Stephenisaacs:

Following your posts with great interest! Interesting about the audio bitrates. You have the ZU model so you're seeing AC3 files (dolby digital) I assume. That's what I see with my ZU.

Keep 'em coming! :)

I have read that the Zoran chip(ZU) is better than MU(Mostek)(is more versatile ,compatible and has a better structure,etc) Now correct me if wrong. I have the ZU model from BB. At 99 bucks you will not hurt my feelings. What are the specs for these two chips,what is the performance historically, age, technical ability etc?

For Cyrano and any others who have the MU Unit....I have successfully ripped a disc from my MU unit on my Computer...here it is in a nutshell

1. i copied the shows i wanted to DVD+RW and then using the edit feature i removed unwanted commercials etc (by the way you can only edit using a RW disc)
2. I ran the disc thru NERO RECODE and it saved the files to a temp folder i created...
3. after it recoded the files i was able to use nero to burn the disc, and yes it will also work in DVD Shrink ( i tried that as well just to make sure)

so now i am set and you all can be as well IF you have Nero Recode or a similar program

I asked this question a few days ago so here goes another try. I searched this site as well as Videohelp which has taught me a boatload of info. but I'm still not positive on a subject. I don't know if this question is "taboo" or not, if someone can just give me some answers that would be great. I'm able to make dvd to dvd copies of movies I own using one of my dvd players hooked up to the cyberhome 1600. Occasionally I get a "copy protected" message and it won't let me record a copy. My question is are their just random dvd's that incorporate "copy protection"? Or is it that the cyberhome 1600 can only copy particular dvds? Is there anyway to tell if a movie is non-recordable by looking at the dvd or its case? Any info. would be appreciated. This is off topic but if anyone ever has a question about any type of firearm ask away. From revolvers to fully automatic machineguns I'm your guy. I'm certified by Glock, H&K, and others. I'm well versed in that field, just not this dvdr stuff yet.

More on audio...
The speed view and listen feature does not work with disks recorded with Mpeg audio only Dolby Digital audio. In fact the speed with an Mpeg audo disk seem faster and more jerky than with a DD disk. I'm talking the X1 speed which is somewhere between 1 and 2 times normal speed. There is no audio for either type disk at X2 or X3.

I have read that the Zoran chip(ZU) is better than MU(Mostek)(is more versatile ,compatible and has a better structure,etc) Now correct me if wrong. I have the ZU model from BB. At 99 bucks you will not hurt my feelings. What are the specs for these two chips,what is the performance historically, age, technical ability etc?

The MU chip is a Mediatek chip, even the MU firmware updates call the file MEDIATEK...thou the front and back firmwares are the same file name.....stupid move by cyberhome, i just renamed the files to mediatek1 and 2.
I brought back the ZU and drove all over for a MU and now have recorded off my motorola dvr using s-vid on a dvd-r using lp 3 hour mode and the disc would not playback on anything else but itself, i had my tv off when i got home and shut off the unit, maybe like the ZU you have to finalize the dvd-r or i thought it was done automatically.
I like the xvid feature the best as it plays qpel files unlike my phillips dvp642.
Also the preview window DOES NOT work unlike the ZU model!

rneuner64: Good info. I will try what you suggest.
I don't have nero recode. And using nero on my HTPC has always ended up causing problems. I'll see what I can do.
I do like the ability to go right to the Hard drive with a disc (DVDDecrypter) from the ZU. I've been able to use DVDshrink to combine discs recorded with material from the same Show (an SVHS recording of a broadway show from almost 20 years ago that ran 2.5 hours) and apply compression to it to fit on one disc. The results have been quite good.

I need to do some editing with the Mu machine and see how well it does. I don't like the lacking of DD (AC3) audio on the MU, however.

Thanks for sharing your results. And thanks to Bud-man for the above info.

[QUOTE=ztech]- On Memorex and Phillips DVD+R, it plays ok on other DVD player but would not play on my PC dvd. It would freeze up. Out of four writes all of them would not play on my PC dvd player. All disks were finalized. Maybe I need to configure something.
QUOTE]

I've had the same thing happen to me. I've tried several times and the playback on my PC freezes or starts at a weird spot (and can't start it from beginning). It is very aggravating since that is the reason I bought this device, so I could see my favorite shows on plane rides.

Has any body been able to solve this or can provide insight to why this happens?

Thanks!

I have also had problems with my 1600, I have the MU version, and have installed the firmware updates.

I have burned 6 complete discs, all different brands, all different quality (well, one was mixed quality). I can get them on my pc with DVD Shrink, although after opening the disc, it shows that there are two main movies. Both of them the same length, both the same exact thing when I preview them...Don't know what that is about.

I can't seem to get good audio quality when recording from my VCR. I have VHS tapes of my band and I that I would like to put on DVD. The video comes out nearly identical to the VHS copy, but the audio has all sorts of problems. For some reason it likes to drag in spots. It sounds like a tape being eaten in a cassette player at times. But it is odd, since the WHOLE audio doesn't do it. Example, on the VHS tape, I am playing a song acoustic and the band jumps in half way through. At the beginning my acoustic sounds horrible, like the sound is being slowed down, however the vocal going on at the same time sounds perfect. When the band jumps in, the vocal stays great throughout the whole clip, but the band slows down every now and then. The original VHS is not that way, and while watching the tape during the recording of it, it didn't do this either. It is only on play back from the disc....

I just don't understand it...I've tried everything I can think of, different qualities, discs, etc....changed the audio settings, burned in Progressive and interlaced, nothing makes a difference.

Needless to say, I believe I am taking this back tomorrow for something else, just not sure what. I need a burner that can do my bands VHS onto DVD, and to record some sports, etc from my Satellite every now and then. That's about it though. I can edit and stuff on the PC, so I don't need all those features. Any suggestions??

Kelly Ray

Okay - I did some editing on the MU. It is pretty good, however when played back on another player there is a pause at each edit point about the duration of a layer change.
Another thing (and this amazed me): The bitrate is variable on the MU. (!) From a low of 25 (what that refers to on my player I'm not sure) to a high of 83 there was a direct correlation to what was happening on the screen. With a lot of action the bitrate was high, with little action (a network logo) the rate was low.
With the ZU the bitrate is constant. At SP it is around 44, it might bump up and down a little but it is constant.

So the pluses of the MU are: Variable bitrate, good editing (good enough, unless you want smooth edit points),
The minuses of the MU are: MPEG sound, not as user friendly when transferring files to a hard drive. The tuner (on mine) has a constant low level buzz - I can hear it whenever the sound of a show ceases; sometimes I can hear it even with a tv show's soundtrack.

The pluses of the ZU are: AC3 (Dolby Digital) sound, easy file transfer ability to a hard drive.
The minuses of the ZU are: Constant bitrate (I thought they all were), no editing - at all, Slightly less compatable with other media. (I had no trouble with -R 16X Memorex and 4X TDK or Fujifilm -RWs with either the MU or the ZU. Other posters have stated more compatability problems with the ZU than the MU.

So I guess I'll keep the ZU as I want to be able to transfer easily to Hard drive and the tuner is clean sounding and we want to do a little timeshifting of TV shows. Or maybe return them both and wait.

I did some "searching" on variable bitrate: VBR. I am NOT referring to the changing of bitrate to allow for more recording time. And I understand the 2 pass necessity for setting bitrates. (finding the scenes that are more dense)
But I am seeing what appears to be variable bitrate on tuner recordings made with the MU and not with the ZU. I will look at another ZU tuner made recording to be certain. So far I've only compared MU tuner recordings with ZU Laserdisc and SVHS transfers)

More: The ZU recorded at the same speed (SP) as the MU has the bitrate top out at 44 and on a logo shot (non moving) shows 13. The bitrate on the ZU material does not seem to change as much or as widely as the MU.

BTW: The MU is certainly faster in its recording functions and finalizing of discs. You can change stations when in recvord pause w/ the MU but not w/ the ZU. The ZU needs to stop (a long process) in order to change channels while recording. But the MU tuner buzz is too bad for me to keep.
Bother, I think I'll probably try another machine all together.

Cyrano:

Have you thought about taking the MU back for another one??? I only ask because i do not have that buzz you talk about and when i played my DVD on my stereo and DVD player it sounded fine to me (well as fine as it can sound when you are copying from VHS to DVD but) I know that it is a cheap unit but it has done everything i have asked for from it so far. I will upgrade later when other DVD recorders come down a bit more in price but for now i am happy

rneuner64,cyrano is referring to the tv tuner buzz,my MU does it also, if you record alot from the tuner it get's annoyin.
I dont think a firmware update will fix this either, it's internal to the tuner they use, i would like to know what brands of tuner there using in there.

Thanks for the advice. I had considered returning the MU for another and I still might. Bud-man's experience is telling me the problem might be unit-wide. Too bad, the MU does have some very good points.
For now I'll stay with the ZU, its shortcomings don't have much effect on the way I'm using it. Today the Mu goes back.

rneuner64,cyrano is referring to the tv tuner buzz,my MU does it also, if you record alot from the tuner it get's annoyin.
I dont think a firmware update will fix this either, it's internal to the tuner they use, i would like to know what brands of tuner there using in there.


so if i hook my MU up to my TV and copy off of my TIVO then i will probably get the buzz as well, if i understand what you are saying correctly (does this happen wether you use SVHS or regular cables????

This ONLY happens when using the tuner built in to the 1600. There is a tuner in the MU. Go to "Source" and see. You'll have to have an antenna or cable hooked up to the back of the MU.
This buzz does NOT occur with any composite or Svideo inputs.

(I wondered if you were using the builtin tuner.)

Nope right now i am only copying from existing VHS tapes to the recorder thru aTV not hooked up to anything...so if i am understanding you, i can also take the recorder and hook it to the TIVO unit and copy from that much like the VCR to DVD setup now and not get the buzz..that occurs only when copying live TV programs??

Cyrano look at this pic of the inside tuner, looks like you could swap the ZU's tuner with the MU's, looks like just a few screws and a ribbon to unplug, if i still had my ZU i'd try it.
That would make it the "perfect" recorder then........

http://www.redhawk.demon.co.uk/ch-dvr1600/dscf0013.jpg
http://www.redhawk.demon.co.uk/ch-dvr1600/dscf0016.jpg

But my gut feeling is not the tuner fault but the possibly the mediateks chipset.

Editing

The editing feature sounds good. What is the process. I assume it has to be on a RW disc. Is it easy to work with?

thx

I have an April ZU model. It has been updated. Recording to -R or +R discs has been inconsistent at best. Picture is good , I use S-Video cables from a DirecTV receiver. RW discs seem to be consistent .Why is this? Does the write speed of the disc make a difference? Live recording seems to work better than scheduled recording. -R does seem to work better than +R. To get the most consistent successful recordings, should I use -RW or+RW discs only? Cyrano, you have the same unit I have . Do you have any advice? Thanks.

Editing

The editing feature sounds good. What is the process. I assume it has to be on a RW disc. Is it easy to work with?

thx


Yes it has to be on an RW disc (i found that out the hard way) I assumy you have the MU version so all you do is record the program you want on a RW disc and then after it is done go to EDIT, there should be a pull down menu on the left side that says DELETE A-B. Highlight that and then you can edit out from POINT A to POINT B (it is not the smoothest edit, if you want it to be perfect then you have to edit on your PC but it gets rid of the unwanted garbage pretty easily...the only real bad part is that after you edit one part the program starts over at the beginning so you have to fast forward thru to get to the next part you wish to edit

The A-B editing feature is really easy and fast. As rneuner64 states it isn't as smooth as a PC edit but it is pretty good. I got rid of my MU but for a $99 recorder it's okay.
I still have the ZU and it is not nearly as user friendly (the tuner autoscans faster in the ZU though, and the MU tuner has a slight buzz) but the recordings I get as just what I need right now.

Also, this ZU will play several discs that I have trouble playing on my other 4 (yes four - absurd, I know) DVD players.
I had no trouble at all with -RW Fujifilm discs in either machine.

Just wanted to thank all you for your wonderful help. Outstanding. NOT. Would it of been so hard to type Sima CT-200??? Save me several hours of searching this friggin net. Thanks again jo's.

Thanks for confirming the RW discs Cyrano. I think I will buy RW's for everything on this recorder. They are more expensive but yield consistently good results.

pdrtech - be sure and store the RWs in a case between uses. They are MUCH more delicate and slight scuffs can kill them completely. Regular R discs are not as sensitive.

I tend to use -RWs for most of my recordings from the Cyberhome 1600ZU and then make a copy using my PC. It works like a charm.
I have also made good discs on both the MU and the ZU using Memorex 16X -Rs. They played in all my machines.

Enjoy!

Just wanted to thank all you for your wonderful help. Outstanding. NOT. Would it of been so hard to type Sima CT-200??? Save me several hours of searching this friggin net. Thanks again jo's.

AutoMP5: I sent you a PM that addressed your questions over a day ago, do you know how to read a PM??? You never responded to my message.....

Just wanted to thank all you for your wonderful help. Outstanding. NOT. Would it of been so hard to type Sima CT-200??? Save me several hours of searching this friggin net. Thanks again jo's.


Please don't shoot us, now. Seriously, I just stumbled upon your question and I think besides the fact that someone PM'd you directly, you would have had a hell of a better chance to get it answered if you hadn't buried it in this friggin' three hundred message long thread...

I posted in this thread because I used the 1600 and it worked for some dvd's and not others. I believe I even said if I'm posting in the wrong place someone tell me, point me in a direction. Nobody ever pm'd me. I just sent rneuner64 a pm thanking him for (trying) to send a pm. I wouldn't of posted a bitterly sarcastic post if someone helped me out. Anyway's thank you again rneuner64 for trying to lend a hand. THE END of that. I have the ZU model and did the firmware update. (Thanks to the guy that posted the step by step, I'd never even heard of firmware till a few days ago.) The main #'s and loader #'s both changed as previously reported. The update allows you to change channels quicker with the tuner. I've used Sony DVD+R's (10 pk. for 11$) and they finalized and have all worked on 3 different dvd players. The sony's are 10 for 10 thus far.

Looks like everyone raised the price of the 1600's...best buy has them for $129 now
CC has them for $119....target i think is about $129 as well...damn and i was gonna get me a second one today

Just bought it from bestbuy couple of days ago. $99.99.
The model is MU, as suggested.

My need is simple. I want to burn my 8mm camcorder tape to DVD format.
I have more than 60 tapes from as early as 15 years ago.

It initially gave me errors on my two DVDs out of 4 burns. I thought it was not stable. But, luckly, these two were fixed. All DVDs I burned so fat, 8 of them work.

The DVD media I used is TEON +R x8 from Staples.

It works for me so far.

I appreciate all information I received from this forum before I made the decision to buy this.

Be careful using Teons. Staples will sell them very cheaply during sales. I got a stack of 50 about $5. The quality varied with them.
I have found that Memorex -R discs (16X) work very well for me.

But if they're working for you then Great!! :D (But check them in a week or so, I had a few Teons just stop working.)

anyone know how to get rid of the audio his, doesn't matter what I record it from I get a little to a lot of hiss! have changed a/v cables with high end ones, adjusted settings as much as possible but to no avail. Any Idea's?

anyone know how to get rid of the audio his, doesn't matter what I record it from I get a little to a lot of hiss! have changed a/v cables with high end ones, adjusted settings as much as possible but to no avail. Any Idea's?

Are you getting the "hiss" from the tuner? If so its been reported that the MU model 's tuner makes noise while using it for tv. If this is the case your not the only one experiening this and I'd swap it for a ZU unit.

anyone know how to get rid of the audio his, doesn't matter what I record it from I get a little to a lot of hiss! have changed a/v cables with high end ones, adjusted settings as much as possible but to no avail. Any Idea's?

It's weird because I have a Zenith DVD Recorder (XBR413) and when I hook it up to the A/V out of my DirecTivo unit, I get a LOT of hiss. This only happens on the back inputs of the Zenith, not the front input.

When I hook up the Cyberhome (MU Version) to the DirecTivo A/V output, I didn't get any hiss at all.

Any idea what would be causing it? Something to do with grounding? I hooked up a HDTV Tuner to the back input of the Zenith and there was no hiss.

Weird!

and still have the hiss, will check the grounding, how do you do that? LOL.....I know computers not DVD recorders :)

I haven't noticed any hiss on my ZU at all. There is a volume control on your remotes. Make sure the volume (this control sets recording volume level) is all the way up. I think 100 is the top (It might be 63 - I remember seeing that on one of them)
If the volume isn't all the way up hiss very well could be the result on playback.

The vol controls are the two green buttons on each side of the enter button on the remote.

Has anyone had trouble with the ZU model playing JPEG picture discs ?

I bought an mu several days ago. 4 for 4 on Memorex -R 8x. Plays back on Apex AD-1200, +r will not play.
I burned the Dave Matthews Freeview concert off of TIVO. Pro Logic did a good job of simulating 5.1 surround from the source (TIVO), but it didn't do a good job with the burned disc. Does anyone know if the ZU (DD2.1) would do better with Pro Logic than the MU (MPEG?)

I recorded the same material on the ZU and the MU. The ZU sounded excellent, the MU sounded bad. The "bad" was a warbly sound that sounded like bad "wow and flutter". This surprised me as I thought that all digital sound would not suffer from wow and flutter (a speed change effect).
My test may have had a flaw that I am unaware of, but beyond the wow and flutter issue the DD sound of the ZU is cleaner to me than the MPEG sound of the MU.

YMMV.

I'd like to hear from others who've compared the two models. I no longer have the MU model.

The sound on the mu is fine up front but very light (echoish) sounds coming out of surrounds. I would like a solid sound coming out of surrounds. I have TIVO hooked up via toslink. MU digital coax. I don't think that would make any difference. I am going to BB today and look for a ZU and compare. I'm thinking Pro Logic will do better with DD 2.1

Cyrano, I'm so glad to see your last post!!

I bought an MU at BB last week, and recorded off cable for the first time Sunday night... The music in the show we were watching sounded terrible!! It was way beyond what I would call wow & flutter, it was like a badly warped record, or a tape with a very uneven pinch-roller. Problem was, I had used the timer feature, and hadn't watched the show directly over the air, so I couldn't tell if it was broadcast that way, or if it was the 1600.

It's tempting to try to track down a ZU... Or just scrap the CyberHome line and track down a good price on the LiteOn. Wish I'd been reading here a few weeks ago when there were reports of them at Costco for $129!!

-mike

mikeymix: Your description fits what I heard as well. I didn't want to overstate it, but it sounds bad. Try recording something with a piano, that will tell the tale.

Our Costco still has the Liteon for $129.

EDIT: Hello Fircrest. Our Costco is several miles north of you in Silverdale.

Found this region hack on vcdhelp....havent tried it i'm at work

Region code hack posted by DJ, July 12 2005:
Found this on a UK web site, ActonElectronics.com. Two completely different hacks, I haven't tested them but here they are for your information:

---[QUOTE]---

To change setting from region 2 to the region of your choice:
1. Power on the player
2. With the remote control press set up.
3. With the remote control press the following sequence of
numbers: 1, 6, 9, 5, 1, 8.
4. A hidden menu will appear.
5. Choose your required region from 0-9
6. Region 0 sets the player to multiregional.
7. Exit the menu and power off and then power on. The player
will now be set to the region of your choice.
---

If the above hack does not work then please use the one below. It is dependant on whatever version of the Firmware is on the player. The latest version will work with the following:
1. Press Setup
2. Press Rec
3. Press <8>-<1>-<0>-<5>
4. Press Rec
5. Select the region code with the number keys or the navigation keys. 0 for Multiregion.
6. Press Setup to return from the setup menu

Thanks for the Costco tip, Cyrano! I remember reading that the LiteOn 5005 also has a mono tuner - what's up with these DVD Recorders and mono tuners?!?!

Oh well, the MU is going back. I may still have mono, but at least it will be Hi Fidelity mono...

-mike

Stereo TV sound technology is patented by THAT (http://www.thatcorp.com/licens.html) Corporation, and manufacturers must pay a licensing fee even if they use their own method of decoding it. Similarly, manufacturers must pay a licensing fee to Dolby to incorporate Dolby Digital technology. Chinese electronics manufacturers are notorious for ignoring licensing requirements but in this case it seems they've simply decided to exclude the technologies from these machines in order to cut their costs. I guess that's how they can retail for $99.

I recorded the same material on the ZU and the MU. The ZU sounded excellent, the MU sounded bad. The "bad" was a warbly sound that sounded like bad "wow and flutter". This surprised me as I thought that all digital sound would not suffer from wow and flutter (a speed change effect).
My test may have had a flaw that I am unaware of, but beyond the wow and flutter issue the DD sound of the ZU is cleaner to me than the MPEG sound of the MU.

YMMV.

I'd like to hear from others who've compared the two models. I no longer have the MU model.

I recorded a Music VHS tape that i have had for years last night...when i played it back this morning, it kind of had the effect that the VHS tape was dragging, did not sound entirely clean (is that what you are referring to??) I did not buy this to tape music videos but more for the edit features (i know i keep repeating myself)
today i am recording off of TIVO to verify if it was that the VHS was old or that the MU is a POS...but damn if i go back to the ZU what computer program can i use to edit my discs????

I have used the adjustment you are talking about had it to 63 and as far as about half way, the sound is the same, same Hiss. will fool with it this week end and see if I can figure something out, has to be between the player and the TV, will change out the connections and see if that improves it.

You guys are giving up way to easy on the play everything "MU", i recored from my DVR using the S-Vid input and have NO sound issues, i could care less about the tuner input and it's problems....to each his own.. i guess

You guys are giving up way to easy on the play everything "MU", i recored from my DVR using the S-Vid input and have NO sound issues, i could care less about the tuner input and it's problems....to each his own.. i guess

oh i am not giving up, trust me on that...but i just hooked up the MU to my DVR today before i left for work so i do not know how the program turned out (did not use the SVHS connector just the regular vid and aud cables) will have to wait till later to see how my experiment turned out

rneuner64 the composite red, white inputs work fine.
The region hack i posted worked great, the first hack played my region 2 "Vanishing Point" dvd fine i bought from England.

If you don't need the tuner, then the MU is great... Unfortunately, my plan is to completely retire my VHS, so I don't want to keep it around just to use it as an auxiliary tuner for the MU. So in my case, it's not so much a case of giving up, as realizing that the MU isn't the model that meets my needs...

-mike

My MU has the same warped sound issue. I'm wondering if it is a result
of the updated firmware. Did everyone update that has this problem?

I updated mine right out of the box, before I recorded anything, so I have no idea what it was like before...

I've been using the ZU model as a tuner since I got it. (same thing as mikeymix) I wanted to 86 my vcr, which I've been able to do. Did firmware and have recorded from tuner, vhs, dvd, and have had 0 problems. I've been working this thing out hard daily . Another cool thing is I used RCA DVD-RW's and have recorded items, watched them on other dvd players, and then deleted and re-recorded with no problems.(Another user also did this previously but I think on an MU) I've only done this on 3 discs (DVD-RW) but they haven't hung up on me at all. DVD+r's from sony aren't the cheapest but they've worked 15 out of 15 times.

rneuner64 the composite red, white inputs work fine.
The region hack i posted worked great, the first hack played my region 2 "Vanishing Point" dvd fine i bought from England.

Well last night i recorded the Eagles NBC special that i had saved on TIVO...i edited it this morning and it sounded great at first...i scanned thru to later in the disc and the sound had that flutter effect that cyrano was talking about...WTF...
the only thing i can think of now is that if you record for a considerable length of time that the recorder must overheat which is what is causing the flutter effect.. I also copied another show off of TIVO that was a two hour show, i wonder if the flutter will be as noticable in a regular program vice a music program....if anyone has any info that can shed light on this audio dilemma please let me know...

The audio flutter I experienced was on a regular show, The 4400 last Sunday. I didn't notice it until about 35-40 minutes into the hour - not sure if it's because it got more dramatic with more heavy strings in the soundtrack then, or if the MU just couldn't take it anymore by that point. The other thing I forgot to mention earlier is that by the last 10 minutes of the show, the lip-synch was completely off. Bad enough that my wife started complaining about it, and she's not usually aware of "small" problems. I need to re-watch the episode and see if the audio problem was there the whole time, or if it came on with time.

I wish I had not already deleted last weeks 4400. I'm almost certain it was during that show that I heard some audio flutter/fluctuation a few days ago. I just assumed it was a network or DirecTV problem. I have a Panny E75 and recorded the later (midnight?) showing of 4400.

The audio flutter I experienced was on a regular show, The 4400 last Sunday. I didn't notice it until about 35-40 minutes into the hour - not sure if it's because it got more dramatic with more heavy strings in the soundtrack then, or if the MU just couldn't take it anymore by that point. The other thing I forgot to mention earlier is that by the last 10 minutes of the show, the lip-synch was completely off. Bad enough that my wife started complaining about it, and she's not usually aware of "small" problems. I need to re-watch the episode and see if the audio problem was there the whole time, or if it came on with time.


I copied the final ep of MASH off of TIVO and when i watched it off of the DVD+RW i copied it to there was a VERY noticable difference between the action and the audio track...but the copy i burned after it went thru RECODE was fine...then i noticed another problem....every spot where i edited commercials out the audio dropped out for about 3-5 seconds right where the show started up again, this was on my panny TV with built in DVD. Did not have the chance to try another TV as i was getting ready for work...if it does the same thing on another player then i am washing my hands of the MU and will go back and try a ZU one more time and try to do the editing thru Nero Visionexpress...if not then i will just chalk it up to being a piss poor DVD Recorder and spend a few more $$ on a more reputable brand

I recently purchased a Cyberhome DVR 1600 from Best Buy. Unfortunately, I waited over 3 weeks to try it. When I set it up and tried to record, it would attempt to format the DVD-R and the machine would completely freeze at 99%. I called Cyberhome Customer Service and left a message for a return call. Well, I got that return call THREE WEEKS LATER.

By that time, I already returned the first unit, 12 days after Best Buy's 30 day return policy. After arguing my case, they made an exception and let me exchange the unit.

I've had the new unit for 4 days now. I have tried four times to record from my DV Cam using the 1394 input. The playback sound was out of sync on all four attempts.

As I mentioned, customer service finally called me back 3 weeks later (which happens to be today.) I explained I am on my second DVR 1600, and explained the sync issue. The gentleman asked if it was an MU or ZU... I have a ZU. He said I need to update the software... well, I did what he said, burning the two files to separate cds and loading them into the DVR... the deck didn't recognize the files. it did nothing except display a blank menu.

customer service said i need to ship the deck in for service, at my expense. I tried to bring it back to Best Buy, but they refused to do anything, not even store credit for a different brand (I tore up my Best Buy card in front of the manager.)

Tonight I am going to try a recording from my DV cam using the regular RCA output to see if that makes a difference.

I don't want this DVR-1600 anymore. I want my money back to get a better brand.

It amazes me that these superstores would rather lose a customer rather than take a return for a STORE CREDIT on a $99 item!

Hambergerman, check out page 6 of this thread and follow my instructions on burning iso files for an update. I bet there was something wrong with the way your burned the disk.

Good luck

Hambergerman I'm just repeating rwestley's post. I had trouble with the update at first. Than I followed rwestley's steps to the letter and the updates both worked. He even provides a link to free software (I think its called burn at once) that makes the process easy as pie. I think the key is copying the files in .iso format which burn at once automatically does I think. Anyways his directions are right on the money. Thanks rwestley.
On a diff. note I've had nothing but sucess with this little 1600 (ZU model). For a 100 bucks I'm happy. I will definitely upgrade to a more advanced dvd recorder when my needs warrant it.

People were lambasting Philips when they came out with a line of DVD recorders that practically needed a firmware update right out of the box. I think some Philips recorders were actually shipped with a stick-on label that said a firmware update should be downloaded and installed before trying to use the machine.

Fast forward 3 or 4 years, and people are still doing the same thing, just with a different brand of recorder.

I guess what's unacceptable at $999 (the original MSRP for the DVDR-985) is perfectly OK at $99...

Stupid question: If they could put a sticker on the machine, why not just include a CD with the firmware on it?

Hey, that's crazy talk!! :-D I've seen the same mentality with network music players - big splash on the box that lists great new abilities after a "free software upgrade"...

They must have gotten a really good buy on stickers...

I can hear humming sounds if I use the MU tuner to just watch TV
I also see green patches on recorded video playback occasionally especially
next to some blue areas (try recording cartoons).
If this is a MU tuner issue, I am thinking of using the tuner of my old Sony VCR as input to the MU to see we can isolate the problem.

BTW, the first region hack method with code 169518 works on my MU with latest firmware dated 06-17-05 from Cyberhome website. Also, there is a V72 firmware
for the ZU unit (the posted firmware on their site is V70). You need to ask Cyberhome support to get it though.

If you need help in burning the firmware check out my instructions posted on page 6 of this thread. I am posting the link again because the thread is getting longer and the directions may be difficult to find. Hope it helps the newcomers.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=544417&page=6&pp=30

I copied the final ep of MASH off of TIVO and when i watched it off of the DVD+RW i copied it to there was a VERY noticable difference between the action and the audio track...but the copy i burned after it went thru RECODE was fine...then i noticed another problem....every spot where i edited commercials out the audio dropped out for about 3-5 seconds right where the show started up again, this was on my panny TV with built in DVD. Did not have the chance to try another TV as i was getting ready for work...if it does the same thing on another player then i am washing my hands of the MU and will go back and try a ZU one more time and try to do the editing thru Nero Visionexpress...if not then i will just chalk it up to being a piss poor DVD Recorder and spend a few more $$ on a more reputable brand


The weird **** gets weirder...i played my final disc copy of MASH on Four (4)different TV's and got different results on all...

1. My Panny TV/DVD all-in-one: as i said b4 the audio drops out IF i ffwd to a spot where my edit is completed...but only 3-5 seconds

2. Samsung TV/DVD All-in-one: the Audio and Video are so badly out of sync on this one...same disc, drastically different results

3. The DVD player i bought overseas that plays all regions...played the DVD like a champ...no problems

lastly i threw the DVD in a Cheap COBY dvd player and it played perfectly there as well

Go figure....this recorder is one tuff thing to figure out...

More on editing with a ZU using a DVD+RW....
You can't really edit after a recording is made. You can only delete a title, rename a title, erase the entire disk or rename the entire disk. You can't delete commercials for example. To do that kind of editing you need to import the files into your computer and work there.
The ZU will do on-the-fly edits using the pause key or the skip key. These proved to be excellent with no breakup in video or audio. Chapters marks are inserted whenever the recording resumed. The skip key pauses the recording for exactly 30 seconds. The delay can be extended by 30 seconds by pressing the skip key a second time but it doesn't add 30 seconds for each press. For example if you pressed it 15 seconds after it was first pressed your total delay is 45 not 60.
Also when you delete a title the total remaining time available doesn't increase by the duration of the deleted title....Unless you delete all titles or erase the disk. Detail...
I hope Cyberhome is following this thread. They have a good product here but it needs a little attention to details in the next firmware update.

No A-B erase on the ZU? Odd.

I'm about to return my MU because of the sound flutter issue, unless someone has come up with a soluthion. I have the laters firmware.

Could someone summerize the differences between the MU and ZU models? Best Buy here just got in some ZU's when they bumped the price to $129.

Tim

ZU records sound in Dolby Digital format but doesn't support playback of DIVX. The picture quality of the ZU isn't as good as the major brands like Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, Pioneer. It's not that the encoding is bad, but the incoming source looks soft with poor color purity compared to the major brands. It doesn't matter if you have the best encoder in the world, if the source material looks soft then you're going to be limited by that. I don't know how the picture quality of the ZU and MU compare against each other, but I think some users have said the MU has better PQ.

If you're going to have to spend $129 instead of 99 on a Cyberhome ZU, you might just be happier spending the extra few dollars to get one of the above mentioned major brands. The Cyberhome's biggest advantage was its price but at $129, that advantage is less significant.

Carnivore the MU definently has better recording PQ, esp thru S-vid, the ZU i owned had alot of lines running thru the recording were the MU is cleaner, somebody posted the ZU's S-vid ground is shared with the antenna input.

Another advantage as some have already stated is that the MU can be made region free.

I might have missed it but has anyone stated if the MU can record in Stereo through the component inputs?

I think Budman is right when it comes to the Svideo input. I have found the PQ to be better when using the Composite input on the ZU. It looks good enough to be better than my laserdisc and SVHS sources.
The sound is really great with the ZU. I had bad recordings soundwise with the MU.

It really isn't that much more to get a really good machine, (panny ES10 - $179 @ Costco) but for my needs the ZU works very well. And the DVD files go easily to my harddrive (w/DVDDecrypter) where DVDShrink lets me do some editing and Shrinking. The Shrinking part is nice to have.

Thanks to Stephenisaacs for the user updates.

I might have missed it but has anyone stated if the MU can record in Stereo through the component inputs?
The MU has Component inputs? :confused: And Component refers to video not audio. :) Perhaps you mean Composite but that is still video. Or perhaps I am misunderstanding. I do that sometimes. ;)

The MU does have a mono TV tuner. Everything else it records through its red and white (right and left) is stereo if the source is stereo. Or two channel mono if the source is mono.

Carnivore the MU definently has better recording PQ, esp thru S-vid, the ZU i owned had alot of lines running thru the recording were the MU is cleaner, somebody posted the ZU's S-vid ground is shared with the antenna input.
I have no lines running through the picture on my ZU, the signal looks clean, it just looks soft and the color looks over-emphasized. This is true in both recording and playback modes, so of course if you record a disc on the Cyberhome and then play it back on the same machine, the effect is compounded.

For the sake of comparison, I would say a disc recorded in 4-hour mode on my Samsung DVD-R120 looks about the same, or maybe even better than a disc recorded in 3-hour mode on my 1600ZU. This is on my 55-inch HDTV using a component connection though, so maybe on a 27-inch set it wouldn't be as much of an issue.

I did pick up a Cyberhome MU that I planned to compare against the ZU, but it was defective out of the box - no picture at all - and that was the last one in the store so I never got the chance to do the comparison.

I sould have stated the audio red/white audio inputs. Thanks for the infomation. I see that it will record stereo through these inputs. That is what I needed to know. The MU will work fine for my use and a bonus is the ability to make it region free. Now if someone has a hack for turning off Macrovision.

Region Code hack posted from British Distributor for Cyberhome1600. I tried it with the MU
version with the new firmware and it works. I don't know if it works with the ZU version. The second suggestion may be worth a try.


http://www.actronelectronics.com/firmware/{D64028B7-4B82-4FBA-B7A8-B185ED2E7CE2}_Region%20setting%20for%20DVR1600.pdf

Stupid question: If they could put a sticker on the machine, why not just include a CD with the firmware on it?

Because at the rate Philips were issuing firmware releases at the time, whatever CD they put on the box was likely to have been superseded by the time someone actually bought the thing :eek:

Hey Cyrano,
What problem did you have with the picture using the S Video input on your ZU? My picture is a little soft and the color is a little strong compared to the DirecTV picture, but is still pretty good especially compared to a vcr. Does the composite input offer that much improvement over the S-VIDEO input? Thanks.

Just switched to the composite input and the picture is virtually identical to the DirecTV picture. An improvement over the S-VIDEO input.

I think Budman is right when it comes to the Svideo input. I have found the PQ to be better when using the Composite input on the ZU. It looks good enough to be better than my laserdisc and SVHS sources.
The sound is really great with the ZU. I had bad recordings soundwise with the MU.

It really isn't that much more to get a really good machine, (panny ES10 - $179 @ Costco) but for my needs the ZU works very well. And the DVD files go easily to my harddrive (w/DVDDecrypter) where DVDShrink lets me do some editing and Shrinking. The Shrinking part is nice to have.

Thanks to Stephenisaacs for the user updates.

I have been monitoring the Audio on my MU and it is so strange, it is only the music that gets that warped sound...i recorded a TV show and when the actors are talking it sounds normal, then if background music starts to play it has that warped sound, but the dialogue sounds fine...

If i go back to the ZU i am going to have to edit on my PC, Does anyone recommend a good editing program so i can edit out the commercials like the MU does, i tried nerovision express but that program is a pain in the a$$ (very tempermental)

Just switched to the composite input and the picture is virtually identical to the DirecTV picture. An improvement over the S-VIDEO input.

I agree. It seems opposite of what I used to think. :confused: Here's a thread that goes into it a bit: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=559832

I have been monitoring the Audio on my MU and it is so strange, it is only the music that gets that warped sound...i recorded a TV show and when the actors are talking it sounds normal, then if background music starts to play it has that warped sound, but the dialogue sounds fine...

I don't think the human voice holds a tone long enough to allow the change in pitch to be noticed. Try recording a piano and listen.

If i go back to the ZU i am going to have to edit on my PC, Does anyone recommend a good editing program so i can edit out the commercials like the MU does, i tried nerovision express but that program is a pain in the a$$ (very tempermental)

I use DVDDecrypter (http://www.mrbass.org/dvdrip/) to put the files on my hard drive. And DVDShrink (http://www.mrbass.org/dvdshrink/) to edit and occasionally Shrink the file. Works pretty good. There are better DVD editing software packages but none cheaper. ;)

I don't think the human voice holds a tone long enough to allow the change in pitch to be noticed. Try recording a piano and listen.



I use DVDDecrypter (http://www.mrbass.org/dvdrip/) to put the files on my hard drive. And DVDShrink (http://www.mrbass.org/dvdshrink/) to edit and occasionally Shrink the file. Works pretty good. There are better DVD editing software packages but none cheaper. ;)

But doesn't shrink only allow you to re-author, can you actually go into the files that decryptor creates and edit even further??

But Shrink only allows you to re-author, can you actually go into the files that decryptor creates and edit even further??

The problem with editing w/shrink is that each chunk you create is a new title so there is a split second pause before it goes on to the next title. You cannot use it to do edits on a large scale but you can trim the beginnings and endings nicely. The Start/End frames control helps me clean up many videos:
http://www.mrbass.org/dvdshrink/032clistartendframes.png

But as I said: "Works pretty good. There are better DVD editing software packages but none cheaper."

Of course, I am looking forward to doing finer work and I'd like to put my own soundtracks to video images I put together. No time right now. So I'm doing what I can w/ the 1600ZU.
I've got a nice pre-special effects set of Star Wars 4-6. And thanks to Shrink they're each on one disk. The slight pause I get twice in each DVD is worth it to be able to see these on DVD w/5 minute chapter stops. And the sound in 2.0 DD, which translates very nicely with Dolby Prologic II. The laserdisc sound is quite good.

I've been able to transfer LDs and SVHS one-of-a-kind tapes and the quality is as good as the source so for now I'm happy. :)

But I want to do more intensive editing and montage work someday.

yes that is what i thought....but i did not know it would create a new title (do you just delete the old one?) what is the slight pause in duration? (about 2-3 secs maybe??)

do you think that if i end up taking my MU back for a ZU that BB will give it to m even trade? i am still in the 30 day window, but as you said b4 if i have to pay $129 then i may as well go for one of the better brand names

yes that is what i thought....but i did not know it would create a new title (do you just delete the old one?) what is the slight pause in duration? (about 2-3 secs maybe??)

do you think that if i end up taking my MU back for a ZU that BB will give it to m even trade? i am still in the 30 day window, but as you said b4 if i have to pay $129 then i may as well go for one of the better brand names

Try using the Start/End frame feature. It just reduces the size of the title your working with. Then you can just add new titles to the DVD list (DVD Structure).

The pause is not terrible but is is bad if you're wanting to go instantly to a new scene. The pause is 1-2 sec.

CC has the 1600 for $99 this week. BB will price match.

The Liteon (and the 1600MU) wasn't easy to use DVDDecrypter and Shrink with (it didn't work at all for me). And I don't know about the Panny ES10. I don't understand it but most of the cheap players are VR mode machines and can't be dvddecrypted. The 1600ZU does it easily for me. So I use what works for me.

You could probably return the ZU if it wasn't what you wanted either, but check first.

I agree. It seems opposite of what I used to think. :confused: Here's a thread that goes into it a bit: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=559832

Thanks for the info Cyrano. That explained alot. I know the editing on the ZU is weak but after the firmware updates and switching to the composite input I am very pleased with this unit. I hope it holds up.

This thread caught my interest after someone posted the region hack. So, I bought the "MU serial #" Cyberhome DVR1600 at Best Buy for $100 yesterday. Took a while to find a "MU" as most were "ZU". Having owned several Panny DVD recorders since the early days of DVD recorders, I'm quite impressed with the Cyberhome.

The region hack (posted earlier in this thread) was easy & I can confirm it played region 2 PAL (UK), region 2 NTSC (Japan) & region 3 (Korea) DVDs w/o any problems. The PAL-to-NTSC conversion was quite smooth as well. Playback of home-made DVD-R/+R discs, including DVD+R DL was fine.

I tried various DVD blanks. DVD+R, +RW & -RW all worked, even though it gave me a 'not supported' message for -RW. I'll try a -R next. Formatting +RW/-RW discs was pretty fast as well.

On to DV--something I definitely didn't expect in a recorder at this bargain basement price. Hooked up my Sony miniDV camcorder & the Cyberhome let me control playback, rew, ff & more through its remote. I don't think even my Panny E95 lets me do that; only transfer footage.

This unit does have a few quirks, like defaulting to DVD playback input even though I left it in tuner (cable) before power off. Also, I don't like the source switching method; should be able to switch more easily as with my Panny recorder. But, there are minor quibbles. The only question is reliability; will this thing crap out on me like Apex, Daewoo & other cheap units I've tried...time will tell. For now, this Cyberhome recorder is a steal at $100. I remember paying several times more for my Panny E20 when it first came out.

Re: the comments on ZU picture quality... I record exclusively through the S-video input from a Scientific Atlanta digital cable box. The quality is great. I haven't noticed any saturation or noise problems. At HQ quality (highest bit rate) It looks perfect to me. As the rate drops quality drops. At SP I see some digital tileing in fast moving scenes but it is perfectly acceptable. At slower rates this gets worse. I usually record at HQ and only resort to slower rates if I need more record time. The audio quality on my ZU is great. Even at the slowest SLP speed the Dolby Digital audio sounds perfect but I will admit I haven't been listening critically.
Re: reliability... My ZU has been working well. I keep in on 24/7 in bypass most of the time and actually watch TV through it. A friend has not had such good luck. She has gone through 3 machines (all ZU's I think). They either worked for a day or two then refused to read disks or were dead out of the box. She has given up.
Re; price vs. quality. At $149.95 Canadian this machine is 50 dollars cheaper than anything I have seen here. At 200 CAN I can get a Liteon 5005 but the Panasonics, Sony's or JVC are well over that price. With the ZU going up to $129US in some stores I guess I won't be seeing any price reductions here soon. The 129US price more accurately converts to the 149CAN price I paid. I am very happy so far with this machine and the added cost for a "name" machine seems unnecessary at least for me.

Can somebody clue me in about what you mean by composite??? is that the same as usuing the red & white cables for recording...which gives the best picture of the three (S-Vid, Composite, or reg AV cables)

i tried one more time to record audio on my MU using S-VHS like budman suggested and it still has the same crappy flutter.....can't ignore it now cause i know it is there...

You are confusing video terminology with audio.

"Can somebody clue me in about what you mean by composite"
One yellow rca cable which only carries video

"that the same as usuing the red & white cables for recording"
no, red & white cables are stereo audio - and can be used with comosite and s-video

"which gives the best picture of the three (S-Vid, Composite, or reg AV cables)"
s-video generally is the best of the 3, although I'm not sure what you are referring to by "reg AV cables".

Composite input has 3 leads. One for video (usually yellow) and 2 for stereo audio (usually red and white. It is called composite because it is a composite (mixture) all all the video signal.

In order of best to worse, the quality of video connections are: component, s-video, composite, and RF.

RG

Composite input has 3 leads. One for video (usually yellow) and 2 for stereo audio (usually red and white. It is called composite because it is a composite (mixture) all all the video signal.

In order of best to worse, the quality of video connections are: component, s-video, composite, and RF.

RG

All true. But when it comes to what input to use for the 1600 (and perhaps most DVD recorders) read this thread: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=559832

And the composite input refers to the video. When you buy connectors the audio red and white (right and left) are often part of the "deal" but composite is a video term.

Can somebody clue me in about what you mean by composite??? is that the same as usuing the red & white cables for recording...which gives the best picture of the three (S-Vid, Composite, or reg AV cables)

i tried one more time to record audio on my MU using S-VHS like budman suggested and it still has the same crappy flutter.....can't ignore it now cause i know it is there...

The Svideo does not carry any audio signals with it. The audio input is the only place where audio comes into the 1600.

Read the other posts between this one and your's above. Composite and the rest are explained.

Can't help you on the Recorder but,

VIDEO JACKS:
Composite Video = Yellow RCA Jack
S-Video = S-Video Jack
Component Video = Red, Blue & Green RCA Jacks
DVI = Digital Video Jack

AUDIO JACKS:
Red & White = Analog RCA Jacks (Red = Right Audio CH White = Left Audio CH)
Coaxial Audio Jack = Digital Audio Jack
Optical Audio Jack = Digital Audio Jack

COMBO AUDIO / VIDEO JACK:
HDMI = Digital Audio & Video Jack

never knew that the yellow was called a composite video jack

I always used the yellow & red/white combined and called them Audio-Visual Cables...shows what i know

Got a ZU....AGAIN!, the manager at BB asked why i was returning and i mentioned the audio flutter, so she thought it was damaged and almost did not accept it...but i carefully explained the whole thing to her (condensed down to 45 secs) and they let me swap again

I don't think she believed me tho :)

Thanks for the thread on composite vs s-video inputs Cyrano. I learned a lot from it. I would still like to find out why the s-video input actually degrades the DirecTV picture quality. I was running a s-video cable from my receiver to the ZU and when switching from watching DirecTV to watching it through the ZU, the picture got a little softer and there was too much color. I would think that with no enhancement or filters there would be no difference in the PQ. The composite input has no color difference and the picture is 99% as good as the DirecTV picture;with enhancement I can understand this. Something must not be right with the s-video input. Anyway, mine looks great now; guess I ought to quit wonderin' and start recordin' and watchin'.

Just wanted to post my experience so far with the CyberHome 1600 (ZU) for anyone interested in picking it up.

I've had it about 3 weeks and I've transferred over 100 VHS tapes to DVD. I've only had 3 or 4 of those end up as coasters. That's a pretty good track record for a $99 DVR. The finalized DVDs play perfectly on my Panny DVD player, and my Macintosh G5. I couldn't be happier with this purchase.

The quality (on the 2 hour mode) looks identical to the VHS tapes I recorded. I also recorded a movie off regular Comcast cable, and that too looked identical to the broadcast.

I can't tell you how satisfying it is to remove the stacks upon stacks of VHS tapes cluttering my house. I've been dreaming of this for years. This is the best electronics purchase I've made in a long time! I have about 100 more VHS transfers to do, and even if the dang thing goes caput after that, it would still be worth the $99.

I do have a question for those that have upgraded the firmware. What exactly is it going to change? Since I'm having such great performance right now, I'm reluctant to do it. It ain't broke, so why fix it, right?

Mod-Mod-World as far as the firmware updates the one thing I noticed is when using the unit as a tuner to watch tv, it allows you to change channels faster. Before the update it was a little sluggish when switching channels. I e-mailed cyberhome and asked them what the advantage would be. I believe they said it would help with disc recoginition. Which I think means it allows the 1600 to be more compatiable with more brands of DVDr's.
The only problem I've had with the 1600 was when I was recording one time I left the house and the dvd ran out of space and stopped recording. (obviously) This happened another time as well. You need to leave yourself a few minutes of recording space left in order for the disc to finalize, I've found. This may be SOP in the dvd recording world, I don't know. I do know that I've made 40+ copies with only the 2 problems I cited above. Like I said those problems are avoidable however. Still a badasss little machine for a C-note.

Fixed issue:
1. LED display "PAUSE" when press PREV or NEXT key to play JPEG.
2. Sometimes display REC icon at top right, but display PAUSE icon on
the
display panel.
3. Have audio output when finalize or enter disc index.
4. Mute at CVBS1 before switch any other bypass, then switch CVBS1, it
is
not muted.
5. Can't play mp3 disc automatically when switch source to DVD mode.
6. LED display "PAUSE" when zoom a picture. Mod-Mod-Mod World, these are the fixes according to Cyberhome. I asked them the same question, they sent these in an e-mail.

I bought this CyberHome DVR 1600ZU and I have been recording with it like crazy, but the picture it picks up from my computer has those annoying lines that remind you of antenna days. As long as most of the screen is filled you do not notice. One thing interrupted my fooling with it, and it will not fix itself. In setup you can choose to switch from interlace to p-scan mode. It says if your set does not support p-scan mode it will automatically switch back in ten seconds, during which time you will lose your picture. Well, it didn't switch back, and I no longer want this half-ass junkyard pawn prop sitting around. Oh, I suppose I can email them, but their knowledge base in support certainly wouldn't say anything about this kind of malfunction. Of course, I have it unplugged in the hopes that it will reset to default settings. However, though it may be hours between checking it, the damn thing powers up with the correct time to reaffirm to me that it is keeping enough energy to remain in its screwed up state. Too bad opening it means I cannot return it. I'll just get a video card instead. I'm tired of buying crap that doesn't work. The punishment for selling a lemon ought to be death!

Why can't you return it? It shouldn't matter you opened it as long as it hasn't been more than 30 days. Have you tried going into the setup and using the restore defaults option? That may help.

I had the 1600 hooked up to a system using the s-video input, and component out. I have now moved it to another location. I am trying to use it with the standard cable input, and have tried the following:

1. Cable out
2. Composite out
3. S-video out

So far, I can not get anything to show up on the new tv at the new location. I am guessing that somewhere in the initial setup, I must have selected something in the menu that "locked in" the s-video input and/or the component output. Does anyone know how I can reset the 1600 to go back to it's original settings? I've tried unplugging it (obviously, when I moved it). I've tried just putting in a commercial DVD ... it shows that it is playing (by the counter progressing) ... but there is no output whatsoever.

Any thoughts or suggestions? I'm well past my 30 days, so I can't just take it back.

Friar

I had the 1600 hooked up to a system using the s-video input, and component out. I have now moved it to another location. I am trying to use it with the standard cable input, and have tried the following:

1. Cable out
2. Composite out
3. S-video out

So far, I can not get anything to show up on the new tv at the new location. I am guessing that somewhere in the initial setup, I must have selected something in the menu that "locked in" the s-video input and/or the component output. Does anyone know how I can reset the 1600 to go back to it's original settings? I've tried unplugging it (obviously, when I moved it). I've tried just putting in a commercial DVD ... it shows that it is playing (by the counter progressing) ... but there is no output whatsoever.

Any thoughts or suggestions? I'm well past my 30 days, so I can't just take it back.

Friar
The standard cable input is an input to let a signal pass through the recorder only. The recorder does not process this signal. To restore factory defaults go to menu , general, then select restore factory settings or restore defaults. Then connect yellow composite output on satellite or cable receiver to yellow input on the recorder. Connect yellow composite out or s-video out to your tv if it is not a high def tv. Use component out if it is a high def tv, then seect the Progressive Scan mode in the setup menu for P-Scan TVs. Good Luck!

friar Have you hit the "source" button on the remote control and selected the proper input/output? It always defaults to the dvd player whenever you turn it off then back on (which sucks). Hit source then arrow over to what ever output/input you want and hit enter. It should be that simple, if I'm reading your post correctly. Also make sure your tv is right. ie Its on video 2 when it should be on video 1. Its likely that I'm not sure whats going on with your machine as I'm half asleep. Good luck and let us know when you figure it out. This could help others down the road....

More on my ZU... Last night I asked it to record 4 programs. They were scheduled at 7:30PM, 10.00PM, 3:30AM and 4:30AM. For some reason the 7:30 and the 3:30 events didn't happen but the 10: and 4:30 worked fine. At about eleven I replaced the disk with a blank one to make sure I had room for the overnight shows. There is no apparant reason for these failures. I have had other failures on scheduled recordings but I haven't figured out what's wrong. Has anyone had similar experiences? Maybe if we all report the circumstances of these failed scheduled recordings we can figure out the pattern and get it resolved or work around it.

I had a scheduled recording not take once. my solution is this. (this may be obvious) If you schedule a recording you should have "timer" show up on the 1600's display in red. When I hit "schedule" on the remote it told me what I had scheduled, however the red "timer" indicator wasn't on the display, tipping me off. I just turned the 1600 off then on and had no prob. Everything should go as planned if you see timer, in my experience.

Thanks for the "timer"hint. I'll watch for that after I check the scheduled events. In my example the second recording after my intervention worked so it is possible the timer indication didn't come on after I loaded a new disk and checked the schedule. This could be it. Thanks very much.

I bought the MU on sale at Best Buy ($88 with coupon, 2 $7.49 DVDs thrown in).

But both before and after the firmware update, I have the dreaded

"audio/sound warble" problem with music. My dub of Coldplay-Storytellers sounds pretty bad.

I'm bummed...looks like many others have this problem too.

I'd be curious is Cyberhome has told anybody if a firmware fix will address this?

Otherwise, the unit will have to go back (I intend to mainly back up music related programs to DVD).

Hopefully the "timer" is the ticket Stevenisaacs. You've given so much 411 on the 1600 hopefully my little bit will help you out.
orginalsnuffy take that MU back and get a ZU. For 88 bucks you can't beat it. MU may have some editing features the ZU doesn't but the ZU has decent audio. I wouldn't expect a 99 dollar machine to have much editing capability anyhow. If I were mostly after audio dvd's I'd swap the mu for the zu hands down in my book.

Ok, i got my 1600ME last week, and havent had that many problems, - it seems to burn dvd's ok, but...........

1. Recorded DVD plays ok, until, you skip chapters (in any dvd player) it then struggles to catch up with the audio, and the picture pauses for .5 of a second, or, there is no audio at all. Ejecting, reloading and then playing, it carries on playing from the beggining, fine, but as soon as you skip, same problem occurs.

2. As I work at Asda (Walmart) i figured doing the update from the MU might work, and i could return it if it fails - so i did the loader update, that went fine, on putting the 2nd disc in, it reported that the hardware might not be compatible, so i didnt use it.

So my question is 2 fold. Does anyone know of a ME specific firmware update. Secondly, has anybody got any ideas on how to sort the audio problem out.

If I can't get it sorted, i'll take it back, and get a refund, and then purchase an ellion Ellion DVR-530S - its a shame because ilike the styling, and size of this unit, and im fairly impressed with the picture quality from VHS to DVD copies.....

Any help would be gratefuolly recieved.

James

p.s the reason i have the Me, is because im from the UK, also, an additional point, the same sound stuttering and picture freeze problem happens on forward or reverse skipping thru, - also, i'm using TDK DVD+R media. The machine finalises dvd's ok, havent had a failure yet..

p.s the reason i have the Me, is because im from the UK, also, an additional point, the same sound stuttering and picture freeze problem happens on forward or reverse skipping thru, - also, i'm using TDK DVD+R media. The machine finalises dvd's ok, havent had a failure yet..

I have the ME too also from ASDA. I have found that the TDK- DVD's appear to be best for me.

I too have the warbling sound, and when you go to the next track sometimes the audio does not keep up.

Does anyone know if there is a fix for the sound problem ? For me it appears to come and go....

Many Thanks

Andrew

The only way I could fix the problem on my MU was to take it back to BB and trade it for the only ZU I could find on the shelf. (There might be some ZUs in the OPEN BOX area as some people traded their ZU in for the more acclaimed MU. I did and then traded back to the ZU - ;) )

Mike,
Thanks for the reply, Im in the UK and only when I come over to the USA I can visit best buy !! (Very nice store it is...)

I too was wondering about the firmware upgrade for the MU do you know if the ME is basically the same machine ?

Lets hope cyberhome fix this bug with the audio...

Andrew

The only way I could fix the problem on my MU was to take it back to BB and trade it for the only ZU I could find on the shelf. (There might be some ZUs in the OPEN BOX area as some people traded their ZU in for the more acclaimed MU. I did and then traded back to the ZU - ;) )


so did i....oh by the way cyrano, i use nero/shrink to edit my RW's and it works fine, since most of it is TV shows i cut at the fade out and again just before the fade in, works well so far for me

so did i....oh by the way cyrano, i use nero/shrink to edit my RW's and it works fine, since most of it is TV shows i cut at the fade out and again just before the fade in, works well so far for me

That's great. I'm doing the same thing and I like the quality I'm getting. Really a solid little machine. Not as user-friendly as the MU but a better performer.

This is the reply I got from Cyberhome about the MU audio problem...
The latest Firmware upgrades are currently all we offer software-wise for
your 1600 unit. Check to see if your unit is running hot while it's
recording as a warmed unit might sometimes be the cause of audio pitch
changes. A new Firmware upgrade might be available in another month. Hope
this helps!

If you still have any further questions or comments, please don't hesitate
to contact us. Thanks!

Steve Young
CyberHome Customer Service Dept

Guess if we want to record music...we wait.
At least one person at Cyberhome knows about it now.

Cheers for that, at least they know about it, god knows if they are going to release any for the ME UK market machine........ "Might be a firmware upgrade" - sheesh.....LOL

I recorded a disc yesterday, in LP mode that was fine in my LG 5083 player,but not in my Ferguson DVD/VHS combo player that's in the dining room, i'm guessing that the LG can cope with it better, to be honest the ferguson, isn't supposed to be brilliant, its just a player - only got it to compact down the amount of plugs and kit required...........

When recording the disc, i left the audio on stereo, and changed the spdif settings to RAW, it plays fine, inc. when moving around either using FF skip or chaptermovement, but i didnt add as many chapters, i guess that with it being in better quality, and less chapters, its not trying so hard to cram as much on the dis and works better...........

Don't get me wrong, I don't expect miracles from the machine (£89.99), but i do expect it to work, and record a watchable DVD.........

Also, one thing i noticed after updating just the UPLOADER firmware, that a verticle line that traveled across the picture, that appeared when the machine was switched on, when playing sky_ through it, has disapeared.

BTW if you live in the UK, and have purchased it from ASDA, you get a 12 month warraty with it, and not the 90 day thing that guys in the US get, in my job i sometimes have to deal with the returns of electrical stuff, and to be honest, we don't test any of it, we fill out a form, put the units in a box, put them on a pallett, (yes there are that many pacific and durabrand units that go back) and then they are sent back. There shouldn't be a problem returning any electrical equipment to ASDA stores, as long as you have the reciept, and for these units, there shouldnt be a problem, full stop, as it says on the back "Manufactured for ASDA stores" if customer services argue, ask for the home and leisure manager, who will sort it for ya.....

Can someone with a MU version tell me what the sizes are of the VOBs they get with a fairly long recording with multiple VOBs (>15 minutes). Something like this:

06/07/2005 12:14 AM 28,672 VIDEO_TS.VOB
06/07/2005 12:14 AM 1,248,253,952 VTS_01_1.VOB
06/07/2005 12:14 AM 1,243,047,936 VTS_01_2.VOB
06/07/2005 12:14 AM 1,102,714,880 VTS_01_3.VOB

The DVD spec calls for the VOB files to be no more than 1GB but my ZU version is producing files quite a bit bigger and as a result my PCs refuse to read or copy the files. (See above.) All the PCs complain that the file and or directory is corrupt.

If on the otherhand I stop recording on my ZU before the VOB reaches 1GB, I can copy it over to the PC without difficulty.

(No, it has nothing to do with FAT32 vs NTFS and, no, it has nothing to do with encryption.)

Settop DVD players don't have a problem with this as they don't use the bridge filesystem that the PC uses.

So I've been wondering if the MU versions are better behaved and create compliant DVDs? Anyone spare a couple minutes to pop a disc in and do a dir of the video_ts folder?

Thanks,

Phil

Try the Dual DVRW1 also available in ASDA now at £89.94. I've also seen some info that ASDA may have a Durabrand recorder too?

Can someone with a MU version tell me what the sizes are of the VOBs they get with a fairly long recording with multiple VOBs (>15 minutes). Something like this:

06/07/2005 12:14 AM 28,672 VIDEO_TS.VOB
06/07/2005 12:14 AM 1,248,253,952 VTS_01_1.VOB
06/07/2005 12:14 AM 1,243,047,936 VTS_01_2.VOB
06/07/2005 12:14 AM 1,102,714,880 VTS_01_3.VOB

The DVD spec calls for the VOB files to be no more than 1GB but my ZU version is producing files quite a bit bigger and as a result my PCs refuse to read or copy the files. (See above.) All the PCs complain that the file and or directory is corrupt.

If on the otherhand I stop recording on my ZU before the VOB reaches 1GB, I can copy it over to the PC without difficulty.

(No, it has nothing to do with FAT32 vs NTFS and, no, it has nothing to do with encryption.)

Settop DVD players don't have a problem with this as they don't use the bridge filesystem that the PC uses.

So I've been wondering if the MU versions are better behaved and create compliant DVDs? Anyone spare a couple minutes to pop a disc in and do a dir of the video_ts folder?

Thanks,

Phil


I cannot pop a disc in since i am at work, but i will tell you that myself and quite a few others have had no problem with our PC's copying or reading the files ( i use Decryptor, Shrink and/or Nero) what program are you using on your PC???

I second rneuner64. I had problems with the MU in PC use and none with the ZU.

I also use DVDdecrypter and DVDshrink. I use DVDdecrypter for burning the results as well.

As I have said previously I have a ZU so can't comment on the file sizes on an Mu or Me. The ZU gave me the following sizes for a 4 hour program.
VTS_01_1.VOB 1,038,852KB
VTS_01_2.VOB 1,033,824KB
VTS_01_3.VOB 1,025,280KB
VTS_01_4.VOB 1,031,662KB
VTS_01_5.VOB 138,310KB

These are the values that show up when I look at the contents of the DVD. When I ask for the properties of the first VOB it says .99GB (1,063,784,448 bytes).
and the same sizes are shown for the size on disk.
If you are getting files as large as you say something is definately wrong. Either the firmware of the recorder is off or the program you are using to read those files is faulty. If it's happening in more than 1 PC I'd be returning the recorder.
These values are before finalizing. I'll do that now and report any differences.
OK, same sizes after finalizing.

Another observation about my ZU.... Closed captions recorded by the Cyberhome don't playback properly on the machine itself. They are visible during the recording while watching through the machine but when played back, the captions appear just briefly then they disappear before they can be read. The recorded captions do display properly when the disk is played in another DVD player and the Cyberhome can display captions on a commercial DVD just fine. It just can't display it's own?! And just to be clear I'm talking about closed captions (the ones with white text in a black bar inserted by the TV set) not the subtitles that can be selected and displayed by the DVD player itself.

Hi Guys,
I tried moving my machine to a "cooler" location. Same result, warbling sound. Sounds very much like an LP if you touch the turntable by mistake...

Using RiData DVD+RW, record mode LP. It plays in my sony and toshiba machines but they all warble the same way :( RiData is on the supported discs list I believe.

How can this be with a digital system ? Perhaps someone clever knows whats going on here.

Its a real shame as the picture quality is really quite acceptable.

Here are the files from the 4400 episode I recorded on my MU before taking it back...

07/16/2005 07:03 AM 32,768 VIDEO_TS.VOB
07/16/2005 07:03 AM 1,069,547,520 VTS_01_1.VOB
07/16/2005 07:03 AM 462,323,712 VTS_01_2.VOB

-mike

Ive given up, and taken it back, will wait till next month to get a decent one, possibly the ellion!

I cannot pop a disc in since i am at work, but i will tell you that myself and quite a few others have had no problem with our PC's copying or reading the files ( i use Decryptor, Shrink and/or Nero) what program are you using on your PC???

Which was the point of asking about the VOB sizes you are seeing.

Neither DVD Decrypter nor Nero can read the discs created by my Cyberhome

As the discs are not protected I should be able to simply copy the VOB files to my PC without using a 3rd party tool. And in fact i can do this IF the recordings are short and the VOBs are less than 1GB in size.

As I have said previously I have a ZU so can't comment on the file sizes on an Mu or Me. The ZU gave me the following sizes for a 4 hour program.
VTS_01_1.VOB 1,038,852KB
VTS_01_2.VOB 1,033,824KB
VTS_01_3.VOB 1,025,280KB
VTS_01_4.VOB 1,031,662KB
VTS_01_5.VOB 138,310KB


Thanks Stephen. That is actually very useful.

So you were recording in the 4 hour mode? Automatic chapter marks or none? DVD+R or +R/W?

In my tests I've only been using HQ or SP modes. I'll have to try a lower quality mode to see if the behavior is different.

If you are getting files as large as you say something is definately wrong. Either the firmware of the recorder is off or the program you are using to read those files is faulty.

Well I guess that the dos 'dir' command and explorer properties dialogs might be in some kind of conspiracy against me but I'm not going to put a lot of confidence in that theory.

The firmware is up to date on the recorder though it had this behavior both before and after updating. Pretty unlikely that the firmware is corrupted as it does checksum the image after it is loaded. Reloading it shouldn't be an issue though so maybe I'll give it a go.

Thanks for the data.

Phil

Here are the files from the 4400 episode I recorded on my MU before taking it back...

07/16/2005 07:03 AM 32,768 VIDEO_TS.VOB
07/16/2005 07:03 AM 1,069,547,520 VTS_01_1.VOB
07/16/2005 07:03 AM 462,323,712 VTS_01_2.VOB

-mike

Thanks Mike. The big one is under the 1GB limitation as it should be. Wish I knew why mine was being such a pain.

Phil

Cyrano:

when you do your re-authors of DVD's (TV episodes) do you put in a menu/main title?...i have the one that my ZU creates and when i edited and burned, the menu disappeared. I am fairly certain that i included it after i did the re-author. Have you had any experiences with this?

Cyrano:

when you do your re-authors of DVD's (TV episodes) do you put in a menu/main title?...i have the one that my ZU creates and when i edited and burned, the menu disappeared. I am fairly certain that i included it after i did the re-author. Have you had any experiences with this?
Hmmm - The structure of the DVD navigation does disappear I think. I've have to give it a try and see if there's anyway it can stay. I don't think so though. I have thought of inserting my own titles. I'll check later to see about doing some such "marker".
Let us know if you figure something out.

Hmmm - The structure of the DVD navigation does disappear I think. I've have to give it a try and see if there's anyway it can stay. I don't think so though. I have thought of inserting my own titles. I'll check later to see about doing some such "marker".
Let us know if you figure something out.

It figures, the MU allows you to edit on the fly and keep the directory structure BUT the audio SUCKS

The ZU gives you good audio but if you want to edit, you either have to sit in front of the TV while you are recording or you edit on the PC and lose the structure...

Damn Cyberhome!...this just makes no sense whatsoever and i think that they are doing it on purpose....Bastards :mad:

The file sizes I gave were 4 hour mode, EP I think they call it. It was on a DVD+RW disk with chapters every 5 minutes. I don't think the speed effected the file size. I'll try a few different modes and report back.

I have a box from Canopus that takes composite and s-video plus audio and converts it to mini-DV format and vice-versa. So I took the output of my Scientific Atlanta 8300; fed it to the Canopus; and from there to the mini-DV in on the MU version that I have. This MU has the audio warble problem.

Guess what...no problems whatsoever with the audio. So it is not an overheating problem; or these transfers would also be problematic.

I was surprised that the unit can handle the Canopus mini-DV feed; but there you are.

I hope that Cyberhome has a fix for the audio problem before my 30 day trial period runs out at Best Buy. I'd really rather keep this puppy.

Anybody try the $159 unit from Magnavox that Best Buy has on the shelf. This is the next cheapest unit with mini-DV in and also is DVD+R and RW (I use + primarily, not minus, as this is what I started with so most of my media is in this format).

The file sizes I gave were 4 hour mode, EP I think they call it. It was on a DVD+RW disk with chapters every 5 minutes. I don't think the speed effected the file size. I'll try a few different modes and report back.

Thanks Stephen. So far I haven't been able to get my Cyberhome to work with +R/W discs even though I bought a box of Sonys that their tech support swore would work with it. Strangely I have had no problems with a variety of no-name DVD+Rs rated from 1x to 8x. I did a test in the 4-hour mode and after an hour and change of recording the Cyberhome had created a single 1.2GB VOB file which DVD Decrypter and other tools couldn't read.

I am wondering now if the DVR-1600 uses smaller files on +R/W discs. I think I have an HP R/W around here somewhere that I might not have tried.

thanks,

Phil

Not trying to make anyone feel bad but I've made copies using +R/RW and -R/RW. I have one RCA made -RW that I've been using for over a week. I kind of use it as my cheap tivo imitation. It has had numerous programs recorded/finalized, played, than deleted and recorded again. Its worked on 3 diff. dvd players as well. ( ZU unit with the firmware update). Odd thing is Cyberhome claims the 1600 is a +R/RW machine. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining.

I've experienced the same thing as autoMP5. I've really had no problems with different media . . . yet. I've only used -RWs (Fuji and Sony) and -Rs (Memorex 16X, TDK 8X, Sony 8X, Maxell 8X) so far. -Rs seem to play in more players than +Rs so I don't use +Rs at all.

The largest file I've noticed is 1,085,000. This is using XP and SP speeds.

I do transfer files pretty quickly to -Rs via dvddecrypter and dvdshrink and I do not notice file sizes. I'll try and notice next time I do a dub.

I use the April '05 1600ZU with no fw update done by me.

I've experienced the same thing as autoMP5. I've really had no problems with different media . . . yet. I've only used -RWs (Fuji and Sony) and -Rs (Memorex 16X, TDK 8X, Sony 8X, Maxell 8X) so far. -Rs seem to play in more players than +Rs so I don't use +Rs at all.

The largest file I've noticed is 1,085,000. This is using XP and SP speeds.

I do transfer files pretty quickly to -Rs via dvddecrypter and dvdshrink and I do not notice file sizes. I'll try and notice next time I do a dub.

I use the April '05 1600ZU with no fw update done by me.


When i burn thru my PC i have always used +R's with no problem...now with the cyberhome i am using +RW's to transfer shows to my PC for edit...then i burn again to +R...but the ones from the cyberhome still do not play on my panasonic DVD player in bedroom...wonder if trying a burn from an -RW then transferring to a +R would changer anything....

I still have the firmware discs i burned for the first ZU i had...but the update would not help the discs play in the panny....or would they??? anybody know what the firmware updates do

When i burn thru my PC i have always used +R's with no problem...now with the cyberhome i am using +RW's to transfer shows to my PC for edit...then i burn again to +R...but the ones from the cyberhome still do not play on my panasonic DVD player in bedroom...wonder if trying a burn from an -RW then transferring to a +R would changer anything....

I just find that most DVD Players will accept a -R burned disc. +R disc are not as universally acceptable in DVD players so I don't bother with them.

I just find that most DVD Players will accept a -R burned disc. +R disc are not as universally acceptable in DVD players so I don't bother with them.

well as i said all my players accept my +R's fine, exception being the cyberhome
because my burner on my PC is +R/RW only..

I have some -r's gathering dust on my shelf, i am going to try an experiment and burn a show to one of them and try it in my panny..wonder what will happen

well...that did not take long, my 1600 locked up and did not like the -R AT ALL..''

well...that did not take long, my 1600 locked up and did not like the -R AT ALL..''

You mean it wouldn't record. I've never used a +R on my Cyberhome for recording or playing.
What is the brand and speed of -R you used?

And your 1600 is a ZU April '05 unit? Did you upgrade the fw? (I didn't) (You mentioned doing this to your first ZU so I assume you haven't done it to this unit. )

rneuner64, another user posted an e-mail a couple of pages back that cyberhome had sent him in regards to the firmware update. It stated what the firmware would do. I e-mailed cyberhome prior to doing update and they listed a # of things it would help with. The only one that stuck with me was that it would help with disk recoginition.?.?(I'm not sure if thats correct...) Which seems would help your case, but its definitely a crap shoot IMO. Oh and the e-mail the other member posted via cyberhome said nothing about disc recognition. I've done the update (ZU) all I've noticed is it switchs channels quicker when used as a tuner. When I e-mailed cyberhome it took me a week to get a response. Had my first real problem earlier today. I tried making my fair use copy of a dvd I own and it recorded but wouldn't finalize TWICE!! 2 ruined discs that aren't that cheap. They were sony dvd+r's which I've had much success with till today.(about 37 out of 40 finalized disks) I'm running a 3rd try right now we'll see how it turns out.

You mean it wouldn't record. I've never used a +R on my Cyberhome for recording or playing.
What is the brand and speed of -R you used?

And your 1600 is a ZU April '05 unit? Did you upgrade the fw? (I didn't) (You mentioned doing this to your first ZU so I assume you haven't done it to this unit. )

well it said it recorded..first disc it locked up, then i loaded firmware update and second disc recorded and when i tried to access it, it said the disc was empty but you could tell where it had been written to by looking at the disc, i will maybe go get one -RW disc and see how that works but it looks like my recorder does not like the -R discs...so i should stick with my +R's and +RW's for transfer from recorder to PC....cest la vie

What make and speed of disc was it? I would try another brand sometime.

Good luck.

Ritek 4X...i mistakenly ordered 50 -R's instead of +R's

Aren't Riteks known for having variable quality? You might try another brand just in case. (Sony, Maxell, etc.)
Do you have DVDinfo? What does it say about the Ritek discs you have?

I use the April '05 1600ZU with no fw update done by me


Mine is an April 05 also, and the -R's did not work before or after the fw update...not sure if i want to waste $$ on some -RW's just to find out they do not work either...

i have found that i can restore the menu's by using PgcEdit & VobBlanker software, it is freeware and i have downloaded it and spent the weekend playing around with it...when i get the chance i will try one of my RW's and see how it works

Has anyone ran into the problem of manually editing chapters with this unit ? My friend has the 1500 model and can place his chapter markers where he wants them opposed to the unit placing them every 5 or 10 minutes. I while I can find the menu to take chapters out I have yet to see where I can place chapter markers where I want them. While recording Tv and music videos marks are auto placed in really bad spots like in the middle of a show or video and I would rather place them at the end or when a commercial comes on. I have the ZU model of the 1600.

I think the only way you can do it is to set your recorder to no chapter settings and then edit it on a PC with something like nero

Im having issues with some +R disks

After a 2 hour tape with 5 min chapters is burnt onto a +R disk, the 1600 will not reconize it. It says: "Bad Disk". In the manual it states that there is a chapter limit, but does not say that it is. Does anyone know what the limit is? Or does anyone else have a solution?

Thanks

Im having issues with some +R disks

After a 2 hour tape with 5 min chapters is burnt onto a +R disk, the 1600 will not reconize it. It says: "Bad Disk". In the manual it states that there is a chapter limit, but does not say that it is. Does anyone know what the limit is? Or does anyone else have a solution?

Thanks


What Brand of disks are you using??, there are a lot of brands that are not recommended because they are cheaply produced and therefore are not worth
jack squat....

Does anyone have an MU unit that does not have the audio warble problem?

Paul

Is there such a thing as bad batchs of dvd+r's? It seems unlikely to me but I'm wondering if anyone knows..???.. The reason I ask this is I used two 10 packs of dvd+r's(sony) without incident. So I decided to buy a 25 pack (no jewel cases just the stack) of sony dvd+r's. They looked idetical to the sony 10 packs I purchased minus the jewel case. Well after UN-SUCCESSFULLY trying to finalize 4 friggin different discs I decided to look at the discs (ones out of 10 pack vs. the 25 pack) side by side. The discs looked identical with 2 exceptions. The 10 pack discs were whiter in color. The 25 stack has a logo that reads "accuCORE" on them. I was trying to make a fair use copy of a movie I own and figured my sima had its first loss. I was wrong. The strange thing was the tv screen had the record icon and the 1600's display said "record" in red the entire time. When I stopped recording it said "blank disk" every time, 4 friggin times. I threw in a TDK disc and had 0 problems making a copy. Either I have a bad batch of dvd+r's or the cyberhome 1600 doesn't like the Sony dvd+r accuCORE. I believe its the latter. STAY AWAY FROM THESES DISKS. I spent an entire afternoon finding this out. (and some loot) The reason I kept trying was the fact that the 10 packs worked fine, and I thought the discs were the same. Apparently they're not. OHHHHH I can't wait to introduce my sony accuCORE discs to my favorite 000 buckshot.

Does anyone have an MU unit that does not have the audio warble problem?
Haven't noticed any "audio warble" problem on mine. I did have trouble importing VOBs into my PC from a DVD+RW made on my MU unit once, but a different recording worked fine.

Haven't noticed any "audio warble" problem on mine. I did have trouble importing VOBs into my PC from a DVD+RW made on my MU unit once, but a different recording worked fine.


if you don't then you should consider yourself lucky my friend...

Hi, I bought the DVR 1600 ZU at BestBuy and returned to Argentina, where I live, and when trying to record cable TV (PAL N Signal) I figured out that it records in B&W and with audio issues, as it would be a NTSC signal... so it doesn't record PAL as stated in Cyberhome website.

I wonder if someone knows of a way of fixing it.. or if a firmware upgrade would help, or if it is a hardware limitation.

I'll appreciate your help.
Thanks a lot,
Pablo

Picked up this machine at Best Buy purely because of its stated PAL recording ability. After hooking it up to my multi-standard VCR and recording from a PAL signal I can confirm that this machine does NOT record in PAL. It records the PAL signal with its NTSC tuner which obviously is never going to work properly. I'm a bit peeved as Cyberhome are obviously stating something which is not true. I worte to them to express my displeasure and they worte back to say that this machine only records in NTSC. So why say it will handle PAL recording on their website when quite obviously it doesn't!? Oh well I might try the recent firmware upgrade to see if it makes any difference.

As for NTSC recording (from VHS tapes) the quality was surprisingly good. The pause button works well to carry out some basic editing whilst recording (such as cutting out commercials etc) and gives a very nice clean edit.

Not a bad machine for the price but a shame it doesn't record PAL as advertised.

Dave

Is there such a thing as bad batchs of dvd+r's? .
Very definitely. I had the same experience with Philips DVD+R 2.4 speed. I bought a 100 stack that worked fine so I bought another. The first few disk worked as before then I started having trouble. I returned them and got another 100 with the same bad results. I switched to the 4X Philips and things were back to normal again. Yes there are bad batches out there. Also the disks in jewel boxes aren't always the same as the ones in stacks. Memorex jewel cased +R are usually Richoh brand disks. The stacks are usually CMC. I've had better luck with Richoh but not all CMC's are bad. They are just variable. The 100 stack of Philips that worked as well as the ones that didn't were all CMC.

My 1600 has few of problems. Lockups on recording. Recorded/finalized disk appears blank. Finalization sometimes fails.

The lockups happen sometimes when recording. I (have only ever used philips dvd+r discs. The lockup happened on 3 successive attempts to record an old VHS taped football game. When the lockup occurs, the tv screen has garbage on it with a bit of a checkerboard pattern. The unit is locked up. Neither remote commands or controls on the unit work. It must be unplugged. Afterwards, when the same disk is loaded, a message box comes up indicating it is going to "recover the title". After acknowledging this message, it indicates success, but the disc appears to be empty (i.e. only the empty title).


With the problem of the "succesfull recording and finalizing" apparently producing a blank disc, the disk physically looks like it has been burned because the color is lighter exccept for the inner and outer rings. I don't think the two disks that this happened to were cases where the finalization reported an error, but I'm not 100%.


I have scanned through the forum for answers.

Has anyone else had any of these problems?
Have workarounds?

Thanks,
Michael

Hi, I bought the DVR 1600 ZU at BestBuy and returned to Argentina, where I live, and when trying to record cable TV (PAL N Signal) I figured out that it records in B&W and with audio issues, as it would be a NTSC signal... so it doesn't record PAL as stated in Cyberhome website.
Pablo, I'm afraid not. There are different kinds of PAL signals--Argentina uses PAL-N. There's also PAL-M and standard PAL as used in Europe. See this. (http://www.videointerchange.com/pal_secam_conversions.htm#PAL) I believe the Cyberhome only supports standard PAL. That's why you're getting a black-&-white picture. Possibly some device exists that can convert PAL-N to PAL-standard.

My 1600 has few of problems. Lockups on recording. Recorded/finalized disk appears blank. Finalization sometimes fails.

The lockups happen sometimes when recording. I (have only ever used philips dvd+r discs. The lockup happened on 3 successive attempts to record an old VHS taped football game. When the lockup occurs, the tv screen has garbage on it with a bit of a checkerboard pattern. The unit is locked up. Neither remote commands or controls on the unit work. It must be unplugged. Afterwards, when the same disk is loaded, a message box comes up indicating it is going to "recover the title". After acknowledging this message, it indicates success, but the disc appears to be empty (i.e. only the empty title).


With the problem of the "succesfull recording and finalizing" apparently producing a blank disc, the disk physically looks like it has been burned because the color is lighter exccept for the inner and outer rings. I don't think the two disks that this happened to were cases where the finalization reported an error, but I'm not 100%.


I have scanned through the forum for answers.

Has anyone else had any of these problems?
Have workarounds?

Thanks,
Michael

Do you have an MU or a ZU???? Has your return period expired?

I do not use Philips discs, i prefer verbatim...are the discs +R's or -R's??? I suggest using RW's because if it has problems you do not waste a disc, you can erase and try again...and last have you tried the firmware update??

Lot of questions and i am sure we can all put our heads together and come up with a solution....

Very definitely. I had the same experience with Philips DVD+R 2.4 speed. I bought a 100 stack that worked fine so I bought another. The first few disk worked as before then I started having trouble. I returned them and got another 100 with the same bad results. I switched to the 4X Philips and things were back to normal again. Yes there are bad batches out there. Also the disks in jewel boxes aren't always the same as the ones in stacks. Memorex jewel cased +R are usually Richoh brand disks. The stacks are usually CMC. I've had better luck with Richoh but not all CMC's are bad. They are just variable. The 100 stack of Philips that worked as well as the ones that didn't were all CMC.

Thanks for the info. Stephenisaacs. You saved me 20 bucks. I was going to use the bad batch of sony dvd+r's for target practice, literally. Armed with your information I called Comp USA and told them what I had experienced. Told them 4 disks in a row recorded but wouldn't finalized and came up "blank disk" yet they were useless, the recorder wouldn't even recognize them. The manager was cool and told me he'd refund me. I thought that was good business and all I really wanted was to exchange them , which is what I ended up doing. I guess its pretty obvious I was telling the truth especially since I just wanted more discs. It would make zero sense for me to return 25 discs just to take another 25 pack. Another thing is I'm in the market for a new television. I'm not sure which one but I am planning on spending a few grand. Funny thing is just cause that manager was so cool over just some discs I'll probably drop a few grand in his store becuase of the way he handled the situation. Don't get me wrong I'm not a fool so my money and I aren't parted easily, but if the tv I want is in Comp USA and the price is the same as everywhere else they'll definitely get my business. I am not a big "karma" type person but this is just one of those situations where it seems to be valid. Plus I like a manager that stands by his store and their products. If I do get a high end tv at Comp USA I know I'll have a reliable guy should any problems arise. Anyways thyanks again Stephenisaacs.

I had this since it first came out. Overall I am happy but still get the DVD coaster once in a while. Here are my burning tips. I have the ZU model.

1. Use the recommended dvds that Cyberhome claims work the best. Be aware that nothings 100%.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5804372#post5804372


2. Have a back up plan. If you are transfering vhs tapes and get a bad disc you can always try again. But if you are recording a TV show and get a bad disc you lose your show. If its the finale of your favorite TV show you will be pretty upset.
I have directv and I obtained a DVR (Tivo, $4.99 a month) as my back up. I like to record TV series like Sopranos, The Shield, 6 Feet Under, The Wire, etc. to DVD so I dont have to buy the $90 DVD set. Using the DVR is my insurance plan in case I get a Bad Disc error. Also the DVR allows me to record alot more shows and 2 shows at the same time. That cant be accomplished by the Cyberhome by it self.

3. Burning. Most of my burns are good. I use HP DVD+RW. While recording I can tell when the player is having problems. I can hear the player making higher pitched recording noises and it sounds like it is struggling. I know that the disc will not finalize. Then the recorder hangs up. I unplug it for a few minutes and try again. This seems to clear up whatever problem the player had. When it comes back again in a few days or few weeks just unplug it again.

I have burned about 120 dvds and have easily got my $99 from this player.

If anybody else has any burning tips I would love to hear them.

I had this since it first came out. Overall I am happy but still get the DVD coaster once in a while. Here are my burning tips. I have the ZU model.

1. Use the recommended dvds that Cyberhome claims work the best. Be aware that nothings 100%.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5804372#post5804372


2. Have a back up plan. If you are transfering vhs tapes and get a bad disc you can always try again. But if you are recording a TV show and get a bad disc you lose your show. If its the finale of your favorite TV show you will be pretty upset.
I have directv and I obtained a DVR (Tivo, $4.99 a month) as my back up. I like to record TV series like Sopranos, The Shield, 6 Feet Under, The Wire, etc. to DVD so I dont have to buy the $90 DVD set. Using the DVR is my insurance plan in case I get a Bad Disc error. Also the DVR allows me to record alot more shows and 2 shows at the same time. That cant be accomplished by the Cyberhome by it self.

3. Burning. Most of my burns are good. I use HP DVD+RW. While recording I can tell when the player is having problems. I can hear the player making higher pitched recording noises and it sounds like it is struggling. I know that the disc will not finalize. Then the recorder hangs up. I unplug it for a few minutes and try again. This seems to clear up whatever problem the player had. When it comes back again in a few days or few weeks just unplug it again.

I have burned about 120 dvds and have easily got my $99 from this player.

If anybody else has any burning tips I would love to hear them.

I have exactly the same setup as you sludge, and for a while i was really working my recorder (like 5 days straight) and i started getting bad disc errors on my +RW's, i started to get a little PO'd and decided to walk away and calm down, so i turned off the recorder and came back the next day, and every disc that gave the error worked like a charm so now i don't run it so much, maybe like every 3 daysi record what has built up on my TIVO...then go a few days then do it again...

I haven't seen anyone else having troubles with scheduled recordings besides myself so I figured it had to be me not the machine. Well I think I found it and I feel pretty stupid not to have figured it out before this. I have the machine set for a 24 hour clock and mistakenly entered start times in 12:00 format. So instead of a 22:00 start I was setting it for 10:00. I never realized there was no place to enter the AM or PM!! That explains why a 10:00PM recording failed but a 3:00AM recording worked! Duh!! I hope I haven't lost my credibility. Well I thought I'd report this in case there were others less vocal having the same trouble.

I bet that others have done it also. LOL.

Just a little info. for my fellow 1600 users. BB has 25 stacks of Fuji +R disks for 9.99. I always thought Fuji was a high end brand. Am I wrong? I have a Fuji digital camera and it kicks asssss. Anyways as we all know the 1600 is kind of "bi-polar" when it comes to recording to various brands. I was tempted to buy 3 or 4 stacks of the Fuji's given the cheap price. However as I've stated above we don't always know if our 1600's have taken there meds or not and can be un-predictable with what it likes to record to. Well good news I recorded onto 6 different disks from every type of input and various speeds and they all worked. I even let a disk run out of time and stop itself and it FINALIZED. I was pretty impressed. I went back to BB and bought 3 more packs. No problems with any of the stacks. The only thing is the disks are limited to 8x write speed. If your fine with that and need disks I'd definitely hed over to BB. Oh Stephenisaacs thats messed up. Why they even have millitary time on there is friggin useless IMO.

Here's my situation: I play in a band, traveling constantly around Nevada. I live mostly in hotel rooms. I carry a combo VCR/DVD player. I use the DVD player mostly for CD's (allows me to not carry a CD player). The VCR is used to keep up with my favorite TV shows. Although I might master some videotapes to DVD's, my main need is a unit to make temporary recordings from TV ( on DVD RW's), as well as play CD's. I saw this unit at Target in Carson City for $109.00. It would save me some packing space (always at a premium). Based on these needs, do those of you who own this unit recommend it? I have the model 300 DVD player at home & it works great.

Hi,

Does any one know how do i change the region code of my Cyber Home DVR 1600 from region 1 to region 4? Or even make it region free to play dvd's?

Thanks !!!

Just joined and enjoyed the reading on this thread.

I've spent the better part of the last 2 weeks with my unit.

It's a May '05 MU.

Actually, I'm on my 2nd unit, and with the replacement, I have not yet upgraded the firmware, though I did pretty quickly on the first.

The wavering audio problem is killing me.

If you want to see it raise its ugly head, simply record some acoustic guitar passage (think MTV unplugged). Acoustic guitar knocks this unit on its tail.

Here's my experience with the MUs:

- first unit had all kinds of trouble with JVC media. firmware update fixed the initial problems but still had an unacceptable failure rate.

- Sony discs: 100% success. STILL haven't made a coaster with -R or +R. My unit loves 'em.

- The firmware update also adds the text for the recording duration on the setup screen: eg; SP (2 hours) whereas the original f/w just shows "SP".

- camcorder DV compatibility is great. Pictures are well worth the $88 I payed.

- music programs waver through either the composite or the RF inputs.

The audio is to the point of being useless for archiving anything musical. I've got some MTV unplugged tapes that are useless on DVD through this machine.

Again, I have not updated the firmware on the MU I now have (exchanged the old one for another). So the wavering audio is inherent to the MU pre-firmware update.

I've got a note into customer support, but I'm wondering whether a firmware update can solve this, or if its more complicated like a clocking issue or an encoding issue with hardware.

grrrrr.

Wavering audio may very well be this machines achilles heel. But I'll still keep it for making camcorder tapes into very good dvds.

The audio is only a problem on the MU models according to everything I've read. (this whole thread) Get a ZU unit and your audio will be great. From what I've heard the MU has better editing over the ZU. I don't do any editing so I don't really care. For a $99 machine I don't expect much in the way of editing. However your sound shouldn't be distorted. I've made app. 50 recordings with the ZU and 0 audio problems. I don't think the firmware will help the audio on the MU because I believe thats hardware related, (just a guess.) Just swap the MU for a ZU (do the firmware helps a little) and your good to go. I've used Sony +R's, Maxell +R's, TDK +R's, and most recently Fuji +R's all with success. Oh I have 3 RCA -RW's that I've been using and re-using for scheduled recordings, without fail. Cyberhome says the 1600's a +R machine but I've found otherwise. Definitely happy with the 1600 ZU.

I'm afraid the Zs are all gone around these parts.

I sent a nice helpful email to support about the audio warble problem on the MU, but no response after a week.

So I returned the unit to Best Buy, got my $88 back. Then went over to Target (Circuit City also had the MU) and paid $109 for the ZU.

I have not updated the firmware on the ZU yet, but it looks like I'll have to. I'm having media problems already (but then again I've been heavily using a few DVD+RW discs with these machines.

My process on the MU was to feed the video/audio through an external canopus box to bypass the internal circuitry. This did ward off the evil warble, but was a real kludge. Then I fed the disc into the PC for editing by using programs like DVD decrypter (probably one of the few people who use it for a purely legit reason, to get big VOBs onto the PC for editing!). Editing was done with Video Redo; to get MPG files without the commericals, etc. Then burning to DVD using DVD Movie Factory.

First disc on the ZU is having sector issues, so we will see how this goes.
Fortunately Target has a 90 day return (though they randomly apply a 15% restocking fee to electronics). But defective units may not have a restock fee.

Think I'll do the firmware update and try again....

i bought the cyberhome 1600 because i wanted to record from my pal dv camera..so far i've found that the MU model works in recording PAL dv but there is the audio sync problem..I now have a ZU but this unit does not record PAL DV although it does the conversion of PAL to NTSC so you could record to a VCR..

I'm interested in trying out the new firmware for the ZU anyone have this ?

Mailed cyberhome a week ago with issues but as expected support sucks.

Any help on recording PAL dv appreciated.

I have been in the market for an inexpensive recorder for a spare room and have been buzzing around the Cyberhome, Slyvania territory, a place that I haven't chosen to go before in all of my other set ups. I have always been a believer that you pay for what you get and although this machine would not be a heavily used main piece of equipment for me, I just can't pull the trigger on this item. Primarily because of 424 posts and counting with the common theme that everyone is collectively holding their breath that something is going to go wrong or has gone wrong. Most of the other posts deal with what this will play and what it won't. For those of you using this as their main DVD/recorder and it financial was the best you can do, I can understand where you may be coming from. For the rest, I can't believe that for a few more dollars you just wouldn't buy a Panasonic or Pioneer. This Cyberhome to me represents the cheapest of the cheap, it is only a matter of time that this thing acts up. For those of you like myself that would only consider this as a frill in a seldom used room, I really wonder if letting our cheapness get the better of us is worth it.

soldonandy, I agree with your thinking & I have been telling friends to stay away from these DVD Recorders & do 1 of these 3 things instead:
1. Save up more money
2. Look for deals on last years models (BrandsMart USA: Pioneer 220 for $148.88)
3. Look for deals on "Used" or "Refurbished" models

Quick follow-up, I just pulled the trigger on the Pioneer 233 from Tweeter for $180 total. The Cyberhome was $106 at Best Buy. I either pissed away $74 on a machine that will perform comparably to the Cyberhome or saved myself alot of aggravation. I am choosing to believe the latter. The features are more or less similar on the two machines but the Pioneer's build is in a different category, it is almost double the weight. I bet that performance wise I am not going to be sweating out whether or not this thing is going to freeze up, reject discs, audio drop outs, etc. I am figuring that it will do what I want it to do, record an occasional tv program and last a while. If everything goes as planned, I have spent $74 more but saved many an hour messing around trying to get an inexpensive machine to work as advertised. Since my time is worth money, I figure I'll be ahead soon.

I have been in the market for an inexpensive recorder for a spare room and have been buzzing around the Cyberhome, Slyvania territory, a place that I haven't chosen to go before in all of my other set ups. I have always been a believer that you pay for what you get and although this machine would not be a heavily used main piece of equipment for me, I just can't pull the trigger on this item. Primarily because of 424 posts and counting with the common theme that everyone is collectively holding their breath that something is going to go wrong or has gone wrong. Most of the other posts deal with what this will play and what it won't. For those of you using this as their main DVD/recorder and it financial was the best you can do, I can understand where you may be coming from. For the rest, I can't believe that for a few more dollars you just wouldn't buy a Panasonic or Pioneer. This Cyberhome to me represents the cheapest of the cheap, it is only a matter of time that this thing acts up. For those of you like myself that would only consider this as a frill in a seldom used room, I really wonder if letting our cheapness get the better of us is worth it.

I agree with you about you get what you pay for the majority of the time. However I paid 100 bucks for a low end dvd recorder and have been pleasantly suprised. I've worked my 1600 out almost daily now for several weeks and am running at about a 98% success rate. Will the 1600 burn out and stop working a month from now? Only time will tell. Its paid for itself already as far as I'm concerned. I could spend a night downtown have a nice dinner, do a little bar hopping and easily spend 100+ bucks. A day at the gun range with a full auto, 100 bucks is gone easy. These two examples have one thing in common, when there both over there isn't much (or anything at all) to show except a lighter pocket. Its all relative. If my financial situation were different (believe me my banking account has spent time in the red before) than I would definitely save up and purchase a more "reliable" machine. If my 1600 craps out tomorrow, or any time soon then I'll spend some more coin on a higher end unit that has received good reviews here, as well as other sites. I think its natural for some people to hold their breath and expect something to go wrong with a machine that cost so little. I think if there were only ZU units there would be far fewer complaints. I only remember one guy posting their MU didn't have the "warble" audio problem.

Well, I gave up on my ZU after updating the firmware. Too many DVD+RW burns were "coasters". In other words, my pc didn't recognize the discs. Importantly, could not do a transfer via DVD Decryptor.

With the MU, the discs finalized just fine most of the time. Didn't happen at all withi the ZU. The ZU seemed to have a pretty good picture and probably didn't have the audio warble; but if you have to play the discs only on the Cyberhome machine and nowhere else; what good is it?

I am waiting for somebody to start a thread on sub $200 DVD recorders; which are good? In particlular I'd like to know about the LiteOn unit ($150 currently at Circuit City; DVD+r/rw and has DV input) and the MagnavoX 660 (new at Best Buy; price ranges from $149 to $159 depending on the phase of the moon). The 660 has components in (but only 480i), mini DV inputs, DVD+r/rw (my preference), and claims 24bit/96khz DAC (though not clear if this is for playback or record).

With my Zu (April, '05 and no fw updates) I have not had any problems with -RWs and -Rs. I don't use +Rs at all with any of my burners (2 on the PC and the 1600) because they aren't compatable with as many players as -Rs. (or so I've repeatedly read)

All of my burns have been compatable with DVDdecrypter and DVDshrink so I've very happy with my Zu. (so far - ;) )

The 660 has components in (but only 480i), mini DV inputs, DVD+r/rw (my preference), and claims 24bit/96khz DAC (though not clear if this is for playback or record).

The 24bit/96kHz spec is for audio not video. Video is in the MHz range (e.g., 54-108).

I did get one usable dub with the ZU before I gave up and returned it to Target. The sound was indeed good, crisp AC3. And it was in sync. The picture looked fine. I was just worried about reliability. This one dub could be read with decrypter (shrink not needed as I used IFO mode).

I know that the spec of 24bit96khz is audio. The question was whether this was audio encode or decode.

Video specsmanship usually talks about 10 bits vs. 12 bit, etc.

With my Zu (April, '05 and no fw updates) I have not had any problems with -RWs and -Rs. I don't use +Rs at all with any of my burners (2 on the PC and the 1600) because they aren't compatable with as many players as -Rs. (or so I've repeatedly read)

All of my burns have been compatable with DVDdecrypter and DVDshrink so I've very happy with my Zu. (so far - ;) )

if they were not compatible, then why would they make +R/RW's

I use +R/RW on everything i record and they have played on every DVD Player i have (PC & TV) as well as friends players....the only time i have had any problem is discs from my ZU freeze up on my Panasonic unit....dont knowq if a -RW would correct this problem, but when i tried -R's i rcvd errordisc EVERY time

if they were not compatible, then why would they make +R/RW's

I use +R/RW on everything i record and they have played on every DVD Player i have (PC & TV) as well as friends players....the only time i have had any problem is discs from my ZU freeze up on my Panasonic unit....dont knowq if a -RW would correct this problem, but when i tried -R's i rcvd errordisc EVERY time

I did not say they were not compatible. I said "they aren't compatable with as many players as -Rs". Go to Videohelp.com. That is where I read about this. More players play -Rs than +Rs. You have had no problems. That is good. I just made my decision based on what stats I read. It's worked out for both of us. That's a good thing.
I see no problem. Try all possible solutions if you do have a problem.

Continued good luck. :)

BTW - At a couple of stores where I get -R blanks I have been told that -Rs always sell out faster than +Rs. Most people I speak to about the -R vrs +R thing have heard about -Rs being more compatible than +Rs. YMMV.

BTW - At a couple of stores where I get -R blanks I have been told that -Rs always sell out faster than +Rs. Most people I speak to about the -R vrs +R thing have heard about -Rs being more compatible than +Rs. YMMV.

That's because in the US, - format recorders outsell + format ones. They've been in the business longer too.

In Europe, where Netherlands-based Philips is considered a major name brand the way Americans would think of Panasonic, + format recorders are more popular than they are here.

As far as compatibility is concerned, I think those studies are rather outdated, and come from a time when DVD recording was in its infancy. Many if not most DVD recorders made within the last couple of years are specifically designed for home-burned DVD's, and many will even play VR mode discs. I would say with a modern DVD player, it's pretty much a moot point.

You're probably right Ron. Here is a link to one study: http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Articles/Specific.asp?ArticleHeadline=DVD%20Media%20Format%20Compatib ility%20Tests&Series=0

Today's players probably are better at playing both types. However, my "old" Panny RP-62 only does -Rs and -RWs: its PQ is superior to any other newer machine I've tried. (Of Course, there are better machines, but it is excellent - I dread the day it stops working.)

And more to the point, I've had great success recording with -Rs and -RWs with the 1600ZU. I've never tried a +R (nor do I want -need- to at the moment.)

Do what works for you. Keep options open. :)

I agree with you about you get what you pay for the majority of the time. However I paid 100 bucks for a low end dvd recorder and have been pleasantly suprised. I've worked my 1600 out almost daily now for several weeks and am running at about a 98% success rate. Will the 1600 burn out and stop working a month from now? Only time will tell. Its paid for itself already as far as I'm concerned. I could spend a night downtown have a nice dinner, do a little bar hopping and easily spend 100+ bucks. A day at the gun range with a full auto, 100 bucks is gone easy. These two examples have one thing in common, when there both over there isn't much (or anything at all) to show except a lighter pocket. Its all relative. If my financial situation were different (believe me my banking account has spent time in the red before) than I would definitely save up and purchase a more "reliable" machine. If my 1600 craps out tomorrow, or any time soon then I'll spend some more coin on a higher end unit that has received good reviews here, as well as other sites. I think its natural for some people to hold their breath and expect something to go wrong with a machine that cost so little. I think if there were only ZU units there would be far fewer complaints. I only remember one guy posting their MU didn't have the "warble" audio problem.
I can't resist to rebut your point, you are saying that basically everything is disposable, spending $100 comes and goes on a lot of things, why spend more than you have to on an item like this, if it works for a while you feel that you got your money's worth. I think that is what you are saying.

My point is that spending the extra $100 for a little better item is that much more criticall especially like you said, "you can drop $100 at the firing range, weekend evening, etc." My recommendation is sit home for a weekend and invest the extra money in a little better quality recorder, it may not be disposable in a year or so and has more of an upside in the reliability department. I know it is hard to resist something like the Cyberhome for $99 but for $150-$175, you can get a Pioneer or Panasonic and not worry about whether it it a Mu or Zu or whatever. You'll also get the benefit of having a mechanical item with a little more integrity and judging by the frequency that some of you are using your recorders, the better made recorder is going save you alot of aggravation. I realize that all of these recorders are basically mass marketed in third world countries, which makes the proposition of buying a sensitive piece of equipment like a DVD recorder for $99 even scarier.

I wouldn't mind spending $300 on one if I could find one with the spec's this one has.

+/-RRW, DV-IN are what I'd like to see, though dv is not optional.

Off the shelf, not mail order. I'm in Dallas Texas.

anyone?

I wouldn't mind spending $300 on one if I could find one with the spec's this one has.

+/-RRW, DV-IN are what I'd like to see, though dv is not optional.

Off the shelf, not mail order. I'm in Dallas Texas.

anyone?

The newly-released Sony GX315 has these features, all for $300. Some stores are already selling them, and a couple members here already have one.

Warning: does not have a rear s-video input :mad:

I can't resist to rebut your point, you are saying that basically everything is disposable, spending $100 comes and goes on a lot of things, why spend more than you have to on an item like this, if it works for a while you feel that you got your money's worth. I think that is what you are saying.

My point is that spending the extra $100 for a little better item is that much more criticall especially like you said, "you can drop $100 at the firing range, weekend evening, etc." My recommendation is sit home for a weekend and invest the extra money in a little better quality recorder, it may not be disposable in a year or so and has more of an upside in the reliability department. I know it is hard to resist something like the Cyberhome for $99 but for $150-$175, you can get a Pioneer or Panasonic and not worry about whether it it a Mu or Zu or whatever. You'll also get the benefit of having a mechanical item with a little more integrity and judging by the frequency that some of you are using your recorders, the better made recorder is going save you alot of aggravation. I realize that all of these recorders are basically mass marketed in third world countries, which makes the proposition of buying a sensitive piece of equipment like a DVD recorder for $99 even scarier.
I don't mean to go quote crazy here but I'd like to respond to this specific post. As far as I'm concerned my machine has paid for itself. Its dubbing Oceans 12 as we speak. Would spending a little more money on a different unit be a safer bet, maybe. You never really know till you get home and actually start recording; and time goes by. Your point is not lost on me soldonandy, it just doesn't pertain to me. It is great advice for someone who's strapped for money. I don't want to sound like a snob here, I've worked my ass off since I was a kid and got lucky with the stock market a few times, so no silver spoons here, just a nice reuseable plastic one. I like to gamble ( a little) and thats what I did with the 1600 in essence. The gamble paid off (is paying) off. There I go with the jinx. My 1600 will catch on fire and burn my home down now. All bs aside how much more reliable would a $150 machine be? I really mean that as a question. As you pointed out soldonandy most of these recorders are all made in 3rd world countries, so why is spending $50, or $70 going to give you that much more of a reliable machine. You may be spending that extra money on a familar, reliable, brand. However low end is pretty much low end.

I've seen criticism of the supplied remote. I've got the model 300 player, and if the remote is similar, I understand. has anyone tried/had success with a universal remote with this unit?

Thanks RonDawg - I'm on the lookout!

I hear you AutoMP5 and don't get me wrong, if this thing does the job for $99 and lasts for a while then you are ahead of the game. And I agree, just because my Pioneer is double the weight doesn't necessarily make it any higher up on the food chain although if I had to bet on which one is going to crap out first, I wouldn't put my money on the Cyberhome. In fact, as stated, I didn't, I bet on spending a few more dollars and that is pretty much my point. I felt compelled to throw my 2 cents in after sifting through 400 and some odd posts about this quirky machine. I couldn't believe that after reading 100 posts people were still forking out their hard earned cash just to join the MU/ZU game. Sure, there are many of you out there who beat the system and have enjoyed a perfectly functioning Cyberhome DVD recorder. Moreover, if your expectations are that if you can use it hard for 6 months than you have got your money's worth, who can argue with you, that is the way you feel and I respect that. I have a little different expectation for the electronics I purchase I guess.

Well soldonandy, you beat me to it.
I have followed this thread since its inception and finally decided to chime in.
Although there has been a lot of selfless advice exchanged throughout, I wonder to what avail. I was a 1-day long owner of a 1600ZU intended to supplement my LiteOn 5005 which I got for a steal at $150 from Kmart back in March. I had no functionality/compatibility issues with a range of +/- R/RW discs on the 5005 but could not get over its inability to record a stereo signal from the cable tuner and its reception was noisy. I used my old Sony VCR as an external tuner through the 5005's RCA inputs for a while but that arrangement was cumbersome and wasn't keeping with my goal of moving beyond the VCR. Subsequently, the 1600ZU did tune a cleaner picture from the cable input but as we all know its still only mono. So I returned the 1600 and picked up the Panasonic ES10 and never looked back. (OK, I do still read this thread for the same reason we gawk at an automobile accident.) The only things the ES10 can't do is record +RW (not too crucial), play Divx (So?), or accept DV (I still have the 5005.) However, you do get the infallible RAM recording for time-shifting, an incomparable stereo tuner, and the peace of mind that it will do what you command. As a fellow "tech geek" I can appreciate all of the sleuthing being done to "unlock the hidden potential" of a sub-$100 unit but for eighty extra bucks I'm enjoying the summer and have no stacks of failed media. Furthermore, prices on the famous maker units are dropping like flies. BB is now selling a Sony +/- R/RW unit for half of what it was just 3 months ago. Good luck to all.

has been pretty much flawless, usually any errors are because I don't set something right in the schedule memory, other than that it has worked very well, have even gotten past the hiss issue. Maybe I am lucky or maybe I am more tech savvy, all I know is I have fooled around with this machine in every conceivable way I can think of. I have worked out every issue and this machine simply does the job well. This thing is worth every cent. If the darn manuel was a little clearer I could have saved half of the goof ups. other than that I am completely happy. Heck the only media I have found that it will not play was some memorex 4X disks that were 3 years old. Basically any dvd disk I feed it it recognizes it and burns to it. Pretty impressive. Will it last a year, two, three, have no idea but I hope it does.

mrchew, very well said and I obviously agree. Incidently, I was in Sears yesterday and found an "open box" Toshiba D-VR4 (combo recorder/vcr) for $150 so I bought it for another room. The prices are falling and with a little snooping around, most should be able to get something in the $150-$170 range that blows the doors off the Cyberhome. Again, congrats to those having luck with it, I am going to step aside now and let the Cyberhome owners rightfully converse about their joys/miseries as I sit back and watch the "automobile accident".

Mine went back to Fry's today.

It looks like the upcoming Sony 315 is the only comparable unit with the 1600 to me.

One user says the Sony is apparently slow to operate, but I may have to live with that. I need to record music and the 1600 M is incapable of this task.

DV is also a must.

Why isn't somebody making one machine with *all* the feature people want?

Good for you, jshaf.

Right soldonandy. My local BB had the same Toshiba at the same open-box price.

Hey kents, there is a LG unit with super-multi format (+/- R/RW and RAM), an incorporated HiFi VCR and DV input for $399 in my town.

Carry on.

I wouldn't mind spending $300 on one if I could find one with the spec's this one has.

+/-RRW, DV-IN are what I'd like to see, though dv is not optional.

Off the shelf, not mail order. I'm in Dallas Texas.

anyone?

Coming soon..........

http://www.liteonit.com/DC/english/lvw_1101/1101_records_tv.htm

No minus recording on that unit ...

mrchew, I am surprised that they knocked the Toshiba down at your BB so far, the open box I got was a return from a Sears employee who got a $28 discount originally and when they ran the tag through to stick it on the box for the open box, they must have worked off the discounted price because typically they only go down 10-15%. Especially because they had it still on the shelf at $299. I thought I was getting the deal of the century but apparently BB will just knock 50% off an open box too, again, hard to believe because I was in BB and they had these also for $299.

I went into Best Buy and got one of these Cyberhome DVR 1600s. It is an MU model from May of 2005. When I got home, I looked it up and found this board. I'm very confused after reading all your comments.

I have recorded some MTV Unplugged episodes on to it from TiVo, and the music sounds like a warped record album. Should I exchange it an look for a ZU? Or should I just look for a different brand and spend a little more money?

Thanks, guys!

I went into Best Buy and got one of these Cyberhome DVR 1600s. It is an MU model from May of 2005. When I got home, I looked it up and found this board. I'm very confused after reading all your comments.

I have recorded some MTV Unplugged episodes on to it from TiVo, and the music sounds like a warped record album. Should I exchange it an look for a ZU? Or should I just look for a different brand and spend a little more money?

Thanks, guys!
Really depends on your situation DaveWilson. The MU version is the one that everyone has had audio problems with. This is not a problem with the ZU units. I'll just tell you of my experience with the 1600 (ZU chipset.) I've pretty much used it everyday since I got it about 1 month ago. Its given me trouble one time and that was actually my fault. I think its a great machine for the money. I've made over 50 recordings with a 98% sucess rate. The large majority of my recordings are old vhs tapes to dvd and dvd to dvd (fair copy use). I've recorded off of the tuner as well and haven't had any problems. The main reason I bought a dvd recorder was to convert vhs tapes to dvd and make backup's of dvd's. I've run my unit hard (couple hours daily ) and its treated me right. Another cool feature is that Cyberhome says this is a +R/RW machine only. Well I've made plenty of -R as well as -RW copies. The majority of my copies are in the + format but I have used -R disks with no problem. Theres a user on this thread (I think his handle is cyrano) and all he's used is -R disks and I think he hasn't had any (or much) trouble. You may get a ZU machine that doesn't like recording anything at all no matter what format, as some users have reported. I guess thats why it only costs $99, the quality control is probably low, if existent at all. If you get a bad machine it should show signs before your return period. I'm very happy with my 1600ZU and glad I got it. It meets my needs. If you do get one do the firmware updates. I think there found on page 6 of this thread. Good luck with your choice.

I went into Best Buy and got one of these Cyberhome DVR 1600s. It is an MU model from May of 2005. When I got home, I looked it up and found this board. I'm very confused after reading all your comments.

I have recorded some MTV Unplugged episodes on to it from TiVo, and the music sounds like a warped record album. Should I exchange it an look for a ZU? Or should I just look for a different brand and spend a little more money?

You could get another one and be lucky as some here have been. Or you could get another one and find out it's even worse.

I don't know about you, but I'm not too keen on standing in the returns line at Best Buy, which tend to be rather long (at least in my area). I prefer to buy something once and be happy with it straight out of the box, and not have to return something several times and download various firmware upgrades and make sacrificial prayers to the gods and all that...

As someone said, there is probably little or no quality control with this model which keeps the price down, but also means varied quality from sample to sample (and in this case, WIDELY varied quality).

I was just in my local Best Buy last night and noticed they are blowing out their remaining Pioneer 225s for $149.99, $10 less than Amazon's price. While Amazon doesn't charge sales tax, you do get the satisfaction of instant ownership. I picked up an Open Box one for $134.99, and even with CA/LA County sales tax it's still about $15 cheaper than Amazon. Except for a slight nick on the cover for the front inputs, the machine is in like-new condition. It came with the remote (also like-new) and even the Fuji DVD-R and DVD-RW discs (both unopened). The manual is a bit thrashed from careless packing, but that's it. Assuming it gives me no problems over the next 30 days, the brand-new one that's coming to me from Amazon is going straight back.

You are right, soldonandy. The open-box VR4 was $239. I guess I jumped the gun.

I have the Cyberhome 1600MU -- some of the DVDs that I rent have a "Parental Control" screen that pops up before the DVD will play. I have gone into the Setup menu and turned the password feature off, changed the parental level to "Adult", etc -- and still some (not all) commercially recorded DVDs will demand the factory password (1369) before playing. Has anyone else had this problem?

at best buy yesterday. Had just returned a Toshiba D-R4 due to the fact it would not record about 75% of the programs on my Charter DVR box because of built in Content Copy Protection scheme. The 1600 does not seem to have this problem. Records and finalizes my Verbatim 8x DVD-R discs just fine so far, which then load without issues in both of my panasonic DVD players.

No issues with audio distortion so far with the MU version

However, the resulting discs do not seem to play well on PCs. Tried it in 4 different computers and in the best case it would play all the titles and chapters fine...but will NOT display the root menu. Worst case it would not play at all. Happens with PowerDVD and MediaPlayer. Seems to work fine in the Mac. Go figure :)

Has anyone been able to get the finalized dvds from their 1600 to play correctly on a windows PC?

I decided to watch Sin City tonight on my MU Version of this recorder. To my dismay, the recorder would not pass the DTS Signal of the disc to my receiver. Sure enough, when I tried a few other DTS Discs, they didn't work either.

Has anyone else tried DTS on their MU Version recorder? Seems odd that it wouldn't even pass the signal...

Atrac i'll test tonight, i dont know if the coaxial audio will pass DTS?, i use optical out from my philips, funny how the older 1500 model had optical out.
Also look in your audio settings and set it to RAW.

I decided to watch Sin City tonight on my MU Version of this recorder. To my dismay, the recorder would not pass the DTS Signal of the disc to my receiver. Sure enough, when I tried a few other DTS Discs, they didn't work either.

Has anyone else tried DTS on their MU Version recorder? Seems odd that it wouldn't even pass the signal...


I had the same problem with CyberHome DVD player--turns out DTS is OFF in sound menue by default. Like you, I thought there was something wrong. I went into set up, "audio" or "sound" , I don't remember now and turned DTS from "off" to "raw". Great sound.
I have Cyberhome DVD connected by digital coaxiial cable and my DVR by optical cable----to me there is no difference in sound but I do like the coaxial cable connection better. I also have $50 optical cable by Monster and $16 by RCA, can't tell the difference either, so I use RCA tosslink now because it looks cool.

Atrac i'll test tonight, i dont know if the coaxial audio will pass DTS?


Sure it will , just like optical cable. I had to watch "Rush Hour 2" on my tiny CyberHome 320 to hear DTS 6.1 and it was great. THerea re not many movies with DTS, unfortunatly. Also DTS6.1 on "RH2" is better than the DTS on "waterworld".

CyberHome is a great compact design, when works, my first CH-320 from May 2005 had numerous problems , after exchange, July2005 ch-320 has zero problems.
I wanted to buy CH1600 recorder as well but it does not take DVD-RAM, or -R, so I went with Samsung DVR-120.
I wish my AVR had less optical inputs and more Digital Coaxial.

THat little CH320 replaced Panasonic 5 disc changer in my set up. Panasonic was very slow, Cyber Home little dvd player is twice as fast.

Definitely a coaxial digital audio connection will pass a DTS signal, I just don't think it does in this case on the 1600 MU version of the player. I tried it with the Menu Setting for "RAW" and "Auto" and it didn't.

I saw on the dvdhelp.com website that someone with an ME version of this player also said it won't pass a DTS signal, so I think we MU owners might be SOL when it comes to DTS. :(

I verified NO DTS with the MU...ohh well, the other features outweigh that.
I tried all the audio setting to no avail, just goes silent when playing the DTS track.
I have other better players for that job anyway
I also would like to say i dont hear any audio warble when playing back recorded dvd's from my MU....i do not record from the tuner either, just straight s-vid and audio from my motorola dvr.

Thanks for confirming the DTS Info, Bud-man. I agree with you, no DTS is no reason to get upset when it has DIVX and other features that still make it desirable.

I'll just watch DTS movies on my other DVD player hooked up to the same TV Set. No biggie.

Yea atrac, i have a philips dvp642/apex ad1600 that plays dts, it does play divx but not qpel like the 1600 does, saves me a few minutes not having to re-encode with mpeg modifier.
It's kinda more of a novelty for me as i dont record much as of yet,but it's great to know you can.
Past few years ive been only buying players that will play dvd-mpegiso's which is nice to slap 6 avi's on a dvd, which the 1600 plays well, only thing i noticed over the ZU model is the preview window doesnt show the movie like the ZU did......even though the window is there.

Sure it will , just like optical cable. I had to watch "Rush Hour 2" on my tiny CyberHome 320 to hear DTS 6.1 and it was great. THerea re not many movies with DTS, unfortunatly. Also DTS6.1 on "RH2" is better than the DTS on "waterworld".

CyberHome is a great compact design, when works, my first CH-320 from May 2005 had numerous problems , after exchange, July2005 ch-320 has zero problems.
I wanted to buy CH1600 recorder as well but it does not take DVD-RAM, or -R, so I went with Samsung DVR-120.
I wish my AVR had less optical inputs and more Digital Coaxial.

THat little CH320 replaced Panasonic 5 disc changer in my set up. Panasonic was very slow, Cyber Home little dvd player is twice as fast.

Cyberhome says it is only a +R/RW machine but this is not the case. I have been using -R and -RW disks without any problem. Thanks to other posters sharing there info. the 1600 will record to -R/RW disks no problem. One user has strictly used -R disks w/o any problems for some time. (I know the above holds true for the ZU models I assume it is the same case with the MU but not sure)

I ran into a problem tonight that I think someone has mentioned in a previous post. I used an Imation DVD-RW disc with media code OPTODISCK001 in a DVR 1600MU. The recorder asked me if I wanted to format the disc, so I did. It then completed the format without any errors and decided to tell me that it was not on the compatible media list. Fine, ok. So I tried to record with that disc and it wouldn't allow it. OK, I'll take it out and use it in something else.

NOPE. The stupid recorder made the disc unusable. I tried to format it the disc in my Pioneer DVR-109 IDE drive and it says "error incompatible media" in Nero.

Being the adventurous type, I did the whole thing all over again with another OPTODISCK001 by Imation. Of course the same thing happened again.

So let's review. The 1600 MU will allow you to put in any DVD-RW disc, ask you if you want to format it, THEN decide if it's going to let you use it or not. If it decides not to, you are left with a worthless disc that cannot be used ever again.

Thanks for that one, Cyberhome. :(

I ran into a problem tonight that I think someone has mentioned in a previous post. I used an Imation DVD-RW disc with media code OPTODISCK001 in a DVR 1600MU. The recorder asked me if I wanted to format the disc, so I did. It then completed the format without any errors and decided to tell me that it was not on the compatible media list. Fine, ok. So I tried to record with that disc and it wouldn't allow it. OK, I'll take it out and use it in something else.

NOPE. The stupid recorder made the disc unusable. I tried to format it the disc in my Pioneer DVR-109 IDE drive and it says "error incompatible media" in Nero.

Being the adventurous type, I did the whole thing all over again with another OPTODISCK001 by Imation. Of course the same thing happened again.

So let's review. The 1600 MU will allow you to put in any DVD-RW disc, ask you if you want to format it, THEN decide if it's going to let you use it or not. If it decides not to, you are left with a worthless disc that cannot be used ever again.

Thanks for that one, Cyberhome. :(


that is weird that it will not allow the disc to be re-formatted and used in another capacity...back when i first got my 1600 i got my RW's at Walmart, had imations in one hand and Maxell in the other...went with the maxells and except for one small problem with bad disc errors i have been happy

I verified NO DTS with the MU...ohh well, the other features outweigh that.
I tried all the audio setting to no avail, just goes silent when playing the DTS track.
I have other better players for that job anyway
I also would like to say i dont hear any audio warble when playing back recorded dvd's from my MU....i do not record from the tuner either, just straight s-vid and audio from my motorola dvr.


Clarification. I used a digital coxial cable and connected it to a receiver that has a built in decoder for DTS. I set my MU unit to 'RAW' and it works. Even better - I set the MU unit to Auto - and it sends it in PCM when I play back MP3s and it sends out RAW when I play a DVD that has DTS. So - bottomline is MU unit does not have a built in DTS decoder, but if you use a external decoder (in receiver) it works fine using digital coaxial cable.

Clarification. I used a digital coxial cable and connected it to a receiver that has a built in decoder for DTS. I set my MU unit to 'RAW' and it works. Even better - I set the MU unit to Auto - and it sends it in PCM when I play back MP3s and it sends out RAW when I play a DVD that has DTS. So - bottomline is MU unit does not have a built in DTS decoder, but if you use a external decoder (in receiver) it works fine using digital coaxial cable.

That's strange, because I tried exactly what you did and it did not work with DTS. My receiver will decode DTS. Have you updated your firmware from the Cyberhome Website? I have and am wondering if something went fishy with that update.

Atrack - I confused between dolby digital 5.1 channel v/s DTS. My MU unit does NOT play DTS.

I recently purchased a cyberhome 1600 MU recorder and can empathise with many of you. Here's what I know from experience and speaking to a tech at cyberhome...
The MU is the latest chipset. The ZU is older...so get the MU if you have a choice.

I was having problems with the unit pausing on it's own and pixelating during playback with Memorex 8X disks. The tech said to use FugiFilm or Verbatim DVD disks...I bought Verbatim and they record great except for one thing. I get a continuous high pitched whine in the backround whis is maddening. I'm going to call them back today to see if they can fix it.

1600MU does not record or play -R or -RW disks.

My tuner is stereo.

I'll report back about the tone on my recordings. If anyone else has this tone on their recorded disks I'd like to hear from you.

Steve

I had the MU and returned it for a ZU.

My MU tuner was Mono. The tone was one of the deal killers for me. When I recorded concerts I noticed that the sound had wow and flutter. (I didn't notice the wow and flutter with speech) Especially with piano music. This happened everytime. The sound was in MPEG form not Dolby Digital.
My MU recorded on -R and -RW discs.

My ZU has Dolby Digital; the sound is very good. The tuner is still mono. It records on -R and RW discs. There is no tone with the tuner recordings.

I'm surprised to hear that the MU tuner is stereo for someone, but glad for your good fortune. However the tone (which I also had) was a no-go for me. The tone was only on recordings from the tuner. It didn't matter which discs I used. (I use TDK, Memorex, Maxell and Fujifilm)
My MU was a May '05 unit. My ZU is April '05.

EDIT: I no longer have the MU but I think I remember that I could hear the tone coming from the tuner itself. It is a subtle tone that not everyone will notice at first, but most will notice eventually.

Hello Cyberhome fans!

I had to register to even ask this, which I hate, but anyway. I've been following this thread for a few days now with much interest, so I have a few questions I'm hoping someone can help me out with.

The Target stores in our area (OKC) have few choices as far as DVD recorders go, but the Cyberhome caught my eye because it is SMALL, and because it can burn on DVD+RW. One store nearby has a June 2005 model clearanced for $98 and change, and another store further out has one at I suppose regular price. Regular price wasn't that bad, it's about the same price I paid for my Magnavox CD player there 19 years ago. Anyway, I think the clearanced one is an "MU" and the regular priced one is a "ZU". I checked the boxes to see.

I'm well aware of the superiority of Pioneer and Panasonic, but since I plan to work this unit like a dog, I want to save using the higher priced units for light use. What I plan to do is hopefully buy a hard-drive only unit whose main purpose is timeshifting (saving programs until later in the day or the weekend) but I would like to make the occasional burn. I have a JVC DVD player I'm very happy with that's my movie player.

Well, here's the deal. First of all, I'm a Mac user, have no other computer. Will I be able to download all these firmwares, much less burn them to CD to feed to the DVD recorder? Better yet, will I be able to use the unit straight out of the box?

Second of all, I am not a high-definition customer. I think that paying $1000 or more for something with a tiny screen that I don't have time to watch is...well, it's not for me. I have a regular, black JVC 20" TV that's four years old and has no S-VHS jack. It has video and audio jacks plus the coax. I have never had cable, digital or otherwise. Will I be able to use the 1600?

My only planned use for the unit is to archive my VHS collection to DVD. Will I then be able to get rid of the tapes and gain counter space, or will I end up having to keep the tapes because the DVDs I make with this unit will be unreliable? I hope that was clear. But I hate to defeat the purpose of burning them to disc by having to keep the VHS as masters!

Does the unit record in real time or is it faster? Does the speed rating of the media matter?

Finally, I'm not afraid of using "off-brand" equipment. My first VCR was an Emerson, was huge, and lasted me 8 years before the belt broke. I got just about the same service from the first of my two Panasonic/Technics VCRs. I'm a bargain hunter, but am no more fond of stress than the next guy or gal, but I'm not afraid of finicky behavior from electronic equipment as long as it's not overdone. Sounds like once you get past the media question, it's easy street anyway.

So, what are my chances of success with the Cyberhome model, regardless of M or Z, given what I have and what it's going to be used for?

I thank you in advance for your helpful replies!

Iris

Hello Cyberhome fans!

I had to register to even ask this, which I hate, but anyway. I've been following this thread for a few days now with much interest, so I have a few questions I'm hoping someone can help me out with.

The Target stores in our area (OKC) have few choices as far as DVD recorders go, but the Cyberhome caught my eye because it is SMALL, and because it can burn on DVD+RW. One store nearby has a June 2005 model clearanced for $98 and change, and another store further out has one at I suppose regular price. Regular price wasn't that bad, it's about the same price I paid for my Magnavox CD player there 19 years ago. Anyway, I think the clearanced one is an "MU" and the regular priced one is a "ZU". I checked the boxes to see.

I'm well aware of the superiority of Pioneer and Panasonic, but since I plan to work this unit like a dog, I want to save using the higher priced units for light use. What I plan to do is hopefully buy a hard-drive only unit whose main purpose is timeshifting (saving programs until later in the day or the weekend) but I would like to make the occasional burn. I have a JVC DVD player I'm very happy with that's my movie player.

Well, here's the deal. First of all, I'm a Mac user, have no other computer. Will I be able to download all these firmwares, much less burn them to CD to feed to the DVD recorder? Better yet, will I be able to use the unit straight out of the box?

Second of all, I am not a high-definition customer. I think that paying $1000 or more for something with a tiny screen that I don't have time to watch is...well, it's not for me. I have a regular, black JVC 20" TV that's four years old and has no S-VHS jack. It has video and audio jacks plus the coax. I have never had cable, digital or otherwise. Will I be able to use the 1600?

My only planned use for the unit is to archive my VHS collection to DVD. Will I then be able to get rid of the tapes and gain counter space, or will I end up having to keep the tapes because the DVDs I make with this unit will be unreliable? I hope that was clear. But I hate to defeat the purpose of burning them to disc by having to keep the VHS as masters!

Does the unit record in real time or is it faster? Does the speed rating of the media matter?

Finally, I'm not afraid of using "off-brand" equipment. My first VCR was an Emerson, was huge, and lasted me 8 years before the belt broke. I got just about the same service from the first of my two Panasonic/Technics VCRs. I'm a bargain hunter, but am no more fond of stress than the next guy or gal, but I'm not afraid of finicky behavior from electronic equipment as long as it's not overdone. Sounds like once you get past the media question, it's easy street anyway.

So, what are my chances of success with the Cyberhome model, regardless of M or Z, given what I have and what it's going to be used for?

I thank you in advance for your helpful replies!

Iris

Iris I was in the same boat as you a couple of months ago. I wanted a dvd recorder to record vhs to dvd (get rid of the clutter, plus the other many advantages dvd has over vhs) I also wanted to make some backup copies of some dvd's I have. I was so dvd recorder "ignorant" at the time I thought I could by a dvd recorder and simply hook it up to my vhs or dvd player and record away. Well then I learned about the world of copy protection, macrovision for the VHS tapes and CGMS (as well as others I think) for the dvds. Then I found out about the Sima CT-200 which is a device you hook up between your dvd player and your dvd recorder and it over rides copy protection. (strictly to be used with content you've already purchased) I've made over 50+ copies and they all look good. You can hook the cyberhome up to your tv with rca cables and the sima ct-200 has an rca video input/output as well so your good to go. If I were you I'd move fast. The Sima is on sale I just read on another thread for about 60 bucks after rebate. I paid $125.00 for mine so jump on that deal. I think its at Comp USA. Search through todays (yesterdays) dvd recorder threads and you'll find the details. If I were you I'd get the ZU unit. Its got dolby sound where as the MU is mono except one user recently reported his MU was dolby. Maybe they've upgraded, or this user got lucky. MU's have consistently had audio problems where as the ZU has not. Another thing you don't have to do the updates the machine will work fine out of the box. Yet another cool feature is that Cyberhome claims the 1600 is strictly a +R+RW machine. Myself and many others have all made plenty of -R-RW copies in addition to +R+RW. I've worked my 1600 out almost daily and it has been real good to me. Your needs sound like the 1600 would suit you just fine. Don't forget to by the Sima CT-200 if your dubbing manufactured vhs/dvd's that you own. With the current deal you can buy a dvd recorder that has copy protection over ride basically, for $160.00. (1600 plus sima ct-200) Be sure you get the Sima CT-200 not the Sima CT-2 have a need for it. Good luck and get that deal on the sima while you can. I paid 125.00 for mine and it drives me nuts with this new sale there having now. Oh the unit records in real time, but thats what you get for 99 bucks. Some of the 1600's are faulty if thats the case return it for another, most places give you 30 days. If somethings wrong you'll know before 30 days.

Thanks, autoMP5, your advice is most helpful! I'll go today and look either at Amazon or a local store for the Sima CT-200 and a "ZU" unit.

I don't ever plan to copy my Netflix or anything, I've just got about 20 years worth of Oprah and PBS documentaries and awards shows to put away! LOL! I always wait and buy used/rented movies for $7 at 7/11, so why copy when you can get the real deal, eh? Most people just watch 'em once and turn 'em back in, so they're in good shape.

I have a couple other questions for you if you don't mind. After I'm done using it, I plan to send it on to a friend of mine in the east who has Comcast. Do you think this unit will work well with a cable box? I keep seeing stuff about "IR Blasters" and the like...makes me real glad I don't have cable! LOL! I mean, really, it just complicates things too much! Am I right in thinking the vast majority of the users having problems involve trying to get it to work with their cable and satellite systems boxes? Should I just recommend to my friend that he either send his tapes to me or go another route?

Also, about how long a procedure is burning? Does it pay to just put one in at bedtime and hope you have a good copy by morning? Or is it faster to where you could do two or three in one evening?

Oh, and I have one more question. I have quite a few audio tapes I'd like to burn. Will the Cyberhome make CDs if I hook up my tape deck the same way I hook up the VCR?

I'm sorry to pelt you with all this, but I do appreciate your taking the time to respond to me so positively.

Thanks again,

Iris

MissIris:

Everything that AutoMP5 said is pretty much 100% correct..as for your second part, I have my 1600 hooked up to my TIVO DVR and have had no problems recording shows from that, so if your friend has a comcast DVR then he/she should have no problems with it...one thing i need to stress to a novice such as you is to be sure to get decent blank DVD's to record your shows...do not get discs based on price as i did when i began burning a few years ago..i got the cheapest priced ones at circuit city and after a few weeks they started giving errors and then stopped playing altogether. I use a brand called "Verbatim" which are some of the best around but there are others in a more modest price range that should suit your need, there was a list somewhere in this thread that had all the types of DVD Discs that the 1600 likes, cannot recall where it is tho...but rest assured that if you have any problems just post them here and we can all put our heads together and fix it for you...

Burning time depends on how long you want it to be, i record about 4 hours on each disc any longer and your clarity suffers, but my ZU has time settings for 1 hour all the way to 7 hours...so you can pop a tape in and press record and forget it

Cant answer the audio tape question, i have no idea....sorry

hello. my question is this. my machine works great. ever since i used a dvd player cleaner ( it's a disc that you insert into the machine and put 1 drop of cleaner fluid on each brush), it seems that the pictures on my recordings have become grainier or it looks like a pixellation. could this be from the cleaner? i know it says in the manual not to use lens cleaners but i read that after the fact. am i just going paranoid? what can i do? what makes it worse is that i bought this dvd player cleaner from the 99 cents store!!! geez, what a bonehead i am.

hello. my question is this. my machine works great. ever since i used a dvd player cleaner ( it's a disc that you insert into the machine and put 1 drop of cleaner fluid on each brush), it seems that the pictures on my recordings have become grainier or it looks like a pixellation. could this be from the cleaner? i know it says in the manual not to use lens cleaners but i read that after the fact. am i just going paranoid? what can i do? what makes it worse is that i bought this dvd player cleaner from the 99 cents store!!! geez, what a bonehead i am.

maybe something that coated the laser...maybe get a cotton swab and try to clean it or if it is still in the return period....take it back for an exchange :)

how do you clean it with a cotton swab? i don't want to risk damaging the lens. i can't return it; i bought it on ebay. on most things though, the quality seems to be good. maybe it's on certain things that i record.

bumgrapplerm maybe there's a reason someone sold it on e-bay? It only worked sporadically for them??? If your 100% that the lens cleaner damaged your machine then you know the answer. Wish I could help you more. Try rneuner64's suggestion. As far as gettting to the laser I'm guessing you remove all external screw's and the the "lid" comes off. I'm not sure if you have to remove more then the lid to get to the laser. Removing the lid can't be hard, if there's more to it and you feel like your getting in over your head maybe take it to a mom and pop shop, or Radioshack. I'm guessing you paid around $50 for it. You may end up paying more to get it fixed then you did when you purchased it. Worse case scenario buy a new one (ZU unit) for around a 100 bucks. I never knew you couldn't use a disk cleaner in this machine, that seems odd. Good luck.

MissIris:

Everything that AutoMP5 said is pretty much 100% correct..as for your second part, I have my 1600 hooked up to my TIVO DVR and have had no problems recording shows from that, so if your friend has a comcast DVR then he/she should have no problems with it...one thing i need to stress to a novice such as you is to be sure to get decent blank DVD's to record your shows...do not get discs based on price as i did when i began burning a few years ago..i got the cheapest priced ones at circuit city and after a few weeks they started giving errors and then stopped playing altogether. I use a brand called "Verbatim" which are some of the best around but there are others in a more modest price range that should suit your need, there was a list somewhere in this thread that had all the types of DVD Discs that the 1600 likes, cannot recall where it is tho...but rest assured that if you have any problems just post them here and we can all put our heads together and fix it for you...

Burning time depends on how long you want it to be, i record about 4 hours on each disc any longer and your clarity suffers, but my ZU has time settings for 1 hour all the way to 7 hours...so you can pop a tape in and press record and forget it

Cant answer the audio tape question, i have no idea....sorry

That's quite alright, thanks for your help. I used to use Verbatim CDs before they got hard-to-find. I use Maxell and Fuji now. I was told Imation is a good disk, too.

Now, is it true the Cyberhome is the same as WalMart's iLo machine? Both made by LiteOn? Therefore difference is primarily cosmetic?

Wow. 492 replies and 42,000 views re this Cyberhome recorder??!
Are they really selling that many of these things?

Amazing.

I picked up a Cyberhome DVR 1600 from Walmart for $69.99... was there a price drop? A few weeks ago it was selling for $149.99

I picked up a Cyberhome DVR 1600 from Walmart for $69.99... was there a price drop? A few weeks ago it was selling for $149.99
MU or ZU? Where? Which Walmart?

Indeed, I thougt Walmart only sold the IlO version of the recorder. For $69.99 it'd be a steal.

I went into Target today and they have the DVR 1600 on clearance for $93.

MU or ZU? Where? Which Walmart?Apparently, over the last day or so, the computer systems for Canadian Walmart stores had the Cyberhome 1600 mispriced at $69.99. Some stores sold them at this price, some sold them at $149.99, and some refused to sell them at all. (See RedFlagDeals.com for more details.)

In any event, it looks like the error has been corrected and it's unlikely that anyone can get them for $70 anymore.

BTW, it appears that Walmart Canada is selling the ZU models.

Tony

Apparently, over the last day or so, the computer systems for Canadian Walmart stores had the Cyberhome 1600 mispriced at $69.99. Some stores sold them at this price, some sold them at $149.99, and some refused to sell them at all. (See RedFlagDeals.com for more details.)

In any event, it looks like the error has been corrected and it's unlikely that anyone can get them for $70 anymore.

BTW, it appears that Walmart Canada is selling the ZU models.

Tony

Ahhhh....Canada! That' explains the higher MSRP and the fact that it's Cyberhome (and not iLO), eh?

MU or ZU? Where? Which Walmart?

It was the Walmart on Jean-Talon (Montreal)
Firmware ZU - May 2005

** btw-I checked today and they indeed they corrected the price, it's back at $149.99 again

Hi,

I was under the impression that you cannot easily copy a DVD, but
my 1600 copies them perfectly. I use a portable DVD player as the input, hooked to the front inputs of the 1600, and just press record. I have tried 2 different DVD's, and both copied fine. Mine is a MU, if that matters.

Any comments?

Sam

I ran into a problem tonight that I think someone has mentioned in a previous post. I used an Imation DVD-RW disc with media code OPTODISCK001 in a DVR 1600MU. The recorder asked me if I wanted to format the disc, so I did. It then completed the format without any errors and decided to tell me that it was not on the compatible media list. Fine, ok. So I tried to record with that disc and it wouldn't allow it. OK, I'll take it out and use it in something else.

NOPE. The stupid recorder made the disc unusable. I tried to format it the disc in my Pioneer DVR-109 IDE drive and it says "error incompatible media" in Nero.

Being the adventurous type, I did the whole thing all over again with another OPTODISCK001 by Imation. Of course the same thing happened again.

So let's review. The 1600 MU will allow you to put in any DVD-RW disc, ask you if you want to format it, THEN decide if it's going to let you use it or not. If it decides not to, you are left with a worthless disc that cannot be used ever again.

Thanks for that one, Cyberhome. :(
I had the same problem with Sony DVD+RW disk, kill four of them trying to
format the darn thing. It would always stop at 98% of completion and then
after about 5 mins or so, it would error out stating the disk was unreadable.
Place the error out disk in my PC, Nero cant read disk. I just created a set of
4 table coasters. As of today, I formated another Sony DVD+RW using Nero
InCD tool and DVR reads disk as Data Disk, shows root directory on screen
(TV) but still can not record to Sony DVD+RW.

Here's what will work on my 1600. DVD+R 100 spindle media from CompUSA
formats and recorder fine without any issues. I can use the same troublesome
Sony disk to record on my PC using Nero and it will play on the recorder without
any issues. It just wont play in my Sony DVD player which is supposedly +RW
compatible, go figure.

Im going to try Verbatim or Fuji DVD+RW to see if it helps. I'll follow up later as to
which model I have MU or ZU.

I had this problem this the unit before I updated the firmware. Not afterwards.

I had this problem this the unit before I updated the firmware. Not afterwards.
The firmware update helps with disc recognition among other things. If your using the tuner you'll notice it switchs channels quicker after the firmware update. Here's a list of what media has consistently worked in my ZU unit, Fuji +R (I've sucessfully used about 15) Maxell +R, I used a 25 pack without one problem, (funny thing is cyberhome recommends not using maxell, well they are batting a thousand) Sony +R over 20 good copies, I bought a six pack of RCA discs when I got my machine in June. They were 3 -R's and 3-RW's. I've been using one RCA -RW since then to record tv shows off of the tuner. This RCA -RW disc just keeps working and working. I've probably recorded and deleted 70 diferent shows on the one disc. I have noticed it looses a little capacity however. By the way the RCA 6 pack cost me $3.50 at a discount store thats local to my area, I didn't think they'd even work since cyberhome says the 1600 is a +R machine only. YEAH RIGHT. Now the same discount store I got the RCA 6 pack at had 50 stacks of JVC +R's for 14.99. I've only used about 10 of them and they worked except the 2 times I let the disc stop recording becuse it ran out of space. I left the house while recording and didn't get back in time. I'm guessing its standard that you can't let a disc record untill it stops itself? If its not standard to all dvd recorders it definitely holds true for the 1600. Its the only time I've ever had problems. I'm guessing the disks need some space to finalize.??. I don't know maybe just one of the 1600's quirks. Still I'm happy with this little bad boy. Its paid for itself 3 fold by now in my book.

Hi,

I was under the impression that you cannot easily copy a DVD, but
my 1600 copies them perfectly. I use a portable DVD player as the input, hooked to the front inputs of the 1600, and just press record. I have tried 2 different DVD's, and both copied fine. Mine is a MU, if that matters.

Any comments?

Sam

Sam, it depends if the DVD included copy protection (Macrovision).

Some DVDs are Macrovision-protected and some aren't! I was able to copy several DVDs without any issues and sometimes I cannot. I'm sure they need to pay some type of Macrovision royalties if the technology is used.

I have a MU model, just upgraded the FW tonight and no luck, it still cant format
Sony DVD+RW. At least now the disk are useable, whereas before the upgrade
the disk were unreadable in my PC. I also apply the hacking code to make the
player region free which works pretty well. Oh well, I guess I'll try different media
before giving up and returning the unit for a ZU model.

The firmware update helps with disc recognition among other things. If your using the tuner you'll notice it switchs channels quicker after the firmware update. Here's a list of what media has consistently worked in my ZU unit, Fuji +R (I've sucessfully used about 15) Maxell +R, I used a 25 pack without one problem, (funny thing is cyberhome recommends not using maxell, well they are batting a thousand) Sony +R over 20 good copies, I bought a six pack of RCA discs when I got my machine in June. They were 3 -R's and 3-RW's. I've been using one RCA -RW since then to record tv shows off of the tuner. This RCA -RW disc just keeps working and working. I've probably recorded and deleted 70 diferent shows on the one disc. I have noticed it looses a little capacity however. By the way the RCA 6 pack cost me $3.50 at a discount store thats local to my area, I didn't think they'd even work since cyberhome says the 1600 is a +R machine only. YEAH RIGHT. Now the same discount store I got the RCA 6 pack at had 50 stacks of JVC +R's for 14.99. I've only used about 10 of them and they worked except the 2 times I let the disc stop recording becuse it ran out of space. I left the house while recording and didn't get back in time. I'm guessing its standard that you can't let a disc record untill it stops itself? If its not standard to all dvd recorders it definitely holds true for the 1600. Its the only time I've ever had problems. I'm guessing the disks need some space to finalize.??. I don't know maybe just one of the 1600's quirks. Still I'm happy with this little bad boy. Its paid for itself 3 fold by now in my book.


Funny thing as I was applying the region free hacking code. I notice on the
bottom of the pop up menu, here's what was displayed.

UI C00043MCU
Servo DX041 DD 105N
ADSP V08.00.01.45. R0.2
Control C00000413
Version PVR (+-)

Could Version PVR(+-) mean it plays and record both types of disk?

Funny thing as I was applying the region free hacking code. I notice on the
bottom of the pop up menu, here's what was displayed.

UI C00043MCU
Servo DX041 DD 105N
ADSP V08.00.01.45. R0.2
Control C00000413
Version PVR (+-)

Could Version PVR(+-) mean it plays and record both types of disk?

Yes, both MU and ZU units will record to both +/- R/W discs. We discovered this useful tidbit early on. :)