 year old Panasonic DVD-RV32.Have also gone to my Neighbors with the disks Ive burned to Play them on different machines NOT a PROBLEM The disks recorded on the Cyberhome Unit Plays, so far on every player I put them in.Did go to Cyberhome web site(...)
Picked up FREE UPGRADE Download,Burned it to CD,put in the recorder after it did what it need to do The thing seems to work better than before!Also found a list of DVD+R/RW Disk Compatibility.Which list 23 different Manufacturers of disk that will work in the Cyberhome units.Go there and Check them Out its worth it....
by: Anonymous On: 2004-03-02
Bought the CyberHome Ch-DVR 1500 at Walmart. Two weeks good use and then it was refusing about half the blank discs I put in. Had good luck with Maxell, then tried store brand and Memorex. Had some good results doing vhs-c tapes to dvd. Then it got to reading error every time I inserted new blank. Restarting unit didnt help. Returned to Walmart yesterday, and bought a replacement, hoping it would be better. This unit did fine today redoing vhs tapes. Have not tried tv timer yet, the family movies were why I wanted unit.Will update this review in a couple of weeks. If you can stand the frustration of recording something for two hours and then finding it wont finalize the disc, or wont format a brand new disk and you waste several blanks, try it. I havent heard that an expensive model is any better than this cheap one. When it makes a successful dvd of an irreplaceable family tape it serves its purpose.
On: 2004-02-27
I purchased the CyberHome 1500 and their player 300 at the same time expecting that I could use the recorder in the family room and the player in the kids bedroom. The recorder DOES NOT WORK. I have had difficulty playing purchased DVDs, recording DVDs and playing back the couple of DVDs that I was able to record. It turns itself off during recording, it freezes up while playing a recorded or a store bought DVD. CyberHome will not respond to their customer service either on line or via phone. SAVE YOUR MONEY DONT BUY THIS. Mine is going back today.
On: 2004-02-23
First things first...I knew going in that this device was not going to be as well built as a Sony, or even higher-end name brand. However, I did at least expect the bloody thing to work correctly. (An incorrect assumption). So quality issues, such as the layout of the remote, the way the DVD drive itself works in loading the DVD, were about what I expected. Clunky! However, you get what you pay for, so I thought, as this is was my first DVD recorder, and I wanted to see if I would even use it....Well you get the idea. Anyway, at first it worked fine. However, I did notice that I had to "reset" the unit by unplugging it from the AC more than once, after it refused to pony up the DVD that was in the drive. Also it ran "hot," but not so Id worry. However, one day (I had probably only recorded on it 3-4 times), it refused to recognise blank DVDs. It would come up with the display message "Format," then "Error." Disconnecting the unit from the AC did not work. I even upgraded the Firmware from Cyberhomes website. Still no go. Finally I returned it, and got another unit. It seems trial and error regarding quality control is the normal mode of operation at Cyberhome. So now I have a new unit (today). It seems to work fine. It is easliy hackable to all regions (Another reason I purchased this one), and should last a few years. All in all, not bad, but needs work.
On: 2004-02-21
I read all the reviews posted here before buying one of these recorders and so far I have not had any of the problems other people have reported. I used Imation +R to record, finalized without a problem and the 2 dvds I made play back in both my computer and DVD player. I bought this recorder to copy tapes that are now OOP and a few movies that will probably never make it to DVD format. If I can accomplish this, I figure the unit will have paid for itself. As I say, so far, so good, but if I do run into problems I will update this review.Have now had the unit for 2 weeks, still no problems. Copied the tapes I wanted to and have also taped live tv. DVDs play fine in both my dvd player and computer. All in all, I am satified with this recorder. Had the unit for 3 months and have not had a problem. copies my vhs tapes and records from cable with no problem. I bought it to copy my Vhs tapes before they were unwatchable and I have accomplished that. The unit does get warm, but I take that into concideration and copy 1 or 2 tapes at a time. This is not a bad recorder for the price I paid for it.
by: Anonymous On: 2004-02-21
first make sure you have a TV with rca or s-video inputs else you will need an rf-modulator to connect to an older style tv. you will not see this on the box, but is on the instruction sheet inside.After making connections, turning on for 1st time should have invoked set-up. It didnt. Tried to use the remote for setup - no response. Batteries with unit were dead. Put in new batteries, the only function working on the remote was to turn the unit on and off. Nothing else. Packed up everything and returned for refund.
On: 2004-02-21
Ilike the unit..but with a cable connection hooked into it as well as an a/v connection going to my HD tv...im finding that the cyberhome has to stay tuned into channel 3 and this unit will only record the channel that the cable box is tuned to..anyone know an alternate way to hook up the cyberhome player so one can enter several programs at once in order to record different channels?...im finding the built in tuner is something that doesnt function with a cable box :(
On: 2004-02-19
Ive had one of these for a month and finally returned it. I bought it to replace my VCR for recording shows when Im gone. The problem with this thing is its random if it will record or not. one week it skipped, the next it got 2 of 3 timers, the next it did one of the 3 timers etc. these are an unchangeing weekly timer. This is one of the main functions it was designed for, and it fails at it. Spend a little more money, and get a better name brand.
On: 2004-02-14
I bought the CyberHome CH-DVR-1500 DVD recorder about two months ago. I naively assumed it would operate like any DVD+RW drive for a PC and be able to randomly separate recorded shows into multiple empty areas of a DVD+RW. WRONG! This is a surprisingly stupid device!For example, suppose you have recorded three one hour shows and two 30 min. shows on one DVD+RW in EP (4 hour total) mode. So, a title screen view will show you those three one hour shows on the first title screen (three titles to each screen) and the two 30 min. shows on the second title screen. Now you erase the first one hour title on the first title screen, leaving one hour of free space on the DVD+RW. If you set up the timer to record one 30 minute show, you will find that the recorder recorded nothing, when you come home and check. It only knows how to record in free area AT THE END of the title list (and I suspect at the end or inside track of the DVD+RW itself. Or start with the same full DVD+RW, erase the last 30 minute show and the first one hour show on the title screen (so 1 1/2 hours free space), and set the timer to record for 40 minutes. When you come home you will find that the recorded has recorded for 30 minutes and stopped. It can only begin recording in a free space at the end of the title list (here 30 min.), and it can not string the rest of the recording time to other free space on the DVD+RW, unless that space is continuous. So, erasing the two 30 min. titles at the end of the title list would have worked. There is also no way to combine free spaces that you have created by erasing shows on a DVD+RW to get around this problem. In most cases it is safest to record a TV show or whatever to a totally empty, formatted DVD+RW, or you may be surprised. After several conversations with CyberHome support I finally learned that "that is just how the recorder operates". So, the recorder is usable and does deal well with playing a wide variety of formats (CD+R, CD-R, MP3s JPEGs, etc), but I would say Buyer Beware!
On: 2004-02-11
I previously gave this unit 4 stars...now I must reduce to 2. It has too many rough edges (to be expected in a relatively new consumer product such as DVD recorders) such as: 2400 hour format clock so you better get used to military time when setting up a timer record, seems to run on the hot side (discs are very warm when ejected), the one touch record works in 30 minute increments but doesnt shut the unit down after recording, theres no way to have the unit power down after a period of inactivity (theres a setting in the setup screen to power the unit down after inactivity but it doesnt work...at least on my unit). On the plus side it makes great recordings in the 1hr and 2hr speeds. The 6 hour speed is like 4hr or 6hr VHS. Presently, I use it mainly to back up stuff off my Tivo. I then rip the burned discs to PC and reauthor for a smoother finished product (if Im permanently archiving). I reduced my rating on this product after my unit developed Disc Error messages on discs that previously played OK. I feel that this unit runs way too hot and, as a result, is burnt out prematurely. After three weeks I returned mine for a refund. Im sure DVD recorders in general will be in the hundred to hundred and fifty dollar range within a year...maybe even by Christmas 2004 and be multi-format (DVD + and -). I look forward the maturing of this technology. Too many bugs right now.
by: Anonymous On: 2004-02-08
I just got this today Seems to do a good enough job recording clear video.I had bought the RCA DRC8000 from sams for almost 100 dollars more. This one is almost as good, but it has IR blaster for changing channels on the cable box. Its good enough, and at a good price. Still I liked the RCA better.
On: 2004-02-04
I now have a 3rd CyberHome CH-DVR 1500. The first one the stanby power switch went dead after a small static spark from my finger zapped it. It also errored about every 10th +R disk to make a coaster. The finalized function did work, but I only used it on 3 +R disks and exchanged it hoping to get a better one. On the disks that the finalize worked, they played perfectly in a cheap Apex player. With the second CyberHome CH-DVR 1500 the finalized function didnt work at all. It messed up the title page and the +R disk could still be edited after using the finalize, which isnt suppose to be possible. These disks couldnt be played on the same Apex player. I exchanged it for a 3rd CyberHome CH-DVR 1500, but this one does the same thing and wont finalize +R disks. The media is not the problem, because the first CyberHome CH-DVR 1500 finalized 3 +R disks.I havent tried getting support, but all they can recommend is exchanging it til I get a good one, pretty frustrating. Quality of recording and ease of operation are great , but there are definitely some bad apples out there and Id really like to get one that would finalize +R disks again. Ive got 30 recorded +R disks and only 3 are finalized, so Im stuck using the CyberHome CH-DVR 1500 to play back all but the 3. Id like to switch to a different recorder, but I doubt I can finalize the 27 recorded +R disks with another recorder. If you know that +R disks recorded from the CyberHome CH-DVR 1500 can be finalized on a different recorder, please email me at mistys@generic-isp.com Thanks.
by: Anonymous On: 2004-02-01
For the price, you cannot go wrong buying this DVD Recorder. It does everything it is advertised to do. Easy set up, easy to follow manual and so far, the quality of the DVD+Rs I have made off VHS tape of old movies copied off TV years ago are much better. The only reason I do not give it 5 stars is because the controller seems fragile when you press the keys. Other than this, it is a great machine for copying your VHS collection.
On: 2004-02-01
I have had this product for less than a day and so far I am very pleased! Easy to use and it takes no time to record! Record as you watch!Be aware of: This is a DVD+RW recorder. That means it records onto DVD+RW and DVD+R media, not onto -R or -RW media, though it plays all media. There are a number of DVD players and DVD-ROMS that do not support this type. Fortunately, my regular DVD player and laptop DVD-ROM support every format. Also, be aware that most DVDs you wont be able to copy. They are copy protected. Not all, but most. Also, there is a good amount of VHS movies that are also copy protected (though this number is MUCH less than the DVDs that are protected). Though there are products to eliminate copy protection, they usually cost just as much as the player itself. I have never used one before, so I dont know much about them. The main focus of this player is to record directly from TV and home videos. This is an amazing product for the price. If what youre mainly looking to do is copy DVDs, then I recommend the program DVDxCopy, along with using your DVD+RW and/or DVD-RW drive. Have fun!
by: Anonymous On: 2004-02-01
This DVD recorder does everything it claims. I needed a recorder that would play back PAL and NTSC DVDs to any TV (PAL or NTSC), could be made region-free, and could record a PAL input signal as well as an NTSC one. This machine will do all those things, although there are a few gotchas which it took me a few days to figure out.First impressions: the unit is enormous! Its much wider than any other DVD player I have (Ive owned several other players). Three blank DVD-RWs are supplied in the box, which is a nice touch. The region-free hack (magic remote sequence) is easy to find on the web, although I gather it may not survive a firmware upgrade. Since I own DVDs from three regions, many of which will never be released in region 1, this was an absolute requirement. Playback of PAL DVDs to an NTSC TV is excellent. I havent tried playing NTSC to a PAL TV though. You can occasionally confuse the unit by switching between a PAL widescreen DVD and an NTSC TV signal -- the aspect ratio goes wrong, but it sorts itself out. The unit will in general convert a PAL input to NTSC output, and I assume vice versa. Recording: if your input signal is PAL, your DVD will be PAL, and vice versa for NTSC -- you cant record a PAL signal to NTSC or vice versa (even though you can output a converted signal to your TV). I initially had some problems recording from PAL VHS tapes to disk, as the recording had the wrong aspect ratio (525 out of 625 lines shown) and the frame rate conversion looked terrible. I discovered I could fix this by setting my VCRs output format to "PAL" instead of "THROUGH" (I use a Samsung worldwide VCR). I dont know how this makes a difference, but it does and Ive had no further problems recording PAL. NTSC records without a hitch. I dont know any way to remove Macrovision with this unit however. Note to an earlier reviewer who said his scenes and edits didnt work on other DVD players: Read the ******* manual. You have to perform a "Make Compatible" step on DVD+RWs (the equivalent for DVD+Rs is called "Finalize") before the edits will be recognised. Theres a nasty gotcha here however: the onscreen feedback makes it look as if "Make Compatible" takes only a few seconds, but then your machine behaves as if it has crashed. In fact "Make Compatible" takes a few minutes (the time seems to vary). It hasnt completed until the highlight appears on the Title again on the title screen. Other than this point, the manual seems quite helpful and easy to follow. Other notes to other reviewers: the date function on my unit is correct (gets the day of the week right). And if you cant understand a 24-hour clock, youre not intelligent enough to own a DVD recorder. Editing is fairly straightforward, however chapters you insert end up only approximately where you put them (within about a second or so). Other annoyances: the fast-forward and rewind modes have lots of different speeds, x2, x4, x8, x16, x30 and x60, which is nice. (Slo-motion forward and backward and frame by frame as well). The speed you get often bears no relation to its name however. The correspondence seems closest with commercially produced DVDs, but with DVDs Ive recorded myself, x16 is closer to x160 and is way faster than all the others. When entering titles for the segments you record, you have to use the arrow keys on the remote to cycle through the whole of 7 bit ASCII to spell out the letters one by one. You can enter numbers directly but theres no shortcut to entering letters, which gets very tiresome very quickly. If youve got a collection of VHS tapes in a variety of formats quietly dying in a cupboard, this solution is much better than the other one I tried, namely a Hauppauge video capture card on a high-spec PC. You get less fine control over things such as menu graphics (you get no choice at all in fact, and no details such as chapter submenus), but the failure rate and general "drive you up the wall" factor is far lower. And it functions well as a general-purpose DVD player. Note that you appear to be on your own support-wise however: questions I emailed to the manufacturer on the customer support section of their website went unacknowledged and unanswered. Fortunately I subsequently solved the problems myself. Only three stars because of this however.
On: 2004-01-31
I just purchased this recorder today and first off I D/L the two upgrades files from CyberHome web site. I found out after that the clock/timer display is 24 format only (no one mention this fact in any of the 15 reviews) which is very awkward not only for me but for my wife! And when trying to set the month, day and year the day of the week is wrong (setting it for today... 01/30/04 Fri the display shows... 01/30/04 Sat! So if you try to program the timer the unit will record on the wrong day! Unbelievable! I emailed CyberHome and they emailed me back saying they will consider the AM-PM format in next firmware update. I hope!Update March 13,2004 Yes CyberHome fixed the 24 hour only clock format to 24/12 format with the new firmware upgrade but the display shows a "0" before 1 to 9 am/pm, for example... 05:15 AM etc. hopefuly next firmware will fix this! Also I just found out that the built in TV tuner is a Not Stereo tuner! The only way to get Stereo TV Broadcast is to use a Stereo VCR connected to Video 1 input and record on Video 1. I dont think they could fix the No Stereo Tuner with a firmware upgrade! Anyway hopefuly when the Next generation of Recorders from CH will have a Stereo Tuner and Hard Drive!
On: 2004-01-29
I bought this player in order to convert my VHS-C tapes to DVD in order to more easily share them and preserve the quality, and recommend that if you are looking to do the same to keep on looking right past this unit. I bought this because it was very cheaply priced and looked to have the same features as more expensive units but there was definitely a difference. I took it home and hooked up the unit and got started recording my first movie. The recording controls and editing are easy to do, but then comes the problem. After you take the time to put in chapters and set the discs up nicely the chapters will not show on any other DVD player in existence from what I can tell. The discs do play this is not a matter of my players being incompatible with DVDR+ media by the way. I tried the disc in 7 different DVD players (all DVDR+ compatible) at my home and friends and none of them would skip from chapter to chapter or fast forward discs made with this recorder. When you try to skip to a chapter or fast forward you are taken back to the main menu of the disc every time unless you play them in this player where they actually work. I took this piece of junk back to the store the day after I bought it and got a Magnavox recorder for around one hundred dollars more that records perfectly and the chapters work just like you put them onto the discs. Even on the new recorder I purchased the chapters burned on by this Cyberhome player do not show up. My recommendation is that if you plan on playing youre recorded DVDs on any player other than this one to keep on looking for another unit because it doesnt do the job.Update - In reply to the genius above who said "Note to an earlier reviewer who said his scenes and edits didnt work on other DVD players: Read the ******* manual. You have to perform a "Make Compatible" step on DVD+RWs (the equivalent for DVD+Rs is called "Finalize")" I used Dvd+R disc and they WERE FINALIZED its not brain surgery here I read the *** manual, my review is talking about finalized discs the chapters do not show on any other players. I also tried DVD+RWs and the same problem still happened its a useless recorder.
On: 2004-01-08
i works quite well as more expensive one from Phillips, panasonic...however, the device is made in China. the DVD attacment place in front of the dvd tray falled off from the tray. how can it be? does the heat generate after recording 2 movie from my tivo cause the glue to break off? it good be nice if the information display the time remain on record disk. if i record movie or program from satellite (dishnetwork). complete full dvd+rw sometime can read back on bundle dvd+rw media. i also have problem with imation dvd+rw when it write over 4.4GB of data. the last VOB file is unreable.
On: 2004-01-06
Just a couple follow up comments on my earlier review.
After 90 days my recorders read-write mechanism died. The head went back and forth and said either no disc or error. I called CyberHome support and suprise, they answered the phone right away. They asked a few questions, then gave me an RMA number. I mailed it and received a brand new (not remanufactured) unit within a week. The new unit seems to set up and begin recording a bit faster, so the first unit may have been marginal. Before you misjudge CyberHome as low quality, I will mention that when buying DVD players, I had to return three different brands that were defective out of the box. Now that is bad QC.
If you encounter ocassional pauses playing recordings on other machines, it may be due to the optional chapter markings every 5 minutes. These are on by default. Chapter markings are great for skipping through a disk, but to my suprise, not all players handle them well. My old Koss portable and recent Phillips player handle chapter markings just fine. My old Panasonic gives a momentary video jerk at each marking. My niece has a player that enters pause at each chapter, but I do not know the brand or age of her player. Auto chapter markings are easily turned off if they pose a problem for you.
I still recommend this recorder.
On: 2004-01-06
Before I buy, I research everything completely and look through all the product reviews (Amazon and elsewhere).
I read some good things and some "horror stories" about some Panasonic and Philips DVD recorders that I was really interested in. The Sony GX7 looked pretty good, but way over-priced. The Philips R-75 had pretty much what I was looking for, and was $450, but had many reports of very pood customer service and very difficult controls and instructions. At this point, I decided to just buy a cheap player and wait a while for these companies to improve their products and get their prices down. While looking for players at W.M. I found the CyberHome CH-DVR-1500. It looked like an "el-cheapo" model, but after reading the reviews on it, I thought I would take a chance and buy it. At least it would be easy to return if there were any problems. After getting it home and set-up, I was REALLY surprised (for a recoder priced under $300). I havent had it real long
yet, but I have done EVERYTHING with it that it was capable of doing. And I have found NO negative points. Here are a few of the many positives........
---complete, consise, and easy to follow instructions. They tell you, in "normal" language, how to do everything. Best of all, when you do what the manual says, IT WORKS!!!
---easy to understand remote - with most of its features ALSO available on the front panel of the unit itself. You dont have to rely only on the remote.
---every A / V input and output that you need to hook-up your other equipment. Rear and front inputs also.
---great picture quality from boughten DVDs and "home-made" ones from TV and VHS tape copying. It gives you 5 different choices of recording quality and hours per disc. HQ-1hr (highest), SP-2hrs, LP-3hrs, EP-4hrs, and SLP-6hrs. The first two are very good. The next two are acceptable. The last one (SLP) is not that great, but viewable, ok for some things.
---some reviewers said that their units developed a lot of heat and gave off an electrical smell. My unit got no warmer than the average VCR does. I had a slight electrical smell, but only from being new. It was less each day I used it. No problem really.
---it has a lot of other features that you wouldnt expect to find on a $300 unit, like -- Zoom, auto chapters, segment repeat, commercial skip, and others.
I guess what I liked the best about this recorder is that it did EVERYTHING that it said it could and in an EASY to follow and well explained way. The best way for you to really find these things out is to get one and try it. Most stores will
easily let you return them. Read the rest of the reviews that you find here. All of the positive comments are true. The few negative ones I found to be wrong. Good luck. For only $300, youll like it !!!!!!
by: Anonymous On: 2004-01-04
I bought the unit yesterday and that same night, I started archiving Tivo recordings onto DVD+RW. Great tool to unload your "Now Playing" archive and burn it on portable media.
On: 2004-01-03
JUST GOT THIS ABOUT A WEEK AGO. THIS THING WORKS GREAT
AND IS AMAZING. I HAVE MADE SEVERAL RECORDING FROM CABLE.
THEY ARE SUPERIOR QUALITY. I ALSO HAVE TRANSFERRED OLD VHS
TAPES ONTO DVD. NOW THEY WILL LAST A LIFETIME. I AM GOING
TO BUY A MINI DV CAMCORDER. I CANT WAIT TO TRY IT OUT ON
THE MINI DV MOVIES. WHAT A WAY TO PRESERVE YOUR MEMORIES.
YOU JUST CANT GET A DVD RECORDER FOR LESS MONEY THAT DOES SO
MUCH. IF ANYONE IS HESITATING, DONT. YOU WILL NOT BE
DISAPPOINTED. AT LEAST I WASNT.
On: 2003-12-30
I just bought my recorder a few weeks ago. Although it works great I cannot get my discs to read onto my dvd player in our minivan. It is a brand new van, but i guess it is not compatable with the player. I also have a dvd player which is a few years old which doesnt read my disc. Is anyone experiencing these problems? I thought i would be able to tape my kids favorite shows and have them watch in the car. Should i return this for something a little pricer. Any suggestions?
by: Anonymous On: 2003-12-24
I will say only one good thing about this product: It is easy to use. Other than that, I have had nothing but problems. The recorder was very warm all the time and had to be left unplugged when not in use. After a few days, while the player was trying to read DVD+Rs, I sometimes got an error message and had to unplug the machine to get it to reset itself. That was a small glitch that I could live with. Given the price, I was not expecting this recorder to be perfect. Then, I would record and it would act like it was recording (counter ran, could pause and restart recording, etc.), but when I would check the recordings afterwards, the DVD+Rs would be completely blank. Then the other day, while using one of the DVD+RWs included with recorder, the machine froze up, not allowing the disc tray to open back up to remove the disc. To ice the cake, over 50 DVD+Rs that I recorded, all of which play on the Cyberhome recorder, do not work properly on 4 other DVD players that I tried. Most of them show up playing as a split screen picture, some freeze constantly every 2-3 minutes and some just wont work at all. If you buy this, do not let your receipt out of your sight! And dont count on Cyberhome to return your e-mails promptly, either.
On: 2003-12- |
