One of the best VCRs I've ever had!
Written: May 26 '03
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Pros: Great picture quality, tons of features, FAST rewind!
Cons: Weird remote, sometimes acts strangely
The Bottom Line: Overall, I would highly recommend this VCR, despite its many flaws.
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| Burbble_dt1's Full Review: Rio DDV3120 Dual Deck VCR |
This is simply a great VCR.
Yes, it does have flaws. Every VCR I have ever owned has had flaws. However, the Pros much outweigh the Cons.
Here's what I think about this VCR:
To begin with, the VCR's recording quality in both SLP and SP is phenominal. It far exceeds that of JVC, and is significantly better than Panasonic's.
The playback quality is also very nice; not quite as good as JVC's DigiPure system, but better than Sharp's Super Picture.
Additionally, I've never seen a VCR rewind a tape as fast as this one; it's incredibly fast!
It also comes with a whole array of neat little features, like Commercial Advance (although that doesn't work very well; it usually doesn't skip through all the commercials correctly). It also comes with a volume control, which is very convenient for me since the TV I have it connected to doesn't have a remote. However, the volume control does have a glitch; the Mute button doesn't mute the sound. It simply lowers it a lot, but you can still hear it.
Also, in relation to sound, the VCR sends unusual sounds after turning it off. When I turn it off, it usually makes a loud popping sound from the speakers. Then, after about 10 minutes it does it again.
The dual-deck feature is great. I can copy a tape in Deck 2 using a VCR hooked into the Line-2 input, and then record something in the other deck, or watch a TV show.
The documentation is very bad. You have to figure out a lot of stuff on your own.
The menus are EXTREMELY annoying and overly complicated to navigate. In order to switch to the SAP, you have to press Menu > a number (haven't memorized them all, yet) > Stop (a few times; it acts like an arrow down) > Fast Forward (a few times; to toggle between Stereo - Mono - SAP - TV & SAP - Simul) > and then press Menu again. There are some menus even more complicated than that.
To contrast that, I have a Panasonic VCR that only requires a single button on the remote to toggle between Stereo - Mono - SAP.
As for the unit's durability? It seems like a pretty sturdy piece of equipment aside from these few things. The front panel's buttons seem like they are going to smush right into the front of the VCR whenever you press them, though. Also, the LEDs on the front panel flicker constantly, as if its about to go black at any second.
The remote is very awkward to use. It's really long, and the buttons are small. In order to fast forward through something at a decent speed while playing it, you need to spin a little dial at the bottom of the remote. The fast forward button only navigates through the video at a slow speed.
Finally, the worst thing about the VCR is this:
The auto-tracking system. This was a huge disappointment after I set it up. I played back a video, and watched the auto-tracking system do its thing. First, there is a small box with a little bar in it (some kind of meter) displayed on the OSD. The little bar moves right and left, as it tracks. When the tape begins playing, it starts out with a severely distorted video, and Mono audio. It gradually tracks up and down (or back and forth) until, after about 5-7 seconds, the audio is Stereo and the video is clear. This problem makes it very difficult to copy videos, because the first few seconds of it will be recorded in mono with very poor video. Luckily, I use a JVC VCR with DigiPure to enhance the video quality, so this wasn't that big of a deal.
Still a disappointment, though.
I haven't had any trouble with the timer recording functioning, but it's rediculous what you have to do to program it. To set up a program, you have to go through this immensely over-complicated maze of menus and options, and then you're not sure if it worked or not. They should take some tips from JVC; you press a few buttons on the JVC VCR's remote, and it's done in seconds (literally).
Well, after reading all my nitpicking, it's up to you to decide if you want this VCR. It's a great value for the cost, but it does have some problems, as I described before.
Overall, I would highly recommend this VCR.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 217
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Epinions.com ID:
Burbble_dt1
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Reviews written: 4
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