Rating: 
Summary: 286 of DVD recorders
Review: after reading the reviews i decided to purchase this dvd recorder and really expected a lot more. the unit takes forever to load a disk, hangs on a regular basis, and by the way includes copy protection so you really cannot use it to backup those old vhs tapes. the concept is good and i have sucessfully recorded some dvds but you always hold your breath to see if some totally uncomprehensible error message will appear. it really reminds me of my 286 running windows 98, sometime it works somtimes it crashes... needs a lot more work. this is even true on playing regular commercial dvds where it will hang for no reason. you have to pull the power plug to reset it....should sound familiar. if you want a low cost dvd recorder it is probably ok but do not expect much.
Rating: 
Summary: Good solid recorder for the money.
Review: For the price you can't beat it. The unit is very basic but works well, similar to a VCR recorder. The recorded disk is as good or better than the original broadcast and much better than a VCR recording. If you are using a DVD+R disk and when you completely fill your disk with the programs you recorded don't forget to finalize (in disk tools) so you can play the disk in other players. Selecting auto chapters is also helpful to jump/skip quicker to the other parts of your recorded program. I was interested in the Feb 24 reviewer who said that the recorder can be changed into an all region player. I tried following the directions to convert it but it did not work. When you say press the right arrow do you mean the play button or the right arrow on the four way buttons on the remote. Do you continue to hold down the right arrow while punching in 800, then let go the right arrow button to press enter or do you continue to hold down the right arrow button and press enter. If you read this review could you please clarify your directions. Thanks.
Rating:
Summary: Great value for the price
Review: I admit mine was very low cost...$199 after Gateway's $100 coupon offer....never expected to be able to buy a dvd recorder for this price this year. Picture quality is excellent, fairly easy to figure out the controls, a real boon for time-shifters, who are tired of seeing their vhs tapes degrade almost before they can get around to watching them! Certainly less bells and whistles than the pricier models, but more than I expected. Thanks, Gateway!
Rating:
Summary: Not Friendly A/V
Review: I am an a\v nut for over 40 years and have awards for amatuer and professional videos. This dvd recorder does not make it as user friendly. The instruction book is not helpful and the tech help had just a little more knowledge than I had concerning the AR230. Store personnel had only one person that had been trained on it. The title menu is limited to 8 characters, what good is that .... I would not recommend this for anyone.
Rating: 
Summary: Junk
Review: I am on my second one and it just crashed. The first one would fail at every attempt to record a program. The second worked for about 2 months, then tonight it won't accept any dvd. When I insert a disc, it says "NO DISC". I am done. Throwing this one away and going for a different one.
Rating: 
Summary: Good performance for a good price
Review: I bought my recorder in September 2004, and I have had no issues with it - it works great both in playback and recording modes, it is pretty simple to use, and has had no mechanical or firmware problems. The only two minor nuissances that I have noticed are the basic manual and the lack of closed captioning/subtitling in most modes. Other than that, this recorder is a good value for the money - and the cheapest that I have found out there!
Rating:
Summary: Solid product, easy to use.
Review: I bought one of these for Christmas. Easy setup. I didn't read the manual and was able to figure it out. This DVR supports a variety of formats so you don't have to worry about what the strongest standards are. Jacks in front make it easy to plug in a video camera or digital camera for viewing or recording.The remote is fairly simple and easy to use. Gateway went out of their way to make DVD recording straightforward. I've had it for close to three months now and have had no complaints or problems. Summary: Great value, easy to use product
Rating: 
Summary: Will not format, play disc
Review: i bought this in july and now it won't format or play the discs.
Rating:
Summary: junk
Review: I bought this item in May 2004. It worked for awhile when I recorded my tapes onto discs. Now if I record a disc, it won't play in other DVD players, nor this one. Also, if I record a show and want to continue to record onto the disc later, it doesn't work and the disc is useless. When recording, it has frozen many times--like if you want to cut out commercials. The player will not play many discs previously recorded on this player. Do NOT waste your money. I don't care how cheap this product gets. Cheap is what it is. It's not worth it!!!
Rating:
Summary: A bit tricky to use, powerful features
Review: I found it easy to get started using, and had few problems with basic recording to DVD+R or DVD+RW disks. There are some technical challenges if you want to copy the disks made with the AR-230 - it can be done, but takes some learning. The recorded disks played in 9 out of 10 DVD players I tried them in. In this price range, it has nice features like firewire input, PAL to NTSC playback conversion, built-in TV tuner, and component output.
But the big plus on this player is that it can bypass copy protection on DVD's and VHS movies.(Firmware 1139, Dec 2003) This earns it an extra star from me. Amazon probably won't let me tell how here, but those interested can easily find the info on the internet.
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