Video Reviews

I got this camera as a loaner the other day when I took my Sony in for repair. Any thoughts of getting a JVC in the future have died.

First, the good stuff. The controls and the setup are MUCH better than Sony. The tape access, on the side, is preferable to Sony's bottom loading (on at least some, and my, unit) tape. Further, the on switch only requires a quick glance to turn on, rather than a serious look until you are familiar with it -- like the Sony. Finally, the built in light really comes in handy for quick shots.

That's it. There is a constant buzz on the camera that comes through on the tape. From looking at other JVC reviews, this seems to be a systematic problem not limited to my unit. And the picture is no where near as sharp. Now, my camera does have a slightly bigger CCD, but still the sharpness of Sony overwhelms JVC -- at least for one CCD camcorders. As far as taking still pictures, I didn't take any so I can't comment, but don't buy a camcorder to take pictures. That feature is there for a quick spontaneous snapshot when your camera isn't available or handy, not for continuous use.

I'm glad I get to give this back. I can live with akward controls, but I've got to have good picture quality and this camera doesn't deliver.

I confess... I made the unforgivable mistake !!!!!

Before buying my camcorder, I browsed the web for endless hours, for 2-3 months, looking for the best product within a reasonable price range. I kept IGNORING the SONY till the end, because it was a $100-150 more than the best I eventually found ....the JVC GRDVL820U.

I should never have written that check without holding a SONY in my palm and seeing what it has to offer.

I got my JVC and proudly used it the first 2 weeks ....but much was missing ....it didn't live up to my expectations. The pictures were good but not sharp, as would be expected of a MegaPixel camcorder. Indoor shooting and shooting in low light was a pain ....color reproduction was horrible in subdued light.

I was lucky I could return my camera and get my money back .....because soon I built up enough courage to walk upto a SONY dealer and try the DCR TRV38 ......AND IT LEFT ME SPEECHLESS!!!

The color reproduction, even in low-low light is incredible. It enhances the picture tone and brightness beyond imagination. The picture sharpness is unbelievable ....truely MegaPixel. It has terrific functions, way-way advanced features, exceptional craftsmanship and looks.

The SONY stands out at the top and has no challenger. I don't mind the extra $100 or 150. I really can't believe I ignored SONY initially!!!

So.... DON'T BUY A CAMCORDER UNLESS YOU TRY A SONY !!!!

After using this camera very happily for about a year and a half, suddenly videos became very blocky when onscreen objects moved. Now, instantly, everyone reading this is going to say, "How obvious, the heads are dirty." But I don't think this is the case. I have cleaned the camera with a cleaning tape about once every two or three weeks, or when it looked like the heads needed cleaning. But about two months ago, that stopped helping. The picture has become progressively blockier. A couple of days ago, I gently cleaned the heads with q-tips and a non-harming cleaning solution, but this did nothing to improve the camera's condition.

I recently went to Best Buy and talked to a salseman there, who said more complaints are made about JVCs regarding this matter than Canon or Sony.

Believe me, I didn't want to switch brands - as I had been using and liking my JVC camera, as I said, for about 1 1/2 years. But soon I'll be getting a Canon and throwing the old JVC away. It's unlikely I'll buy from them again.

This is a great DVD player. It has everything you need, at a price you can't beat. It's such a good buy. It's easy to set up and easy to use. A great first DVD player for anyone who is thinking of getting a DVD player. I wouldn't use it on my HDTV home theater, but if you just want something simple that looks great, this is the one. It has good sound and picture for the price. Haven't had any problems with it, what can I say I love it. It was cool.

Big Truck

with all of the different DVD players out there, it is hard to find which one to buy or for what type of player to look for. if you are a more astute movie fan, you will want THIS Oritron DVD 200! not only does it play U.S. DVD's, but it also plays ANY REGION DVD from any country -plus- VideoCD's (VCD) which usually only work on computers. with video quality that of [an expensive] system, you can't beat one of the best DVD players for 2002!

..DVD players I own, and I have 3 (Sony & Pioneer are my others) and the ORITRON is the best! so it doesn't have a big name behind it, so what! it saves you MONEY! you aren't paying for the NAME! This awesome player will play any NTSC DVD plus also plays those VCD's (Video CD) that usually only computers could play! The remote is great and allows you to play all the individual chapters/pages on a DVD instead of going through the DVD menu... which is handy in finding all those hidden easter eggs! I use the S-VHS connection for the best picture, and the coaxial port for DTS and it is great! Snag one if you can find it!...

First off, I bought this card to capture 720 X 480 for DVD quality video, upgrading from a TV wonder VE. Here's what I got:
1. The first card I received had a problem with the audio and had to be returned.
2. To capture from a RCA source you need to use a supplied adapter to go to the s-video input on the card. When using the adapter the video appeared black and white. Straight s-video had color video. Contacted tech support and they explained what to do but it didn't work. Tried the adapter from my laptop to TV and it appeared black and white as well, then tried the adapter that came with the replacement board and it appeared black and white also. Tech support did return my email and the suggesting worked, would of been easier to read it in the documentation.
3. When recording, the default settings record an interlaced video(the horizontal lines). This must then be reprocessed to deinterlace the frames.
4. When recording a show, the record times are in 30 minute intervals. You cannot record 5 minutes before and after the scheduled show. Tech support said "I guess you better have your clock right".
5. The capture drivers are not capatable with my video editing software or other capture hardware.

My opinion of this product is that for the price I paid for it, the software should work, the card should not conflict with other devices and it should work with video editing software. There should be more control over recording duration and the video should be de-interlaced. This product did not deserve the write up it received in PC Magazine. It also doesn't need (in my opinion) it's employees writing positive reviews for it in this forum.

I've read the other reviews on-line, and I can't believe that anyone has had problems installing or operating this card. I installed mine in just under 15 minutes, and it worked perfectly right out of the box. I installed the card in my HP P4 1.8 with XP Home, and loaded the software on the CD. Very easy, no hicups, no errors, and the system took off.

I then isntalled the WinTV application, and connected my cable TV to the card, and it found about 50 channels first time. The picture quality is a little more blurey than my regular TV (but then again I have a Sony Trinitron WEGA), but its fine for a computer. The remote works fine, and I have no real concerns with the unit.

My only gripe is that I can't get the TitanTV guide to switch from the guide to the program automatically. This would be nice to have working properly. It a minor issue really...

My first-day experiences with the Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 350.
My computer is a Dell Dimension 4100 tower, PIII 866MHz, 512MB RAM, Windows Me.

The Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 350 is a very capable TV viewing card. The Cable TV coax plugs directly into it. It has it's own onboard Cable TV Tuner. The TV Viewing software scans all 125 cable channels just like a television. Then away you go! It also has it's own onboard decoding and encoding hardware which means it does it's own number crunching rather than passing the burden onto the PC's CPU. As a test I recorded a minute of television with great results. I played the resulting file using Windows Media Player. The MPEG quality of the video and sound were excellent. As another reviewer mentioned, there is a lot of bang for the buck on this card. I agree. One caveat. The install CD that I got contained a nasty spyware application. Webroot's SpySweeper found it. Norton's did not. Actually the install CD is almost completely superfluous anyway. I went to the Hauppauge support page for the
latest WinTV-PVR 350 drivers and software. There they had everything necessary all conveniently linked up. The first utility they say to run removes all the versions of drivers and software that came on the install CD! So skip the install CD and go right to the source. After one day with this card I would recommend it.

I had the unit for just under a year and it stopped reading DVDs. That was my one and only shot at Zenith. The player was used very little and it is not worth getting serviced since it is past 90 ay warranty.

After reading reviews both here and other places, we decided to try this player. It is sleek with a very nice appearance. Yes the remote is cheesey. But so far that is the only fault we have. The set up was easy. The picture is great. My wife was impressed with the sound. It plays her CDs and MP3s great (she's the music expert in the family - I'm tone deaf). We especially like the option of wide screen or regular screen. The direction book could have been a little clearer but it was understandable. For the price, this is a great unit. If you are looking for your first DVD player or just want to see what the hoopaloo is all about, we would definitely recommend this unit.

I was originally looking at this player and one manufactored by Panasonic. The shopping gods put this one in my Gold Box so I took the plunge. Afterwards I had read reviews on CNET.com that indicated that there was trouble playing certain DVDs including Stars Wars 2 in Wide Screen. I was able to play the entirety of Star Wars 2 in Wide Screen. I made my purchase around 11-10-02. So they may have fixed that problem.

It is probably one of the cheapest Progressive Scan DVD players. My TV, Sony 27fs100, does not accept progressive scan but does have component input. I am very happy none the less with running it in normal mode. The one feature that I did appreciate was both an optical and coaxial digital output. Which made it easy to get quality sound from my home theater system. (If you are looking for a quality Home theater system to match up with this DVD player check out Onkyo HT 650). Overall I consider both a very good value.

Added info after 2 months of ownership.
Everything still works fine.

The subtitles did come on for me automatically with one movie. It was easy to turn off with the remote. I did not have to look through the manual.

The appearance of the unit is much different than what is displayed on the Amazon web page. The face is reflective glass with a silver band going accross the front. The controls and the DVD loading mechanism are on the silver band. Each function such as rewind or play has a blue light above it showing the function. The time display I believe is green and amber. For a better view as to its appearance click on more pictures at the top of the page.

I've had a Tivo Series 2 since they got released a couple years ago. When my 60 Hour died out (probably a power surge, not any known fault of the unit itself), I decided to go all out and trade it for the unit with the DVD-R.

Yes, there are the general shortcomings mentioned here: the unit is a little loud, you can't edit the DVD-Rs (you record the fully recorded program, ads and all), better picture gives you less recording time, etc.

That being said, it's a huge step up from a regular Tivo. The simple ability to download and store your favorite programs/films for future viewing is fantastic! The DVD quality is better than VHS, not quite what you'd get from a store-bought DVD, but that's more than reasonable. The unit also has built in componant output for higher picture quality than the Series 2's normally have, and it even looks better with composite than what mine used to. And, which I'm currently not taking advantage of it, it has optical sound output as well.

As far as the noise level, we use the unit in our bedroom, and it's not anything that keeps us up at night. Yes, it's audible, but not aggravating.

I highly recommend this unit if you're just starting out buying these componants. You'll be much happier with it than separate units, and the ability to burn at higher speed makes a real difference from real time.

They say once you go Tivo you can't go back and they're absolutely right. This system is amazing. Recording on the Extra Fine setting is superb especially if you have an LCD tv. The High Quality is also good but not as crisp. I haven't had any problems with the pixelation as someone else mentioned. The setup was easy if you have a recent tv model. It gets a little more complicated with an older model tv. I tried to hook it up to a 10yr old tv and it would only work using the RF setup which didn't provide the full benefits. For example, I couldn't change the channels with the Tivo remote and had problems with the recording function. HOWEVER- once I set it up on my Sharp Aquos tv it worked wonderfully. You can use composite, s-video, component, or RF hook-ups. I've been using blank Memorex DVD-R/RW cds to record without a problem. It comes with a free trial of Tivo Plus which I highly recommend. It finds programs for you and allows you to find a programs by favorite actor/actress or type or title. Overall- HIGHLY RECOMMENED PRODUCT !!!

I love this product, I have been a TiVo user since 2001 and I have to say this latest TiVo is great. I travel a lot, and being able to take all my TiVo programming with me is a wonderful thing. I also saw the pixilation issue but I bumped up my quality (you can record TiVo at different quality levels.) and now I do not have a problem. And the higher quality does not seem to take up much more disk space. There was also a bit of flicker on one of my "lower" non-digital cable channels, but I was getting real poor reception, that has been fixed, and now I don't see it anymore. I would say if you want to easily record TV and then make DVD recordings of those shows I would say get this recorder now!

It worked beautifully for the first six months of owning it, then it began to make a horrible noise on the VCR output whenever the DVD player was working, then it siezed up and stopped ejecting the DVD tray altogether, right at that point in "The Shining" when Scatman Crothers gets it ... I was never able to get it repaired to satisfaction again. Maybe my model was defective, but, just a suggestion -- watch out for this one. It's the first and last Samsung product I'll ever buy.

There are only two real negatives that I've discovered. But both are really annoying.
First, the output from the unit for both VHS and DVD is only via composite LINE OUT. This means you need to switch your TV's input each time you change from watching a tape or DVD to watching tv. Older models had dual outputs where you could hook up a coax line to the tv as well as composites to the Video input and both would be driven, so there would be no need to switch unless you really wanted the slightly higher video quality from the composite line.
Second, there's no indicator light when you've programmed the VCR to tape on a timer. What's up with that?
Otherwise great value for the cost; and quite an attractive package. Tech support from Samsung was very very good when I called for a quick answer to a complex question.

This unit performs the basic functions well. I had no trouble hooking it up to a 20-year-old TV with just an RF connection, but I didn't set it up for component cables (DVD only). No optical output, which may matter to someone wanting to hook it to an A/V receiver. I read three reviews on amazon.com that mentioned a buzz or hum when playing video tapes, but I still decided to buy the unit. It is noisy, but bearable.

I bought this unit because of it high value rating. The VCR stopped working after about a week and was fixed under warranty at a local shop in Hawaii. Now, exactly 1 year after I bought it, the DVD part is broken. Luckily it is still under warranty but I have to ship it to NJ.(I now live in Florida). The unit has worked great and it was a good deal for $130.00, even with the two warranty claims.

This is the first DVD-VCR combo unit that I've had and I enjoy using it. I love the ability to play CD and MP3 discs. There is no fast forward or random play feature for MP3 tracks. It's performance is quite satisfactory when viewing DVDs and VHS tapes. The tape rewind is extremely fast, though a bit noisy. The non-illuminated remote is crammed with useful controls and is fairly well laid out. The unit has a high quality appearance. The picture and sound quality of DVD and VHS are both excellent.

The rear of the unit is well designed having all of the connection options used today. In the front are a composite video input and stereo input. It would have been nice if they had included a headphone jack. Set up of time and date are relatively simple.

While the unit is well designed, functional and attractive I'm not so certain about the electronics. One time when playing an MP3 disk the unit seemed to become quite warm. As a result the disk eject feature failed to work, even after repeated pressings of the open button on both the remote and on the unit itself. I turned off the unit and after it cooled off the disk eject worked fine. This problem has not happened again, but I begin to wonder about reliability.

The nature of a combo unit means complexity, and I was a little confused at first about how to make it do what I wanted, so there is a bit of a learning curve involved. Samsung did an excellent job at making the controls logical, but they are not necessarily intuitive.

Overall I think that this machine is an excellent value.

Works good, plays homemade DVD-R as well. It's a little slow switching menus.

Well I have to say you get what you pay for. I own 2 other DVD players and i thought I'd buy this one for my kitchen. My 300 disc DVD player loads faster than this one. The picture does come in pretty good though. if you want an inexpensive DVD player and you dont mind wasiting then this one is the one for you. If it was my first and only DVD player I would think it was fast.

This DVD player is great for those who want a basic player without spending a lot of cash. The only major drawback is the fact that it will not play DVD's that were created by an average DVD writer. If you only want to use it with "store-bought" DVDs, it is fine. If you are planning on borrowing DVDs from someone who burns them themselves, you are out of luck. Notice on the feature list: Does not play DVD-R discs

The Philips 710AT DVD player is a real bargain. Easy to use remote control. Great video quality using S-video connection. Hooked it up to my stereo and am impressed by the audio sound. Glad I did not pay ... more for a Toshiba or Panasonic brand DVD player. This Philips DVD player is a winner in my household.

Read reviews that said this player was slow to load, but I disagree. By the time I put the DVD in, pushed play, and walked back to my sofa, the video was cranking up. How much faster do you really need it to be?

This VCR looks good on paper, but only lasted 4 months. It's 1 year warrantee is worthless because labor is only covered for 90 days. The labor to repair this VCR adds up to more than buying one new! DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY!!!

After I bought this the first time I found out that their was a major problem with this unit and Panasonic had to fix like a jillion of these things. If you look around you will see this model and the PV-V4622 for sale everywhere as "reconditioned".

This machine works great except for a few major problems.
1. This unit does not accept all types of VCR tapes. I bought a package of 10 tapes from Costco and 3 wouldn't work with this machine. No reason just wouldn't work. About 3-4 other brands flat won't work.

2. When you record at any speed other then the best you have to constantly adjust the tracking every minute.

I have owned much better VCRs. I have a Panasonic TV/VCR combo and it is the best tv and vcr I have ever owned. ..

I love the Commercial Advance! Looking to buy a 2nd!

I have owned one of these for two years. Overall I am very happy with it.
For the price there is no better way to have remote switching.
The biggest caveat is the remote learning feature-
its very temperamental,
and you must reprogram for even a momentary power outage
such as an accidental power strip switching.
Also the switcher claims universal remote learning,
but was not able to learn codes for any of my devices.
Switching with a remote power button signal doesn't make sense
if you leave your system on.
My recommendation is
to program a extra component on your universal remote to an RCA TV.
If you need this switcher you should have an 8 device universal remote anyway.
Once you have RCA TV codes in your universal remote
it is very easy to program this switcher...problem solved.

Overall for the price, I think this is a worthwhile purchase. The sheer fact that it handles 6 s-video and composite inputs is worth it. I noticed no signal degredation in use.

I've read some reviews of people saying you can use s-video or composite, but not both-something I don't entirely understand. I used the 6 inputs for both, some are used for s-video (DVD player, Sony Playstation 2, Sega Dreamcast, Nintendo 64) while others were used for composite (VCR, original NES system). I had no problems with this.

I select the item I want to use and it works fine. Are some people trying to hook two items into the same single input? Or are some people trying to run both s-video and composite into the same source on their TVs? Well my Sony TV won't allow this, and it has nothing to do with the switcher.

If I have an s-video connection in say input 1 on the TV, then I can't have a composite source connected to input 1 as well, I simply have input 1 on my TV be for the s-video out feed from the switcher and input 2 on the TV for the composite video feed from the switcher. Audio is output to a receiver, so all set.

Overall I am very pleased with this item and feel it is a worthwhile purchase. Now I haven't tried the programming feature yet, but I can sure handle manually switching it if it doesn't work for me. It's not that big of a deal. I say, don't buy this unit for that feature, buy it because there are very few quality switch boxes that handle 6 inputs. And yes you can get cheaper switchers, which is fine for lower quality interlaced TV sets, but once you get a HDTV, you will want a higher quality switch box to keep signal degredation to a minimum.

This RCA VH920 video switcher device is a very convenient and cost effective way of accommodating multiple video devices (including VCRs, DVD player, LaserDisc Player, DSS satellite system, and 2 additional devices like a video game system, video camera, etc.) to a television. If you don't have a Home Theater system setup that incorporates the features of the VH920, then this is the thing you need -- no more manually switching cables and hoping you got the setup right - this does it simply and elegantly. The fact that it supports S-VHS devices is a super benefit as you know that S-VHS provides superior picture quality. And you don't have to have RCA/ProScan video equipment for it to work, it has a 'learn' feature that uses your equipment's remote control to integrate your device into the switcher's setup. I bought this device from Amazon and have been extremely pleased with the results.