I originally purchased a Panasonic DVD recorder for $380+ and had the audio die on me within 4 days of purchase! So I took it back to REX Electronics (local store) had my money refunded. I then purchased the infamous Sanyo DRW-500 DVD recorder and am happy to say I have not had a bit of trouble with it? Maybe this is due to the fact I have it plugged into a Sanyo TV? Good Karma? Seriously, I have found the Sanyo DVD unit easy to use and it has recorded good quality DVD's from a collection of VHS tapes many of which are not on DVD yet as far as I know (older movies). It has played my own home recorded DVD's as well as commercial versions no matter what brand of blank DVD I used except DVD RAM (I don't think it plays the RAM format?). I wish you luck in your pursuit of DVD recording nirvana!
Shadmin: Congratulations! Most of the time on message boards we see the problems that people have with a piece of equipment or software because we need to brainstorm with other people. In your case, however, you have had good luck with this DVD recorder. As I said earlier in a thread, it's a great little recorder for its price range. It's just that Sanyo could have been a little better in the support arena - the website support stinks and the user's manual is barebones at most. It's a shame because they could probably have better sales with all of their products if they would just change their business tactics some. BUT, this simply may be the difference between American companies and those from other countries IMHO.
Hey all, I have been reading this and im still lost. I purchased this recorder yesterday at walmart. Took one back to exchange it and finally got this one working. Im trying to copy older Hockey games from VHS To DVD. Now im using Memorex DVD+R, I have it on SP, Cuase most tapes are 2 hours and were recorded on SP. Some of these tapes have been dubbed from VCR to VCR. When I watch the Tapes on the VCR there fine, nice and clear. Now when I try to Dub them on my Recorder there lines going thru and the picture is moving all around. I can watch this while im taping too, is that right?? Is this cause of the fact that the tapes are older or am I not doing something here?? Also, should I use other type of DVD's??? Thanks alot
Thanks!kingsmead! I also agree that the website does stink and the User Manual is not as helpful as it could be by a longshot? However I have had good luck so far with the Sanyo products I have purchased! For the economical prices they seem to be a good bargain at least in my personal experience. Also for anyone who is recording VHS tapes to DVD format I have found a wealth of help on the internet in forums such as this as well as other sources. If you have the time to do some surfing research I have usually been able to find help. Good Luck with your conversions, if I have anything specific I will post it in the future. Later!
Nate77: Is it possible that the tracking could be off on your VCR? Usually when I have lines and unstable picture it is either the tapes are so old that they are stretching or deteriorating and/or the tracking is off on the playing VCR. It is even more crucial at the LP and SLP speeds. Check your VCR's manual to see if there is a manual way to adjust the tracking. Most do it automatically, but they are not always perfect.
Ok, I just set up my Sanyo DRW 500 and I am in dire need of someone to explain to me how to use it. The book doesn't help me at all. I am a definite begginer at this type of stuff. I was trying to burn from one DVD player to another but it didn't work. I couldnt find any instructions on how to burn from one dvd player to another either. If anyone has any information that could help me I would greatly appreciate it. In case you couldn't tell, I am new to burning anything : ) Thanks!
Dinosaur: Try to remember that when you post to a newsgroup, try and be specific about what you need to know or what's going on. I will try to explain what you need to do with the Sanyo. However, try to remember that if you are intending to duplicate a commercial video, you will most likely be unsuccessful as they all have copy protection on them. THis unit will NOT override the copy protection. 1)Connect the Audio and Vido out from the "playing" DVD to the Audio and Video in on the Sanyo. This will require RCA cables which came with the unit. Yellow is video and red/white are the audio. 2)Turn on both DVD units. Place the DVD to duplicate in the "playing" DVD and place a blank DVD in the Sanyo. 3) On the remote, press "input" until you see a picture from the other DVD player (usually Video 1) 4) Press "rec speed" on the remote until you have the desired speed - remember that the slower the speed, the less quality picture you will have. 5) Press "rec" on the Sanyo and "Play" on the original DVD. 6) When done, press "stop" twice on the Sanyo. After that, you can use the "setup" key to rename the disc. If you want to play the disc in a commercial DVD player other than the Sanyo, you MUST finalize the disc. HOpe this helps. The manual IS quite pitiful, however, the connection diagrams are pretty good in detailing the different possibilities for connection. Finally, REMEMBER that it will not duplicate commercial DVDs. It is good for transferring old home videos and recording shows off of television. PS. If I missed the problem you are experiencing, please tell exactly what happened for the recording to fail... ie., did the DVD not play in another player, was the picture skewed, etc.
I use the Sima CT-1 and it works perfectly in recording ANYTHING and EVERYTHING. Do a search for Sima CT-1 or CT-2.. You will be glad you did!! Nuff said.
I was just trying to be legal I know that some newsgroups frown on postings about hacking and overriding copy protection.
Hi there, Ive been reading all your posts on here about the sanyo unit. I would like to know if anyone else has seen the problems with the tuner. For example when I switch from tv source to the dvd source tuner the sound quality drops significantly and the video quality seems to darken too. Also when I'm using the dvd source tuner alot of channels have a little snow or wavy lines through them and channel USA has alot of snow. This is weird because I have a sanyo vhs hi fi player and its tuner looks and sounds just as good as the tv tuner itself. No fuzzy channels or anything, yet they're made by the same company. Has anyone else noticed the bad tuner quality in this dvd recorder model? p.s. I only have the cable going to the dvd player then directly to the tv if that helps. Thanks in advance.
Hey Storm,are you using the RF cable from the Sanyo to the TV? If thats the case,maybe you could try using the RCA cables(Red,Yellow & White) instead,usually they provide a cleaner signal.
Storm: It could also be the fault of a defective RF cable. All it needs is a nick in the shielding and you have a lot of interference. Depending on your setup, if you change to the RCA setup and it doesn't work you may have no other choice than to use the RF. For example, on my Dish Network decoder, I was told that I have to use one or the other - the unit was not designed to provide signal through both outputs simultaneously. It's a stupid design, but fixed the problem that I was having. Good luck.
Thanks for your replys. I tried a new rf cable from the dvd recorder to the tv but did the same thing. I thought it would because that cable worked fine hooked up from the vcr to the tv. Now let me get this right, you hook the cable to the back of the dvd recorder then only hook the rca cables from the recorder to the tv, not the rf too. I tried this and the reception did the same, not as good sound, slighty darker picture, and some channels had snow and wavy lines through them. Also, you can't bypass the cable reception to the tv when you only have rca hooked up can you? The recorder has to be on to get cable through tv unlike the rf hookup where you could switch between dvd recorder tuner and tv tuner by hitting a button or turning the recorder off. Does your recorder tuners work just as good as your tv tuners, especially channel "usa"? If they do I think I might have a faulty tuner and take mine back. I've had it for 2 months though, think wally world would give me my money back? I do have the reciept.
Hi Harmsway, I think you will find that you have copied something to DVD from a player other than the one you used to make your original copy. A change of machines can make the picture flicker. SVHS seems particularly affected by this flicker. We have made at least 40 copies so far and had good luck with most of them. Or if something is copy guarded it will cause the picture to flicker or color changes. Also, R media seems to have fewer problems than RW. Good luck. Riverrat2
STorm: I think that I see what the problem is... I'm assuming that you have cable or satellite with a converter box. If that's the case, then you usually change channels using the box NOT the TV or VCR or DVD. This can cause problems. Also, all peripherals that are connected (i.e., TV, DVD, VCR) need to have their tuners set for "cable" and not "antenna". Finally, if you have the switches set for "3" or "4" on the VCRs, you have to make sure that everything is set to the proper channel. Here's my setup: Cable comes into the receiver from the Dish (RF In). Then RF out from the receiver to the VCR (set to channel 3). RF out from VCR to DVD recorder in (set to channel 3) and RF out from DVD recorder to Television (set at channel 3). All channel changes are done from the satellite receiver. I hope this clarifies this. Jeff
I too had the cyberhome & returned not a bad unit just didn't like pict quality. I just bought a second Sanyo for backup... It works great... Easy to use great pic quality and records alot of direct TV movies that Panasonic rejected due to copyright. I'm a Sanyo fan thru and thru.
I'm not,mine sucked.By the way,i noticed that they are on sale in Target for $127 !! Thats half the price they were last summer,and certainly not worth more than that.
Okay, a while back I found this forum and was unhappy with this dvd recorder, in the meantime I found my receipt and they sent it in for repair. Does anybody know if in the recent past in the repairing if they have also solved some of the bugs in this unit? I haven't had much of a chance to use it, watched a dvd but haven't had the time to try and record again. Or does anybody know if I still need to download the updates for this unit or will they have done it for me aleady? (I'm really hoping it will work out this time).
