Has anyone tried the Sansui DVD recorder/VCR combo.

[shatner]

I've been enjoying my Sansui for about a week now and I have to say that it's working out really well for me.

I wanted to point out to those thinking about it and worrying about the name "Sansui" that, in addition to my previous "Pioneer" hypothesis (see my previous post above), this unit has a Full One Year Parts & Labor Warranty through Sears (the only place you can buy it). This is nice because you can take it to any Sears Parts & Repairs Center and have it fixed for free within the Year.

Apparently Sears cut some kind of a deal with Sansui/Orion and I think it's a good one. Sansui/Orion handles any operating questions, while Sears the service of it. Nice.

The *only* thing I don't like about the player is that the Progressive Scan Mode has to be manually activated whenever you switch between VCR/DVD Mode, or even I believe when the unit is switched on.

The inability to pause while dubbing is also a little bit annoying, but the aforementioned "Stop" method works just fine for me.

Perhaps these two issues can be addressed in Firmware Updates, which I hope this unit is capable of. Hopefully if they eventually exist they will be downloadable and not just available at the Sears Parts & Repair Center.

[hudsonf]

I think any firmware upgrade would have to be done at the shop.

[tommyoz]

It took me a while to give my thoughts on this recorder. One reason was because I had so much work to get done with this.

My only usage was for dubbing from VCR. I didn't care for recording from TV as I have another Method Via the computer that I am very pleased with.

The picture quality was as I expected. What you put in is what you got.
That sits ok with me. I don't like the fact that if you record in VR mode, it will not play on any other DVD player except for the Sansui. However, that's the only way to take advantage of the editing features. If you record in Video mode you cannot edit but it will play on any DVD player that accepts dvdr's. The ladder also had some drawbacks. I had some trouble forwarding and rewinding on my other DVD players except for one. This one happened to be a Divx player and is newer.

I also saw no difference from XP to SP mode. This is of course from VHS it could be different from TV.

It did do the job for me though. Now I can get rid of my VCR tapes. I will reauthor some of the DVDr's that I made. Other than that I have nothing else to say about this player other than it's not as bad as some people might think.

[jasta]

What is the VR mode, and what are the editing features? If I were to get this Sansui, I would be playing back the DVD's on my laptop DVD-ROM. Do you think that would work out ok?

Thanks

[tommyoz]

What is the VR mode, and what are the editing features? If I were to get this Sansui, I would be playing back the DVD's on my laptop DVD-ROM. Do you think that would work out ok?

Thanks

VR mode (according to the glossary of the manual) is the basic DVD-RW format that lets you enjoy the various editing functions available with this unit.

Editing features - erase scenes and titles, adding chapters or combining chapters, renaming titles, combining titles and creating playlist.

It should work on your DVD-ROM as long as you format the disc in Video mode before recording and of course you finalize it.

[alvz]

[quote="Davesnothere"]
I've been using the Sansui to dub tapes recorded in SP to DVD-RW, then editing the DVD dub on the PC to produce a DVD with menus and the blank screens and junk cut out. I send along a copy of the DVD(made on an HP DVD writer) to the one who sent the tape and burn a copy for myself. I also record cartoons I need from the satellite to DVD-RW, then cut what I need out and save to the hard drive, erase the DVD-RW and start over.

1) How do you erase the DVD-RW? When I do it and try and record again, it gives me a disc errror message.
2) In video mode, I also find that the chapters do not appear, even if set to 5 minute intervals. Have you experienced that?
3) When played through PowerDVD on PC, the thumbnails also do not show...

[hudsonf]

alvz wrote
1) How do you erase the DVD-RW? When I do it and try and record again, it gives me a disc errror message.

In the Disc Setup menu format in video mode or vr mode. VR mode may not work on other players.

[alvz]

In the Disc Setup menu format in video mode or vr mode. VR mode may not work on other players.

[/color][/color]

Thanks. That is what I did. I tried re-formarring in both VR and Video mode, also to Undo the finalize. Perhaps it was a bad disc (TDK DVD-RW). will try again.

Do you have to finalize the RW disc to work with in your PC afterwards (in video mode) in ?

[hudsonf]

Yes.

[tommyoz]

After 47 discs made I have now returned this unit. The main reason is that 10 of those discs were not be readable with Authoring programs.
It played ok on my standalone DVD players and on the computer but several Authoring programs would not recognize them. That's too many for me to keep this machine. I also had 2 coasters with this machine.
On a positive note I finished all my VCR conversions. With the exception of the 10. I'll just have to capture through the computer.

[jasta]

What are Authoring programs?

[donpedro]

https://www.videohelp.com/tools?toolsearch=&section=2&orderby=Name&listby=Section&conver...+or+List+tools

[zagortenej]

Can anyone confirm if SANSUI 4005 has manual recording mode - i.e. the setup where you can (in addition to preset SP/LP, etc. modes) manually select the length of the recording (and thus maximize the recording quality of the programs longer than, let's say, 1 hour but significantly or somewhat shorter than 2 hours). Pioneer DVR-210/310 has this feature (there are 32 different manual recording options/steps to chose from), and I find this quite handy and useful.

Any input is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[tommyoz]

Can anyone confirm if SANSUI 4005 has manual recording mode

I had the Sansui and brought it back. I don't remember seeing that feature. It does sound like a good feature to have though. Leave it to Pioneer to have something like that.

[umps]

I picked up the Sansui yesterday from Sears and have to agree with everyone that it is a really good machine. I'd like everyone to know that although this has "Sansui" as the brand, I tend to think "Pioneer" applies to it more. The IDE DVD Recorder in it is a Pioneer A06 (actually capable of writing to DVD-/+ R/W, although this unit only supports -R/W writing). The remote is *very* similar to other Pioneer DVD Player/Recorder remotes I have seen. Finally, the menu system seems like a simplified version of the ones currently seen in Pioneer Home DVD Recorders.

Just thought I'd share that info. I really do like it and haven't had any issues with it thus far.

what actually is the difference between DVD-R/DVD-RW and DVD+R/DVD+RW? the only thing i found out was that DVD-Rs aren't rewriteable and you can rewrite to the DVD-RWs. is that correct? is it correct that you can't rewrite to the DVD+Rs? so, if you can't rewrite to the DVD-R or the DVD+R, then what is the actual difference between the + and - signs?

and, just want to clarify that you are saying the Sansui only records on and plays DVD-R and DVD-RWs. is that correct?

Does the Sansui play VCD, SVCD, DVD-ROM, Audio CDs, CD-R, CD-RW?

one last thing: why on earth would anyone build a recorder that you can't pause while recording? that seems a little insane to me.

thank you so much for answering all of these questions. i am using an RCA recorder/player right now and it's quality is exceptional. the only thing is that there is a defect: it can pause but the pause is not working. it actually records the pause. i talked to RCA and they said it was a defect and to return it. also, its audio and video jitters and skips after pressing pause to resume recording. they say that is a defect also. that's a real shame too, because everything about the machine is exceptional. especially that it can play DVD-R/-RW, DVD+R/+RW, DVD ROM, Audio CD, mp3, jpeg, multisession CDs, VCD, and SVCD. it only records on DVD+R and DVD+RW, but that's ok with me because so far as i can see those discs are the cheapest and they play on everything i own: my PCs, laptop, and my sisters DVD player. and like i said, besides the price being cheaper, i have no idea what the difference is between DVD-R/-RWs and DVD+R/+RWs.

thank you again for your time.