Aspire Digital AD-8091 Progressive-Scan DVD Player/Recorder

Rating:
Summary: System crashes are worse than Windows 95
Review: Do not buy this unit. Somewhere between 70-90% of the DVDs that I have attempted to burn have turned into coasters. The worst is when you spend 3 hours filling a disc with stuff only for the unit to freeze up. At this point, the only way to get the AD-8091 to respond is to unplug the unit. After plugging it back in, the DVD+R disk is fried and not recognized by the unit, so the unit locks up again. Then you have to use another DVD+R disk. Then you may have a 50/50 chance of recording and burning a full disk without the system crashing on you. Don't touch this thing with a ten foot pole!!!

Rating:
Summary: great!
Review: got it 3 days ago. never had a dvd. came home, hooked it up and watch a dvd with my family. have been recording shows for my kids since. saw previous bad review before i got it, and was worried.. but i have had no problems other than figuring out how to use our current vcr with it. just need to read the directions.

Rating:
Summary: THE VCR REPLACER
Review: I have no problem with this machine, especially the cost. The only hangup is using DVD-RW and trying to erase/format the disk for another round of recording. It is still new to me at this point, but it takesa lot of back and forth with the remote to get it to finally accept the fact I want to erase/format and even to finalize a disk. I hope it will be easier-so far it isn't going along as the instrction book says regarding this problem. The pictures are extremely good even at the slowest speed-I am ridding myself of all my VCR's now!

Rating:
Summary: Blows Away VHS
Review: I have owned the AD-8091 for a few months. It took a little bit of time to get used to recording on DVD's, but this unit works great! I use it to time-shift my favorite TV shows (mostly on DVD+RW's) and make permanent recordings of cable TV movies and home movies from VHS, 8mm and VHS-C. I can't remember the last time I recorded anything with my VCR! The AD-8091 is also a great (progressive scan) DVD Player. CD's sound great too! I also like that it can play MP3 CD's. All in all, I highly recommend this model!

Rating:
Summary: GREAT for making coasters, that's it. Don't buy one!!!
Review: I have tried everything to make this DVD recorder work but it is garbage and I am a very technical person. It locks up during record and won't respond until you unplug it. Timed recording mode makes 1 recording but doesn't repeat the next day. I downloaded the update from aspiredigital.com and it did not help at all. The manual is useless too. I can record a single show on a disk about 50% of the time with no problems (the other 50% lock-up) but the minute I try to make a disk with a few hours of material, the unit locks up and the disk is ruined at that point. Stay away from this unit. Search the newsgroups. Many are having problems with this machine.

Rating:
Summary: excellent for anyone
Review: i just bought one a month ago and have had no trouble what so ever. I have been recording some old tapes from my vcr and they have come out perfect. Also watched all 3 Lord of the Rings and enjoyed everyone of them. I would recommend the Aspire to anyone. I would also like to say that Amazon was great also with their delivery. Thanks so much. A HAPPY CUSTOMER

Rating:
Summary: Unbelievable
Review: I recently purchased the Aspire Digital DVD recorder and am blown away by it. When I found out I could set the recorder to record programs and also move all my VHS tapes to DVD I was amazed. I have a friend who has the Phillips piece and a comparison of the two the Aspire works just as well. I'm more impressed with it's ability to also play music and DVD's. At this price point consumers can't go wrong.

Rating:
Summary: Tried to make lemonade with this lemon
Review: I wasted at least 12 hours trying to get this thing working! I read the owners manual, bought the recomended brand and type of media discs, and now I have a small pile of trashed discs. This thing freezes up and I had to keep unplugging it from the wall. Maybe it should come with a "clapper" switch. It looks like others have had good results, so maybe I'll ask for a replacement unit. I wanted entertainment, but got aggravation. It would stop during the recording process, and another time it actually completed, but then it couldn't play what it had just recorded! I tried to "finalize" the disk etc.. no good. I even visited the Aspire web site for help. They should rename it "Expire"!

Rating:
Summary: timer repeat recording doesn't work
Review: The unit works ok, if your watching a show and hit record. If you try to do a Repeat timer recording, the unit turns itself on everyday. example: I want to record a show EVERY friday from 10 to 11. If you set it up as a repeat recording, it will turn on the unit every DAY at 10:00 and never turn it off. so every morning I find the unit on.
I have been able to record shows I am watching with little trouble. I downloaded the firmware update too.



Rating:
Summary: Not worth the hassles....
Review: This unit is riddled with bugs. [...].htm
but it does very little to fix the problems of this model. It is EXTREMELY difficult to get it to finalize dvds. The quality with the rf connection is horrible. It's a nightmare to get around on some of the menus. I would save my money and try a different manufacturer.