Video Reviews

I purchased last years same model and the VCR quality is noticably poorer then my 3 yr old SONY VCR. also the VCR recording can not record weaker signal stations. My sony would record it but the govideo unit would just end up with garbage.

Go Video removed the capability to play Video CD's (VCD) from this model, compared to their pre-2003 models. Why?

Secondly, there is a critical flaw in their 'human factors' when they designed the remote control: While playing DVD's or CD's, to fast-forward, you have to press and hold the fast-forward button. If you just press the button quickly, it resets the movie to the beginning. What a pain in the neck.

Third: I still haven't figured-out how to change the display to show the track and time for a CD. The default is a counter that counts the seconds of the song, but you have no idea what song you're on.

As a Mechanical Engineer, the poor human-factors design of this remote gives our profession a bad name!

I bought this DVD/VCR Combo for $119 and it works amazingly well. The DVD player works better than my Cyberhome 402 and the VCR plays flawlessly. The standard Universal remote that comes with it is better than most DVD players supply today. The buttons are a decent size on the remote and can control most TV sets.

This unit really shines when it comes time to play DVD+R and DVD-R discs recorded on a home computer. I had VHS video tapes that I recorded to my computer and then transferred to blank Verbatim DVD-R discs. I also have one movie on a DVD+R disc. This DVD player plays them flawlessly, while other brands may not play these discs at all.

This unit is an excellent bargain and functions better than other brands I tested. Other brands I tested were Emerson (which could not play DVD-R), Panasonic, Toshiba, Samsung and KLH. The KLH plays DVD-R and DVD+R and is also very expensive, but the Go Video unit is the least expensive of the combo DVD/VCR units that I have actually used that can play everything I put into it.

I used to own a 3fx Voodoo 3 2000 PCI. I swapped it out for the AGP Guillemot Video Edition. The Guillemot doesn't run nearly as well as 3dfx. Even with updated drivers and bios, my computer has suffered from lock ups of all kinds (boot up and shut down errors of every type VxD blue screen of death etc). The video capture is marginal, still haven't been able to capture a satisfactory amount of video without it stopping (and that's with 20 gigs of hard drive space!) My advice, go 3dfx and buy a seperate capture card. It's worth the money and you'll spend a lot less time trying to make an unworkable product work.

First, it is not a fast card in these days. It uses TNT2 M64, which is the cheap edition of real TNT2. However, it is good enough for normal users like me.

Pros:

1. International mode support (All NTSCs and PALs).

2. Lots of resources on line (BIOS, drivers, utilities). None from Guillemot though.

3. Nice video-in feature, especially with the price here.

4. No such nice features like block copywrite protected video :-)

Cons:

1. Bad quality. Little flashes on screen. Many people complain the same problem on different Guillemot models on Guillemot's own forums. This makes this card unacceptable.

2. Limited resource and update from Guillemot. You have to do your own research to use full features of this card. The drivers and BIOS on this card is sort of old and buggy. It can only support 640x480 NTSC TV-Out (new Nvidia reference driver supports 800x600). The BIOS has the bug so it won't display right image under DOS. You will have to download new reference BIOS (from a personal web site) to fix that.

3. Poor tech support. I filled the tech support form several days ago and it said I should get response within 72 hours. It's been 5 days, no answer yet.

4. Poor tech development. If a normal user like me can find so much tech info on web and fix some bugs on their card, how come they cannot? Their driver is the simple merge/copy from Nvidia with little change. There are many features listed on the TV Out chip (BT869), but NVIDIA does not offer them, so Guillemot won't bother either. The video-in-display software is only compatiable with Guillemot's old driver.

I think product have all the thing's you like to see in a computer. Good videogames rendering and availability to edit home videos.

We bought this product before Thanksgiving. It worked OK at times, but would get a bar across the screen at other times. We exchanged it for the same model. The second one didn't work at all. The DVD cover would not lock, ran loud and could not play the movie. We are returning it and looking for a different brand.

I purchased this item in Albuquerque. I played a DVD in my hotel room and discovered that after about 30 minutes, multiple white bars appeared at the top of the screen. I took it back to Circuit City and looked at 4 other identical players and they were all defective. I tried different DVD's and the same problem occurred. I took my original unit home to Kansas City and took it to Circuit City there and tested another Initial player and had the same problem. I ended up buying the new 7" Sony. It was $200 more. Sometimes you get what you pay for.

I previously owned their model IDM-9520. That did not last long. It lasted me about 1/2 a year. This one has lasted me 2.5 years. This one is a hell of a lot better.

- Very poor Image quality ..infact no image ..you need be very intutive to understand that it's your image.
- I wasted lot of time in installing the required drivers

Be smart don't go for this, even when it's given FREE !!!

I bought this camera primarily as an inexpensive security device for my apartment, and secondarily to take snapshots to send to various people. The camera is a complete disappointment.

1. Unless you have three or more high-wattage bulbs burning in the room, your picture quality will consist of lovely dim shadowy objects.

2. When you *do* succeed in making a snapshot, the image is either so tiny it does no good, or it is nearly as pixelized as an old Commomore 64c or Atari game. This is unsatisfactory for showing your Internet friends what you look like or showing your parents your new nose-ring.

3. The security function works...sort of. It takes pictures when it detects motion or on a set timed interval that you can vary (1 minute, 5 minutes, 30 minutes, etc.), but working *with* the images after capture is frustrating. The program crashes randomly when trying to view the images within the program, and when viewed using Windows Explorer, for some reason the image quality suffers even more than usual. Occasionally, I would set the camera to watch the front door area overnight, and it would simply stop after about twenty minutes. No computer problems, no Windows problems. The program simply glitched...multiple times.

If you buy this camera, email me and I shall pray for your deliverance from its nasty impish ways.

Sláinte...

I was pleasantly surprised with quality of this camera. Picture quality is awesome. also display perfect skin tone. I've used quickcam, quickcamVC, logitechs,and Veo in the past. this one is the best one so far. I clicked on camera default button and picture turned all red and dark. but I went to advanced setting; set "AWB Speed" to "medium" and "Light Source" to "Overall". It's now back to normal. (give it 10 seconds to auto balance to work if you are using it with yahoo messenger)
I couldn't believe the reviews I was reading from amazon and circuit city that this camera is so bad. So I checked manufacturer website if they make different model. but this was only model they are making.
If you haven't returned your camera. give it another shot by downloading new software(4/17/03) or change the settings to the above. I'm switching all my existing web cams with this model.

I waited an extra week for delivery of my portable DVD player because I got this special package deal for a case for my portable DVD Audiovox DV1680, why doesn't it fit in the bag? This is most ridiculous combo ever created. This is just the biggest waste of my time, after playing tag for hours with UPS I now have to make arrangements to send back this perfectly good unusable piece of "...". I am not refering to the workmanship, just the fact that this case is of absolutely no use to me. A word of advice, please don't order the Extra-Value"less" Combo.

I bought both the Panasonic DVD player and this case that is paired with it for a low, low price. The DVD player is about 1 inch too big for the case. The case doesn't close with the player in it. Since I can't find dimensions on any of the cases, I don't know which one is supposed to fit the DVD player.

Don't buy the case.

I have the Panasonic DVD-LV70 and obtained a carry case from Panasonic, that will fit and carry the DVD-LV95, with plenty of room to spare. You can find it at: (...)I have this case with it's protective and accessory space. Get one,you won't be sorry.

I just can't get these drivers to work on XP! I have contacted Creative a days ago still... no answer! I wish that they would be able to get me a driver quickly! A driver that works!

I bought this camera and my first impression was good. But when I started shooting pictures it changed inmediately. The flash doesn't work constantly (when it's on like it should) just whenever it wants to, the pictures turn to be all dark and blurry except when you take them out in the sunlight. The photo quality is very poor. So I would not recommend this camera for shooting outer pictures. For a web cam is ok. It works but it also needs a lot of light arround so you can see yourself clearly. I consider this product a loss of money but if you want to try it, go ahead, prove it by yourself.

Good buy for the bucks! dual function and mobility at its cheapest! average pics but hey! why are you browsing here if your a perfectionist! go somewhere that meets your taste! for those who are looking for not pricey average webcam, digicam this is your good bet! good luck!

I agree with vu972. Terrible quality pictures. The flash makes them look washed out and when you are in broad daylight the pictures look like they were taken in a dark room. I'm shocked that they can advertise that it takes good pictures. I know this is a fairly inexpensive camera and I didn't expect a lot from it, but this doesn't even reach the standards to be worth $100.00. The menu is slow and freezes at times, there is a delay in the time between pressing the button and it taking the picture. You have to hold the button in and make sure you keep the camera completely steady in hopes that you will get the shot you were aiming for.

I bought this camera thinking it'd be great with its combo features. But as it turns out the quality of this camera sucks big time! When taking pictures without a flash, the picture looks dark and not white balance correctly (even though it's set to auto-white balance) then when I turns the flash on, it looks completedly washed out... Then when I tested the PC Camera mode, it works fine with its included software driver but the quality again sucks big time, it looks like I'm sitting in front of a computer in a dark room... and the adjustment in the software don't even work...
I'm putting the camera back on EBay the next day! Not Recommended! For $50 more, I'd have a lot better camera!!

Easiest to use camera ever. Everything needed right out of the box.
Point and shoot...great pix. Its so small and compact that I can take it everywhere. Finally a really nice camera that won't break the bank.Thank you DXG!!!!

The Hatachi 36UX59B picture is poor. The 750 lines of resolution you can count each one of them, it makes the picture blurred. I sent the unit back.

We had not one but 2 Hitachi 36UX59B. The picture was distorted, the color was off from channel to channel, the edges of the screen shook. Too many lines visible and overall not worth the money. 2 went back in a week. Even had a cable expert out to check wiring etc, Maybe it was a bad batch. Anyone else have this problem?

With 750 lines of vertical resolution this is practically a computer monitor. I own the little brother 32UX59B model to this big mamma. Should you buy a 36 inch model? If you have a big house and deep pockets then you must buy this set. The 177 pounds that this set weighs is light-weight for all you SUV owners.

I bought the 3911 because of the s-video input and output. The unit in theory has great features, but in practice it was disappointing. Most notably, the color switched periodically to b/w and sometimes the image was lost altogether. This could be remedied by a gentle bang on the side, although that was not listed as an option in the manual:0! I returned the unit thinking I had gotten a bad unit but the replacement was just the same. So I am returning this one and looking for a different model.

I was looking for a VCR with S-video input and output connectors and hoping that the quality with S-VHS tapes would be a significant step up from VHS.

I tried several different brands of S-VHS blank tapes ... but never got a significant improvement over VHS recordings. In some cases, especially with large areas of blue or black, random dancing pixels caused by tape noise detracted noticiably from the the video fidelity.

Furthermore, I found that the machine was susceptable to interference from the TV receiver. This resulted in a travelling black vertical bar that swept the picture once every 5 seconds or so. This only happened when recording one show and watching a different video source (e.g. DVD). I assume this is due to inadequate magnetic shielding of the record head allowing some coupling to the scan coils of the TV cathode ray tube.

On the positive side, the contols were easy to use and picture quality was Okay (except when recording near an unsynchronized TV set). Playback of pre-recorded VHS tapes was of high quality and the use of S-VHS connectors help to reduce picture distortion.

For Satellite TV users, one of the nicest features is the ability to automatically record when a signal is detected from the Satellite box. This avoids having to set up two timers (one in the VCR and one on the Satellite box).

I did a lot of online investigations and finally bought this machine. It is worth every dollar we spent for its sharp video and audio quality with two S-video outlets in the back.

If you are looking for top picture quality, especially if you are using satellite dish, it will be your best bet. This model is made for those who have a high-definition TV, using S-video and other gudgets to watch recorded movies with a DVD quality.
However, if you just have a regular TV and use RF cable, you might just as well settle with a cheap model .

I purchased one of these on ebay. When it arrived, you could clearly hear the sound of the motor through the speakers (if you turn down the volume to zero, only the motor sound is left and it's QUITE loud. I complained and sent it back. They sent another. This time it not only has the SAME motor sound but ALSO static in the left speaker. This product is complete garbage, I've had two of them and they were both broken in the same way!
I don't know what causes the static. It sounds a little like the clipping you hear when an amplifier can't deal with the dynamic range of a song (the static is in the loud, exciting parts of music.) I would encourage EVERYONE to stay as far away from this product as possible. I'm sending this one back for a refund!

Picked one of these up as a bit of retail therapy (impressed by the price), and quickly regretted it. Read the part in the description about "supports MP3 bit rates of 32, 64, 96, 128, 192, and 256 Kbps" carefully... it skips and pops if you present it with 320kbps, and also possibly with 224kbps, which you will frequently find in a ...-encoded ("--preset standard") mp3.

Everything else worked flawlessly on this unit, which I can't actually say about some other MP3 boomboxes I tried out... If only it could play ALL the mp3 bitrates... I'd happily pay 1.5-2x the cost for a unit that could play the MP3 CDRWs without the skipping or other problems!

Unfortunately, this one will be going back, and the hunt will go on...

I bought this unit for my 10 year old daughter. Pulled it out of the box, plugged in a CD burned at 52X, played perfectly, impressive sound when extra bass button pushed. I was pleasantly surprised with the sound quality, much better than I expected considering the price. I tried several different CD's with MP3's, again it played them all flawlessly. I am very happy with this unit for the price. I've heard boomboxes for over $100.00 not sound as good as this. If you expect this to be your main portable player, get real, it's only $40.00. But for what it is and what it claims to be, it offers excellent value and performance. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to buy an inexpensive boombox for a child or for the RV or cottage. If this was lost or stolen, you won't feel too badly, just buy another.