Pros: Inexpensive - highest quality produces fair results IF you can get it to work.
Cons: Generally poor quality, awkward, error prone, bugs, broke in 6months. TERRIBLE support. AVOID IT.
The Bottom Line: I would recommend you avoid this unit, and spend a little more money on something of higher quality/useability. Customer service will not even return an e-mail.
TrekBody's Full Review: Cyberhome DVR 1600 DVD Recorder
I wanted to get a DVD Recorder so I could archive stuff off of my Tivo, but I have a DirecTivo model, so TivoToGo was not an option. Not wanting to spend a lot of money, I got myself the CyberHome DVD Recorder (Model DVR1600) on sale at Target for $98.
Setup was simple, basically connect the unit the same way you would a VCR with the outputs from the Tivo going into the inputs of the DVD Recorder and the outputs of the recorder to the TV. I changed this later, but more on why in a bit.
I went about preparing to record my first show and of course only glanced at the manual. I put in the supplied blank DVD R disc and received notice the disc needed to be prepared - which only took a minute (no last minute popping in a disc for a show already starting). I then set to recording my first show, but I couldn't seem to get a picture - only the CyberHome logo on-screen. I refered to the manual, and realized I had to set the Source of the input. I pressed the Source button on the somewhat ugly remote, and got a picture, which seemed a bit degraded, but I figured I would move on and try it. I used it exactly as a VCR - pressing Record to Record, and Pause to momentarily halt recording. When I was done, I was asked to Finalize the disc, and waited the minute while it did so (again locking up the screen while doing so).
Well, I wasn't happy with my first results - the image was pretty poor - noisy with compression artifacts (pixelly blocks), and a lack of saturation and brightness I found lacking. So I started reading. I shortly realized that the input I had selected was not the signal from the S-Video cable from the Tivo, but from the RCA cables (I had plugged in both). Why there was a seperate option to record the S-Video with the composite audio, I am not sure, I guess it is not smart enough to detect a signal and use the better. In any event, I went about selecting S-Video, getting a better signal, then went about changing the recording time to reduce it from 2 hours to 1 hour and get better quality. Well my second recording went better. I had a 1 hour disc that I felt was of similar quality to a good VHS recording. Good, but still somewhat disappointing. Not the excellent quality I expected of a DVD from a digital source.
Further discs proved more problematic. I had to choose 2-hour mode for other movies (reducing the quality), and ran into an interesting problem. The 2-hour mode on this unit is not 2 hours - it is only 1 hour and 57 minutes. I lost the last 5 minutes on a couple of recordings before I realized this. This in my opinion is a fatal flaw. If it says 2 hours, it better be 2 hours. There are other time modes as well - I believe 4 and 8 hours. I have not tried them, but from a quality standpoint, I would think they would be unusable. I am a stickler for quality - but not maniacal.
Overall not happy with the unit - and will probably replace it at some point. It has no editing abilities on DVD R discs other than changing the name of a disc or chapter before you finalize it. I have not tried DVD RW discs. It seems that every time I have tried to rename a disc that has run out of space, it crashes the disc (reports it unusable). I am not certain of this, but this machine has cost me a few discs that are reported bad, or ran out of space before the two hours are up.
It has no way to mark chapters as you are recording a movie. Its on-screen menus are very poor - non-intuitive and awkward. For example, instead of using the SOURCE button on the remote to toggle among the 5 or so sources - you hit Source then Left or Right to your Selection, then ENTER. It asks you to use too many different buttons on the remote, and the recording speed in buried too far into the menu system - there are enough tiny buttons on the remote (which I do not like), that they could have had a selection there for something as frequently used as that. Also I found it annoying that you MUST have a menu on the disc, instead of just being able to play it if you finalize a disc and there is only 1 feature. The menu is none too pretty either, and the default names for discs are atrocious.
In longer use, I found the Cyberhome unit lacking as a DVD player too. After watching a movie, the player reverts to the CyberHome logo screen - so you must reselect the source every time, requiring 5 button presses on the remote. We have gone to using a manual switchbox (Radio Shack) for the unit, but since my Tivo's S-Video out is now taken by the DVD Recorder, my signal quality is degraded watching regular TV. I have not yet tried to use the Firewire input, but probably will not bother - especially since the Firewire input is a 4-pin, and my camcorder is a 4-pin, so I would have to buy a 4-pin to 4-pin cable (~$30). It would be easier for me to use iMovie and import directly into my Mac, without introducing potential losses in quality.
I have also experienced errors with the unit for no reason that I can figure. Error messages resulting in unusable discs which it says it tries to repair, but is unsuccessful. I have only used high quality discs (TDK and Verbatim). Speaking of discs - the ability to only burn on DVD R/W media is a bit of a limitation that I found bothersome after a while - since I use both DVD-R and R on my computer.
I have recently contacted customer service to address the 2-hour mode shortfall, and will update this report with a review of their customer service.
UPDATE - well, I have not heard back from customer service in 4 days (including the weekend). I e-mailed them on Friday, reporting on the short recordings in 2-hour mode, but did not get a reply. I attempted to call their 800-number listed in the manual, but after a 35-minute wait (my speaker-phone has a timer - no exaggeration here).
2ND UPDATE - Sent another e-mail asking for support. Have not heard back in 2 weeks. Seems they are ignoring me. Will send them a registered letter and post back if they ever respond. My opinion at this point is RUN AWAY!
3RD UPDATE - Here is the e-mail I received from Cyberhome (after over 2 weeks...)
Dear Valued Customer,
There are many different types of disc media available today, and not all
of them are compatible with CyberHome equipment. And while there may be
others brands of disc media that will perform quite well in our units, we
have found the following brands to be the most compatible with our
equipment:
Imation, Verbatim, Great Quality, Ricoh, Ritek, Nanya, RiData, Daxon, CMC
Magnetics Corp, Info Disc, Intenso, MBI, MCC, and Medianca seem to work
best in our units.
Sony, Fuji Film, HP and Philips are NOT recommended for use in the DVR-1600
models, and we do NOT recommend the use of Memorex, Maxell, or TDK brands
because they are NOT compatible with our units.
We have found that RW discs actually work much better than the R discs,
especially for recording purposes, but you may want to try a few different
types of media to see which ones work the best in your particular unit.
Thank you,
CyberHome Service Center
4TH UPDATE - My ability to use this machine degraded even further. I was having some success with Verbatim media (although I could not get Imation DVD-RW's to work at all as the above correspondance suggested). Still, 1 out of 4 discs would end in errors, then 1 out of 3, then finally only about half and the unit has stopped recording altogether. It does not recognize any discs inserted in the machine, so after some 6 months, maybe 30 recordings (and at least 50 wasted discs) it is heading for the garbage pile. AVOID IT.
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