Aspire Digital AD-8091 Progressive-Scan DVD Player/Recorder

Other products by ASPIRE DIGITAL

Product Details

Product Manual [1.43mb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 13.4 x 12.6 x 2.2 inches ; 11.7 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 11 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B0002I6M8Y
• Item model number: AD-8091
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #69,431 in Electronics (See Bestsellers in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 25, 2004

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description
Aspire Digital's AD-8091 component DVD player/recorder is both affordable and versatile. The unit records to blank DVD+R or DVD+RW discs--both of which are compatible with most DVD players sold today--and it plays a range of optical media and produces pristine, progressive-scan video playback images for viewing on a high-definition or HD-ready TV or monitor (525p/NTSC, 625p/PAL, which may be incompatible with some displays).

Five recording modes (HQ, SP, LP, EP, and EP+) let you scale your disc space to maximize either recording time (up to 6 hours) or recording quality. DVD+RW discs require no finalizing--you can record, eject, and play them with minimal fuss, thanks to "background formatting." This feature, which lowers total burning time, is an advantage over the "dash" formats. Other DVD+RW advantages include on-disc content editing and multisession writing.

The recorder is ideal for time shifting your TV viewing or for archiving footage from your library of camcorder and/or VHS tapes. Recording features include pause record, auto-insert chapter, index screen navigator, and multi record modes, while editing features include erase disc, show chapter, and edit title name. Program the recorder to capture television shows (up to 8 programmed timer events simultaneously) or use its real-time recording function on the fly.

Inputs include front- and rear-panel jacks for hookup convenience, with one set of composite- and S-video inputs and 1 stereo analog (left/right) RCA audio inputs in each locale.

The unit delivers high-quality playback from virtually all audio or video disc formats, including DVD, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, CD, CD-R, CD-RW, CD+G, JPEG image CD, Kodak Picture CD, and MP3 music CD.

The AD-8091 performs 4:3/16:9 display conversion and offers parental lock settings. A choice of NTSC and PAL output formatting provides worldwide compatibility. When selected for interlaced output (480i), the rear-panel component-video outputs help minimize digital and line-scan artifacts on compatible televisions, while composite- and S-video outputs bring compatibility with nearly any television.

Optical and coaxial outputs provide direct-digital connections with an audio/video surround receiver for enveloping Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1-channel surround. The unit also decodes Dolby Digital 5.1 for use with non-decoding multichannel receivers. Online firmware updates are available from www.aspiredigital.com.

What's in the Box
DVD player, remote control, remote batteries, user's manual, stereo analog audio interconnect/composite-video cable, a user's manual, a quick-start guide, and a warranty card.

Note: The AD-8091 will not record Macrovision-protected material such as the signals found on most commercial DVDs.

Product Description
The AD-8091 is a progressive scan DVD Recorder. The recording provides you the ability to create your own DVD discs from your home movies, favorite TV programs and more. Because of the outstanding compatibility of DVD+R/RW discs, the discs you create will be suitable for playback in most DVD Recorders. You can record from the unit's built-in TV Tuner or an external video source like a video camera. And when you're ready to watch your recordings or commercial DVDs, you can enjoy them in the highest quality with the unit's Progressive Scan Video Out and Digital Audio Out.PRODUCT FEATURES:ESS encode and decode solution;Real-time recording function;Intelligent Timing Recording, i.e., supports Recording programs by presetting time, channel, times of channel and the quality level;Continue recording function, and support auto-searching the free space for recording;Progressive Scan;TV programs receiving: Support automatic channel search and memorize;Support playing DVD, CD, MP3, CD-R/RW, and DVD+R/RW discs;Built-in Dolby Digital decoder;Video (2 group), S-Video, RF TV signal, stereo audio input jacks;Component video, S-Video, YPbPr, SCART, Optical, Coaxial, 5.1 CH output jacks.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The problem is the manual, May 1, 2005

By	Dave Schiller (Toronto, ON Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a competent DVD recorder once you get past the poorly written and edited instruction manual. It is also very important to download and install the ROM upgrade that Aspire offers on their Web site (www.aspiredigital.com).

The main plus of this unit is its low price. It makes good quality recordings using DVD+R and +RW media. I use it for archiving shows I've recorded on my cable PVR, and sharing them with a few friends who don't have cable. I also transfer a lot of movies I have on Beta that haven't come out on DVD (and probably never will!).

My main problem was figuring out how to "finalize" DVD+R discs. This is necessary for making the discs readable on ordinary DVD players. (DVD+RW discs do not have to be finalized for compatibility, though the target player has to be able to read DVD+RW discs to begin with.) When I went to finalize my first discs, the menu appeared to be not available. Then I found a review of the unit on the epinions site, where the reviewer had the same difficulty. He discovered that the recorder had to be in Monitor mode to access the menu for finalizing. If anyone has this problem, just hit the DVD/TV button on the remote to get "MONITOR" to display, then go into the Setup menu to Play/Edit Disc, and select Edit Disc. Finalize Disc is finally available!

There is really no excuse for such a crummy manual, and that is the main problem with this recorder.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars DEFECTIVE PRODUCT - ZERO CUSTOMER SERVICE, May 4, 2006

By	Al L. (Springfield, MA United States) - See all my reviews

In less that 3 weeks after I received this item it became defective by having only audio - no picture. I wrote them an e-mail using the address that was in the owner's manual. There was no response to my e-mail. There was no way that I was going to use the phone number listed in the manual and have to be on hold indefinately, all the while paying for the phone call myself.

An e-mail to Amazon was returned in less than 24 hours saying they would give me a refund and pay for the postage to return it. My thanks to Amazon for standing behind their sales even when the manufacturer won't.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars System crashes are worse than Windows 95, January 3, 2005

By	R. Cameron (San Francisco Bay Area) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Do not buy this unit. Somewhere between 70-90% of the DVDs that I have attempted to burn have turned into coasters. The worst is when you spend 3 hours filling a disc with stuff only for the unit to freeze up. At this point, the only way to get the AD-8091 to respond is to unplug the unit. After plugging it back in, the DVD+R disk is fried and not recognized by the unit, so the unit locks up again. Then you have to use another DVD+R disk. Then you may have a 50/50 chance of recording and burning a full disk without the system crashing on you. Don't touch this thing with a ten foot pole!!!