Magnavox ZV457MG9 Dual Deck DVD/VCR Combo with Built-in Tuner, Black Review

I've only had this product for a week, so I can't address reliability--only design and function.

Overall, this is a good unit that does what it needs to do at a reasonable price. It does take some time to learn how to use this unit, and some things are not intuitive, so be sure to sit down and actually read the manual as you do things.

This unit has a DVD recorder and a VCR--which is handy for transferring old videos to DVD. However, if you have commercial VHS tapes, it will not let you dub those to DVD (due to copyright restrictions--if you try, it says this program is not allowed to be recorded.) The process for dubbing from VHS to DVD is pretty straightforward--set up the parameters and press a button and let it go until you tell it to stop or it senses that you have come to the end of the recording on the tape.

The editing process is a little more challenging. If you want to input title names, you have to use the remote like you are text messaging (eg press 1 three times to get the letter C). Also, the manual does not tell you this, but if you are not using RW discs, any chapter marks that you add will not be read by any other machines. (When you press skip during playback, you advance to the next chapter mark.) You can add manual chapter marks that are read by this machine, but when another DVD player is reading the finalized disc, it only recognizes the chapters that were auto-generated. On RW discs, manual chapter marks do show up. You can set the frequency of the auto-chapters--I used 5 minutes.

I tested this machine with +R, -R, +RW, and -RW and it worked as advertised with all of them. Both the +R and -R worked with my two other DVD players. The RW discs were not recognized by my older (2002) Sony DVD/VCR combo. The difference between +RW and -RW is that you don't have to go through the finalization process on the +RW discs, though there is a process called "Make Edits Compatible" that you need instead. I used Sony and TDK discs and they worked fine. I did not try Memorex discs because I have had problems with those in the past. Supposedly, the -R/-RW standard is more compatible than the plus versions. I found the distinction in compatibility to be more about whether it was R (single burn) or RW (rewritable).

It also has a digital tuner (standard definition) that works as well or better than the Zenith digital converter box I was using before in terms of pulling in channels and keeping a good picture. It also can tune analog channels, though there are none near me anymore. It does have an onscreen program guide that tells you the channel, signal strength, name of the program, and a program description. It does not tell you the length of the program or any programs that will be on afterwards. It does have the ability to record TV onto DVD (and VHS--some other units don't let you do this) and you can program the timer to record your show.

In general, the buttons on the remote are small and not well thought out. I was also disappointed that the remote lacks a button for changing aspect ratio; doesn't control the TV; and lacks some other basic buttons related to TV watching. Don't lose the remote either--it is integral to using 90% of the functions. It does have a few interesting bells and whistles: There is a commercial skip button to use during DVD playback that automatically jumps 30 seconds ahead. There is also a feature where you can tell the VCR to go forward a certain number of minutes.
Also, this unit tends to "think" slowly--whether loading discs, changing channels, etc., you have to wait for it. It ultimately does get the job done and the wait is just a little longer than what you might expect. It's not a deal breaker, just a minor quirk.

Overall, this unit compares favorably to others out there, even ones that are more expensive. I compared this with a Panasonic unit that cost about $300 and found that this had more functionality because the Panasonic unit was geared to use DVD-RAM discs. On that one, you could use R or RW but with limited editing ability. If you are looking at any DVD recorder, go online, find the manual, and read closely through it (this one's at [...]Carefully compare functions, paying special attention to what functions are available with each specific type of discs.

In general it is more complicated to record to DVD than VHS, so any DVD recorder is going to be complicated. This one doesn't do much to simplify that, but it does offer most of the functions that a combo unit like this should have at a reasonable price.


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