GoVideo VR5940 Dual-Deck DVD Recorder and VCR

by Go Video

Product Details

Supplementary Guide [4.28mb PDF]

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Data Sheet [144kb PDF]

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Product Manual [2.21mb PDF]

• Item Weight: 15 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 19 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000682AW2
• Item model number: VR5940
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #121,536 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 10, 2004

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

GoVideo's VR5940 dual-deck DVD recorder/player and VCR lets you record your favorite television shows and treasured home videos not merely to VHS videocassette, but to high-quality, long-lasting write-once and rewriteable DVDs, too. The VR5940 grants the freedom to use all available DVD recording formats: DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, and DVD+RW.

For camcorder owners, transferring home movies to DVD has never been easier. A convenient front-panel IEEE 1394 DV input accepts feeds from digital camcorders for easy recording to DVD and for playback on your TV. You can choose whether to record programs to tape or disc, and the recorder's built-in NTSC TV tuner and onscreen user interface permits up to 8 timer recordings over a single month, with 5 recording speeds providing between 1 and 6 hours of content on each DVD disc.

The VR5940 features DoMiNoFX, too: a patented video-processing technology that digitally enhances and refines the picture quality during recording. This results in visibly superior recordings, and a dramatic improvement when recording from noisy source material, such as VHS tapes or weak TV signals. When recording, the unit automatically creates a new disc title every time you start a new recording. You can then add chapters to these recordings manually or have them automatically inserted at five-minute intervals.

DVD-R and DVD+R media use competitive recordable DVD formats, each offering different features and levels of compatibility. DVD-R/RW-formatted discs tend to be more compatible with computers and DVD-Video players, and are generally less expensive. The advantages of DVD+R/RW-formatted discs include potentially faster burn speeds, quicker background formatting, and the ability to stop and resume recording without error--as well as the ability to let you erase specific parts of the disc. Now you can take advantage of both formats with one component.

The VR5940's versatile playback features include progressive-scan DVD video outputs and support MP3, JPEG, and Kodak Picture CDs. A variety of video and audio inputs--including front-panel connections for fast, temporary hookups--grant connection to virtually all televisions and home theater components. Further simplifying your connections, the unit will pass both DVD and VHS signals from any of its video outputs (composite-, component-, and S-video) so you don't have to maintain multiple video feeds between the device and your television unless you're taking advantage of progressive-scanning.

The VR5940 comes with GoVideo's innovative AutoPlay feature, designed to skips DVD ads, trailers, and menus, jumping right to the start of your movie. Simply place the disc in the tray, press the play key, and the movie starts without interruption. Further, an innovative feature called YourDVD automatically searches for your preferences every time you load a DVD. The player will find and select your preferred audio, subtitle, and surround sound settings (if available) so you don't have to wade through menus to set them up yourself.

My DVD, another GoVideo exclusive, simplifies DVD player use by permanently storing the set-up preferences that--on most DVD players--need to be checked or unchecked every time you load a new DVD.

Whether your living room is currently home to an HDTV or you're merely thinking of "someday," the VR5940's DVD player stands ready to deliver the full playback potential of your DVDs. Progressive scanning, referred to as 480p for the number of horizontal lines that compose the video image, creates a picture using twice the scan lines of a conventional DVD picture, giving you higher resolution and sharper images while eliminating nearly all motion artifacts.

To help you navigate the transition from VCR to DVD recording, GoVideo's "white-glove customer care" includes free telephone assistance in making your first recording, should you need it.

What's in the Box
DVD player/recorder, a blank recordable DVD-RW disc, a remote control, remote batteries, an RF coaxial audio/video cable (3 feet), a stereo analog audio/composite-video interconnect (3 feet), and a user's manual.

Product Description

GO VIDEO VR5940, DVD RECORDER PLAYER AND VCR DUAL-DECK

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

107 of 108 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No closed captioning on DVD's, February 28, 2005

By 

R. Moroney "hackney" (Indiana) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: GoVideo VR5940 Dual-Deck DVD Recorder and VCR (Electronics)

This is my second GoRound with GoVideo. The previous unit only used a DVD-R format, I didn't realize that when I picked it up at Costco. It also froze once when I was trying to format a disk, Costco took it back no problem.

No problems with the 5940. I have copied several video tapes to DVD+R disks, it was really easy and the results really are better than the tape version. I am very happy with this unit.

I usually use DVD+RW's to record TV shows. They say you can reuse these disks up to 1,000 times.

WARNING here: closed captioning for the hearing impaired does not function with the DVD recorder. I called GoVideo to verify this, they said closed captioning is not compatible with their DVD recording format. (Long wait on the phone to speak live with a rep, the recording repeatedly tries to direct you to their website which does not cover questions such as this.)

Taping TV programs onto the VCR works fine, but I usually use the DVD function because it's so easy to skip around from start to finish and from program to program.

The unit has a cool feature where you see a thumbnail of each TV show you have recorded on a DVD. Point to one of these thumbnails and that show begins to play. You can even fast forward within the preview to see if it's the one you're looking for. Also, you can easily delete ANY segment of a program on a DVD-RW. You could, for instance, delete commercials from a special TV program that you want to save, or you could delete a scene that you didn't want your kids to watch.

A minor complaint; they call it "one-touch recording" but it really takes two or three or four touches, which is ok but why not call it "easy touch" or something? You need to determine the length of the videotape you are copying and then select the appropriate DVD record speed. The speeds are XP, SP, LP, and EP. These correspond to 1, 2, 4, or 6 hours per disk. Picture quality suffers at EP speed, like when you blow up a JPG a little too much. LP works well for most TV shows. SP works great for transferring a typical 2-hour videotape home movie to DVD. (The unit is very smart about copy-protected material, it's strictly David Spade: "Video? No!" from either tape to DVD or DVD to tape.)

The manual lacks an index, so I downloaded it from the Amazon page and use the Adobe search function to look stuff up. Otherwise you end up searching thru the Table Of Contents. The unit is easy to set up and use. The "Easy Start" sheet tells you almost everything you need to know. The instruction manual is easy to follow, once you find the right section.

40 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Compatibility With other DVD Players, April 17, 2005

By 

Richard W. Hogarth "disappointed" (Astoria, SD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: GoVideo VR5940 Dual-Deck DVD Recorder and VCR (Electronics)

This unit was the second one I tried - the first was a Panasonic DVD/VHS combination unit. When I found that I could not read or understand the User Manual garbled together by Panasonic, I hoped that the GoViveo machine would be easier to use, based on their history of being first in the field with this type of machine.

After a couple of calls to the Help line, I acheived modest success in recording television shows on VHS. The GoVideo User Manual was helpful, but didn't cover all steps necessary to get the thing to work. The White Gloves specialists resolved the initial problems very well but there was a very long wait time to speak to a human being. The aid given resolved my problems, but I could have avoided making the calls had the User Manual been more complete.

Eventually, with a couple more calls to the Help Line, I was finally able to do what I wanted to do when I bought the machine: copy my library of VHS tapes to DVD disks. After a few more mistakes with disk titles, run time, etc., I produced two DVDs from tapes. I placed disk titles, finalized the disks, and then attempted to play the movies on my other DVD player, a two year old Toshiba. Since both disks played well on the GoVideo machine, I thought I was finally getting the procedure right.

No such luck. The Toshiba unit rejected both disks with a "DISK ERROR" message. All of the long procedures and troubles I had just gone through were a waste of time and effort. Another call to the Help desk resulted in the advice to try the disks on another machine since my Toshiba is over two years old. I don't have another machine and am not ready to go out and buy a new player in the hopes that the disks would play. Since this GoVideo machine does not produce recordings that will play on a rather simple DVD player and I could not do what I bought it to do, I packed it up and am returning it. My Toshiba DVD player has never refused to play the dozens of disks I have rented and I cannot accept the fact that recordings produced by the GoVidwo unit do not meet the requirements of other players.

I must admit that if I wanted to use only one player, the GoVideo machine does make good copies of my VHS tapes and it also plays the same the same disks back very well, so the only complaint I have at this time is that recorded disks will not play on another player. I have used many VHS players since 1980 and have never experienced incompatibility between the dozen or more player/recorders I have owned. I find it indefensible that recordings made on one DVD recorder will not play on any other DVD player. I cannot fault the Toshiba player since I am able to play all commercially available DVDs without any problems.

I will not be in the market for another DVD?VHS recorder until I am assured that the output will be accepted as input by a standard DVD player.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I'm Pleased, March 31, 2005

By 

C. Snead "STi Mtn Man" (North Carolina Mountains) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: GoVideo VR5940 Dual-Deck DVD Recorder and VCR (Electronics)

I wanted a combo unit that would provide as much flexibility as possible with the +/- formats as well as ease in transfering tapes to DVDs. I did a lot of reading on the net and settled on this unit. Amazon put me on a 2+ month wait however another supplier sent me an e alert on availability and I purchased from them. I've had the unit for a week and could not be more pleased. It does require reading and rereading the manual to understand its operation but the results have been satisfying.It is an excellent product that meets my expectations. I definitely would purchase it again.