Customer Reviews

GoVideo R6530 Progressive-Scan DVD Player/Recorder

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

I liked the specs on this item and the price at Costco was right, but unfortunately this is a very cheaply made recorder. It connects to your TV just like a VCR, but like an ultra cheap VCR the remote control and on screen menus are very poorly implemented.

Even with fresh batteries you need to be close to the recorder to get it to respond to the remote. Sometimes buttons must be pushed again and again. The remote contains a lot of buttons, but Go Video skimped on size so the buttons are small and close together.

On screen menus are blurry and use small print so you need to be quite close to the screen. You'll be near the screen anyway given the remote's very limited range.

The video quality appeared to be worse than the VCR I replaced it with. There was none of the sharpness that you'd expect from a DVD even with a store bought DVD movie.

Timed recordings went well.

The last straw for me was the media. The manual states that it will work with all DVD+R and DVD+RW media that adhere to the standards, blah blah blah. I bought HP DVD+R disks and the unit responded with an error.

This unit is priced relatively low for a home DVD recorder, but if this is the best they can do for the price, skip it until they get the bugs out and bring the quality up.

I just sent back my second GoVideo R6530. Consistant problems of unpredictable frequent repeated skipping, sometimes several chapters at a time. First one did it on two different brands of DVD+RW blanks, including the one that came with the unit. Thought it was just a dud unit and sent it back to the vendor for a replacement. Second one the same. Tried it with 4 different DVD blank brands, including RiData blanks (the same as came with the unit) and it was even worse. I don't know if it was a bad batch of units sent to the vendor or what.

My demands on the unit are not that great - copy some VHS tapes to DVD and some movies from TV (got a PERFECT copy of The Day The Earth Stood Still off of satellite - GREAT movie! - that is, until the last 15 minutes where the whole story comes together - when the DVD began hanging up, then skipping all over the place making it unwatchable - oddly enough, when I played it in reverse, it went just fine - but that's a tough way to watch a movie!).

Overall, the feature set of the unit was fine. I particularly liked the JPEG capability (it showed all 1000 of my last trip images just fine, even though they were divided into subdirecties - although it didn't obviously recognize the subdirectories, it just continued from one directory to the next without a break. Didn't particularly like the remote. It was small with small, closely spaced buttons, twitchy, had to be aimed directly at the receiver, and the unit often didn't always give feed back ("...I pushed the button...is anything going to happen...? - Oh - there it goes..."). There is one button that doesn't appear to do anything at all. I sent a detailed email to their tech support about my problems and got an automated reply of Frequently Asked Questions. Telephone help was quick and responsive but not much help either ("...never heard of that before..."). They did offer to immediately send me a replacement unit, but, after two bad ones, I decided to try another brand.

Finally, I can't say the looks of the unit particularly excited me - a full mirror front with a tray and a couple of buttons, one of which turns of the unit completely, as if it were unplugged (rather than just a standby mode) which was a pain if I had turned if off and forgot about it. Just when I get into couch potato mode I realize I have to get up agan to punch the On button. Not serious beefs though. Clearly there's a problem with my particular units - no one would deliberately sell something like this that simply doesn't work. However, with that said, I feel I can't chance it again. Too much of a pain. From now on, if I can't find a (positive) review of it in a popular A/V magazine, then I won't get it.

Wow!!! I should have read these reviews before buying mine! I echo pretty much everything everybody has stated already. The only reason I went with GoVideo was because I had already purchased and was using a home theater DVD/VCR combo unit that has performed perfectly since day one (I have had it over a year now). I figured they were a good (not great) quality brand at a bargain price, so I got the DVD recorder. I don't know how a company that makes one thing so great can make something else so lousy. The problems I encountered were: DVD R's not being recognized, drawers sticking closed, slow reading and response times, not recording on the pre-set record date and time, etc, etc, etc. I guess I will read more reviews before my next purchase!

The first unit I bought in February skipped constantly when just playing DVDs, it was replaced. The second unit is now 6 months old (and out of the 90 day warranty) and the DVD tray will not even open although messages still appear saying "loading", "reading", "no disc". Neither the remote nor the machine buttons work. Even when it did record, strange pauses kept appearing on the recorded disks. I have used it 20 times to record and about 10 times to play a DVD and it is now worthless

Paid $349.00 for this on the Home Shopping Network and thought I had gotten a bargain - UGH!! - Warranty only good for 90 Days from Go Video and after changing batteries several times because of slow opening and closing it stopped working altogether - this was of course just after the 90 days!! When I called Go Video they said I could send it back for repair at a cost of $75.00 plus my cost to ship and they would extend the warranty for another 30 days thereafter - BIG DEAL!! So now I have a useless piece of junk that I will probably try and have repaired - can't see spending another hundred dollars to have the same thing happen over again - What a Ripoff!! GO Video? No Way!!

My Sister bought this model and had nothing but trouble.
Seems it doesn't like the same disc twice.
Plays once then not again.
Blank disc OK, then not OK.
You can keep buying other brand disks and trying to write
to them until you go crazy.
Just bad electronics..
Don't waste your time & money.

I purchased the R6530 a year and a half ago. I was happy at first. The unit made fewer coasters than my computer dvd burner did. I stocked up on blank DVD+R media at Christmas when merchants drop the prices to get you in the door...different brands at different recording speeds. I was in the middle of a cake box of Memorex 4x DVD+R media when the unit decided it could no longer recognize my blank disk. I tried disks by Fuji, Imation, Ridata, and none of them worked. I called Go Video and told them of my problem and they said that since I was in the warranty period they would send me a new unit if I would send them $75 dollars. I did and they did. The new unit would not recognize my disk either. I again called Go Video and they said another new unit was on the way, just ship that one back. I packaged it up and sent them several disk that had failed to work in the unit along with a letter describing my difficulties. I hoped they would develop a firm ware upgrade for the unit. The have not.

I have found the unit will only work with high grade 2.4x DVD+R media (although their tech support says 4x media is compatible). Unfortunately, you can't find media that slow anymore unless it's Dual Layer. I've got about 4 blank disk left and then I guess this unit will become a paper weight. I would feel guilty if I even gave it away to a stranger. I am dumbfounded that no one at their technical support seems aware of this problem and there is no effort on their part to find a way to make higher speed blank disk compatible with this recorder.
Buyer Beware of this unit!

The other reviews reflect exactly what I have experienced with two of these units. Poorly and cheaply designed, there are problems with remote control lag, skipping, customer service (their "White Glove" customer service person was of no help at all), and other problems you can see in the other reviews. Costco is getting them both back and I am done with GoVideo. I wouldn't buy any of their products after seeing what they did with this unit. Can you say, "CHEAP"??? There must be a truckload of these things at Costco going back to GoVideo. A friend of mine bought one as well, and his has already gone back for the same problems, so this can't be just a few units. Very disappointed. Avoid this machine.

QVC impulse purchase. Returned it. Primitive controls on front panel. Little sh*tty primitive looking // shaped buttons on front of unit. Slow, slow, slow. Most operations there is a noticable delay lag of .5 to 5 seconds. The plugs are extremely tight - though that was the least of the problems. Had a hard time inserting and removing the progressive scan and s-video plugs out of the back.

Terrible remote control layout. 2 tiny up down channel on a horizontal layout on the top left of the remote. Can't tell if it is the remote control that is unresponsive or if it is just the unit that is so slow. What do volume controls do? Only nice thing is good picture quality and 2nd higest recording setting (2 hours).

It is just a bad overpriced, unresponsive VCR with good picture quality if you pay for the DVD-Rs. Save your trouble and get a 2nd generation DVD recorder/HDD hybred unit. I'm waiting for my Panasonic DMR-E80HS.

The DVD recorder seems to have a mind of it's own
If it's temperament is positive it works well enough to get by
When it's being obstinate, it may respond to a command or it may not
Or it may wait ten minutes to respond
Or it may respond as it did this morning prompting me to write this review
On Wednesday, I turned it on and pressed the open/close button.
The "Open" message was displayed immediately.
The tray opened this morning, Sunday, four days later

gat