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Rating: 
Summary: Coby DVDR1000
Review: I am an Electrical Engineer with some experience with electronic consumer products, and I have even repaired many of them. This is the only DVD recorder that I have owned.The price was very low and was an incentive to try it. I took the first unit back to the store when it failed to read most of my prerecorded DVDs. The second unit worked better, but was still having trouble some of the time. After playing around a little, the unit began to work quite well, for some unknown reason. I have noticed in the month that I have owned the product that it can be quite temperamental, but more often than not, works pretty well. I believe that there are firmware (internal software) bugs in the product. I initially bought some low cost +RW disks before I read the manual. They wouldn't record! I then got some Memorex disks which were recommended in the manual, and things got better. To make a long story short, I've learned to live with a very temperamental product because of the low cost. For example, when recording movies with the timer, they often don't come out, at first. My next step now, is to record an additional short segment after the movie and, "BOOM", the disk now works properly with the original recording. I can erase the additional recording with no problem. The manual has excellent English, but is missing a lot of key information. For example, it tells you how to format a DVD, but there is no explanation as to why, or when, you might want to do that. There are still some set-up functions where I haven't a clue as to what they do. Again the manual says nothing! The quality of the recording is very good as most other reviewers have stated. The DVDs also play OK on another playback machine that I have. There are some internal adjustments, I would have to say, however, are not set correctly - the black level, for instance, but they are not too far off. And I agree with the other reviews that the TV tuner is poor. This is a simple, basic, machine that lacks a lot of features that could be nice (editing functions, for example). But the simplicity means less complexity for the average user and could be viewed as a benefit. In conclusion, if you are willing to fiddle with some of the temperamental nature of this machine, it may be worth the low cost. However, I would think that someone with little patience won't like this machine. A lot more money is probably in order for that person!
Rating: 
Summary: Better left on the shelf
Review: I bought this unit at ABC Warehouse and could not believe the price, I had the wife pick it up on the way home from work and connected it to my system as soon as she brought it in the house.
I used to work for a cable company and I know all the in and outs for hooking these things up.
After it was all plugged in and ready to go we checked the picture, it was unbelievably dark and washed out!
I fiddled with it (hoping I could change the brightness etc... of the tuner) but to no avail. Thinking it was a "bad" unit I sent the wife back to exchange it for another, got it home hooked it up, same thing.
Wanting the unit basically to record shows for my daughter I checked to see if I got the same dull washed out picture when I actually did some recording. To my dismay the picture quality was just as bad on the recorded media as it was from the tuner.
As nice as the price was I had to return it yet again.
I personally took it back and talked to the manager at the store and he pointed to a pile of returns with customers complaining not only of the picture, but sound quality also.
Needless to say I did not give it a third try.
My advice? Stay away from this one it is a headache.
I now have an order in for the CyberHome and will leave feedback when I evaluate it after some weeks /months of use.
Hope this saves you the headache I had to put up with concerning this unit.
Best of luck!
Rating:
Summary: No more Coby for me
Review: I found this in a discount store in NYC and since it was cheap so I bought it. After a day I returned it and got a good refund, because if I had it longer I'd have thrown it out of the window or burned it on my stove. (Background: for those not in the know, Coby is a small Korean company that peddles low-quality electronics. They are known for low cost and, surprise!, low quality.) The DVD recorder was supposed to let you burn video source materials onto DVD blanks, but as much as I tried I couldn't get it to work. About 30 seconds after I pressed Record it would give this vibrating noise and then eventually I had to unplug it. The exterior of the recorder also does not inspire confidence at all: one of the buttons on the front didn't quite work. Seriously, save yourself the money and buy something that works, like the popular Panasonic DMR-E55S or DMR-E55K. The Coby isn't worth the frustrations even if it were given away for free.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely terrible
Review: I found this in a discount store in NYC and since it was cheap so I bought it. After a day I returned it and got a good refund, because if I had it longer I'd have thrown it out of the window or burned it on my stove. (Background: for those not in the know, Coby is a small Korean company that peddles low-quality electronics. They are known for low cost and, surprise!, low quality.) The DVD recorder was supposed to let you burn video source materials onto DVD blanks, but as much as I tried I couldn't get it to work. About 30 seconds after I pressed Record it would give this vibrating noise and then eventually I had to unplug it. The exterior of the recorder also does not inspire confidence at all: one of the buttons on the front didn't quite work. Seriously, save yourself the money and buy something that works, like the popular Panasonic DMR-E55S or DMR-E55K. The Coby isn't worth the frustrations even if it were given away for free.
Rating: 
Summary: Small Expense, Great Performance
Review: I have tried Pioneer & Sony DVR's for twice the price of this one and believe me, they don't perform anything like as well as this !
OK., the tuner isn't the best, but if you're using a satellite or cable box and connecting via the composite/component or SVHS inputs/outputs, NOT the RF (bypassing the tuner), then this baby is for you !
No problems with both 2x and 4x RW+ and R+ media...used several brands, burnt then everytime, no problems. Quality is better in high or best mode, noticed anything less pixilates a lot.
I took out the extended warranty, just in case - but for the money, you can't go wrong !
Rating:
Summary: Small Expense, Great Performance
Review: I have tried Pioneer & Sony DVR's for twice the price of this one and believe me, they don't perform anything like as well as this !
OK., the tuner isn't the best, but if you're using a satellite or cable box and connecting via the composite/component or SVHS inputs/outputs, NOT the RF (bypassing the tuner), then this baby is for you !
No problems with both 2x and 4x RW+ and R+ media...used several brands, burnt then everytime, no problems. Quality is better in high or best mode, noticed anything less pixilates a lot.
I took out the extended warranty, just in case - but for the money, you can't go wrong !
Rating:
Summary: Coby DVDR1000
Review: I initially gave this unit a good review, but having returned two in as many months, I strongly advise you against investing in this product. Despite using the suggested media (Memorex), it continually records on both R & RW pixilating and jumping on playback. Exactly the same problem on each unit, plus the timer is unreliable and the 'quick record' function only works when it wants too. Tuner wise, forget about it, unless you are using a cable or satellite box, it's grainier than a loaf of wholewheat ! I am going to return it yet again and buy the Akai, it has great reviews for the same cost.
Rating:
Summary: No more Coby for me
Review: I live in Key West, FL so rarely make the 3hr drive to miami. I was up there at BrandSmartUSA and saw the Coby DVD R1100 (new version of the R1000) for $148 new. I had wanted one for some time so thought this was my chance. I got it home and got all hooked up, ready to see what recording quality was like....but never got that far since the DVD tray won't open! I tried resetting, turning off power, etc. I looked on their website for suggestions but nothing. I am not contacting customer service since they have inconvenient hours Mon-Fri only. I have to head back up to miami tomorrow so not passing up the chance to return it to miami so I can wait to talk to a tech next Mon that's going to want me to return it anyway.
Rating:
Summary: Coby records fine, has many extras
Review: One day's use so far, and it works with all the media I have thrown at it (mostly memorex brand DVD-/+r/w). The recording is as good as cyberhome and other less expensive DVR players--at least my unit was good (not dark or pale, except on super high contrast cartoons). Perhaps those getting dark/pale recordings were trying to record something with macro/copy protection, or just got bum units. Some bonuses:
It plays MPG files straight without authoring. Plays JPG slide shows without authoring, though with no user-select of time between slides. Plays DVD-R even though not listed on specs. Have not tested commercial editing yet, but other basic functions were simple enough. The manual is written fairly well. Only giving it a 4 because:
It does not allow for real-time play and record concurrently (allowing you to pause while recording and continue recording as it is paused) It does not work with DVD-R/W (only +). It does not play WMA, nor give ID tags on mp3 (though it does play down to 32kbps spoken word files). But for the price, $237+tax, it was the cheapest DVR I've seen. Comparing to the cyberhome 1500 DVR, it is better looking and has essentially the same features.
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