Programmed Obsolescence
Written: Jul 24 '06 (Updated Jul 27 '06)
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Pros: Many discs finalized. Speed/quality flexibility.
Cons: Full DVD recording not possible after ~3 years. Wasted discs. No pause during dubbing.
The Bottom Line: Don't trust for long-term or heavy use. May be okay for general recording but not for converting your VHS collection.
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| minddrive's Full Review: Sansui VRDVD4005 DVD Player / VCR Combo |
Maybe I have lofty expectations, but a major malfunction after 3 or so years is unreasonable.
I purchased this unit from a friend in early or middle of 2004. He had it for about a year. I made many recordings from VHS to DVD over the 2 years I had it.
Sure it does the basics like VHS and DVD playback. VHS recording is straightforward with the usual two speed options. Setting up of Timer Recording is somewhat tedious though.
The flexibility of recording to DVD at 4 speeds is great. I tended to use SLP (the equivalent of VHS 6 hour EP mode) for recordings where quality was not critical. LP mode is a middle setting good for most other programs (a 4 hour mode that used to be in VCRs) where higher quality is desired. SP is the standard high quality DVD mode that runs 2 hours per disc. There is also an XP mode for even higher quality recording at 1 hour per disc, but I never used it. I imagine this highest quality mode would be useful for High Definition TV programming. Different speeds can be used on the same disc on different titles.
That's about where the flexibility ends. When recording to DVD-R Video mode (compatible with standard DVD players,)there is no ability to lay down chapter marks nor label them. You can only assign a title to the disc. Chapter marks can be added by pausing the recording. However, pausing is not possible when dubbing from VCR to DVD (not sure about DVD to VCR.) When dubbing, you must fully stop and restart, which can clutter the table of contents.
To enable use of a DVD-R in a standard player, it is necessary to format the disc (typically takes less than 30 seconds.) Then after recording, the disc needs to be finalized. This is a tenuous process that can take 5-10 minutes or more - and then sometimes fail. My overall experience was about a 10% finalize failure rate.
After many discs recorded successfully, now anytime I start a disc, after recording two programs on a disc, the disc is no longer recognized - useless. Orion Sales who manufactures Sansui units were very little help. I taught THEM how to power off and restart the unit after 10 seconds to minimize finalize failures. They said my issue may be that the new blank discs are not compatible, suggesting I get older ones. A firmware update is not possible (most other DVD recorders can be updated.) Otherwise, it is a laser alignment problem and all repairs are done through Sears. Unfortunately, when I call Sears repair, they have no idea what I am talking about and never heard of Sansui.
So, because I can't get any repair estimates, I must assume based on prior VCR repairs that it would cost $50-100 to even look at the unit. New VCR/DVD recorders sell for as low as $150 now. Standalone DVD recorders that can be hooked up to camcorders (and probably VCRs) sell for $80 and possibly lower. There are no older discs available, just 1-16x speed. Either way this is called programmed obsolescence. All I can do now is make sure that Sears nor Sansui profit from their sloppy manufacturing.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 200
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Epinions.com ID:
minddrive
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Reviews written: 9
Trusted by: 1 member
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