Customer Reviews

Sylvania DVR90VF DVD Recorder/VCR Combo

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

This is an excellent dvd,vcr recorder,and will record up to 16x with a dvr-r-and the dvd-r-rewritable discs...This machine is identical to the dvr90ve...The later model records at only 4x maximum...I had ordered two of the sylvania dvr90ve,but i received one of the dvr90vf,when the ve model went out of stock...I payed only 40 dollars more for the better model...Actually the unit records at higher speeds,claimed to 16 times...I have only burned at 8 times,and i have had excellent results...All my discs copied well,with no coasters...All in all,i like this unit better,but the dvr90ve is selling for for 50 dollars less. and is last years technology,Thats okey.All in all i highly recommend this unit...Thank you stewart L.

I initially rated this as a 4 star based mainly on price, but after owning for a while, it's a solid 1 star due to performance. It's fan is really noisy when the unit is on. The VCR screetches like fingers on a chalkboard when fast forwarding and rewinding. The VCR will stop and turn off in the middle of rewinding. When playing recorded VHS material on another VCR, there are tracking/audio issues and vice versa. It recognizes Macrovision so I've been able to dub only 70% of my VHS collection to DVD (Don't even bother trying any Disney movies!). Some of my dubbed movies have skips or poor audio. You need to play the movie to dub (no high speed feature) so dubbing takes a lot of time and is a manual process. And now it's started to give disk errors on brand new 8X DVDs (since I made sure to buy a stockpile of 8X DVD's as speeds increased due to other reviewer's complaints). Also finding with the change to digital, that it also is not allowing DVD-R recording of a lot of satelite/cable programming with my current cable provider. And no good customer service website. So, based on my past history with this Sylvania electronic product and their lighting products, I've come to the conclusion that Sylvania is a name brand to avoid like the plague.

I got a DVR90VF for christmas, and was eager to transfer many home movies onto DVD. I went through about 40 DVD sessions without error. But then , only 3 weeks into ownership, I tried to record a movie off of TV. When we went to play it back, It was full of pauses, skips, blips and blurps making the movie unwatchable.

I have since tried to load store bought DVD's, new blank DVD's, and the blacks I have recorded on and get the same warning 'please eject disc......playback feature may not be available on this disc'. NOTHING will load. I tried resetting the unit, and have done many other things. but the fact is, it went from working to not working instantly and has not worked since. The unit was 3 weeks old, brand new from sears on puchase.

Inquirey to sylvania got me an automated response to go to some company calll funai, who has since given me a run around. I fell completely helpless and ripped off.

This item was a Christmas present. I was initially surprised that there were people I knew that still haven't made the DVD transition from VHS. It made sense to help a few along into the 21st century.

The main reason for chosing this unit was the features/price compared to other combo recorders. There are lots of DVD/VCR combos available, but finding a combo that could record VHS to DVD/DVD to VHS and still fit into my budget was what I needed to find. Most combos started in the $250+ range. There were quite a few units under $150 but the reviews were pretty bad, and the units were from companies that I had never hear of.

Like I said, this Sylvania is the perfect transition unit. Those fragile VHS tapes of your HS graduation or Christmas of 99' can now be transferred onto DVD literally with the touch of DUB button. NICE!!!

So far the unit has played all the VHS tapes that have been thrown into it, all the DVDs including some homemade (for backup purposes) movie copies, and had flawlessly recorded everything that has been pur into it. One cool feature is that it knows the media when you insert them. It will play a VHS when you put it in, and play a DVD without any intervention except for pressing the PLAY button on the remote. Nice and easy for all those who used to have trouble setting the time on their VCRs.

I bought this dvd player, after sizing it up to other higher priced dvd recorder combos, and of course went with this- the picture drops almost evertime you want to record a dvd- meaning, your dvd is being recorded but very noticable lines come through the dvd and then goes blank screen while the audio is still there- Its very bad- I took it back and they told me that it does not get sold a lot because of complaints like mine. Its nice, if you do not plan to record dvd's- jus letting u kno so u dont make the same mistake is i did.

I bought two of these machines -- one for myself, one for my dad. Both have conked out in less than a year. At first, the recorder starts skipping while recording. Then, it starts skipping while you are playing a disc -- any disc. Then (for my dad), it stops recording at all. Unfortunately, the warrantee only covers one year for parts, while the labor guarantee expires after three months. I will never buy anything from Sylvania, again.

The unit drops programming. When this happened I got a new one an the same thing happened. I program two different shows to record - at totally different times and days - but any program above line #1 disssapears! Funai has never heard of this but I'm betting there's a bad lot of these sitting on store shelves this spring, 2006. Beware.

I tried copying some of my old VHS movies that I took using my old camcorder unto DVD and it was a snap. It going to be great converting from VHS to DVD. Other than that the unit records off my digital cable fine. Since this my first DVD recorder (not one that's in my PC), I don't know how it stands up to the competition, but for the money, it does what I want well

I found the older version on a reputable website for $30 more plus shipping on top of that. The free shipping on this and price sold me and it's worked great so far. Definitely easy to use with nice features. Transferring VHS to DVD is a snap. My only complaint is the cheapie remote. It's super light and flimsy with tiny buttons where most look alike so I really have to search sometimes to find important ones like say for instance..."play"! Dropped on carpet from bed and it popped open as if I'd thrown it at the wall. Other than the junkie remote it's great and shipping was super fast.

I bought this on February of 2006. It stop working on May of 2006. For $180.00 its not worth it . Everytime I put in the DVD or the VCR this machine would turn off by itself !
At first, the DVD will not work if the video is not in the other side,so we have to put the video in, then switch it to DVD so we can watch the DVD. Now it just simply does not work altogether.

For this problem DO NOT BUY its not worth the money.