$99.99 Cyberhome DVR 1600 DVD recorder. What you think of it

[waltchan]

Has anybody seen or bought the new Cyberhome DVR 1600 DVD recorder for only $99.99 at Best Buy and Circuit City? This is the first, lowest price $99.99 DVD recorder in the market. It's a new model and is the smallest-sized and lightest DVD recorder around. It records to DVD+R and DVD+RW. I happened to purchase one, but I don't really know too much about it. There's no reason to buy a DVD player anymore, as Cyberhome is making its way to encourage consumers to buy a DVD recorder instead of a DVD player. The Cyberhome DVD player is only $39.99, so for $60 more, it's well worth to pick up a DVD recorder instead of a DVD player. I will test the new Cyberhome and will let you know the results.



Walter Chan

[Bob W]

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7032784&type=product&productCategoryId=p...=1099395252109

Looks like a bargin to me.

[waltchan]

I got it up and running. Construction feels kind of solid. Very lightweight and very small. The instruction book is very hard to read, hard to follow, and very illogical. The remote control is really small with small buttons, and it's not really easy to use. Everytime I want to exit a section in the setup menu, I always need to look at the remote and find the "return" button, which is located at the bottom of the remote. I played one DVD movie with no problem at all. I haven't tried a DVD+R and DVD+RW disc yet, but I will soon. It supports MP3 playback.

If you buy the Cyberhome DVR 1600 from Best Buy (this week only), it also comes with a free 10-pack Memorex DVD+R discs ($11.69) at no cost to you. Basically, this new Cyberhome DVD recorder itself costs only $88.30. What a great bargain. I doubt you will find a new $88.30 DVD recorder anywhere in stores except Best Buy.



Walter Chan

[lordsmurf]

The recorder gives medicore output quality and is prone to numerous mechanical failures. It's not even worth $99.

[waltchan]

The Cyberhome DVR 1600 replaces the older DVR 1500 and DVR 1530. Maybe the new Cyberhome DVR 1600 will be reliable. I haven't found any flaws or problems yet in the machine. If it does turn out to be reliable, then maybe it will be a steal to many first time DVD recorder buyers.



Walter Chan

[Racer2x]

Absolutely. It is also being sold, at Walmart, under the name "ILO DVDR05". I tried the Cyberhome 1500, and absolutely HATED it. It was so buggy. Many other people had the same experience, as well. Search the internet, and you will see what I mean. Oh, and the Cyberhome 1600 does NOT have a cooling fan. Buyer beware.

[Marvingj]

Cyberhome is a heartbreaker & a Slayer! I had both 1500 & 1530.. IT SUCKS BIG TIME... I was given the 1600 by Cyberhome it SUCKS! I have never been so piss off at a DVD recorder,,....Take my advice spent the extra Bucks and get a good one..Not a cheap one.. You paid for what you get....As The Chonicles of Riddick states you KEPT what you KILL! But it won't be worth it....

[solidsnake]

mail in rebates suck, thats how you get the 99 dollar price tag for circuit city. How much is the cyberhome/ilo 05 at walmart? I have that cyberhome ch-dvd300, and I pretty much like everything about it. I have a good toshiba dvd player but it refuses to play dvd+r that my ilo04 made, so I bought the dvd300 for 30 bucks and was pleasently surprised. I've never had any experience with this recorder though

[lordsmurf]

The CH-300 player is fine.
Of course, it usually dies under heavy use.

The recorders are garbage, however.
Some of their other players are problematic too.

[jdemer]

I've been using an ILO R04 (recorder but no hard drive model) that I bought at WalMart in November 2004. No problems with it in spite of fairly heavy use.

Although my next comment compares apples with oranges, I have a Cyberhome portable DVD player (712) and haven't had any problems with it.

If Circuit City has a decent return policy, the Cyberhome 1600 sounds like a breakthrough to the $100 barrier.

I hope WaltChan keeps us posted ....

[gshelley61]

Some name brand used (even new) DVD recorders are going for around $80-120 on eBay lately. I'm talking about Pioneer, JVC, Panasonic, Toshiba, Lite-On 5005 All Write, etc. These brands are all releasing new lower priced units now, so the models from last year and the year before are going for cheap. In fact, I recently won a Pioneer DVR-231 (yes, the new model) for only $110 shipped!

No offense, but why buy a cheapie like the Cyberhome?

[samijubal]

I've read many posts about Cyberhome recorder problems and the company's poor response to them, even if it's still under the warranty. I wouldn't touch one.

[handyguy]

Get an extra long guarantee on it. Thats the nice thing about the cheap price, it makes the longer guarantee cheaper.
https://www.videohelp.com/dvdrecorders

[waltchan]

Playback picture quality is not as good as I expected at first. The video is very blury and is not very detailed. The color is a little washed out. Even if the progressive scan mode is turned on, it feels like that I'm watching a movie similar to a VCR, probably SVHS, for picture quality. This has got to be the worst progressive scan DVD player I've own or seen. My $35 Magnavox MSD124 DVD player from Sam's Club gives out 10 times better picture than this Cyberhome DVR 1600. Are Cyberhome DVD players and recorders known for poor playback picture quality?



Walter Chan

[waltchan]

According to the owner's manual book, there are some unique features that the Cyberhome DVR 1600 has that is not found in a more expensive DVD recorder between the price range of $200 and $400:

1. DVD Audio playback
2. DV input for digital camcorders (IEEE 1394)
3. Digital coaxial audio output
4. Six recording speed modes: HQ (1 HR), SP (2 HRs), LP (3 HRs), EP (4 HRs), EP+ (7 HRs), and SLP (8HRs)
5. Help menu (How to set up...)
6. Dimensions: 65 mm X 430 mm X 350 mm (H x L x D) (very compact)
7. Weight: 4 lb 9 oz / 2.07 kg (very light)
8. No fan (add more quietness)

For only $90 that I paid, I should not be complaining too much about it, despite the poor picture quality. I believe most Best Buy stores are now already sold-out of it.



Walter Chan

[waltchan]

Here's the link to view the manual online of the Cyberhome DVR 1600 if anybody is interested in it:

http://www.cyberhome.com/downloads.asp?Product=1600



Walter Chan

[waltchan]

Just found this article online:

http://www.zoran.com/press_room/2005/5_16_05_cyberhome.htm

It says that the Cyberhome DVR 1600 is using a Zoran Activa 100/150 high performance chip. I wonder if this is a good chip?



Walter Chan

[Oscar wallace]

It says that the Cyberhome DVR 1600 is using a Zoran Activa 100/150 high performance chip. I wonder if this is a good chip?

I bet it will be a very hot one.
Most cheap machines suffer from poor ventilation and this one seems to have no side air vents either,combine this with no fan and it will be intresting to see how it performs...Probaly hot and freezing up at the same time.

[waltchan]

Yes, this one produces a lot of heat. There are ventilation holes at the top rear of the unit. It does not really produce that much heat at the top of the unit, but it does produce a lot of heat at the bottom of the unit. On the other hand, I haven't noticed any lockups or freezes yet. I will let you all know if there is any sudden change in performance.



Walter Chan

[lordsmurf]

Zoran is supposed to be a good chip, but chip is only part of the battle. The firmware has to use it properly.

Previous models were Cirrus chips.

Cyberhome player are good for player PAL content on USA tv sets. For only $30 or so for some of them, that's hard to beat. But as a general player, no, it's not high quality mechanically or for NTSC use. There are many better ones (though higher priced).

The old recorders were notorious for not ejecting media, overheating (not proper cooling), and otherwise locking up or not responding. The 1530 "fixed" all this, but did NOT fix anything.

Is the 1600 any different? Unlikely. It appears to have the same lack of cooling, and aside from the main chip, the same mechanics/hardware. Feel free to correct me if any of this is wrong, but that's what I saw from images of the unit.

[Racer2x]

According to the owner's manual book, there are some unique features that the Cyberhome DVR 1600 has that is not found in a more expensive DVD recorder between the price range of $200 and $400:

1. DVD Audio playback
2. DV input for digital camcorders (IEEE 1394)
3. Digital coaxial audio output
4. Six recording speed modes: HQ (1 HR), SP (2 HRs), LP (3 HRs), EP (4 HRs), EP+ (7 HRs), and SLP (8HRs)
5. Help menu (How to set up...)
6. Dimensions: 65 mm X 430 mm X 350 mm (H x L x D) (very compact)
7. Weight: 4 lb 9 oz / 2.07 kg (very light)
8. No fan (add more quietness)

For only $90 that I paid, I should not be complaining too much about it, despite the poor picture quality. I believe most Best Buy stores are now already sold-out of it.



Walter Chan

Sorry, but none of that means anything, if the unit does not run, reliably. All I can say is I wish you luck on your purchase,and hope you fair better than those before you.

[Sheri]

For only $90 that I paid, I should not be complaining too much about it, despite the poor picture quality....



Walter Chan

?????...I'm confused.
Why settle for poor picture quality on a video device??
Why not take that $90 and put it toward a higher quality product?
Even if it was free, why even bother with something thats going to produce poor results?
Just my 2 cents

[erdie]

I have had the cyberhome dvr 1600 for almost a month and find that it is quite good especially for the price. I have only been using dvd+rw disc in recorder and have only had one made into a coaster. I have mainly been using philips dvd+rw's and initially had problems getting the 1600 to recognize them but I found that if you keep pressing the edit and menu button as soon as you put the disc in the tray it will trigger something and recognize the disc, which I thought was ok but then I found that the philips discs needed to be formatted twice which seems a bit strange. I have used a couple of other makes of disc and they seemed fine just being formatted once.

I have seen on a couple of other forums that certain standalone dvd recorders can have a firmware upgrade to enable them to record onto dual layer discs. Has anyone else know anything about this and would it be possible on the 1600.
erdie

[billcsho]

Yes, there are firmware updates for 1600, but mine came with the latest firmware already since it was built in Oct 2005. It works great. See https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=286047.

[zeldadog]

I bought one of thses recorder's from my local Asda £69.99

It look's great plays OK too

I only have one problem, when I veiw Sky threw the recorder I get ghosting from time to time

I'am using scart's but to me it looks as if it needs fine tuning anybody know if this is possible?

Or does anyone have any idea why it's ghosting?

[mark1234]

Hello..

I am trying to update the Firmware on my Cyberhome 1600 MU.

I have burned a disk image, etc. I have tried several different kind of CD-R . The recorder says "Un Disc" Unknown Disk.

I have used - Maxell, Memorex, TDK, Imation, Digital Research to no avail.

I have burned some test JPEGS to these brands of media also. They all read fine in the player.

I have used, Nero Express, IMGBURN

Nothiing I do seems to work for the firmware upgrade situation

Does anyone have any suggestions. ?

When the firmware burns on the CD the name of the disk becomes "MediaTEK" I can read the CD-R in my computers and see the files..

Thanks...

[jammy3]

I'd just like to add my Cyberhomes DVR-1600ZU experience.

I upgaded to the latest firmware (Loader 105N, firmware 76) because I was having problems with both units freezing on finalizing the discs. That cured it. I also had problems burning Memorex discs. I received 2 emails from tech support, one recommending HP media, one saying HP was NOT recommended. Both said not to use faster than 8x media.

I finally found the perfect combination for my needs. All my home players, plus my laptop support -R media only. This DVR does not officially support burning -R media, however I have been using CompUSA DVD-R 4x media (100 pack for $30) and have yet to have a disc fail.

I went to purchase another burner from Best Buy last night, and found that they had no more ZU models available (I figured, if I have 2 working, stick with it). They now have a MU1 model in stock in addition to a couple of MU units. So there seems to be 3 models for the US market available.

One more note. Tech support said that this model is best used with +RW discs. I considered using RW discs and copying them to -R with my PC burner, but it doesn't support booktype bitsetting. This setup described above works well for me so far. I'll just have to be careful what gear I purchase in the future.

Good luck.

[kuyote]

I just picked one of these up. So far so good, maybe I will open it up, and put a heatsink on the chip if it gets too hot. Another cool feature that I found is that it plays xvid's. It didn't say anything about divx so I was pretty happy about that.

[jammy3]

I just picked one of these up. So far so good, maybe I will open it up, and put a heatsink on the chip if it gets too hot. Another cool feature that I found is that it plays xvid's. It didn't say anything about divx so I was pretty happy about that.

Which chipset do you have? Have you tried burning -R discs?

[SingSing]

I just ought one at $79.00 ( after rebate ). It records on DVD+R, and DVD+R/W just fine. Except the DVDshrink can't work with the volume it recorded on DVD+R/W, so I have to copy the Video_ts folder to HD to work on.

Record off my comcast Cable was not that great. But I saw great result from friend's recording ( comcast digital ). I wonder is this a set to set variation, or the digital cable is actually better ?