Go Video VR2940 DVD Recorder/VCR Combo
By: Go Video Average Rating: 2.0 Total Reviews: 51
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 On: 2008-07-21
It just does not work and wastes so many blank DVDs. I have read the manuals multiple times but that did not help.
On: 2007-10-29
I have a 2940. This product has played a total of 1 DVD. Dont waste your money on Go Video products.
On: 2007-09-07
It did work for awhile. Now it doesnt even power on.
I expect a product less than 3 years old to last quite
a bit onger before it completely dies. Into the trash it
goes. Im not going to waste my time trying to fix it.
Does anyone know what company made "Go Video."?
Im sure the pice of junk came from China or somewhere
overseas. My mistake for buying into it.
On: 2007-07-22
Im looking for a new unit because this Go Video product is worthless. Even if you try tech support you are not going to get any response. All the functions relating to programming a recording on the VCR side do not work. I dont even bother with the DVD recording side. As as simple player it is ok. But, who knows, tomorrow that function may disappear. I dont recommend buying any Go Video product
 On: 2007-04-20
This is just a great piece of equipment. I currently own (2) VR2940 and looking at purchasing the third unit. It does a fantastic job recording the home movies to DVD and makes a great play back unit. I dont understand some of the previous reviews. You must be able to read the manual and follow directions. The manual is very detailed so normal adults will have an easy time understanding its functionality. You can not just start pressing buttons and expect the equipment to work. Lets face it, it is not brain surgery. Its a VRC comb unit. Buy it, look at the manual, you will love it. The best part is the cover you print for the DVD case, now this is the fantastic part.
 On: 2007-01-16
I am sorry so many of you have had problems with your go video recorders. I have a couple vr5940s and have had very little trouble with them. I bought one from Sharper Image, and bought the extended warranty. I had to return the first unit, but the second one has been fine. I also bought one at Cosco on sale. Most DVDs Ive used are major brands, and they record fine. I have made 4 hour recordings sucessfully. I have copied many VCR tapes. Some old tapes have dirtied my vcr section heads, but a head cleaner has fixed the problem. Rarely have I come across a DVD that wont read. Once in a while it occurs. I try it in my Sony player or my computer to see if its a bad disc. So, I am surprised to see so many failures of the 2940. Maybe the 5940 is a better machine. I have 3 or 4 of the earlier VCR to VCR Go Video recorders, and they have always worked fine. So I am amazed at so many failures. I did have a DVD that would not read or eject, and I did have to unplug it to shut it off. And when I plugged it back in I could eject the disk. So I guess I have been very lucky. Jerry M. gmot455@mail.com
On: 2006-12-30
I had miltple problems with this one, almost from the day I bought it! The YES video quit working within the first week. I was not able to get any help from customer service so I decided to deal with that and just make dvds without using the YES video feature. In addition to that after finalizing the dvds I did make...there were compatability issues with other players as well as the Go-Video player itself. I can honestly say I have never owned any player or recorder that is as unreliable as this one. To top it off the last dvd I made is locked in the recorder and the record light is still on...even if you turn it off and back on again the record light does not go off and I am unable to retrieve my dvd.
On: 2006-12-14
I dont give this unit even one star but, I had to enter a rating to continue. I bought the VR2940 approximately a year and a half ago through "Vanns". Well, initially the unit worked fine, but, after about two weeks it started to freeze while recording videos and becoming unresponsive to button presses of any sort. I would have to unplug the unit, which, of course, would make me have to reset the clock and everything. So, I emailed GoVideo about it just a couple of weeks after I bought it in July. By December I had sent three emails complaining that something was wrong with the unit and had called twice. Each call ended with being told that they would mail me the Loader Version Upgrade CDs and that should fix it. I should have received the CDs by Christmas 2005 but hadnt so I went on my trip and assumed that I would receive them by time I returned. No such luck, and, when I called them back after New Year I was then told that they dont mail out Upgrade CDs anymore. Then, after mentioning that I would just send it back and get my money back I was told that the warranty was expired. I asked the person if I could speak with whoever is in charge, I was told that nobody was there. I asked if there was nobody higher up than him and he said no. I said, "So youre running everything over there then?" He said no. In total frustration I ended the phone call and had planned to see a lawyer about it - After all, I spent approximately $350.00 to buy the "YesDVD capable VR2940". Now I have a $350.00 VCR with an inoperable DVD player (It will only play some music CDs and wont even spin-up to accept the Loader Version Upgrad CDs I just burned with the new CD Burner I bought for this reason using Nero 6) and theres nobody out there to repair it. NEVER!!! NEVER!!! buy anything that has "GoVideo" in the name. NEVER.
On: 2006-12-06
GoVideo brags about its service. Here is what they really have. You have a problem, you call them. There is a voice that tells you to go to their website. You leave them an email, you get a response that says go to our website. At the website you get general instructions. There are no people that will talk to you if you have a special issue. Basically there is no service that I can find. The product doesnt work quite the way it is advertised either. Save your money. This company has nothing to brag about.
On: 2006-12-05
Although this is not the exact model i bought, it was very similar. To put it bluntly, these things made by go video are junk. Dvd player quit working after 1 month, vcr player quit rewinding after 6 months.
 On: 2006-11-11
I have had a VR2940 for almost two years. As many have said GoVideo support leaves much to be desired. It took three machines before I finally got the one I am still using. Granted I do have to push the dvd tray open button several times before it opens but it does work. I have experience with four different brands of DVD recorders (Philips, GoVideo, LiteON and LG) and have come to the conclusion that DVD recorders will never have the reliability of VCRs. I would never buy a DVD camcorder. If I want to record something off air that I really want, I always record with my VCR as well. If the DVD works I can always erase the VHS. That being said I have to say the VR2940 YES Video capability makes all the problems worthwhile. I have recorded well over 100 dvds using my VR2940. Most copying my old VHS & VHS-C home videos as well as many from my Mini DV camcorder. Yes I have created some coasters and have learned that the blank media is the biggest cause. I have settled on Verbatum 8X or less as the most reliable. Some older Philips and TDK have also worked. The newer higher speed ones are not reliable. It seems that GoVideo has finally gone out of business, for the second time. To sum up. Of the four DVD recorders I have used the VR2940 is the lesser of the evils.
On: 2006-10-18
I like many others have been robbed by GoVideos VR2940. I dont want to rehash all of the other negative comments but this product is a waste of money that does not work.
On: 2006-06-13
First of all, none of the negative reviews here have mentioned anyone attempting to clean their DVD Drive with a DVD Head Cleaner. You should do this FIRST before calling something a piece of junk, and you should make it clear that you are not technicially incompetent, as some of you apparently are. For example, How could a DVD player "Lock me out of my TV" ??? And did you bother to FINALIZE your DVDs before trying to play them on a different piece of hardware?
PLEASE! Make it clear that you know what you are talking about.
On: 2006-04-13
I have been told that this model has a problem with its auto clock that can cause the unit to lock up. Just go into the setup menu, buried deep in the third or fourth column of the menu, at the bottom you will find Auto Clock-turn it OFF, this will help product reliability tremendously. I have also been told ther is no fix for this, so be sure to set it off and leave it off!
On: 2006-02-26
Ill cut right to the chase. The machine worked fine for about a year. Then for what ever reason, I could not get a picture on the screen. I have audio, but no picture. Tried diconnecting and reconnecting cables. Still no picture. After spending 3 hours with my head inside my enertainment cabinet, I disconnected this piece of junk.
No wonder QVC does not sell this brand any more. Yup, thats where I got it. For now on, Ill go to the electronics store first and read reviews before I purchase a new one. Live and learn.
On: 2006-02-24
I called Go Video customer service to ask a question and could not get a person. I e-mailed and got a reply from Jorge Arroyo who told me to call the phone number. When I replied to his message saying that I could not get a person, the reply came back so I was left with no options at all. I am very disappointed in Go Video because my brother and I have sung their praises in the past to find out their customer service means nothing.
On: 2006-02-18
OK, my fault, Wife and I bought this on qvc Christmas 2004, paid over 350.00, worked ok for a week. Only used it as a player for a couple months, then it wouldnt turn on or off without unplugging it!
Nothing but problems since! I wouldnt buy anything GO VIDEO ever! JUNK!!!!!!!!
On: 2006-02-18
the unit is complicated to use, seems to be a little slow but the video and audio are good.
On: 2006-02-16
I bought a unit from GO Video and experienced horrors with their customer service as mentioned in other reviews.
My unit came without any of the accessories and after 6 weeks of talking to more than a half dozen people (with more runaround than you can even begin to imagine) at go video, I still have a unit that will not work.
avoid this manufacturer!!
On: 2006-01-19
*WARNING* DO NOT BUY THIS VCR/DVD*WARNING
This stuff is total garbage. Looks like I will eat the cost of this, however its not too late to save yourself. Buy ANYTHING else.
I am on the second unit that does not and has not worked at all.
GO-VIDEO SUCKS. Are they still in buisiness?
Easily the worst electronics I have ever had the misfortune of buying.
It has now locked me out of my TV. I rue the day and you will too, if you buy this horrible equipment
On: 2006-01-17
As I sit here waiting for Go-Video customer service to answer their phone (its been 10 minutes so far), i have read the preceding customer responses and have to agree with them. I find that the unit intermittently freezes when converting VHS to DVD, thereby rendering the DVD useless. After transfering five hours of VHS tapes, this is extremely frustrating and not worth the price, if this is your reason for purchasing. The VCR and DVD Players are fine by themselves, but the transfer function is useless. You have to cross your fingers and toes and hope the unit doesnt freeze after several hours of transferring. Postscript: Well, they answered the phone and told me that because i purchased the unit over 90 days ago, i could exchange it for a new unit, but it will cost me shipping plus $89.95 for the new unit. Their recomendation, btw, was to buy dvd lens cleaner and try that. Judge for yourself!
On: 2006-01-09
I purchased a R6640 recorder & didnt have any problems so I also bought a VR2940 to transfer by VHS tapes to DVD. No problem with the recorder and transfered about 25 tapes to DVD. The disks played ok on both machines until about 2 months later I decided to watch one of the DVDs again. I placed it in the VR2940 & my DVD+R loaded and showed DVD+RW. The disk is a DVD+R, not an RW disk! When I clicked on menu it came up "empty disk". I put the disk in my R6640 & it played ok. I went through all of the DVDs I had made copies of & 21 of the disks all showed up as DVD+RW "empty disk" on the VR2940 but played on the R6640. The four remaining disks played on both machines. I sent emails to customer service & received an automated response showing common questions & that I would be contacted by customer "service". I was never contacted so I called customer "service" and they were no help. They had no idea what the problem was. I dont think they are tech savy and calling them about a tech problem is a waste of time. The only thing they said was they would send me an update disk for my model & that might solve the problem. I waited two months and called twice without ever receiving the update disk. I finally wrote a letter & addressed it to customer service supervisor/manager. I never heard from him/her but I did receive the disk finally. It didnt help! Go-Video needs to change the name of their dept from customer "service" to customer "non service". After checking the company on the better business bureau web site I found the name of the the customer service manager is Bill Galey. I sent him a letter on 12/16/05 & it is now 01/08/06. I have not had a response. You might save a few bucks buying Go-Video but it isnt worth the problems you will have with the product or the help you will "not" get from the company.
On: 2006-01-08
When I purchased my Go Video VR2940 in January of 2005, from QVC (after returning the first two because they arrived DOA), I thought I had a gem of a product that would reduce my miles of VCR tapes to nice compact DVDs. It worked OK at first, but then (after the 30 day return policy expired) it began freezing up, just like the other reviewers have mentioned. Yes, the only remedy is to unplug the unit, and lose any programs for recording and the time and date set ups. It has been a constant pain to get this machine to just turn on, let alone do what it was promised to do. My high hopes for this product have instead turned to the depths of despair. Plain and simple, it does not work.
When I called GoVideo customer service, all I got was a pre-recorded message in spanish, followed by silence, and then a disconnect. Impressive.
I just discovered there are upgrades available for the software loaded in the unit, and I am waiting to see if these upgrades will help, but I am not holding my breath. All in all, I wish I would have saved my money and bought a Sony instead.
On: 2006-01-03
Dont let your retailers excellent return policy lead you to buy this without reading the reviews first! Like others, I liked the VR2940 at first, especially the YES-DVD software. But in the end I wasted a huge amount of time trying to make it work. I thought only computers crashed, needing to be unplugged in order to be escape from a death-freeze. That was before buying this unit.
I also could not get my other DVD player to read the finalized DVDs, and could not figure out how to finalize YES-DVDs.
Customer service was entirely useless. Impossible to get a live person or a response to an e-mail.
On: 2005-12-22
Like most reviewers, I thought I was getting a good bargain for what I needed this machine for. Ive already wasted at least $50 trying to find compatible DVD+Rs that will play in the various DVD players throughout my house. Needless to say, Ive been unsuccessful. Im too frustrated to give this machine any more time and energy, so I am returning it to the retailer tomorrow. I usually check Amazons reviews before I purchase electronics, but apparently that day I had a brain freeze, much like what this machine does on a consistent basis.
On: 2005-11-18
I bought this model several months ago for converting my home movies to dvds. It worked great for a while but then I noticed it freezing while playing commercial DVDs. Now it freezes constantly while playing any DVDs. I dont even bother trying to convert anymore of my home videos to DVDs. Basically, I ended up with a very expensive VCR.
On: 2005-11-16
I bought my unit from Amazon in January 2005 and it started working quite well. I did disable the auto clock setting to stop the freezing up that required unplugging (and the requisite clearing of all my programming). The unit became more and more sensitive - would record on some DVDs and not others. Would randomly lock up during playback.
The customer service people lied to me endlessly about certain brands of DVD media being bad. The customer service people who provide email support apparently dont speak much english because they cant understand anything you write to them and their responses are quite unintelligible.
After upgrading the systems internal firmware and many efforts at using this piece of junk, it finally wouldnt even play pre-recorded DVDs. It just clicked noisily every time I put in a DVD. It was about 10 months old and I finally got on the line with the customer service people and begged and pleaded for them to send me a new drive. They decided to eventually not charge me the in-warranty replacement cost of $90 and sent me a new unit. They sent a different model which I have had for a few days and it works fine so far. I cant recommend that anyone buy a GoVideo unit for any reason. Even if someone gives it to you as a gift, send it back to the company. I was ready to have a great experience as I have in the past with GoVideo dual deck VCRs but they have gone to the dogs for certain.
Selwyn
Austin, TX
On: 2005-11-13
Not only does this unit freeze up and ruin discs, it has now denied me access to even watch my own TV my only recourse was to sign onto Amazon to see if thats where I ordered it, and check to see if it was still on warranty. What was I thinking?? Doesnt it bother all of you that most electronics are only warrantied for 90 days. If you bought a $50.00 DVD or VCR player, you could probably get year or two of good service, then chuck it. But I had to be the 1st one on the block to have this, and now 9 months later, the reviews speak for themslves. I will spread the word & never buy their products again
 On: 2005-11-04
At first, this machine worked fine playing VHS tapes and DVDs. When we finally tried to burn a DVD, however, nothing would work. The solution turned out to be upgrading the loader and system software, easier than it sounds, but annoying and time consuming.
Once that was accomplished, we were able to burn DVDs that play successfully on half our six DVD players. This is disappointing and calls to GoVideo suggest that theres simply nothing to be done about it.
If youre OK with playing the GoVideo burned DVD only in the GoVideo unit itself, you should be OK. If you need to send the resulting DVD to mom or to play it on your Sony portable while traveling, this unit is a gamble you probably shouldnt take.
On: 2005-10-20
I was thrilled with this machine for a few months following my purchase: it produced high-quality discs from broadcast, easy transfers from tape (that looked better on the disc than the original tape thanks to a nice cleanup feature), and it looks and feels good (real metal buttons!).
Unfortunately, very soon it began rejecting discs partway through the recording process, rejecting discs Id played on it previously, rejecting perfectly good blank DVDs (Id tested them elsewhere) and generally throwing errors left and right.
Support from GoVideo has been dismal. I received a single response from their website linking to FAQs I told them Id already read, as well as links to FAQs completely irrelevant to the issues with our machine. Since my request has been escalated to people who, presumably, know the technology I have heard nothing (its been ten days). Subsequently, I have found through reading reviews here at amazon and on newsgroups that this is a common problem with their DVD recorders and it seems nothing has been done to fix it.
One of the worst things about this is that the many discs I didnt "finalize" I wont be able to view again because GoVideos file format is unrecognizable by PCs or other DVD players without finalization. When one finalizes a disc one can no longer record on it, which is why I left some of mine as they were (they still had space on them).
Hope we can return it! Probably; we bought it from Costco.
On: 2005-10-14
Our whole family has been very pleased with the Go Video we got from Amazon. Amazon got it to us faster than we were promised and we got it up and going immediately. Now we can watch videos and DVDs and Im transferring all of those bulky home videos onto DVDs.
On: 2005-10-05
The recorder does copy from old VHS tapes to DVD just like it says. I am very disappointed though that I cannot view the DVD (from the VR2940)on any other DVD player. Once you record something you, it will only play on this player. I have 4 other DVD players in my home and the DVDs will only play on the VR2940.
On: 2005-10-03
I am one of the few who had a relatively good experience with this product. The product does freeze in the burning process from time to time. But my main negative point about the VR2940 is that the manual did not alert users to the fact that this unit does not support any DVD-Rs with speeds above 4X. Quite an oversight on the part of GoVideo. The model also tends to blackout if there is a poor quality vhs inserted. Having siad that; I have burnt over 100 hours of home videos with good results and the DVDs have played on most other players.
On: 2005-09-24
Although I purchased a different unit, the GoVideo 8440 Portable DVD Player, it played exactly 6 movies before dying. GoVideo replaced it with a refurbished model, which arrived in non-working condition. I received a THIRD replacement unit (new)from GoVideo, which failed within minutes out of the box. Please note that I have since discovered that GoVideo Inc. is NOT a member of the Better Business Bureau of Central/Northern Arizona and has MULTIPLE complaints against the company. Purchase at your own risk!!
On: 2005-09-23
Although I purchased a different unit, the GoVideo 8440 Portable DVD Player, it played exactly 6 movies before dying. GoVideo replaced it with a refurbished model, which arrived in non-working condition. I received a THIRD replacement unit (new)from GoVideo, which failed within minutes out of the box. Please note that I have since discovered that GoVideo Inc. is NOT a member of the Better Business Bureau of Central/Northern Arizona and has MULTIPLE complaints against the company. Purchase at your own risk!!
On: 2005-09-05
I bought a GO dvd/vcr for my daughters bedroom after one week I kept getting bad disc errors even though the disk were brand new. I thought it might be the disk so I played them in my room and I had no problems. This is the worst product on the market. I bought it on impulse without doing research on it. I ll never do it again. Go video is a ripoff and the customer service is a joke. Stay away, trust me.
On: 2005-09-01
Timer does not always work. Sometimes locks up when erasing or formating a DVD. Records from VHS to DVD at a real good quality.
On: 2005-08-26
I have already returned the item. In fact, it only worked effectively once, and from then on, was only able to muster up a light blue horizontal line across the middle of my tele. Neither the vcr or the dvd worked after the first couple of hours.Very disappointed.
John Giles
On: 2005-07-28
Beware of Go Video at all costs. Here is their repair policy, which is not fully spelled out in the manual or on their website:
If it breaks after 90 days, you must pay $90 in labor up front AND pay to ship it to them in Arizona, for a $300 machine. When do you find this out? When you call them (after endless delays) to let them know the thing broke. Even if it broke during the 90 days "full warranty" you must still pay to ship it on your own to Arizona.
This is for a machine that has been buggy at best, prone to constantly locking up. They act like they are doing you a favor to charge you a fortune to fix the machine. Furthermore what they do is keep your old machine and send you a refurbished one in the mail after several weeks. I cant see trusting their repair folks considering their customer service staff is dim witted, impossible to get on the phone and unable to do anyting but repeat the "company policy." They are empowered to do nohting.
Based on my experience, I am not giving these fools another dime of my money. I have a huge stack of tapes to convert and had hopes that this machine would do it. Unfortunatley, I am now out $300 bucks and this company could care less.
On: 2005-07-27
Beware of Go Video at all costs. Here is their repair policy, which is not fully spelled out in the manual or on their website:
If it breaks after 90 days, you must pay $90 in labor up front AND pay to ship it to them in Arizona, for a $300 machine. When do you find this out? When you call them (after endless delays) to let them know the thing broke. Even if it broke during the 90 days "full warranty" you must still pay to ship it on your own to Arizona.
This is for a machine that has been buggy at best, prone to constantly locking up. They act like they are doing you a favor to charge you a fortune to fix the machine. Furthermore what they do is keep your old machine and send you a refurbished one in the mail after several weeks. I cant see trusting their repair folks considering their customer service staff is dim witted, impossible to get on the phone and unable to do anyting but repeat the "company policy." They are empowered to do nohting.
Based on my experience, I am not giving these fools another dime of my money. I have a huge stack of tapes to convert and had hopes that this machine would do it. Unfortunatley, I am now out $300 bucks and this company could care less.
On: 2005-07-27
This unit is a piece of garbage. I had it for 6 months and it never worked right. Remote freezing, timed recording not working, erased previously recorded dvds on its own, ruined dvds, would not turn off had to unplug to get it to. Customer service was of no help. I was finally able to return it after repeated ranting calls. This unit should be recalled.
On: 2005-07-11
If youre among those who are happy with this machine... good for you... youre VERY lucky!
Like most of the reports here, mines junk too. I recorded a bunch of my old "classic" VCRs to DVD and was not smart enough to save the tapes. A lot of them were re-recorded and now lost.
The machine freezes with every Go recorded disk, and the Go disks will not play with ANY other machine, either. It will play only factory DVDs. I wish Id never seen the stupid thing. BIG mistake and BIG waste of money.
Im now looking for a new reliable machine (that is, when I can afford it).
You can try it if you wish, but I dont think youll be happy! In my opinion, its no more than an expensive DVD player, and totally worthless as a recorder.
On: 2005-05-19
After reading all the poor reviews decided to try the VR2940.
Have had great luck with GoVideo players and this one had the
same outcome. I immediately began copying all my old VHS tapes
and now doing digital camcorder tapes to DVDs. Has worked
perfectly and YesVideo is excellent! Dvds have worked in all
my players, even in the car and boat!
On: 2005-05-02
I stand guilty of being so stupid to order the product after reading many of the reviews on this site. I am now stuck with a piece of trash, many useless DVDs, and a pile of VHS tapes yet to be converted to DVD.
The lowlights are as follows:
1. The unit simply freezes and cant be turned on. Only unplugging the AC cord and re-plugging will get the unit turned on again.
2. The user interface is inconsistent in its use of keys and procedures. One constantly needs the manual (poorly written with terrible index) to perform the simplest tasks.
3. The unit freezes during the operation. This happens if one misses a step in performing a function. For example, the unit froze when I changed the VCR tape during VCR->DVD copy. Only unplugging the unit could bring it back to life.
4. The YES-DVD is truly useless as it generates 50 or so chapters and I am not sure what the 3 "music video" is good for.
This is a dysfunctional unit and shouldnt have been be in the market. I hope there is a lawyer out there to take this company to court for fraud. Problems with this device are beyond repair, I believe, and these units should be recalled for full refund.
PS - Why doesnt Amazon allow a "zero star" option?
On: 2005-04-26
I purchased the VR2940 for one reason only, and that was to copy all my Old VHS tapes to DVD with Chapter Selection. The end results were outstanding. The final Dvd was clear and it did play in every Dvd player I own (Pioneer, Sanyo, RCA). After reading a few bad reviews I decided to try a few cheap Dvd Media I had (Memeorex and CompUSA). Both completed the burn but they would not play in my Sanyo or RCA but they did play in the Pioneer. I burned exactly the same VHS onto a Verbatim, Ridata and a TDK Dvd Media and they all worked great in all three dvd players. I believe this equipment and software is very sensitive to low quality DVD Media. It takes a few button presses to start the process from VHS to DVD. I cannot comment on the copying from an external source since all my external recording is copied by TIVO. For someone just looking to copy VHS to DVD with chapter selection, this equipment is a great easy way. But only if you use quality DVD media. A great place to do research on quality media is at Club CD Freak (http://club.cdfreaks.com/).
On: 2005-04-23
Lots of bad reviews it seems, but Im happy with mine.
BUT...there is a problem with the unit in that if you dont turn off the auto-update of the clock, and you are on regular cable, the unit will freeze up. This may explain some peoples bad experiences. Theres a page on GoVideos web site that explains it, but really they need to fix this problem.
Other than that, Ive been a busy beaver copying our home videos to DVD, and they all turned out fine. This is the only unit that has the wonderful YES-DVD feature, so that alone would be worth putting up with a lot of grief for. If you want a DVD recorder to transfer a lot of old home videos to, and you dont want to have to manually make the chapter divisions for each one, this is what you want. It also creates a cover jacket for you automatically.
But I wish it had a S-video input, a way to have it not create those dumb music videos on a YES-DVD, and the cover jacket had a way to easily add my own titles.
On: 2005-03-17
This unit came with so many problems that I had to return it to Go Video. My replacement was a refurbished unit (for which I paid full price). This new unit usually cannot play the discs that it recorded. The times that it does play lasts only 20 minutes or so before the screen goes blank. Customer service is as bad as the unit itself. Ive been waiting a week now to get a response. Read the other reviews of this product and then buy something else. Go Video should not have put this product on the market.
On: 2005-03-15
I wish I would have read these reviews before I purchased this piece of junk. I had problems like all the others. I called customer service and they wanted me to send them my new unit and they would send a refurbished one. I was lucky that I purchased mine from QVC and I sent it back for a full refund. I am trying an RCA model from Walmart now.
On: 2005-03-07
I would have to write a book explaining the problems I experienced with this unit right out of the box so will only mention a few. Both recordings I made using the YESDVD option were hard to get at and could only be accessed in a round about way through the set-up menu. I couldnt bring up the Title & Disc Menus on the screen only getting the Play icon to show for a few seconds, or sometimes the Stop icon would appear.
I had this same problem on discs recorded "normally" i.e. without YESDVD, but could generally access the Menus so I could rename the recording {Title} or finalize the disc.
Note, I said generally and this was usually after ejecting the disc and reinserting it back in the 2940. With one disc I was unable to access these Menus even after I tried ejecting it, then shutting off the power & firing the unit back up or unplugging it and resetting the factory defaults.
The next day, when I gave it another try, it worked fine on my first attempt.
On playback of discs recorded on the 2940 I found areas where upwards of 10-15 seconds of the recorded material were missing as well as "glitchy" spots. When I tried to "rewind" to get a better look at the "glitch" the unit paused where I observed the problem and wouldnt let me proceed any further. I found three such areas in about 15 minutes of recorded material on one disc.
Of the 6 discs I checked for recording issues they all had some problem, either program loss or those "glitchy" spots. Based on this I didnt even bother checking the other 7 or 8 discs I recorded on knowing that I was sending the unit back.
Any disc that is being recorded on for the first time has to be initialized {formatted} and this is accomplished when the recording process is started as opposed to being done prior, which seriously messes with any Cue that you may have set-up when recording on a "first time" disc. On one tape that I tried to transfer that had footage right from the start {no lead-in} I lost 38 seconds of material while the disc initailized itself. In order to get the entire program when recording from Tivo I had to hit record on the 2940 and watch the Initialization Bar displayed on the screen {progess} and when I thought it was almost finished start the program I wanted to record.
Like I said, it messes with any Cue you may have but Im not sure if this is the way the 2940 is designed or is because of a problem with the particular unit I had. The only mention of disc initialization in the owners manual stated this was how it was done so Im figuring the unit was designed this way.
When I hit record on a tape to disc transfer the icon in the display window on the unit itself appeared as if the tape was being held up until initialization finished in order to save my cue but that didnt prove to be the case when the recording was checked. That was the recording I lost the 38 seconds on.
The spools in the VHS icon in the display didnt start rotating until initialization finished, thats why I thought the recording process was being held up thus saving my cue.
GoVideo didnt answered the two emails I sent them so the unit was returned to the retailer a week after receiving it. Even though I have another GoVideo unit, DDV2110, {Dual deck VCR} that Ive been happy with for years I dont think Ill be purchasing another product from GoVideo anytime soon based on their poor Customer Service. I will say this, the picture quality of the recordings made on the unit that I looked at were excellent, which was what I expected since they were recorded at the highest quality settings {HQ~1hr. & SP~2hr.}
On: 2005-02-23
I was so pleased with this recorder the first week I had it till it started to freeze when shutting it off. It was user friendly and quality of picture and sound was great. I could live with the freezing when shutting it off but it started freezing when converting a tape to a DVD and at the end making the DVD useless after spending the hours converting it. It just got worse and worse so I was wasting time and money on the blank DVDs. White glove customer service is a joke. Ive been calling for weeks and they claim an overload of calls to call back and when I did finally get a real person they couldnt help. Unfortunately my last alternative was to send it back for a refund to Amazon. Im now afraid to exchange or purchase another GoVideo product due to this bad experience with them.
However, I will say I never once had a problem with Amazon. They are great as far as prices and exchanges and customer service.
On: 2005-02-22
I was so pleased with this recorder the first week I had it till it started to freeze when shutting it off. It was user friendly and quality of picture and sound was great. I could live with the freezing when shutting it off but it started freezing when converting a tape to a DVD and at the end making the DVD useless after spending the hours converting it. It just got worse and worse so I was wasting time and money on the blank DVDs. White glove customer service is a joke. Ive been calling for weeks and they claim an overload of calls to call back and when I did finally get a real person they couldnt help. Unfortunately my last alternative was to send it back for a refund to Amazon. Im now afraid to exchange or purchase another GoVideo product due to this bad experience with them.
However, I will say I never once had a problem with Amazon. They are great as far as prices and exchanges and customer service.
On: 2005-02-16
Received dvd recorder, however it did not work. Over a period of three weeks, I sent six e-mails to GOVIDEO customer service. Received one response that provided general answers to common problems. This did not help. Cannot contact a "live" person at customer service by telephone -- instead you recieve a recording of the same general answers to common problems.
On: 2005-02-13
This machine is simply horrible. I have had it two weeks. It constantly freezes up, and I then have to pull the plug from the AC outlet. The remote is very cheap and does not function well (when it functions at all). It has destroyed one of my prize VHS tapes. When you call support, you are on hold for 40 minutes.
I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER "GO VIDEO" PRODUCT!!!!!!!!
On: 2005-02-11
This is the second DVD recorder that I have purchased and this one is giving me fits compared to the Go Video R6740. The main problem that I am encountering is that I set the timer, turn the machine off and leave. When I return, the timer did not function properly. It did not make a recording, however, it did go to the station on the tv to be recorded. Also, it does not turn on easily. I stand in front of the machine, and turn on the power and nothing happens. I try to turn it on from the remote -- nothing happens. The only thing which turns in on is to unplug the power and replug it back in. Of course, then I lose the time, the programs which were set to the timer (which doesnt work anyone). This is not a keeper!
On: 2005-02-08
It is indeed easy to record to and from DVD and VHS.
However, the DVDs probably wont play on other DVD players. I sent DVD copies of home videos to six family members who had different DVD players - and NONE of the DVDs would play. They played just fine on my recorder, but not on theirs.
Buried halfway inside the owners manual is the warning that -R recorders are not compatible with +R recorders. Who knew that there were -R and +R recorders? Apparently the difference is akin to Beta and VHS. But at least the Beta and VHS recorders made it clear that that is what they are. This recorder has no such marking; it requires you to purchase it and read all the fine print.
So unless you plan to carry this recorder around with you in order to show your recorded DVDs to family and friends, you might want to reconsider its purchase.
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