dvd recorders

I bought the Zenith XBR413 from Best Buy. It is the exact same as the Govideo VR4940, manual is same page for page, machine is same except for front cosmetics.

As for these types of machines, I only found the Zenith, Govideo and Sansui which is $100 cheaper. As for the Zenith, there help only knows what the manual says. Sometimes when I dub from VHS to DVD on a Verbatim or TDK DVD-R disk, (I play the VHS, pause it and press Copy on the remote and select a speed) it will say "Cannot copy due to bad disk" if I happen to pause the VHS, jump to a new location on the VHS and press Copy twice as the book says. I them have to stop the process which forces me to have a title (every time you stop the process a title is created). If i start again it works. No one can help me with this.

Has anyone had this problem witht the Govideo?

The good news is it does make good quality recordings onto DVD-R. The XP (high quality mode) beat the best I got using encoder software on my PC, and the resulting disk played better in standard DVD player. That would be worth 5 stars, if only it were accepted as usable by my family (including me).

It does have some problems reading S-VHS tapes from my video recorder, which it is spec'd to do. It seems to take a few seconds to get into the correct mode so I lose the first few seconds which is irritating, but after that it works fine.

There is no S-Video input at the back, only the front. Rather odd, but maybe they reckon the only S-Video device in a normal household is a camcorder.

The bad news is it is complicated. The remote has dozens of small buttons and is modal. The modality is very confusing when dubbing from tape to DVD or vice versa, since at that time both devices are in use and you have to wonder which one is being controlled by the buttons. It is not really a universal remote it can only handle a very small number of TVs and not much else. So, it has definately not done the #1 thing needed of it in my household, which is to simplify the A/V setup.

When you play a DVD and pause it, incredibly it does not freeze frame on the screen. It switches to blank screen. If you like the ability to freeze frame and step frames forward and back, which is on every other DVD player I have used, you will miss it here.

One final problem, the DV input is useless from a computer. The recorder has minimal editting capability, so if you try to use your computer software to edit your DV home video then uplink through the front panel to make a tape or DVD, forget it. You can't even manually start the tape or DVD to record and then switch on the computer to send the video. The VR4940 (aka Zenith XBR413 etc.) just complains it can't control the DV device and refuses to do anything with it.

The DV capability is input only, a reasonable limitation but disappointing.

So, because of complexity this does not satisfy people who just want a simple DVD-tape recorder combo, and because of lack of features it won't satisfy those who want a high end gadget.

The manual seems accurate and fairly clear.

There are certain key things you need to know before you purchase this product. First of all, let me explain that I was extremely excited about receiving this product because I thought it was going to eliminate the need for me to buy a PC with a dvd burner and editing software. I currently own a Sony Handycam digital camcorder that uses a IEEE 1394 DV input (firewire). Since my PC does not have a IEEE input, I looked into ways to upgrade my PC to accommodate this; however, in the process, I discovered that my PC did not have the minimum requirements that it needed to edit videos and was going to take even more upgrading than I had originally planned. Therefore, when I saw this product on Amazon and read the product description, it sounded as if it fit perfectly with what my needs were, so I decided to purchase. I was very happy also because I have home videos that are already on VHS tapes that I have been wanting to convert to DVD, which this product has the capability.

ADVANTAGES TO THIS PRODUCT:

• IEEE 1394 DV input on the front panel for digital camcorders
• Ability to put in a DVD and have it play automatically without going through the menu system (advantage when you have kids too young to go through a menu)
• Ability to view picture CDs containing JPEG images
• Ability to play MP3 files
• Progressive scanning for HDTV

WHAT THE PRODUCT DESCRIPTON DOES NOT TELL YOU:

• Yes, you can transfer VHS tapes to DVD and DVDs to VHS tapes, but depending on what format you use, you may not be able to play your DVDs in all recorders.
• This product uses two types of DVDs: DVD-R and DVD-RW (DVD formats are DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW)
* DVD-R will play on all DVD players
* DVD-RW will play on MOST but not all DVD players IF AND ONLY IF you record your video in "Video Mode" rather than "VR mode".
*There are only certain brands of recordable DVDs that work well with this unit; I found this out after buying Memorex and the disc would not initialize, I called customer service and they informed me Memorex always had problems. Customer service informed me to use these brands of recordable DVDs: Philips, Imation, Verbatim, Samsung

• VIDEO MODE: LIMITED, AND I MEAN LIMITED, EDITING FEATURES

1) Basically, it will produce a title and automatic chapters at intervals that you choose from a list: 3 min., 5 min., etc.

2) THERE ARE NO THUMBNAILS!!! The thumbnails that you usually see on a DVD are replaced with titles.

3) If you use a DVD-R to record in this mode, this DVD is playable in all DVD players.

4) If you use a DVD-RW to record in this mode, it will play on MOST but not all DVD players.

5) Personally, I was extremely unhappy to know that I could not do advance editing (with thumbnails and chapters) under video mode so that I could play the DVD in all DVD players. It is also a nuisance because you have to wait around for the end of your tape in case you don't want to record additional material (like fuzz when the tape is over) because you WILL NOT BE ABLE TO EDIT THIS OUT ONCE IT IS RECORDED UNDER THIS MODE. You can delete the last recording and try, try again if this happens (DVD-R remaining recording time will go down when you do this and DVD-RW remaining recording time will remain the same).

• VR MODE: ALLOWS FOR ADVANCED EDITING USING A DVD-RW
1) Uses thumbnail for titles (yeah!)
2) Gives you the ability to cut portions of the video
3) Add chapters where you choose (yeah!, you can start a new chapter at each new scenes, so during playback when you skip through chapters they will be at the beginning of the scenes rather than at pre-determined intervals as is done in "Video Mode")
4) Change title names
5) Add additional content
6) ...BUT EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO KNOW...you can only play this DVD in this GoVideo unit or an RW compatible player (which are high-end players not common on the market).
7) Personally, I loved the advanced editing and was extremely happy with it until I found out that I was limited with my options for playing. After all, I want to be able to pick up a DVD that I made and take it to family and friends' homes or other DVD players in my house and be able to play it on those DVD players, also!

All-in-all: for as much as this product costs it failed to live up to my expectations and I would have returned it if it had not been day number 31 of the 30-day return policy. Now if you are looking to pop in a tape and transfer it to DVD just to have it on DVD, then this would be a good product for you to use because it does have that ability and is fairly easy to understand. However, if you are like me and are a stickler when it comes to home videos...then more than likely, you will not like this product because the advanced editing features are only available on DVDs that you will only be able to play in this DVD player. Therefore, I am stuck with having to use the limited editing functions without the helpful thumbnails and chapters, just so I can play my DVDs in all DVD players. Disappointing.