Video Reviews

This is a great little camera (fits in your hand nicely) for the beginer as well as the more advanced video buff that does not want to carry a heavier equipment.
Very easy to use, it has a number of effects (usual fade-in and out, sepia, black and white and various fun digital effects) that will make your movies fun to watch.
Menus are easy to follow and make sense. Documentation is good.
The 22X optical zoom is realy nice and beats out the competion. Most camcorders optical zooms don't even get close to 20X.
The wide angle attachment is a very nice addition as it realy makes a difference when shooting indoors to get more of the room.
Mine came with a free Pinacle Studio 8 editing software which is a good entry level software.(You will need a serious PC, though, if you are going to do any large editing work as digital movies require a lot of space and memory).
The only serious con is the image quality in low light situations. The resulting image is grainy and cold and the camera's "spot" light is useless.
Some reviewers have complained about the motor noise that is picked-up by the built-in microphone, it is noticable when filming in a church (!) but for most applications,you will not notice it.

-- Best things: Fits hand, very easy to use, convenient size (smaller more expensive models are hard to control, even with stabilization), the optical zoom is wonderful, the sound is sensitive and surprisingly accurate (more on that below), image quality in bright light is awesome, AV passthrough lets you transcribe to/from video or S-video devices (e.g., TV, VCR) direct to FireWire (with or without going onto tape in between). It works wonderfully with iMovie software on Mac OS-X.
-- Worst things: Comes from Canon without a tape, comes with USB cable but not a FireWire cable, has bells and whistles (who actually needs to change colors of illuminated buttons?), takes still shots (I don't need/want a digital still photo feature with another set of media and cables). Built-in mic picks up wind noise. (I haven't tried the optional accessory microphone.)
-- Other comments: Perhaps pricey, but worth it for the Canon optics and ease of use. The ZR-70 comes with a wide-angle lens which is actually useful. So is the remote control. Battery life is longer than a tape's capacity, so plan to have a spare battery and a separate charger (not included) and change battery and tape together. I haven't done much with low light conditions, but it seems okay. Some ZR reviews have mentioned motor noise picked up in the sound recording - it isn't a problem for me. The camera adjusts the recording level to match the ambient sound level - this means that you get great sound in a wide range of situations. Only if there is no other sound will the camera turn up the sensitivity so high that it records its own motor's noise.
-- Punchline: I'm really happy with this DV camcorder, and recommend it. (5 stars if it came with a tape and FireWire cable in the box, and without still photo feature.)

Before buying this I did lot of research finally came down to canon zr70mc and sony dcr-hc30. (don't fall for other canon models like zr80-85. they lack features ) Both models are appealing for price. Sony has bigger lcd and better lowlight performance while Canon have better zoom (22x as compared to 10x of sony ) and lots and lots of features. Some people say canon is having better image stability So it can afford 22x zoom w/o problem.
in zr70mc you can download video from TV/VRC or other camcorder witout any additional accesories. So easily copy old analog tapes to this digital camcorder Or burn DVD's. Canon also provides wide angle lens (very useful ) Plus sony has only 3 months labor while canon gives 12 months labor warranty.

only tape loading in zr70 is little difficult if you use tripod.

Overall this is a good value. I tested indoor using 100w room light. Picture was little yellowish. But I got filter set from ebay for 17$ and all looks good now.
NOTE: protect lens and always use uv filters.

New Digital8 Video Recording Up to 500 lines of horizontal resolution Video8/Hi8 Playback New 20x Optical/360x Digital Zoom New NightShot with Slow Shutter 0 lux up to 10 feet away using the built-in infrared system LaserLinkTM Wireless Transmitter with TV Control Wireless connection between your camera and TV, up to 16 feet (requires optional IFT-R10 receiver.) TV Control will power your TV on, and set it to the proper video input (most Sony TVs with Remote Control capability) Steadyshot® Picture Stabilization i.LINKTM DV Interface (IEEE1394) Edit, Dub, Archive, or Playback between two digital components (bi-directional). Photo Mode: Store hundreds of individual still images on the tape. 7 Mode Program AE: Lesson Mode, Spotlight Mode, Beach and Ski Mode, Landscape Mode, Sunset and Moon Mode, and Low Lux. Advanced Color Viewfinder Intelligent Accessory Shoe Digital Effects: Still, Flash Motion, Luminance Key, Slow Shutter, Trail, Old Movie 8 Picture Effects Slim, Stretch, Mosiac, SSolarization, Monotone, Sepia, Neg. Art, Pastel Fader Effects: Black, Mosaic, Bounce, Monotone, Overlap New Analog Recording Capability Record from an analog source and converts to digital video through A/V inputs. Imaging Device 1/4" Color CCD 460k pixels Focusing Full Range Inner Focus-Auto/Manual Shutter Speed 1/60 - 1/4000 (In AE Mode) Viewfinder Color 113K pixels Accessory Shoe Yes-Intelligent Video/Audio Recording System Digital Component Helical Scan System Audio/Video Outputs Yes (Phono - Stereo) Audio/Video INputs Yes (Phono - Stereo) S-VIDEO IN/OUT: Yes External MIC Input Yes (Stereo Plug-in Power) Headphone Jack Yes (Stereo) Control L (LANC) Yes White Balance Auto Exposure Auto/Manual (Dial)

I bought this camera after reading lot of reviews. This is the first video camera that I have bought. Few things which PV-DV910 lacks is that it does not come with any software so as to edit the Digital Video in the PC, no firewire cables - even though it has IEEE1394 port for transfer. Eventhough it says 300x digital zoom, the system does not go beyond 36x. The performance is very poor in low lighting. Out door in normal sunlight, it is great. Overall not too happy for the money that I paid for it.

this camcorder has some wonderful features and the 300X digital zoom is great! also, the included light is very convenient for low-light filming and nightshooting. there are many special effects which i have yet to use, but its nice to know that they are there if i need them. the still-shot camera is great too. its nice to be able to email pictures to family and friends. this camcorder is very light and compact, and the resolution is great.

I bought the DVR4000 about 4 months ago and I have to say it's a sturdy, reliable system. The VCR player is 4 heads and chock full of recording and playback features. The DVD player is easy to use and has presented no major problems so far. I noticed that some scenes skipped on the DVD player and the sound went in and out, but I think it's the result of a faulty DVD rather than the player itself. This happened on a total of 2 DVDs out of a dozen or so that I've played in the interim.
Overall, this is a good system to have if you're not quite ready to ditch your entire VHS library, but at the same time build your DVD collection.

I BOUGHT THIS PRODUCT BECAUSE OF ITS SPACE SAVING QUALITIES AND DVD FEATURES. MY OLD DVD PLAYER, WHILE GOOD, DIDNT LIVE UP TO TODAYS PLAYERS FEATURES.(I HAD NO ZOOM OR SMOOTH REVERSE ETC.) MY OLD VCR WAS GOING ON 8 YEARS OLD SO IT WAS A MOVE UP FOR ME THERE TOO. I SOLD MY OLD STUFF FIRST SO I COULD JUSTIFY HAVING A NEW ONE. IT WAS SO NICE TO RUN JUST A COUPLE OF CABLES TO MY HOME THEATER SET-UP INSTEAD OF MANY FROM BOTH UNITS. PLUS THE DVR4000 LIVES UP TO ITS CLAIM OF BEING A VERY GOOD DVD PLAYER. THE VCR IS ONLY AVERAGE BUT WITH VHS ON ITS WAY OUT I WILL ONLY USE IT FOR MY EXISTING TAPE FILES ANYWAY. ITS MY BELIEF THAT COMBO UNITS WILL BECOME MORE AVAILABLE IN ALL SORTS OF UNITS. ONE DAY WE MAY HAVE A DVD/CD/CD-R/CD-RW/DVD-R PLAYER RECORDERS ALL IN ONE UNIT.AS FAR AS THIS UNIT GOES - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

I bought this a while back and I love it. I can play cd's, dvd's or tape a movie. Its great to have a combo, I'm glad this company thought of it. However because of the type of satellite that I receive I am not able to record a movie and watch another channel at the same time. But that's a minor complication for me and not big of a deal. Though it might be to some other people.

Overall the quality is great! Its easy to use, and what could be better than a combo? Its great I would highly reccomend it to anyone. However before you go use it, like anything else read the directions, if you're a movie junkie you'll come to appreciate this beauty.

I bought this card at its debut and have remained happy with it to this day. It is a granted fact that the 3DFX chipsets started losing to NVidia in the speed category long ago, however the Voodoo3 drivers are solid and stable. I run mine with a Tyan motherboard and it has worked wonderfully. Even today, my brand new GeForce4 and not-quite-as-new GeForce3 have problems with simple things like DVD playback. Granted, this might be fixable with minor tweaking, but the point is that the Voodoo3 3500 did everything it claimed it could and did it flawlessly right out of the box. In the category of computer hardware, that is simply amazing. Even though 3DFX is out of business, if you find that you don't need to play new games or run Windows XP, I would still recommend using this card.

Let me first state that I purchased this card from another vendor. But that doesn't negate this review in the least. Anyone interested in the fastest multimedia card today should definitely check out the Voodoo3 3500. Not only is the card faster than two Voodoo2s in Direct3D, OpenGL, and Glide but it comes with a TV/FM tuner that has stereo dbx support. You can also encode MPEG-2 video and edit video and audio files. The card ships with an adapter cable that splits into two connectors. The first is a VGA connector for your monitor and the second is a pod that contains inputs and outputs for S-video, composite video, and audio. The cable then attaches to the cards's connector.

After running this board for past few days I'm glad I bought it. The drivers are more stable than anything NVIDIA can code and the image quality is quite excellent. 3dfx recommends that you have a Pentium II 266MHz system as the minimum with an available AGP slot. Even with Voodoo 4 and 5 on the horizon the 3500 is a dynamite card that's guaranteed last for quite some to come.

I've been using voodoo series video cards for quite some time for playing games, wathing dvd (etc.)and always been satisfied with their performance with any kind of windows based applications. The best part about the VOODOO 3 3500/2000/3000, their compatible with every game in the market, but forget about intel motherboards.WHY? Intel chipset based motherboards unfortunetly lack support for few games i've known so far(roque spear, etc.)and most intel fanatics blame on other parts of the computer(video card/sound/processor), but not considering that so called "INTEL" is not a godess or a close match. I own both Voodoo 3 3500/2000 agp series and their perform above their specifications(no doubt). Voodoo 3500 is a great performer in almost anything: tv out is fine/tv tuner is more than fine no complaints so far.

I bought a KOSS-1689,for about 55.00... Skips very easily,anti-skip eats batteries. Sounds Great! When it works.. Also-any Cd's that you make yourself--- will not play them!////Guess what? 12 month warranty./// Mine just "died" after 12 months and 1 week.. Anybody from KOSS care to respond? And, no there is no extended warranty on this kind of player.Plus an extended warranty costs too much anyway.I will be purchasing a Memorex to replace this one.

This is a magnificent CD player. It goes anywhere and does just about anything. It positively will not skip. Battery life does seem a bit short however but disabling the anti-skip functions of the cd player do help this. The headphones could also be a bit better, but the player itself is every bit as good as a Sony or any other name brand.

It's a great player, especially at this price! the 40 second buffer seems to be underestimated, as I shook, hit, and dropped this thing for a minute straight with no skipping. The previous bad review was probably based on jostling before the buffer is full, which is a problem on any anti-skip CD player. A great value, I highly recommend it!

There are a _lot_ of issues with this card, its software, and its documentation. However, it was still worth buying, at least for me.

Tech support calls are toll calls to Canada, but most of the tech people are quite friendly and helpful. However, they do acknowledge certain bugs and limitations in the product. Other problems I found they hadn't heard of.

Among the issues I encountered: 1) The installer for the DVD software doesn't accept the code number on the disc nor a replacement code number supplied by the techs. A new CD is being sent to me (for free). 2) On my system, there is no usable video going to the monitor when booting with VGA mode enabled (XP). This may be an incompatibility with my large LCD monitor, but a prior competing card worked OK. 3) I tried the feature that allowed flipping the image 180 degrees; the software allowed the initial flip but then didn't realize so and disallowed flipping back -- I had to reinstall drivers (using upside-down display and backwards-working mouse!). 4) If you download the various drivers and software apps (5 total) from the ATI site and install them from a directory not on C:, some of the installs may fail until you move them to a directory on C:. Others install fine from anywhere. 5) To get tech support, you first have register, which involves supplying a TON of info about yourself, your usage, your buying habits, and the card's incredibly long product code (and normal-length SN). If you've already installed the card, you probably need to physically remove it to get these numbers because they are NOT on the box or anywhere else except in tiny print on the bottom-facing part of the card. 6) The installer for the remote control software in part ignores the directory you chose for installation and puts some components in the default (apparently hard-coded) location anyway. To move it so all the remote software is together, you have to edit the registry. 7) The system-testing software incorrectly says you don't have DirectX installed, even if you DO have DirectX 9 installed. This bug was acknowledged by several techs. 8) There's no feature-by-feature install choice (it's only all or none) on the CD. 9) When I booted with a VCR connected to the outputs but not having configured TV out, the monitor image rolled violently like an old TV with its vertical hold broken, making it totally unusable. ATI almost had me send the card back as a result, but I figured out the issue myself (disconnect the VCR and reboot). 10) I've had recurring issues where the sound comes out of the left channel only -- system beeps etc. are still in stereo but TV is left-channel-only. 11) Sometimes the window showing the TV picture goes blank and you must move it or resize it or change the channel to get it to display again. 12) The feature to show the TV in Internet Explorer causes IE and the TV app both to crash. The techs acknowledged that this feature is unstable.

A couple of the above issues may be unique to my setup, but some definitely are not. Also, reviews I've read say that if you hook up a TV (I haven't) as a "second" display (e.g., to watch movies played thru your PC, using the RF remote to control them), you must a) reboot and b) use the TV as the FIRST display and your monitor as the second one! That could be a major issue if you intend to use this feature (which I may in the future). And of course you'd have to reboot again to use the monitor as your main display again.

But, as I said, the card is still worthwhile at today's lower prices (down from twice as high). The remote is very nice, the capture is good, the TV watching/recording features are many and powerful, and it's a decent 2D/3D video card to boot. Even if you don't have use for the FireWire ports (I already had FireWire on my PC), the price/performance of this card is very good -- even considering the likely toll calls to tech support in Canada.

I uprgraded to this in order to play No One Lives Forever 2 because my old RivaTNT wasn't supported. The reviews recommended either GeForce4 Ti or the ATI 8500. A comparison of models and prices led me to the All-in-Wonder 8500DV. I liked the idea of the TV tuner, as I had one years ago, but it didn't survive the upgrade to Win98 (but that's another story).
The original install on my Win2K machine went almost as smooth as expected. It wouldn't let me run the driver install before installing the card, and then when I did install the card, it popped up a dozen or so "found new hardware" dialogs. It finally stopped that, and I was able to run the installer. Everything seemed to be OK, but I went directly to the ATI website and got the latest drivers. 5 out of the 6 download options were newer than the ones on the CD, so I tried doing the updates. BIG MISTAKE. The upgrade instructions were confusing (ok, so I didn't look at them too closely, I DON'T NEED TO READ INSTRUCTIONS!) about when to reboot and when to say no to the prompts. I went ahead and let it reboot at the wrong time, and I got a dozen or so "found new hardware" messages, this time no amount of pointing at the CD, the downloaded files, the windows directory, etc would recognize these devices as having ANY valid drivers. Bummer. Re-install from the CD. Redo the updates without rebooting at the wrong times. Bingo! Everything works except two drivers. I had to go to control panel and "update driver" manually. This time it found the correct driver in the Windows directory. Finally it worked.
(Now, back to playing NOLF2. It was happy with the video card, but the intro video was choppy. The game plays pretty smooth, not great, but good. Reading through the tech support stuff, I find I need more system RAM to fix that. We'll see if that helps.)
As for the features of the 8500DV, the TV tuner is great. I really like the pause TV, especially with a second window open of the live video, it works better than picture-in-picture. The RF remote control works fine, but the mouse movement seems sluggish and I can't find a speed setting for it. I intend to route some cables from the computer to the living room TV and see how good that looks. Svideo length limit is supposed to be 35', I think it should reach.

I was surprised to read a lot of the bad reviews (after I bought the card)! I had absolutely NO problems installing this card on a W2K box w/ SP4. I've converted almost all of my (deathly-boring-home) VHS tapes to DV, edited them, and burned DVD's with only a few "reboots" and those were mostly Explorer related (right-clicking on 3+ Gb files too quickly w/ preview on can make Windows a bit unhappy!). The TV also worked great with no problems. The drivers that came packed with the card worked fine, but I quickly upgraded them anyway (out of habit) from the ATI site. I'm not sure why my install went so smooth compared to others - my machine is a dual-850Mhz HP Kayak w/ 512Mb RDRAM and it's usually pretty picky about what I install.

How do you get pictures and movies on your email? I have windows XP and can't get things loaded onto the computer without it playing on just the camera.

I've owned this camcorder for a month...Although please avoid them if possible, they open the box from JVC and change the standard battery for a NiCa battery which lasts only 20mins! Then they charge you extra for the normal battery. Unless you're really on the ball you'll be caught out like me. I cannot believe the nerve of these people! Check out Camcorder & Computer Video mag for other retailers with prices just as good, some better.

The GRDVM50 is identical to the grdvm70 except it doesen't have the memory card & built in flash. Firstly, the video quality is superb. For my personal use of creating PC picture albums I find the digital stills perfectly adaquate, one real advantage with the software is even if the still you take is not in great focus you can frame by frame advance and you'll always find in 1 or 2 frames a clear image, just press the capture button on the software and this is the still thats transferred. If you're looking for high quality stills then buy a dedicated digital camera of high cost camcorder like the sony pc100 approx.$1500 street!

In a nutshell, this unit is so easy to use and carry around, it's also pretty rugged compared to the plasticcy models from other manufacturers.

On the downside, yes you can hear motor whine on the tape when using zoom but to be honest I really don't find it a problem. Wind noise-there is an electronic feature to reduce windnoise. I used this on Millenium Force rollercoaster at Cedar Pt.(Ohio) and it worked fine. The battery doesen't last long, you can buy 1.5hrs (actual) from camera shops. JVC Service & literature don't give me a warm feeling in terms of PC connectivity & what I've heard. Oh yeah, I had a problem with connecting to PC, check under on your PC under'Start,settings,control panel,ports, that the baud rate is 9600' JVC connectivity literature is pathetic considering how easy it actually is to connect. Don't waste time reading the software manuals, just install & use.

So..as far as rating goes, I'm not biased, and I'm basically blown away by this little machine considering the price I paid and the overall performance.

If you are looking for an ultracompact, feature-filled camcorder, the JVC GR-DVM70U digital cybercam will take you to new levels of vacation and home video making. The GR-DVM70U features a digital still picture output that allows this camcorder to act as a digital still camera. The still images are stored on a removable 4 MB multimedia card and can be downloaded onto your PC via the provided serial cable. A short editing process makes your images Web-ready or e- mail compliant with the software included.

This JVC digital cybercam offers a high level of picture and sound quality. A 680,000-pixel CCD delivers outstanding resolution, and with the 180,000-pixel color LCD monitor, the camcorder can be operated from any angle. For important close-up shots, the 200x digital zoom provides fast zooming at variable speeds by finger pressure.

This cybercam is full of digital effects and scene transitions for the budding filmmaker. Let your creativity run free with effects such as classic film, strobe, slow shutter, black and white, and many more. A time-lapse capability allows you to record at preset intervals to catch slow motion action such as plant growth or cloud movement. You can also record in a special animation mode that creates the illusion of movement for an otherwise stationary scene when you shoot a series of slightly different poses. Random assemble editing provides an eight-scene memory for favorite scenes as well as the ability to add special effects.

The JVC GR-DVM70U is fully compatible with your PC computer. It includes a serial cable, 4 MB multimedia card and digital output link. Other accessories include a handgrip strap, audio-video output cable, editing cable, DC adapter, cleaning cloth, AC adapter/battery charger, and docking station.

We purchased this DVD player about 2 months ago, and we're happy with it (for the most part). I read another reviewer complain about color streaking while the DVD was playing. While watching "Pride & Prejudice", I noticed a yellowish-green patch along the left side of the screen that only went away when I totally turned the player off and restarted the movie. This has only happened twice since we've had it, but still- it's only a few months old. Other than that, this DVD player sets up easily and delievers a (virtually) clear picture. It's also reasonably priced. If you're in the market for a seriously high-tech DVD player, you should check out some other brands or models. If you just want something to play DVD movies on, this will do. But, ask SONY about the whole color streaking thing before you buy.

This DVD Player was great, a 5 star marvel until 3 days ago, and now it doesn't work at all. "No Disc," it says, and the next thing you know, it's not a matter of a smudged disc, as I cleaned it. It's not a DVD-RW, it was the movie, Grosse Point Blank. Then the Big Lebowski. Then Independence Day, Face/Off, and the list grows. No warning, no signs, just suddenly, "NO DISC."

I don't know what the life expectancy of a Sony DVD Player is, but I have to believe it is more than 18 months.

I'm not quite sure why the star rating on this product isn't higher, because I've only had great experiences with my player. This is the first DVD player I've owned, and it has performed wonderfully. The picture is great, the sound is fantastic, and it has always played every DVD I put in without a problem. I've had it now for 2 months and used it often.
I agree with the first review that the downside is the remote, which doesn't glow. However this is a minor annoyance, with the quality of the product for the price. Another con I've noticed is that once the disc is in the tray, it's not completely silent. You can hear it spinning and sometimes change chapters. BUT, it is barely noticeable, especially if your player is behind closed glass doors.
If you're looking for a high-end model with every feature you desire and want it to perform perfectly, then you have no choice but to pay more. However, this model is perfect for those that can't spend a lot but still want their DVD player to work. I think the Sony brand is trustworthy and I would highly recommend this player.

I bought this in early 2003. DVD drawer will only open with the remote. Now half of the remote functions won't work and there is no other way to access things. My center speaker stopped working (no dialogue). It is not the speaker. But the remote won't work when I try to change the mode to a different output. So is now useless.

Picked this up because I needed something for my 15 x 15 foot family room that had a small footprint and low cost. Also, I wanted my kids to be able to play DVD's with-out using my high end system.

This is a slim player, and the speakers are small as well. Koss has a good rep, but this unit (after checking the fine print in the manual) is actually made by Oritron.

The install was easy enough, everything is color-coded. The wires to the speakers could be longer. If you aren't going to set-up the front speakers and center channel very close to the DVD unit, you'll be paying a trip to the store for speaker wire!.
The sub-woofer could also use a longer wire. The on-screen instructions and calibrations are user-friendly; you can adjust items like distance from speakers and loudness of each speaker.

Also- if you have an old t.v. (with-out inputs), you'll have to buy an RF modulator.

So even though, the initial price for the Koss DVD player is low, you can have an additional outlay [money] for extra wires and the modulator.

Performance-wise, the system is not bad. Althought the unit only puts out 200 watts (over the 5.1), the sound is clear and strong enough. You're not going to be able to fill an auditorium with the sound, but it's adequate for a decent sized room.
The sub-woofer pumps out plenty of bass as well. There are the usual settings for stadium, hall, disco, live, etc that you can play around with as well.
We put the Lord of The Rings DVD on and it sounded great.
You might want to adjust the surround settings to fit your soundfield.

The fan is loud, but if you're not sitting on top of the unit, it's not noticeable.
The remote control has small buttons, but not microscopic.

The system takes a while to load a dvd. Also, if you want to load or remove a disk, the DVD defaults to on and you'll lose the picture on your tv screen. This aspect is absolutely maddening!

All in all, for the price, you get an integrated system that ties everything together nicely since it also has two aux inputs (so you can pump your tv and vcr through it as well).
As a secondary unit (that you could let your kids use as a knock-around system), it's fine. Just don't expect the quality of an [expensive] system.

This unit is very easy to set up and so far has worked great. The quality is much better than I expected. I live in an apartment and it sounds great in my living room. I even have to keep the woofer at half power. I suspect it is made by the same people that make oritron dvd players, as that is what my parents have and their remote is almost exactly the same, and the onscreen menus feature exactly the same graphics. It is definitly not manufactured by koss, they must outsource or license their name for it. But it still is an excellent system. I use it for the radio as well as cd playback. However every once in a while it will skip excessively with cd's, all I do is eject it, then re-insert it and it works perfectly. My friends pioneer does exactly the same thing. No, it does not have digital inputs, and it may not impress your audiophile friends, but it definitely does the trick especially for the price. I looked at several other dvd players/surround sound systems for around the same price and the quality was definitely not up to the level of this unit. I would recommend this to anyone not wanting to shell out XXX$ for a "name-brand" system.

For a combo player, this one is pretty good. If you can get over the silver color .. I'd prefer it in black, the mirrored front is cool though.

Please note .. if you're a serious AV person, this should not be the center-piece of your Home Theater. However it makes a great second/bedroom player.

I bought this unit after returning a Samsung DVD-2000 that I was just not pleased with. This unit's operation was much quieter than the Samsung, plus the DVD's video performance was slightly crisper (using the S-Video jack) and the audio was very noticeably better. This unit has played every disc I've put in it, DVD, CD, CD-RW. It has played a disc of MP3s that were encoded anywhere from 128kbps to 320kbps.

The VHS quality, is well, VHS quality. It's just a standard VCR. Other than HiFi, there are no frills. On the plus side though, it plays tapes fine, isn't loud, and hasn't eaten any of my tapes.

The only problem with this unit is that the auto-clock feature doesn't seem to work, or I have some setting wrong. Either way, that's a problem .. it's a pretty basic feature.

The remote isn't a universal, which is only a minor annoyance.

While I haven't had the unit for very long I have been very pleased with it up to this point. It is silver with a mirrored band along the bottom where most of the buttons reside. Although this can make reading the button label a bit tricky I think it gives it a slick look. Set-up was easy on my 27" analog set and the instructions covered many different potential configurations. The remote is not universal nor is it back-lit but it is small and handy with an efficient button layout. This was fine for me because I've grown tired of so many large remotes cluttering up the coffee table.

I have only watched a couple DVDS but have had no problems. The VCR functions also seem to work fine at this early stage so no complaints there. The timed recording function is solid with programming being fairly intuitive. My only comment is that there does not seem to be a way to set the time to record without scrolling through each minute. If that is the worst I can say about it then I have had a good experience. The unit was a bit noisy when I tested it out on the floor but once I set it on its shelf under the TV it operated quietly.

The MP3/CD Audio functions work only OK. The music plays well and it is nice to be able to set up play lists from a disc but I haven't figured out how to shuffle an entire MP3 disc. Especially if the MP3s are burned into seperate folders by album. Perhaps more reading of the manual will help but it looks like all the MP3s need to be copied into one directory to do any meaningful shuffling. Good job all around though.

Fine product for the money. With an extensive library of old VHS tapes, and kids who are enthralled with all the new DVDs available, I turned to this unit almost one year ago. It has performed flawlessly. It is a no-brainer to program, which is good because I don't have a brain for these things normally.

I have used it in conjunction with both my old analog camcorder, and a newer digital model. Fine.

I have used it without cable attached, and with cable running through it. Fine.

VERY IMPORTANTLY...it is easy enough for my kids (under 10) to use it without Dad's help. EVEN MORE IMPORTANT...Mom can use it without Dad's hinderance.

If anyone breaks it now, after one year, well it doesn't owe me anything. Good choice all-in-all.