dvd recorders

I tested it out the other night and it works great! I used a DVD+RW disc and was able to do some test recordings. Though it does not play in my 1997 DVD player, or game systems, it does play in the recorder itself and also in my companion Cyberhome DVD player, the compact size CH DVD 300/S.
I think the newer DVD players, if one checks if it lists that it is compatible with DVD-R / -RW or DVD+R / +RW, one can be just fine. My DVD player is older, so there is a chance it isn't compatible with any recordable DVD formats. (This recorder records in +R/+RW only)
The player works great! It has many recording speeds, HQ 1 hour, SP 2 hour, EP #?, ELP#?, and SLP 6 hour. I couldn't tell a big difference in HQ vs. SP, so I will most likely use SP. The 6 hour quality is worse than VCD, but the other modes come out real nice. (I would guess the EP or ELP may be in the VCD or digital-VHS like quality area) I did a test from a VCR SP recording and also live off my TV cable and it looks very good, though a TV source is near NTSC 320x240, and DVD is 640x480 or so, it is amazing to capture the TV on a digital disc, for collection purposes.
The RW disc is nice because you don't have to finalize the disc, just record and you are done, there are a few seconds when you STOP the recording, but it worked much like my VCR as to starting the recording, and pausing.
A neat surprise, the deck came with a leather case with empty sleeves for DVDs, and it came with 3 free +RW discs! It included batteries for the remote, and also had a AV cable and an RF cable for connections. I was happy to be surprised by the extra items. The recorder also has its own TV tuner, for live or timer recordings and multiple inputs.

I have a collection of cartoons I have gathered over the years on tape and have dearly wanted to put them on a recordable DVD, but have been waiting for prices to come down in the players. I was so glad when this recorder came available!

Just a couple follow up comments on my earlier review. After 90 days my recorder's read-write mechanism died. The head went back and forth and said either no disc or error. I called CyberHome support and suprise, they answered the phone right away. They asked a few questions, then gave me an RMA number. I mailed it and received a brand new (not remanufactured) unit within a week. The new unit seems to set up and begin recording a bit faster, so the first unit may have been marginal. Before you misjudge CyberHome as low quality, I will mention that when buying DVD players, I had to return three different brands that were defective out of the box. Now that is bad QC. If you encounter ocassional pauses playing recordings on other machines, it may be due to the optional chapter markings every 5 minutes. These are on by default. Chapter markings are great for skipping through a disk, but to my suprise, not all players handle them well. My old Koss portable and recent Phillips player handle chapter markings just fine. My old Panasonic gives a momentary video jerk at each marking. My niece has a player that enters pause at each chapter, but I do not know the brand or age of her player. Auto chapter markings are easily turned off if they pose a problem for you. I still recommend this recorder.

This thing works great for six months, just like everyone else says, then just starts having all sorts of problems. It says "no disc", then "reading", then it says "open", but its closed, then its stuck reading "ch 003 ME". I just emailed cyberhome, and am still waiting for a response, so we'll see how this all pans out. But by the looks of everyone else, probably not so well. Can anyone say lawsuit....cause I smell one cooking. I'm not throwing out money without a fight. Anyway, DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS!!