Gateway AR230 Progressive-Scan DVD Player / Recorder
WORLD WIDE USE IS POSSIBLE!  But it's a little quirky.
There is not much for me to add to the already well written mixed reviews here. Yes, the recorder is easy to set up, and yes the instructions are not very useful -- some details are left out. But electronically, the Gateway AR230 is pretty good for the MONEY.  What do you expect to get for about 125 bucks?  It does make good DVDs -- and for my purposes that is good enough.<br /><br />For some reason, the unit which I purchased did not ALWAYS begin recording when I punched the red Record button on the controler. Be that as it may, after futzing with it for awhile (with operating manual in hand and much head scratching) I got it to burn a good DVD. That's the \\"bottom line.\\"<br /><br />But here is a bonus that no one mentioned. Unlike many other expensive recorders, the ultra light weight Gateway AR230 operates just as well on European 220 volt/50 Hz house current. That's right. I packed up my recorder and brought it to my apartment in Budapest. With great trepidation, at first, I put an adapter on the plug and plugged it into a 220 volt/50 Hz, hit the power button and waited for it to get fried. But no, it simply lit up. Here's the other part. I hooked the output up to a late model Grundig TV. This requires a little adaptation for hooking up the three (yellow-video, red-audio, white-audio) RCA cable to the European TV input (that's a multi pin plug which somewhat resembles the old computer SCSI cable plug). For some $10-15US in Hungary, it was no big deal to buy the adapter and European cable for hooking  the  Gateway AR230.<br /><br />I also had a concern of whether or not the Gateway AR230 which in the U.S. plays nicely on a typical NTSC television set will also work on a PAL/SECAM television set. No problem. So then, I left the now Budapest Gateway AR230 hooked up to the Grundig TV set, and now have to buy a second one for my home in the U.S. But at about $125 a pop, that's not such a big outlay for DVD recorder which makes decent DVDs -- although it can take sometweaking to do so.<br /><br />I almost rated this at 3-stars (because of the poor user manual and quirky problems of the unit which I wound up with the first time). But considering its versatility, I have to in good conscience click on four stars.  After receiving my second Gateway AR230  and testing it out, I'll come back here to write Part II of the review to complete the story (if Amazon.com lets me post it).<br /><br />PART II<br />Without belaboring the point, the second unit of this DVD recorder worked as well as the first .... this time in the United States. However, evidently the Gateway AR230 has been discontinued. So this follow up will be short. Too bad electronics become obsolete so fast. This DVD recorder is worth the money.