DVD Recorders Ratings – Consumer Reports Magazine

[samijubal]

$8500 you don't even get the monitor or mouse, we've come a little ways since then. Like someone else said, you have to take Consumer Reports ratings with a grain of salt. I've seen them rate an RCA and a Samsung VCR one near the top of the list and one near the bottom and if you open them up they're the exact same thing with a different circuit board in front and a different faceplate. I've seen them do the same thing with many other VCRs that are the exact same unit sold under different brand names. They are a good place to start, but they definitely aren't the gospel truth or anything.

[Capt_Diode]

Hey p_l,

Where on earth did you dig that photo up from? Did Sherman and Mr. Peabody introduce you to Mr. Know-It-All for a trip in the Way-Back-Machine? Man, my first computer was a 1000TX but I only have memories of that thing!

CR is a good start for feedback on products. They started it! But now there are so many other places to look for "real-world" reviews that time may have left CR behind. It's still an opinion!

Ho Ho Ho,
Captain Diode

[p_l]

Hey p_l,

Where on earth did you dig that photo up from?

Somewhere on the internet, maybe even this site.

What I find truly amazing is that they used computers 20 years older than that, in 1969, to get a man to the moon and back.

[DGinnetty]

As a former Consumer Reports subscriber, I used to treat what they said as gospel.

Until...

They happened to be reviewing a certain product that, by chance, I myself had done a lot of research on (2-3 years of research). I honestly cannot remember what the item was, most likely some computer product.

After reading the review, I realized they had NO CLUE as to what parameters and functions were important for this particular device. I truly believe they didn't even know how it worked, and that is why they missed the REAL specs they should have paid attention to.

Granted, it was on the cutting edge of technology at the time, but they did a pitiful job of reviewing it. In fact, they showed blatant ignorance to the item they were reviewing. Very amateurish, IMO.

Since then, I have taken their ratings with a BIG grain of salt, though I do trust their auto ratings quite a bit.

To be perfectly honest, I trust what I read on the internet boards more than what I read in Consumer Reports.

Granted, I have to filter out posts from idiots and those that cannot communicate, but after that there are excellent sources of real, unbiased info on the net if you look hard enough.

[edDV]

From http://www.itfacts.biz/

DVD recorder prices to fall down 50%
The average selling price of DVD recorders is expected to fall by as much as 50% later in 2004 as Taiwanese shipments of DVD recorders increase sharply, a government-backed market research firm in Taipei says.

[FulciLives]

I learned long ago that Consumer Reports magazine was crap.

When I was rather young I was into buying a "high-end" audio system. At 16 years old I had a system most people would kill for (though I never could afford that Nakamichi DRAGON model cassette deck I wanted hehehe). Most of the stuff I bought was stuff you had to buy from speciality shops or mail order (this was way pre-internet). I'm not talking BEST BUY or CIRCUIT CITY type places but the real "mom and pop" places that would carry stuff like Nakamichi or Bang & Olufsen etc.

I read all kinds of audio related magazines that reviewed "high-end" equipment like STEREO REVIEW etc.

I got an issue of Consumer Reports and the audio stuff they rated good was just utter crap ... or least not stuff (i.e., brands and bottom of the barral models) that no real audiophile would touch with a 10-foot pole.

A few years ago I looked at a few issues of Consumer Reports for info on a VHS VCR (well before the DVD era). Again the shit they said was WAY off base from what I new and read in speciality magazines like VIDEO etc.

So in my opinion the Consumer Reports magazine is worthless.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[lifesajrny]

p_l,
Thanks for the photo, you have made my day!

[Marvingj]

The Report is B.S. Who paid who??

[sync]

I learned long ago that Consumer Reports magazine was crap.

I got an issue of Consumer Reports and the audio stuff they rated good was just utter crap ... or least not stuff (i.e., brands and bottom of the barral models) that no real audiophile would touch with a 10-foot pole.

A few years ago I looked at a few issues of Consumer Reports for info on a VHS VCR (well before the DVD era). Again the shit they said was WAY off base from what I new and read in speciality magazines like VIDEO etc.

So in my opinion the Consumer Reports magazine is worthless.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

CR is obviously not for people who read specialty magazines and who know a lot about the item they are looking for. It is for the exact opposite kind of person.

How would you go about deciding which washer and dryer to buy?

[FulciLives]

I learned long ago that Consumer Reports magazine was crap.

I got an issue of Consumer Reports and the audio stuff they rated good was just utter crap ... or least not stuff (i.e., brands and bottom of the barral models) that no real audiophile would touch with a 10-foot pole.

A few years ago I looked at a few issues of Consumer Reports for info on a VHS VCR (well before the DVD era). Again the shit they said was WAY off base from what I new and read in speciality magazines like VIDEO etc.

So in my opinion the Consumer Reports magazine is worthless.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

CR is obviously not for people who read specialty magazines and who know a lot about the item they are looking for. It is for the exact opposite kind of person.

How would you go about deciding which washer and dryer to buy?

Well if they are wrong about audio and video equipment how can I trust them on something like a wahser/dryer?

It's a worthless waste of paper.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[gshelley61]

Yeah, they always rate Honda and Toyota sedans as vastly superior to other makes, but the fact is they are built from very lightweight materials and crumple like aluminum cans in accidents. Perhaps they do run more reliably than some other cars, but for sturdiness and safety they are definitely not tops in my book. I won't put my kids in one and hurtle them down the road at 70MPH, I can tell you that.

[sync]

8)

[sync]

whoops

[KavMan]

Yeah, they always rate Honda and Toyota sedans as vastly superior to other makes, but the fact is they are built from very lightweight materials and crumple like aluminum cans in accidents. Perhaps they do run more reliably than some other cars, but for sturdiness and safety they are definitely not tops in my book. I won't put my kids in one and hurtle them down the road at 70MPH, I can tell you that.

hmm, i dunno but i think you're talking out of your a$$
don't you ever see those crash tests done by nthsa?
do a search and see for yourself

http://www.safercar.gov/

honda's and toyota's consistently rank up at the top

hell, just recently honda's acura rl was the only 1 out of 18 tested to earn the goverments highest rating ( 5 stars )

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041213/ap_on_go_ot/crash_tests

[gshelley61]

I've owned both Honda and Toyota sedans... and worked on them. They have dramatically improved the safety in recent years, but not that long ago they were tin cans.