Cyberhome CH-DVR1600 DVD Recorder
Works, but with frustrations.
Picture Quality: No complaints. The 2-hour mode is what you should consider \\"normal\\". 2 hours is the maximum you should expect to fit on any single-layer DVD and get good picture quality. The improvement offered by the 1-hour mode is practically invisible; and the higher bit rate used in the 1-hour mode MAY make the finished DVD difficult to play in some other older DVD players. The longer-than-2-hours recording times are offered as a convenience; you will definitely notice a loss of picture quality if you record more than 2 hours on a disc. That's the way the DVD medium is. <br /> <br />Ease of Use: Disappointing. Choosing an input source requires more keystrokes than it should. Programming a timer recording is fairly easy, but not perfectly intuitive. Naming disc contents was more trouble than I was willing to put up with; if you often text message on your phone you will probably find the interface here similar. Overall, there are too many menus with too many levels, making using this recorder a slow chore. <br /> <br />Disc compatibility: I never had any problem with playing a DVD made in this recorder on any other machine. However, this recorder would not work with every brand of blank discs. It refused to work with Maxell and Fuji discs. It liked TDK, Verbatim, and Tevion. <br /> <br />VCR compatibility: This was the biggest disappointment. I realize that VCRs do not output a very stable signal, but most consumer gear can deal with it and make a decent copy. This recorder could not sync up properly with any of the three VCRs I tried to use with it, resulting in a color shift across the top of the picture on any DVD recording made from a VHS tape. (Note: This has nothing to do with copy protection; this problem occurred on non-copy-protected tapes.) <br /> <br />Features: I really liked the double-speed playback with intelligible sound. Commercial Skip also worked exactly as it should. The player's preview feature on the menu page for unfinalized discs was veryhandy. The auto-chapter-insertion feature was also very nice. <br /> <br />I never had the finalization problem others report. If the recorder was going to reject the disc, it did so at the very beginning during the formatting stage--as I said, it always rejected Maxell and Fuji discs. If it formatted the disc, it would record and finalize perfectly. <br /> <br />Because of the poor usability, lack of compatibility with every brand of blank discs, and mostly because of the poor quality when recording from a VHS source, I have replaced this machine with a Panasonic recorder that so far addresses these areas very well. I would not recommend the Cyberhome recorder to anyone unless price is the single most important consideration.