Daewoo DVRS04 DVD Recorder/Hi-Fi VCR Combo

Other products by DAEWOO ELECTRONICS

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 14 x 16.9 x 3.5 inches ; 15 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 17 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0006PY0U0
• Item model number: DVR-S04
• Batteries: 2 AA batteries required. (included)
• Average Customer Review: 1.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #77,931 in Electronics (See Bestsellers in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: November 23, 2004

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description
Daewoo's versatile, space-saving DVR-S04 combo recorder lets you quickly and easily transfer your personal video from VHS tapes to recordable DVD+R and DVD+RW discs, preserving your cherished footage for years to come--all with a single component. Setup is simple and connections are minimal; the DVR-S04 is optimized for one-touch transfers from VHS to DVD or vice-versa, copy-protection technology permitting (you can't copy the latest blockbuster movie to videotape).

The unit will also play your CD-based MP3 music files and JPEG digital photos, including Kodak Picture CDs--nothing like a custom slide show in the comfort of your living room. If you've got music and pictures on the same CD-R or CD-RW, you can even select an MP3 music file to play in the background during your slideshow.

In addition to making it easier to transfer directly from videotape to DVD, the DVR-S04 uses LSI Logic's Direct Digital Dub technology. Direct Digital Dub simplifies digital content transfers from a camcorder (DV or other media) to the DVD recorder via an IEEE 1394 (DV) connection. Simplifying the process, Direct Digital Dub lets you control the camcorder with one touch via the DVD recorder's remote control.

Additional advantages include LSI Logic's proprietary pre- and post-processing technologies, TrueView Pro and TrueScan Pro. These motion-compensation-based technologies provide advanced progressive-scan output and impressive noise-minimizing on signals passing through the unit's analog inputs.

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.

Front-panel inputs make spontaneous connections a cinch, whether you're hooking up a camcorder, a digital camera, or a second VCR. The unit also offers an RF coaxial antenna input and output, 1 each composite-, component-, and S-video outputs, and a choice of 2 digital-audio outputs (coaxial or optical) for passing Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1-channel surround signals to a compatible audio/video surround receiver and multichannel speaker system, the ideal accessories for your movie viewing.

What's in the Box
DVD player/VCR, remote control, remote batteries, a user's manual, a stereo analog audio interconnect/composite-video cable, an RF coaxial video cable, a blank DVD+RW disc, and warranty information.

Product Description
The Daewoo DVRS04 is a DVD Recorder/Hi-Fi VCR combo deck with IEEE1394 input. It features multi-format playback of DVD+R/DVD+RW, DVD-RW, VCD, SVCD, CD, MP3-CD, Kodak Picture CDs, as well as VHS tapes, progressive scan output, Dolby Digital and DTS pass-through, and 3-D Virtual Surround Sound for 2-channel audio. Record your favorite shows in a crystal clear digital quality or tape them on a standard VHS!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A Disappointment!, March 24, 2005

By	T-Diddy "Broadway Nut" (Florida) - See all my reviews

I was so excited when I finally got this machine in the mail, but my excitement soon faded. This unit started giving me trouble within a day of using it. It would constantly lock up and would not respond to the buttons on the front panel or the remote. When I tried to do what the manual said to do in cases like these, nothing happened, and when I called technical support for help - they were USELESS. The last straw was when I popped a DVD in the tray and the machine would not play it AND it would not release it. I ended up returning it and getting another brand. Stay away from this machine.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good machine for the value, despite some flaws, April 9, 2005

By	J. Kodani "YoshioKun13" (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is the first DVD Recorder/VCR Combo I've had a chance to use, which I got for $249 at Fry's. I've used it for a few weeks now and am fairly satisfied with the results, despite a few system flaws.

It serves its purpose well, recording to DVD from TV or VCR is done with sufficient ease and efficiency. The features and options of this particular brand are practically no different than any other, but the on-screen display menus and GUI are nicely designed. I especially liked the time-bar at the bottom that shows how much recording time remains when burning to DVD, depending on the speed setting. In these areas the DVR-S04 excels indeed.

Here are some of the problems I encountered. The first time I recorded to DVD I used the blank DVD+RW packaged with the machine. In the process of overwriting one of the recordings it froze up and I could no longer use the disc. Fortunately it was just a test recording and didn't lose anything important. Since then I've used plain DVD+R discs and they've all turned out fine. In the process of editing some of the discs though I ran into some system errors and could no longer record to the discs, leaving me no option but to finalize the disc and it'll play fine. This only happened like 3 times maybe, out of 30 successfully burned discs. Also sometimes when the power is turned off and put into standby mode, it'll lockup and I had to unplug and plug it to turn it back on. These may just be defects with my machine only, I'm not sure.

The only permanent problem that I can assess has to do with editing the chapters on DVDs. You can add chapters anywhere into the titles on disc, but once the disc is finalized the chapters I added would mysteriously disappear. Not sure if this is intentional or a glitch, it's kind of inconvenient but not a huge problem. Changing title names and index images are a snap.

There a few other personal nitpicks I could quibble over, but they're really not worth mentioning. VCR functions and playing domestic Region 1 DVDs work fine. Not perfect, but overall it's a solid product for the price tag. If you can find it for the same value I would recommend buying it.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Utilitarian, ineligant, buggy, annoying., November 27, 2005

By	Henry Bowman (Arizona) - See all my reviews

I bought this unit last year because Fry's had it at a smoking price and I wanted a way to convert all our family videos to DVD before they died a heat and dust death. This was my first DVD recorder.

Its operation for basic tasks is simple and straightforward, but from time to time I come up against the lack of a feature I naturally expect to find, but which isn't there or doesn't work. Examples:

When recording from the air, this unit apparently does not record closed captioning information to either tape or DVD, a substantial negative for viewers needing "hearing assistance." All of my other VCRs record it.

I was ready to return my unit because every time I shut it off, it "hung" with the message "WAIT", would not respond to any controls, and eventually had to be unplugged and replugged. I called their service number, was advised this was a known problem with the "automatic clock setting" feature, and was told my only option was to turn that feature off and set the clock by hand. (ATTENTION other reviewers who reported hangs on shutoff: this is probably your problem.)

With the automatic clock setting feature off, the unit apparently does you the "favor" of adjusting itself for standard and daylight savings time on the proper day (this is totally undocumented). Unfortunately, my state doesn't do daylight time, so the unit recorded all the wrong programs for a week or so until I figured out that it had changed its own clock. There is no way to disable this "feature."

If you are playing a tape or DVD at a time when the unit is scheduled to record, you are given no notice that a scheduled operation needs the unit (even my cheap VCRs will do this). When you turn the unit off, you will get a message that the unit will switch into auto record mode instead, whereupon it will record the remainder of the show you wanted, at which point you typically kick yourself because it's too late to recover from your mistake. Now, the manual says "while the VCR is recording, DVD playback is possible," but that's only if the VCR is already recording -- if you're playing a DVD at the time the VCR wants to start recording, it won't start.

On the other side of automatic operation, if you find yourself recording the wrong show to DVD (e.g., due to a schedule change or sports delay) you can't override the program and stop it. The manual says that holding the stop button down for three seconds will stop it, but I have not found this to work.

My occasional attempts to use the unit to play "interactive game features" on some DVDs have all resulted in system freezes or hangs, requiring unplugging of the power cord to reset the unit.

There is an annoying bug in the unit such that if you are searching a DVD in fast reverse for a particular scene, and then hit PLAY when you find it, it will play with no audio. You have to hit STOP and then PLAY again to regain audio.

Finally, I was disappointed with the results when I tried to copy my VCR tapes to DVD, the task for which I primarily bought the deck. It's probably not the fault of this particular unit, but I discovered that although the quality of a VCR tape recorded at the 6-hour speed is very reasonable, a DVD recorded at the 6-hour speed is unwatchable -- super-pixelated and full of ugly artifacts. So I can't just plug in the media and let the machine do the job unattended, I have to be present to perform active editing. As I mentioned, this was my first experience with making DVDs, so learning about their limitations was part of the process. However, I have to wonder how many other potential purchasers have home videos recorded at this speed and are also going to discover this limitation after buying this machine.