You Won't Be Disappointed
Written: Oct 13 '04
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Pros: Great price, great feature set, reliable.
Cons: Awkward manual, limited to DVD-R/RW and commercial DVD.
The Bottom Line: This is a great starter unit for those who want to move up to DVD recording. It records well, has great playback, and is pretty simple to program and use.
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| ike1340's Full Review: Sansui VRDVD4005 DVD Player / VCR Combo |
I found this unit by accident while shopping for a DVD recorder. I hadn't seen a combo DVDR/VCR unit anywhere, and was somewhat surprised to see one at Sears. In light of the price of DVD-only recorders at the time, I decided to snag it.
Several months later, I'm still pleased. Everything works like it's supposed to, and without surprises. DVD playback on commercial and homebrew discs is high quality, even in XP mode--far better than VHS, and without annoying MPEG artifacts. The range of playback features is very nice, especially in-screen zoom (not even offered on my Panasonic DVD player). VHS playback is excellent, without tracking problems on home recorded tapes; SVHS playback emulation is far better than I expected.
My only problem: the system locked up once while editing a homemade DVD. Hard-cycling the power (unplugging it for 5 seconds) fixed everything without losing the disc's contents.
Three criticisms: the manual is comprehensive, but could have been written a little better (it seems to be a translation from something other than English). This can be a disadvantage, and setting up and editing a DVD can be complicated. Also, the limitation to DVD-R/W makes it impossible to play back DVD+R/W discs (the up-and-coming format). Finally, the unit's response to control inputs is sluggish (may take 1-2 seconds when working with DVD functions); it's more of an annoyance than anything. Just be patient when you press a button.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 399
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Epinions.com ID: ike1340
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Reviews written: 1
Trusted by: 0 members
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