Sylvania DVR90VE DVD Player/Recorder and Hi-Fi VCR Combo
Firmware upgrade URL for media compatibility problems
I purchased the DVR90VE from Amazon about a year ago (12/2004).   It is a very good unit for the money and relatively easy to use, but it has a   severe media compatibility problem -- difficult to find out which DVD-R & -RW  media will work with it, and since media production has moved to higher speeds,  it is increasingly hard to find the slower media that works (1-4x -R, 1-2x -RW).    I recently ran into these same media compatibility problems that many others have encountered and reported here when I ran out of my original DVD-R spindle that was purchased a while back. Were it not for media incompatibility and the lame customer support for this issue, I would give the unit 5 stars.    These problems  appear to be the fault of the original firmware in the machine, which only allows DVD-R 1-4x and DVD-RW 1-2x media to be used for recording. I do not yet understand why they did not then make provisions for using faster and faster media that would become available, but evidently they didn't.    One can go to their US website [...], but there is no information regarding this media compatibility problem. The only information available there is a PDF of the user's manual (which is also not helpful regarding this issue, since it does not stress in any way that the rated speed of the media is critical. There are no media compatibility FAQ pages or firmware update notices, and typing in the machine model DVR90VE gets you nothing. This website is a waste of time outside of contacting them by email.    I emailed them an inquiry and got a response 4 days later advising me to call the customer service number regarding the firmware update, which is supposedly operational 7 days a week. I had tried calling them a few times earlier in the year when I encountered the media compatibility problem, but was never able to reach anyone. Today (11/25/05) the line has a message that they are overloaded with calls and advising customers to call back some other time. This is also clearly awaste of time.    While I had been waiting for an email or phone response from them, I did some online searching through google and found an alternative, Canadian Sylvania support website (viva Canada!) that has software and firmware that can be downloaded -- go to the bottom of the page past manuals to Software/Firmware.    [...]    I downloaded DVR900E.zip (554kb), read the instructions in the PDF file DVR900E.pdf, burned a CD-ROM with the firmware program file NRS0115.mot on it, and successfully (it seems) installed it on my DVR machine. It seems to work -- my unit will now accept 8x DVD-R's, although still only 1-2x DVD-RWs. One caveat is that I do not yet have confirmation from Sylvania/Funai that this is indeed the right firmware file, although on the other hand the download link says \\"This upgrade is designed for all units. Please download and read instructions carefully.\\"    I have asked them to put this information and firmware download on their main website, since it would save all of us a great deal of frustration and ill-will, and we will see by their response, or lack thereof, what kind of organization they really are. Why they have not done so long before this is a complete mystery to me, but I think it reflects badly on the company (or at least its US division) and certainly does not inspire great confidence in their other products.