|
Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.I cannot believe the name brand I used to trust the MOST in the 80's now produces this P.O.S. It's gotten to the point that if I even STOP the tape from PLAY mode, the entire machine shuts down, turns off and ejects my tape FOR NO REASON. and passing it off as quality merchandise.
And, of course, when it ejects the tape, 1 ft of it is STILL IN THE VCR SLOT, and chewed up. Please, please DO NOT waste your time or money on this item. Bought this item brand new from a retailer in 2005 (not refurbished).
In the past year alone, it has destroyed three tapes because it doesn't "feel" like rewinding or fast-forwarding. I'm fortunate enough to be able to read electronic manuals with little complication, but this one required me leaving post-it notes for reminders -- it's that complicated.Unlike other reviewers, since I've had it this long, it not only records when it "feels" like it (freezes anywhere from 31 minutes to 2 minutes before recording ends, THEN you find out it didn't record), it EATS YOUR VIDEO TAPES. I kid you not.
When I (finally) replace it with a better brand, I'm taking my BAT to it so I can finally get SOME satisfaction for mistakenly buying it.
I am usually pretty technical having a experience as an electronics technician and as a computer LAN administrator. This machine is just plain frustrating. I think you need to take a college graduate course to understand the manual. Please do yourself a favor and spend a little extra money on something else. I tried to figure out the VCR section and preprogram a channel for recording a later time. However, if you want to torture yourself then you can buy this and give yourself a migraine. Yeah.I have to take another college course for that too.
Forget about any onscreen help. My parents were looking to buy a DVD/VCR combo. I will steer them away from a Magnavox as far I can. I have had the machine for over a year. That doesn't exist. I have read and reread it many times. We finally accomplished recording to the DVD.
Anything has to be better than this machine.
My conscience doesn't allow me to resell this thing on Ebay. And if you loose the remote don't even think about being able to fully control this thing with the buttons on the front. It is so terribly difficult to operate and program. It would be like selling a car that you know has major problems. You can't even put in a DVD and press play unless the default selection when you put the movie in is "Play Movie".I've built my own computers, setup home automation systems.
A Computer Network Engineer by trade but this thing is out of my league. I read the manual a couple of times to no avail. What a piece of crap. I'll play a VCR tape and try to copy it to DVD but sometimes it records a blue screen, sometimes TV and sometimes your VCR tape but you'll never know until after 2 hours of tape runs. But I really don't think my unit is defective just the most non-intuitive piece of electronics I've ever seen.
I've given up.
This machine is very complicate to use for it to be functioned. It became 90 days already. I tossed about $500 for three.
Their answer is that's you expected from remanufacturing. I learned that I should buy ONE very good machine instead of three garbages. I bought 3 of this machine and gave to two electronics genius son-in-laws.One son-in-law barely managed to work the machine but it wasn't a great performance.
I complained Philips out let. One can use just as VCR not for DVD recording. One is VCR head already worn out, it couldn't adjusted by tracking, the bad screen.
Such a waste money, energy and time.I am very unhappy.
Several minutes later we were able to recover the VHS tape but the DVD refuses to open. The unit now refuses to power on. Open the box, hooked up, and pulled out his home video collection to start burning to DVD- After about 30 minutes the unit froze and shut down. The unit was obviously defective and returned by someone else (writing in the owner's manual)- now we are stuck with expensive paperweight as the 90 day warranty is expired.
|
