Customer Reviews

Go Video VR3840 Combo DVD Recorder and Hi-Fi VCR

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

 

 

This is my first DVD recorder unit, and I was expecting it to be complicated and difficult to use, but set up was a breeze, and in the first day I was happily converting my VHS collection of movies that I'd taped over the years onto DVD. I'd read enough reviews to suggest that the prudent way to do it would be to use the included dvd RW to dub the movie from the VHS tape to the DVD RW, then take it in to my computer for reauthoring with an editing program, that way I could remove commercials easily, and get rid of the menu. Before I figured this out (it took a day or so) I was unhappy because I didn't like the automatic menuing feature. My objective was always to put one movie on each DVD, so menus seemed a waste of space.

Now that I have my process refined I am just happily taking my videos and transferring them.

One thing that impresses me about this unit is that it appears to correct the image and remove some of the noise in the conversion process. I'd read about this on the company web site, but seeing it in action impressed me. The quality of a DVD taken from a video is quite good, even better on those movies where I'd put one movie on a video by itself. If you've got six hours of video on your tape, you can expect a little less quality.

On a few occasions, I've captured directly from the tuner onto the DVD. In these, the quality is magnificent.

All things considered, I think this is a well thought out and enjoyable unit.

Well, right from the get-go I started having a little problem with the DVD recorder. A few disks did not record properly. I called Support. Support told me they had some issues with the quality of the DVD media made by a certain corporation. I changed DVD media to 'M......'. About 60% of the disks came out well. That's 4 out of 10 that are coasters. I still believed support, thinking that in every batch the DVD manufacturer is going to have some bad disks that sneaked through quality control. I cleaned the unit using a canister of compressed air, like Electronic Technicians use. My wife got me 200 disks from Costco made by TDK (Costco is where I bought the VR3845). The first 5 disks came out OK, I thought. I decided to check them all the way through, so I skipped ahead at 5m intervals. At 15m on one, a freeze in the video. At 40m on the next, freezes and skips & lost audio. Now I wonder how many of my 'successful' burns had skips? A friend gave me 6 hours of his pianist son on VHS to copy for him. I thought the burn was successful since I didn't watch the whole thing. A father does watch the whole thing. He reported skips and freezes (mostly freezes). I had him log the times. I checked the parts of the DVD he said froze and the same thing happened on the VR3845. I tried DVDing some old TV shows from the TV feed. Several freezes and it's getting worse. To top it off, my warranty just ran out. Just over three months and I have another piece of electronic junk in the cabinet and I'm out $240. Don't buy this. Support will try to convince you that you bought bad media blanks. You buy into that and the warranty will run out on you before you realize that it's the machine.

Recommended
No

Amount Paid (US$): 240

This is a solid unit, not cheaply built. I have tested recording to DVD from VHS, Cable, Video In. Excellent image, except in the lowest quality setting, where you start to see pixelation. Very intuitive, i hardly used the manual.

I just purchased this unit at Costco last week (on sale for $189 with coupon). It is very easy to use and the quality seems top notch. The playback on this DVD is great.

I have a problem with one of the DVDs we created from several older VHS tapes. This burned DVD (R+) was formatted for 4 hours and has 7 titles, each with multiple chapters. My other two DVD players and computer will only play two of the seven titles and you cannot forward to the other chapters within the two titles that play. I had the DVD set to the default to create chapters every 5 minutes for each title. We then combined the chapters (since we cannot delete them) and made our own chapters for each title at logical breaking points.

My theory is that other players cannot "translate" or "get through" the titles that we combined chapters with along with making our own chapters. The two titles that play in other players had only one chapter, or we did not do that much combining. I turned off the automatic chapter making setting and I burned a DVD last night with one title and no chapters and it plays fine in all players.

My test for this weekend is to burn this DVD again, and make my own chapters to see if other players can play the burned DVD. Then, I will try again with multiple titles and chapters.

I will report back with the results. In the meantime, if you have similar problems, turn off the automatic chapter creation and / or do not combine chapters. Other DVD players may not know how to read that title effectively if you do. I will let you know when I burn more.

Tried to copy 1 tape to DVD after many (40+/-) played DVD's, it hung up, now won't play ANY dvd or CD! Unknown Disc! GoVideo computer (Customer support) hung up on me 3 times. Nothing in manual about "Unknown Disc" at all. Strange we ALL have the same problem and GoVideo has NOTHING on it any where! Methinks something stinks here! (But my air purifier is on and it's obviously covering it up!)

I have been using GoVideo VR 3845 for the last four months recoding to both DVD and VHS just great. Started using DV-In connection to my Sony Camcorder worked OK the first time. Second time "Not connected message". I call GoVideo service and they suggested replacing new used-once cable. The camera side indicated `DV connection', must be the GoVideo problem. Called again wait 10 minutes and hung-up on. Call third time again message "no customer support today" (Monday 1/9/2006). I wrote an email to customer support with NO RESPONSE (except the automated received notice). THANK YOU Costco for cash back return (keep your receipt and box it came in). For just this single reason alone of non-service, do not buy GoVideo products!

At first I could burn DVDs OK. Then I started losing one in 5 (freeze on recording file, on finalization, etc.). Then 1 in 3. then it stopped recognizing DVDs altogether -- blank DVDs, recorded DVDs, commercial DVDs, whatever. Only CD and VCR functions still work. Since I bought it to transfer VHS to DVD, it's useless to me. GoVideo Customer Service strung me along just long enough for the warranty to expire. BAD PRODUCT; BAD COMPANY.

After reading some of the negative reviews, I was getting a little concerned that I had made a mistake ordering this product. I'm happy to report that (so far) it's working just great. We're very pleased with the menu structure on the finished DVDs, and the video, while not fabulous, is still very good. Plus, it plays and copies VHS tapes!

I bought a "Refurbished" unit from U-Bid at a great price (I thought). It was $65 plus $20 shipping. Unfortunately the DVD recorder only worked one day so now I have an $85 VHS which is not a good price. After playing a couple of movies I started recording my first DVD. It hung up the recorder while trying to finish the recording. Had to unplug the unit after about an hour. Now it won't recognize any DVD, even movies I had played previously. Get an "unknown disk" message. It has a 90 day warranty and I'm waiting to hear from U-Bid to see what my options are. Don't be fooled by a low price, this unit is not worth two cents!

I have had 3 Go Video DVD Combos in a little over a year. I paid for one and got 2 replacements free. None worked more than a few months. The first was a VR1940 and it lasted 2 months. It was replaced with one that lasted 5 months. The company then replaced the VR1940 with a VR3840 telling me it was a "upgrade." In fact that unit is a downgrade costing about $100 less. It lasted 5 months. I just threw it in the trash.

The products are great for the perspective of features but they won't last more than a few of months. The only positive review you will read is by someone who just bought the product and that's only if it worked initially which is a very big IF.