GoVideo GV6025 – Crystal Clear Copies At The Touch of A Button
Written: May 30 '03
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Pros: High quality video output, on screen programming, compact design.
Cons: Complicated remote control, expensive to repair.
The Bottom Line: A great dual deck VCR that is easy to program, has a lot of perks, can record on both decks and features the EZCopy process.
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| Freak369's Full Review: Rio Go Video GV6025 VCR |
Making the decision to purchase a dual deck VCR isn’t something that you should just jump in to blindly. First you have to sit down and think if you actually need a dual deck model or if a DVD / VHS combo would be better. In the realm of dual VCR’s GoVideo is the king of the hill. Your only other options would be Emerson, Philips and Panasonic – and even then – you are only looking at few models from each manufacturer. With more and more people switching over to DVD players you might really want to think about purchasing a dual deck VCR or investing in a DVD / VHS combo for about the same price – or less in some cases. If you have a large VHS library, do a lot of archiving of shows or documentaries or copy home movies – the GoVideo units are great tools. I have a few friends that use mine to copy home movies to send to family members that live out of state.
The two different styles of dual decks you’ll find from GoVideo will be the side by side unit or the stacked unit. Both of the GoVideo decks I own are the stacked [one on top of the other] versions. This helps to save space in cramped areas or when using small wall units or entertainment centers but buyer beware, if you need to get the stacked version repaired, you might get hit with a huge bill. GoVideo recently split with Sonic Blue so the listing of this product is a little outdated. Any items that were purchased with the co-brand of Sonic Blue and GoVideo will still be serviced by authorized GoVideo repair centers and replacement remotes, instructions books and accessories are still being made, only now they carry the GoVideo name exclusively.
Features
Chances are that the casual video renter or movie junkie won’t have a use for all of the featured of this unit – and until recently I didn’t take advantage of some of the nifty things this dual deck can do. For starters, you can record on either deck – the older model I have only allows you to record on the bottom deck. This could present a problem if you accidentally program it to record on the top deck instead of the bottom deck and record over something of importance. Since you can hook up other electronic equipment to this, you can have your own security system without having to pay a professional to do the installation. Since you can record on both decks you can have your camcorder hooked up to the VCR or other electronic equipment that feeds into the VCR and record on both decks or on the top deck then the bottom deck. This is extremely helpful if you run a small business or want to monitor activities that may be taking place outside your residence.
One of the main reasons that I purchased my first GoVideo unit was to make copies of the kids movies, home movies and for editing my favorite television shows. I purchased the second unit after the first one mysteriously moved from the livingroom to my oldest sons bedroom. Once a month I sit down with the shows I’ve taped off of BBC America so I can transfer them to individual video cassettes [one for each show] and end up with six to eight hours of programming [commercial free I might add] on each tape. I am still a huge fan of a few British shows and sometimes I can’t catch them all so I program the unit to record them then spend a little time editing them so I can watch them [commercial free] when ever I want. This is also great for when the boys want to record a series from PBS or the Discovery Channel and want to edit out the commercials or make copies.
We have a ton of movies in the VHS format and I’m slowly getting the more popular ones on DVD but there are a few that get watched a lot. My Collectors Edition of The Crow is one of my prized possessions – rather than risk it getting ripped up or worn out I made a copy of it and use that instead of the original. If you have kids that refuse to put the video tapes away when they are done, you can save yourself a little hassle by compiling a few of their favorites on to one tape. This saves some wear and tear on the original and means you only have one tape to worry about instead of three or four. We have almost all the Pokemon videos and until I copied them on to three tapes the sleeves and tapes would be all over the place or worse – put back in the wrong sleeve. When you have 30 – 40 Pokemon tapes to go through to try and figure out which one is in the wrong spot – it makes sense to copy them onto a few tapes.
The timer on the GoVideo GV6025 lets you pick a single, daily, weekly or Monday through Friday recording setting. If you hate to miss your favorite soap opera, evening news, reality show or drama – this can help you out. You can program it to record shows of any length and you can use the looping feature [the top and bottom deck] to record anything that is longer than six or eight hours. This is great for taping Court TV, A&E crime specials [when they run an entire series back to back] and sporting events like The Olympics. You no long have to run home and switch tape, GoVideo will switch from the top deck to the bottom deck with only about fifteen seconds of missed footage. Of course this means that you have to have a blank tape in the deck / decks – something that I’ve forgotten to do more than a few times. The draw back about this type of recording is that you only have two record speed options – SP [2 hours] or EP [6 hours]. Someone once tried to explain to me the way to override the system and get to the LP [4 hour] mode but so far I haven’t been able to do it. When copying a tape or recording an event, you have the option to choose which speed it will record at, that is unless you choose the EZCopy format.
Recording Quality
The quality of what you are recording depends on the videotapes you are using, the record speed and the source. For copying videotapes using the two hour speed you’ll get a near perfect finished product. If you are coping from an older tape that has seen a little wear, those imperfections will be transferred to the copy as well. When recording from a cable or satellite provider you will get a crystal clear copy on either of the decks. Home movies transferred to tape might be a little grainy or have a little color distortion but unless you are a total perfectionist, the slight variations in color won’t be that big of a deal. It is important to mention that duplicating copyrighted, copy guarded or products with the Macrovision system is illegal and carries a large fine and possible prison sentence. The GoVideo dual VCR decks are not sold with the intent or purpose of creating duplicates of films or images that are copyrighted. Please read the information provided in the instruction booklet about these laws.
EZCopy
How would you like to have a VCR that is so smart it will copy your tapes without having to do anything other than inserting the tapes and pressing a single button? Well, that might sound like a dream but if you are looking for a high quality copy, you would be wise to sit down and manually tweak the process so you don’t end up with a crummy copy. EZCopy takes the guesswork out of duplicating a tape. Put the original tape in the top deck and insert a blank tape in the bottom deck and press the EZCopy button. That’s all there is to it – but the real question here is what will the copy look like? If you are copying something that is more than two hours in length there is a good chance that the latter portion of the copied version won’t be as good as the first part. The GoVideo deck reads how much tape is left from the original and adjusts the speed of the recording deck so that there will be enough tape left. This is great if you are copying something like soap operas or instructional videos but if you are looking for high quality [home movies, film transfers] invest a few minutes and set up the duplication process by hand.
Remote Control
Unlike some GoVideo dual deck VCR’s, this one comes with a smaller remote control rather than the large rectangular one. I really preferred those to the ‘streamline’ ones because they were easier to operate and you had less of a chance of programming the wrong record information. The remote comes with two AA batteries and will allow you to control both decks – play, record, fast forward, rewind, forward and reverse scan, stop, eject and power. The buttons are too small and often times I end up hitting the wrong one when trying to use the record menu or changing one of the setting. Trying to get the record speed to change is a real chore as well and sometimes it refuses to allow you to record in the extended [6 hour] mode. After fighting with this remote and throwing it across the room in a fit of rage I finally replaced it with one that is larger and easier to use. I lost a few of the advanced programming options however I can still access them from the deck if I need to or drag out the old remote.
Instructions
The instruction booklet covers everything you will need to know about your GoVideo dual VCR and even if you consider yourself a electronics moron, you will be able to navigate through the book easily. It covers everything from a basic set up to copying tapes, hooking up other equipment [stereo, video games, cable etc] and troubleshooting. I am the kind of person that dives into things without reading the instructions first and I end up getting frustrated and wasting a lot of time backtracking and fixing my mistakes. I won’t say that this dual deck VCR is a breeze to program, but the instructions go into a lot of detail so if you read them chances are you won’t have a lot of problems hooking this up or programming it. The warranty information is located in the back of the book and you should fill out your warranty card and mail it in as soon as possible. I made sure that there weren’t any initial defects with the VCR before I mailed in the card, what is the point of mailing it in when you can return it to the store and exchange it for a new one if need be.
Warranty
This comes with a 90 day warranty against manufacturer defects and one year for parts. The bottom deck broke after the warranty ran out and I had to take it to a local VCR repair center. It was pointless to shop around for a good price on it because it wasn’t the part that was expensive; it was the labor involved in getting to the second deck. If you are looking to purchase a dual deck VCR I highly suggest that you look for one that has the side by side deck assembly so that if a repair needs to be made you won’t get raked over the coals.
Things To Know
In all honesty, if I had to make this purchase again I would seriously reconsider this particular model. If something happens to one of the decks and it needs to be repaired, you are going to fall over when you get an estimate. This is because the top deck needs to be removed [in most cases] to get to the bottom deck. I forked out a little over $83.00 to have a small plastic piece replaced on the bottom deck when it wouldn’t eject a tape. For that price I could have purchased two new VCR’s [granted they would be cheap models – but at least they would work]. When I took this in for the repair I was told that while the GoVideo units were solid and dependable, the stacked ones were the ones that had the most complaints about the ejection arm. There is also the risk of the unit getting too hot if it being used for an expended period of time so make sure that the air vents aren’t blocked by curtains or video cassette boxes.
The Bottom Line
The GoVideo dual deck VCR’s are a great investment if you have the need to copy tapes or want the ability to watch a movie while recording something else on the second deck. This particular model will serve you well providing that you routinely clean the heads and make sure the air vents are kept clean. Invest a few dollars into a VCR rewinder to take the burden off of the internal machinery and you’ll extend the life of your product. It’s a lot less painful to pay $5.00 - $10.00 for a rewinder than to have to fork out ten to fifteen times that amount for a repair. If you are looking for a dual deck VCR GoVideo is most definitely the way to go however if you aren’t going to invest the time into taking care of this, I suggest going with a side by side version instead of the stacked or layered deck model.
GoVideo
7835 E. McClain Drive
Scottsdale, AZ 85260-1732
[480] 998.3400
www.govideo.com
As always, thanks for the visit!
^V^ Freak ^V^
© 2003 Freak369
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Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): $219.00
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