Customer Reviews

Zenith DVR413 Multi-Format DVD Recorder

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

 

 

The unit seems to do all it says it will, though I have not delved into every feature, particularly the (expensive) RAM disk and its multitude of editing capabilites.

It plays commercial DVDs nicely, and I've transferred several 6-hour home-made VHS tapes to DVD (more to follow) - which was the main feature I bought the unit for.

A few minor nitpicks:
1. Takes about 10 seconds to "check everything" after the power is turned on.
2. Pressing the "Open" (door) button does not turn on the unit - OK, I'm spoiled by my $60 Mintek...
3. The flip down cover should have separate sections rather than the full width. There is access on the left side for a 5-inch section of composite, S-Video or DVI inputs and channel up/down, the 3-inch wide display (that will be brighter when uncovered) is in the center, then only 2 directional arrows on the right side that are an inch apart...
4. The remote is the longest of five I have (lots of functions, some under a sliding cover) though it is well-laid out and not very heavy for the size.

Very minor quibbles for a very nice unit.

Note: I've subsequently had a problem with the unit freezing up in the middle of recording, requiring a full power off (and losing the recording) - three times in a row. This was on the 7th DVD I was burning, and all the previous ones went without a hitch. Called CS (open 24/7) and they said to unplug it for an hour or so to reset it. I will post if a problem is encountered again.

OK, it happened again. 60 days old, froze twice. At least Zenith is paying shipping on this trip.

Got it back 21 days later. Fresh out of the box, the unit does not format a disk, and the disk formatting portion of the menu is inaccessible (grayed out). <snip> Now, I get to take it to a local service center as the repair policy has changed. Arg. More updates as they happen.

Update: Turns out they are paying to ship it back to Alabama, as apparently the local service option was not correct.

Update2: Turns out "problem" is that "-R" disks come formatted (did not know that), therefore that particular menu item is disabled. Funny that 2 techs did not "catch" that on the phone, particularly when one of them specifically asked about the type of disk. Also, manual says that the "disk will be intialized" (which is not the same as "formatted" as the case for "+R"s I had used previously).

So, I'm recording a friend's cartoons. All seems well at the 3-1/2 hour mark :-)

Edit: Well, it finally started dying and I pulled the plug in early '08.

I don't know if I have a lemon or not, but it has been in the shop more than I have had it. It is now on its 3rd repair. Last time, they replaced the mother board and some other components. The first time, they replaced the DVD recorder drive (with a rebuilt one). IThe machine was purchased in July, did not use it until end of August and worked for only a month. I have no small children and I am a videophile who has been recording since the very first betamax. Here are the problems I have:

The timer recording works only about 50% of the time, but if you turn the machine on manually, the timer kicks in. Sometimes when I record DVD's for just a few minutes and change my mind, the recorder reads the DVD as full and will not record further on it. This last time, it started something new (after all the new parts), I hit record, the counter goes to 00 00 00 and it stalls right there. It will not shut off, open or anything; it is literally frozen. Unplugging renews it!

Basically, it is not a machine I can count on. The only saving grace I can see is that I can transfer my vhs tapes to dvd without worrying about the copyguard and even that can get temperamental.

Zenith is absolutely no help. Every time I call, regardless of the day or time, I get a message to leave a phone number and someone will call me back. So far, I've left phone numbers three times and no one bothers to call. So much for tech support!

Hedda

How can you ruin an otherwise fine player/recorder by not giving it an S-video in (except in the front input)? In that case, there is no digital sound besides the eye sore of wires in front- not a good trade off. What were they thinking providing 2 digital sound outputs (coaxial and optical) when one or the other would suffice in a trade off for the S-video in? I tried the composite vs. the front S-video and the picture quality difference was stark. All of this being said, if you simply want to record shows that you'll dub over anyway, it's not the biggest deal. But for highest quality VHS archiving to disc, you may be disappointed. For less picky dubbers, it would be hard to find a quality multi-format recorder at this price point

I was looking for a dvd recorder that I could tranfer my huge lot of vhs home movies onto dvd. After searching, I found most units to be around $300.00 or more. Was shocked to see an ad for this Zenith at our local big box store (Comparable to Best Buy / Circuit City) for $148.00 new. Looked up the specs and found this to have the features I was hoping for. This little gem works great. Simple 1-2-3 hook-up and I was on my way to transferring camcorder footage thru the front jacks and producing a quality edited archive. The dvd has a super picture when using the 1 or 2 hour recording mode. If your looking for a unit with a sleek styling, easy operation, great features and excellent picture quality results, LOOK NO FURTHER.

I was considering buying the DVR413.

However, the owner's manual is so poorly written that the basic capabilities of the unit cannot be determined.

All I wanted to do was find out if the chapters can be manually inserted afterwards, and/or named afterwards, for each disk type that it supports.

For example, the following nonsensical sentences are present:
1. Recordings can be edited the title/chapter
2. Any edited contents are not be compatible on regular

Zenith needs to employ someone who has a basic competency with the English language to review the manuals for errors prior to their being published. A decent manual is as necessary as a decent product.

I'm not interested in buying a product if:
1. I don't know what it does
2. the product documentation is so poor that the only option is trial and error, aka "hope & pray" it does what you bought it for, and if not, return it.

I manage and use about 1000 manuals for all of the electronic and optical test equipment for a large test lab at a major semiconductor company, and I have rarely if ever had to level any sort of criticism at any electronics vendor in 16 years of doing so.

Zenith should be ashamed of themselves for producing such crap. I am glad that I don't work for such a lousy and unethical company, nor amongst such incompetent and immoral employees and management who would allow such junk to be published.

I can only say that I'm glad I read the manual before buying it.

I really like this DVD recorder..Picture quality is great...It seems to be a nice recorder for 99.00.
I was looking for something to convert all of our home videos to DVD's...
Very easy to use and set up was not too difficult...For the price I would recommend it.

I originally purchased this unit because of the multi-format recording capabilities and low price. It was unfortunate that I did not research available reviews on this unit before purchase which then gave me justified concern as to potential hardware problems. My unit had several hardware malfunctions finally ending in an unusable unit after only a short period of use. The problems began almost immediately. Being an electronics technician, in my opinion most of the issues seem to stem from heat related malfunctions. I first noticed that the video out had problems after the unit was on after about 10 hours. The video out appeared snowy like poor reception, contrast issues, and something similar to loss of video synching. After turning the unit off and waiting a day the problem seem to disappear. This malfunction occured several more times, each after the unit was on for more than 4 or 5 hours. The first time I tried to burn to DVD without pause for more than 3 hours (in the 3H57M recording mode), the unit would prematurely stop recording as if it ran out of recording time. The screen would be frozen on the message that it was writing the menu to disc as if would when normal recording were halted. I would have to turn the unit off in order to get out of that screen mode. When this happened, the disc that was being recorded to would no longer be recognized by the unit as a valid disc so each time the disc was ruined. I could simply not record for more than 2 or 3 hours without failure. Then I made the mistake of accidentally leaving the unit on overnight. The next day I found the video out to be totally unusable and the picture being barely recognizable. Turning the unit off to cool off, even for a day or more, no longer made a difference - the video out was permanently shot. I see at time of this review that prices on these units have dropped $400 down to $99. Do not be tempted to buy! The price drop may be due to stock clearance but it's probably the only way this piece of junk can be sold. Had this unit not experienced hardware failures, I would have been mostly satisfied with it's performance and features but experiencing hardware failure within hours of first use ending in a useless broken unit after less than 20 hours of aggregate use is appalling.

brandsmartusa sells this for $148. I have already told amazon about this. But strangely they ignore this. if you live near atlanta or in Florida go to the brandsmartusa and buy this item for $148

You guys better listen, if you buy this item, you will be very sorry. I've had this thing returned, and so called repaired, and it still only DVDs 50% successfully. Try to get help from those useless fools at Zenith is a total waste of time. This, with out a doubt, will be my last item I'll buy from them. They moved to Mexico and have become one of the worst names out there. Their TVs now are made badly.
This unit is so bad, I can't say enough bad things for it. If you need to have a machine that make coasters for you, this is it, because you never know if it will ever work. Some days you maybe lucky and get it to work and somedays you are better off just turning the thing off.

Do not buy this product, it cannot play VCD or SVCD also last week I expend a lot of time making a home video (DVD) on my computer and I cannot play it on the recorder, called Zenith and they told me the recorder is designed not to play computer made DVDs, the player will only play DVDs recorded by itself.

Go get something else.