Rating: 
Summary: No problems...so far
Review: I got this little baby as gift from my in-laws so who am I to complain. Nonetheless, we've used it about 20-30 times and so far it's never failed.
Rating: 
Summary: unreliable unit
Review: I got this unit because my VCR was old and going and I wanted to be able to play DVD as they would be what I would rent, but I wanted to also retain the VCR ability for my 5 year old who has some Disney vids. But, I have had nothing but problems almost since the very first week. The DVD part seemed fine, but the VCR part was on the blink immediately and now I'm on my second attempt to get it fixed since the first "fix" didn't work even though the whole motor was replaced!Don't trust this unit!!
Rating:
Summary: Highly Recommended!
Review: I held out on purchasing this product because I'd never heard of Go-Video. I did a lot of research and couldn't find anything negative about the product. So several months later, I purchased it. The first nice thing is the space saved by combining the VCR and DVD into one unit. Then, there's the ease of connecting to your TV and stereo. With my other VCR & DVD player, I have to use a lot of Y (F/F-->M) merge cable sections in order to have the VCR and TV go through the stereo/TV. ... With this, the unit handles the switching between DVD/TV/VCR at the touch of a button. Another nice feature of the DVD part of the unit is it remembers where you stopped a DVD. So even if you turn the unit off for the night, the next day you can turn it back on, switch to DVD and hit play to pick up the movie right where you left off. My JVC player won't do this! The VCR side provides a clean picture and it even shows a graphic bar for tracking purposes (while in auto-track or manual-track). I found this helpful for recordings I have kept off an old VCR but now play on the new one. Another "kewl" feature on the VCR side is the status bar when rewinding/fast-forwarding tape. And when it comes to rewinding/fast-forwarding, it does it rapidly! It actually can rewind faster than my stand-alone tape-rewind machine! The unit WILL play MP3 CD's but make sure you have better CD burning software and use better quality disk. At first the unit refused to play my MP3 CD's but once I upgraded my software, the new CD's played perfectly! Bottom line, I am glad I made this purchase! In fact, I bought a 2nd unit!
Rating:
Summary: Built to last a very long time - needed a fan installed.
Review: I work on DVD players.. actually I diagnose the problem, inform the owner and then dispose of them. Virtually every DVD player under $1000 has a disposable brush type spindle motor which will often fail after about 1500-2000 hours disk spin time. These motors are not replaceable. The machines are designed to last typically 2-3 years before replacement. The DVR5000 has a digital brushless spindle motor. A motor not found in DVD players unless you purchase a Pioneer DVD-V7400 $1400 Industrial rack mount machine. What gives the DVD-V7400 reliability is the brushless motor... the near identical motor found in the DVR5000. The DVD spindle mechanism...the most critical part of any DVD player... contained within the DVR5000 will probably outlast the DVD format altogether. Meanwhile, you will go through 4-6 Toshiba or Pioneer machines in the same timespan. Unfortunately, the DVR5000 has too much stuff crammed into too small of a space. The power supply is almost three times the size of a standard DVD player.. and likewise generates 3 times as much heat. The VHS deck takes it share of power as does the high torque DVD brushless motor. Go-Video made a mistake of not allowing sufficient ventilation of the chassis AND the inclusion of a forced air cooling system (a fan). They also placed the DVD decoder board directly above the power supply. When things heat up, electrical alignments of the decoder board drift, laser output diminishes and then the DVD stutters. I installed a cooling fan tapped off of the power supply. The fan turns on automatically when the unit is on. Since the fan installation, all skipping problems have gone away. The machine runs cool inside, the laser now tracks properly. FYI, DVD lasers are very senstive to heat; their output drops significantly with rise in temperature. It is very unfortunate that this overheating issue was overlooked by the engineers. Otherwise this could have been a flawless and easily the most successful and reliable machines on the market. I give the machine a 5 rating despite the temperature problem due to the exceptional quality and longevity incorporated into the DVD mechanism. Truely independent thought from an independent company from the disposable thought of this day and age. The DVR5000 WAS NOT designed to have a 2 year lifespan like the "quality name brand" consumer grade equipment. Looking at the componentry and exceptional construction of the DVR5000 machine, it was designed to have a trouble free 10 year lifespan.
Rating:
Summary: Built to last a very long time - needed a fan installed.
Review: I work on DVD players.. actually I diagnose the problem, inform the owner and then dispose of them. Virtually every DVD player under $1000 has a disposable brush type spindle motor which will often fail after about 1500-2000 hours disk spin time. These motors are not replaceable. The machines are designed to last typically 2-3 years before replacement. The DVR5000 has a digital brushless spindle motor. A motor not found in DVD players unless you purchase a Pioneer DVD-V7400 $1400 Industrial rack mount machine. What gives the DVD-V7400 reliability is the brushless motor... the near identical motor found in the DVR5000. The DVD spindle mechanism...the most critical part of any DVD player... contained within the DVR5000 will probably outlast the DVD format altogether. Meanwhile, you will go through 4-6 Toshiba or Pioneer machines in the same timespan. Unfortunately, the DVR5000 has too much stuff crammed into too small of a space. The power supply is almost three times the size of a standard DVD player.. and likewise generates 3 times as much heat. The VHS deck takes it share of power as does the high torque DVD brushless motor. Go-Video made a mistake of not allowing sufficient ventilation of the chassis AND the inclusion of a forced air cooling system (a fan). They also placed the DVD decoder board directly above the power supply. When things heat up, electrical alignments of the decoder board drift, laser output diminishes and then the DVD stutters. I installed a cooling fan tapped off of the power supply. The fan turns on automatically when the unit is on. Since the fan installation, all skipping problems have gone away. The machine runs cool inside, the laser now tracks properly. FYI, DVD lasers are very senstive to heat; their output drops significantly with rise in temperature. It is very unfortunate that this overheating issue was overlooked by the engineers. Otherwise this could have been a flawless and easily the most successful and reliable machines on the market. I give the machine a 5 rating despite the temperature problem due to the exceptional quality and longevity incorporated into the DVD mechanism. Truely independent thought from an independent company from the disposable thought of this day and age. The DVR5000 WAS NOT designed to have a 2 year lifespan like the "quality name brand" consumer grade equipment. Looking at the componentry and exceptional construction of the DVR5000 machine, it was designed to have a trouble free 10 year lifespan.
Rating: 
Summary: Best of both worlds!!!
Review: I've had my DVR5000 for about a week. It is very simple to use and setup. If you have countless VHS tapes and want to enjoy the new DVD medium without a messy look, this is the unit you should get. All the connections are included for whatever type of system you have, even component hookups are included. My unit seems to work flawlessy and having the ability to switch between DVD, VHS and TV internally is a big plus. One feature I really like is the Zoom control (2x and 4x) not found on many DVD's out there. Sensory Science is a relatively small company but seem's to take pride in the products they sell and with the DVR5000 you get the best of both worlds..
Rating:
Summary: Best of both worlds!!!
Review: I've had my DVR5000 for about a week. It is very simple to use and setup. If you have countless VHS tapes and want to enjoy the new DVD medium without a messy look, this is the unit you should get. All the connections are included for whatever type of system you have, even component hookups are included. My unit seems to work flawlessy and having the ability to switch between DVD, VHS and TV internally is a big plus. One feature I really like is the Zoom control (2x and 4x) not found on many DVD's out there. Sensory Science is a relatively small company but seem's to take pride in the products they sell and with the DVR5000 you get the best of both worlds..
Rating: 
Summary: Beware Macrovision - This will not record most DVD's to VHS
Review: Just a note, checking the Go-Video website description of the DVR5000, found this feature: "Record non-Macrovision encoded DVDs to VHS" This probably means that Macrovision encoded DVD's cannot be copied, and most DVD's have Macrovision copy protection. Hope nobody buys this thinking they will be able to make good VHS copies of their DVD's. Maybe it will work, but probably best to wait until someone that has one tests it out and puts up a review.
Rating:
Summary: VCR going bad after a year or so
Review: My GoVideo DVR5000 DVD/VCR combo worked well for quite a while, but now the VCR half is starting to go bad. I'm not sure how long I've had it - at least a year, maybe closer to two. Recently, when I play back videos recorded with this unit, the tint is frequently (but not always) off for the top third of the screen. At first I thought I was imagining it, but then I started noticing backgrounds that should be a solid color changed color towards the top of the screen. For example, I was watching an interview that was conducted against an all-blue background, but towards the top of the picture the background turned more and more green. Things that should be red near the top of the screen are usually purple. After a lot of playing around with various tapes, and then playing around with the connections in the back of the player, I think I've narrowed the problem down to the composite video output jack. When I switched from using that to using the coaxial video output, the problem went away. But that's not really a solution, so I bought a new player and moved the Go Video to another room where the TV uses coaxial. Oddly, the composite video problem only seemed to affect the VCR half of the unit, and not the DVD half. I haven't had many problems with the DVD half of the unit. It will occasionally freeze up, or refuse to read a DVD when I first put it in the player, but after a few tries it eventually reads them. I'm really bummed that the VCR is going bad, because other than that problem I really like this unit. I've been reading reviews to decide what to get as a replacement, and it doesn't seem like anyone makes a reliable DVD/VCR combination anymore.
Rating:
Summary: VCR going bad after a year or so
Review: My GoVideo DVR5000 DVD/VCR combo worked well for quite a while, but now the VCR half is starting to go bad. I'm not sure how long I've had it - at least a year, maybe closer to two. Recently, when I play back videos recorded with this unit, the tint is frequently (but not always) off for the top third of the screen. At first I thought I was imagining it, but then I started noticing backgrounds that should be a solid color changed color towards the top of the screen. For example, I was watching an interview that was conducted against an all-blue background, but towards the top of the picture the background turned more and more green. Things that should be red near the top of the screen are usually purple. The problem seems to be with the recording head, because playing the tapes back on another VCR produces the same results. I haven't had many problems with the DVD player. It will occasionally freeze up, or refuse to read a DVD when I first put it in the player, but after a few tries it eventually reads them. I'm really bummed that the VCR is going bad, because other than that problem I really like this unit. I've been reading reviews to decide what to get as a replacement, and it doesn't seem like anyone makes a reliable DVD/VCR combination.
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