.

Fantastic price. But what about , features, picture quality and reliability?

Playback picture quality is not as good as I expected at first. The video is very blury and is not very detailed. The color is a little washed out.

Is it just the playback quality of the DVR-1600 which is no good, or is the encoding quality lousy as well? In other words, how do the discs encoded and burned on the DVR-1600 look when played back on a decent DVD player?

I have $38. cyberhome 300 player. The picture quality I think is excellent, in fact , I remember one online revue of 50 players ( $30 - $150) listed it among the top 10.

Any response to my earlier questions?

Remember that old adage- you get what you paid for.

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

I'd be more interested in a response to my earlier questions.

I wonder if this is a good chip?

You might be able to shed some light on the answer if you'd care to respond to my earlier questions.

You know, I have recorded a few tings today off the Hidef Tivo I have in 4hour mode and it's pretty good! I used a DVD+RW and recorded the same part of Shrek 2 off HBO HD in all 5 different recording modes and the 4hour and better is pretty acceptable. recording on the 1 hour and 2 hour is about as good as SD quality off an SD channel. (regular HBO for instance)

I used the 10 percent off coupon at BB and got it for $88 (no tax in Oregon baby!)

For that kind of money, I have to say I am really impressed.

I played two DVD video movie discs (Garden State and Matchbox Men), and the picture quality is not as good as I thought. Maybe DVD recorders are known for slightly poorer picture quality than DVD players. I think this Cyberhome DVR 1600 is more suitable for recording than for playback. This is not the DVD recorder you want for your personal home theater entertainment.



Walter Chan
I see you've responded to your own assertion from the first post about not needing a player anymore.

Yes, there clearly is a reason to purchase a DVDp, not just a recorder. Nobody bothers putting as much into the recorders as they do the players. Only a couple have had anything even approaching decent playback ability, from what I've seen and read.

According to the owner's manual book, there are some unique features that the Cyberhome DVR 1600 has that is not found in a more expensive DVD recorder between the price range of $200 and $400:
...
2. DV input for digital camcorders (IEEE 1394)
3. Digital coaxial audio output
4. Six recording speed modes: HQ (1 HR), SP (2 HRs), LP (3 HRs), EP (4 HRs), EP+ (7 HRs), and SLP (8HRs)


I'm not sure about #2, but I thought others do.

I think a LOT have #3.

#4 is my main complaint. Other recorders, especially hard drive/DVD recorders, have way more modes than that -- i.e. they have more discrete choices, and being able to set the audio and video record quality separately. (And yes, mine was below $400).

I bought one of these recorders today (found an open box one at Best Buy and used the 30% off coupon to get it for $69.99 plus tax). Being the curious and experimental type, the *first* thing I did when I got home was to stick in a DVD-RW disc (even though this unit supports DVD+R/W). Walter Chan had posted a link to the Zoran Chipset for this unit and it says it supports both DVD-R/W and DVD+R/W. I figured I'd try see if it was "true" (and not disabled in software).

Sure enough, the DVD-RW was recognized. It let me format it (in Video only mode, NOT VR), and let me record. When I ejected it the machine asked me if I wanted to finalize it. That worked too.

So the box and unit state my recorder was Manufactured April 2005 with a Bios 05.56/090N. It is also a CH-DVR1600ZU. I noticed that Target also sells this player and it is Manufactured in May with a different Bios version listed (didn't take a note of it though). So I'm not sure if all DVR 1600 players are "Dual Format" or not. But I can attest that mine 100% is.

It's weird because there are apparently two versions of the Ilo DVR05 as well ( iLO DVDR05ZU and iLO DVDR05MU). And since we know it's the same player, I guess that makes sense.

What a deal! A Dual-Format Recorder for $99.99 (or $69.99 or less if you find an Open Box one at Best Buy with coupon).

Let's just see how long it lasts. ;)

altrac- good info- If indeed the cyberhome 1600 plays DVD-RW and DVD-R as well that is a very interesting find.

What I'm curious about is how good are the recordings in 1 and 2 hours record speeds.

Is the encoding as good as say on the Sony or Pioneer?

Nice to find a dirt cheap recorder but it has to record close to the $200 Pioneer and Panasonic,etc.

Hopefully someone posts a good test review.

And plays the dvd recording back on a good player when comparing to other recorders.

bjf

What I'm curious about is how good are the recordings in 1 and 2 hours record speeds.

Is the encoding as good as say on the Sony or Pioneer?

Nice to find a dirt cheap recorder but it has to record close to the $200 Pioneer and Panasonic,etc.

Hopefully someone posts a good test review.

And plays the dvd recording back on a good player when comparing to other recorders.

As waltchan has posted above, the playback of even pressed DVD's is pretty crummy, so I wouldn't have high hopes for the encoding portion as well. And if it looked bad on a 20 inch TV, you can imagine what the picture would look like when displayed on something much bigger :eek:

As someone else posted above, you get what you pay for. And with prices of "famous name" recorders such as Pioneer and Panasonic dropping all of the time, I see little purpose for this machine. I'd rather spend another $100 (often less) and get something whose quality I trust and I know isn't going to fall apart in 6 months.

altrac- good info- If indeed the cyberhome 1600 plays DVD-RW and DVD-R as well that is a very interesting find.

Playback of -RW(Video) and -R isn't all that special...most older players are capable of that. My old Philips 985, a plus format machine, can do that, or at least it used to before it started going on the fritz :mad:

Even -RW(VR) playback isn't all that spectacular anymore, since most newer players and recorders are capable of that too.

Recording onto -RW is of course a different story when we're talking about a primarily plus format machine. But by not including VR capability, they've eliminated -RW's biggest advantage over +RW (editing and playlists) while including only a minor advantage (SLIGHTLY more compatibility than +RW).

Good find atrac!!, thanks!!
Ive tested that it plays unauthored mpeg-iso dvd's which is a s/vcd burned as a iso, great feature i use and not alot of players do, if this could only play xvid or divx it would of been the bomb!!, but my philips dvp642 does all that.
In the "old" days hackers would make firmware to enhance the players ability and function,hence my old apex ad703, is there a setting to turn off or dim the green clock numbers?

I watched a movie on it in Progressive Scan mode last night and it looked as good as any other Progressive Scan DVD Player I've seen (not including upconverting ones, of course). Maybe "regular" mode isn't as good (I didn't test that since I haven't watched a movie like that in awhile so my opinion may not be warranted).

Recorded video from my Tivo using only RCA Video Input looked quite decent when played back on the Cyberhome. I need to do some more extensive testing on that though (since it's probably the most important factor). I need to pickup another S-Video Cable today as well.

I bought few days ago from BB for $99. This is my first DVD recorder so I don't have anything to compare to. Here is quick rundown so far:

I burned about 8 disks with mixed result. I used Maxwell (4x speed), Memorex(4x) and Phillips(8x) all +R. I also used Fuji RW.

- Out of 8 tries 1 failed initialize the disk for writing. This was on Phillips disk.
- On 2 writes on Maxwell everything seemed ok but would not play back on Samsung 850. I tried playing on DVD player with same result. Disk would play on 1600.
- 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.
- On Fuji RW disk, it played on my dvd player and my PC. I tried few times and each time it played fine.
- I Plugged in my camcorder to firewire and it recongized the device and recorded without problems.
- I also plugged in Comcast 6412 and it froze up. I tried different port with same result. No luck there.

For the price I paid for this recorder I think I'm going to keep it. I probably buy batch of RW disks and used that to record. My needs are simple and it seems to do what I bought the recorder for.

I purchased this yesterday and I see an icon on the screen that doesn't make sense to me. It is in the lower right corner ... looks like a blue speaker (side view) with a big red X through it. I presume that this means no sound ... but I do have sound.

Here's how I have it set up:

Video Input is from a D* receiver (S-video to S-video)
Audio input is RCA red/white input jacks

Video Output is out on the component (red, green, blue)
Audio output is on the coaxial audio

I have this run through a yamaha rx-1500, and then from the yamaha the video is then fed to a sony hs-51 projector.

Anyone else seeing this icon? I can't figure out how to get rid of it on the screen when I'm watching through this dvd recorder.

Thanks,
Friar

I currently have a Cyberhome DVR 1500 that locks up on me. Is anyone having this same kind of issue with the 1600?

I purchased this yesterday and I see an icon on the screen that doesn't make sense to me. It is in the lower right corner ... looks like a blue speaker (side view) with a big red X through it. I presume that this means no sound ... but I do have sound.


Maybe it just means that you aren't using analog outputs, which may be adjustable in the menu?

Anyone who owns this & one of the other higher end recorders (or at least have access to one), could you please give a comparison on the resulting PQ differences, if any?

my 1600 locked up after i switched from recording back to cable input, screen turned blue, had to unplug it and rebooted fine after that.
ztech which input you use with the 6412?, try firewire or s-vid?

I purchased this yesterday and I see an icon on the screen that doesn't make sense to me. It is in the lower right corner ... looks like a blue speaker (side view) with a big red X through it. I presume that this means no sound ... but I do have sound.


Thanks,
Friar

The icon means you have "mute" on. Push the mute button on the remote and the icon will go away. ;)

It probably mutes the analog output but not the digital output.

The reason why there are different bios versions of the Cyberhome is that probably different chipsets are used. Z is for the Zoran chip and I am not sure what the other chip they are using. There have been over 10 versions of the cs 300 non recording player.

I just bought it today at BB and hooked up the firewire to my motorola dvr 6412 and record!!, no more lengthy conversion to a .ts file using my htpc, imho best deal going!!Bud-man,
Please clarify. Are you saying that you have successfully recorded programs from your Motorola 6412 over FireWire to this Cyberhome DVD recorder? As far as I know, no other DVD recorder with FireWire can do this, as the FireWire port is always set up specifically for camcorder input.

If you have done this, please post detailed instructions.

... as the FireWire port is always set up specifically for camcorder input.

Some DVD recorders are able to input DV over firewire from PCs when edited video is "sent to tape". I'd like to hear whether or not this Cyberhome unit is able to do that. Anyone?

I picked one up at Target tonite.. Its manufactured in May 05, Model CH-DVR 1600ZU, Bios 05.66/097N. I'll let you guys know if -R works on this one or not.

I picked one up at Target tonite.. Its manufactured in May 05, Model CH-DVR 1600ZU, Bios 05.66/097N. I'll let you guys know if -R works on this one or not.

Yes, I'm *definitely* curious to know the results of this. It's still a ZU but has a newer bios AND loader (Bios Version/Loader Version).

Well loaded a DVD-R, it initialized it and I recorded about 10 minutes off my DVR. Worked like a champ, finalized it and I'm watching it on my computer now. I'm having one issue though. My tray seems to be sporatic when it goes in and out. Sometimes I'll eject and it will go right back in, kinda sounds like the motor is straining. Anyone else have this problem?

I got a firewire cable today, tried the input from the 6412, locked the player up, next tried s-vid cable worked fine but you do suffer some loss of quality.
I presume the amount of bandwith signal from firewire is too overwhelming and caused the freeze.
I have a HTPC with firewire from the STB and it recordes ok.
Maybe after some firmware or hacks this might be awesome lil player......time will tell.

.

Bud-man,

What channel did you have set on your 6412??? Was it an HD or SD channel? Digital or analog? It makes a difference as the firewire output puts out the raw native data so if the channel you were watching at the time was HD, then maybe that's why it wouldn't work and was overloaded. It may only work on SD material, so check that.

FWIW, I haven't seen a DVD recorder that records from an MPEG-2 firewire source yet, just a DV sourced firewire like a DV camcorder, as mentioned previously.

Please post your results.

I guess is this is $100 you'll wish you had put toward a better recorder.
Hope I'm wrong, but Cyberhome's track record is poor.

Well loaded a DVD-R, it initialized it and I recorded about 10 minutes off my DVR. Worked like a champ, finalized it and I'm watching it on my computer now. I'm having one issue though. My tray seems to be sporatic when it goes in and out. Sometimes I'll eject and it will go right back in, kinda sounds like the motor is straining. Anyone else have this problem?

Thanks for the info. I wonder what changes have been made with the newer firmware and more importantly, if us April 2005 owners will see an update on the Cyberhome website.

In terms of your tray, it sounds like it is defective. I would go and exchange it before they all sell out. :)

Seems to have worked itself out. Maybe it needed to grease itself. I'm going to hang on for it a little bit and give it a workout over the weekend. I guess we need someone to buy the "MU" units to see if those burn all formats also?

John,

You may be right but I have a few of the cheap Cyberhome players that will play anything I throw at it. Been going for over a year now. My goal was to dump some shows I have on my Dish DVR to DVD so the little one can watch them in the car. I had my eyes on the X-34 and some Panasonics. But for 97.00 I did what I needed to do and still have 300 to play with. I think I will get a better one in the next 6 months but the price was right now.

GHarp193, firewire input from any source using the 6412 is a no go, ive tried all channels including sd, also tried dvr recorded sd, i can record using the s-vid output.
That would of been the cat's arse if it worked!!

Noobie here

I have never owned a dvd recorder before and was waiting for a cheap one. I saw the great deal on this and bought one Monday night. I have directv and ran a S-video from the receiver to the recorder. Awesome picture. I already burned a 2 hour TV show to a DVD+RW. I did not finalize it. Placed it in my sony livingroom dvd player and played perfectly. I am very happy. No more VHS tapes for me. I Just copied a classic football game I had on VHS to DVD+R. I edited out the commercials and it came out great. I have not tried the fire-wire as I do not have a digital camcorder.

Overall very happy. No problems. Easy to read manual. If you have been waiting to get a recorder and want to invest very little $$ this is your answer.

Budman, I misunderstood. I thought you had 6412 firewire hooked to cyberhome firewire unit and actually had the thing record. My unit freezes also and actually have to unplug. Going through composite it records fine.

Update on DVR+R medium. I bought Staples 10pk Sony DVD+R on sale for $4.99 and tried on 1600. It seems to fare better than others I tried. It plays on my labtop dvd player but still having problems playing on my older Dell workstation.

I am interested in picking up one of these 1600s. I've seen them at BB and Target. Apparently (from reading these posts) they might be different versions (MU & ZU).

I returned a Liteon 5005 to Costco after finding out that its tuner was Mono. ( :eek: ) Otherwise this Liteon did a very good job. It recorded all the Rs in DVDs. It also recorded CDs (R and RW) as a VCD or an SVCD). It was very easy to operate. But mono is not what I want.

* Is the Cyberhome tuner Stereo?

* And which model (MU - ZU) has been found to record to -Rs (-RWs)? (They play better on DVD players it seems to me.)

Thanks for any info.

Can someone explain the difference between the MU & ZU units. I pick the 1600 up last night and haven't open it yet. Is the MU/ZU part of the serial number ? How do I tell what unit I have ?

On the side of the box you will see a model/serial number. The MU/ZU will be at the end of the Model along with a Bios Version.

I am interested in picking up one of these 1600s. I've seen them at BB and Target. Apparently (from reading these posts) they might be different versions (MU & ZU).

I returned a Liteon 5005 to Costco after finding out that its tuner was Mono. ( :eek: ) Otherwise this Liteon did a very good job. It recorded all the Rs in DVDs. It also recorded CDs (R and RW) as a VCD or an SVCD). It was very easy to operate. But mono is not what I want.

* Is the Cyberhome tuner Stereo?

* And which model (MU - ZU) has been found to record to -Rs (-RWs)? (They play better on DVD players it seems to me.)

Thanks for any info.

So far it looks like the ZU is confirmed to burn -R's although no one has tried to burn then with an MU that I know of so if someone has please post the results.

So far it looks like the ZU is confirmed to burn -R's although no one has tried to burn then with an MU that I know of so if someone has please post the results.

Thanks. And I hope someone who owns a 1600 will try the tuner and see if it does do stereo sound. Hard to belive they wouldn't but I did just return a Recorder that was Mono. (what were they thinking?)

And has an owner of an MU tried to burn a -R or -RW?

Is Cyberhome region free?

Can I play a NTSC recorded DVD+RW disc on a PAL TV?

How do I test this if the above is true?

Can someone please please respond

Thanks

Actaully, alot of the low end units (LiteOn and brothers ILo and such) are mono tuners. I had read somewhere that it because of some typeof license fee. But I can't imagine who the owner of "stereo" may be. Nevertheless, mono isn't unusual in the low end units. It would surprise me if the Cyber was stereo (tuner that is).

Actaully, alot of the low end units (LiteOn and brothers ILo and such) are mono tuners. I had read somewhere that it because of some typeof license fee. It would surprise me if the Cyber was stereo (tuner that is).

Good point. Can someone who owns a 1600 see if it is stereo or mono?

Thanks

BTW: I have googled this unit to see if any specs state this info and I've had no luck.

But I can't imagine who the owner of "stereo" may be.

Actually, it is THAT Corporation! (http://www.thatcorp.com/tvfaqs.html)

While they don't own stereo (I think Decca and RCA "invented" it, at least for recordings-- http://history.acusd.edu/gen/recording/stereo.html ), THATCorp control the patents for decoding broadcast stereo television audio (which used to be referred to as MTS).

I have the manual. I checked no where it says it is a Stereo or a Mono except the A/V cable .
I have the unit, if someone tells me how to check if it a Stereo or Mono I can right away and respond.

Thanks

Well, I just hooked up an antenna to this unit to see if the tuner is stereo or mono. I have tuned in several stations and well, how can you tell? I have it running with the coaxial digital output to my receiver, and the receiver reports the incoming signal is "PCM Stereo." That doesn't really help though (since the Cyberhome could just be outputting a Stereo signal but it's Mono content?) I notice the lack of an SAP setting on it, so I'm guessing that what I am hearing is mono. It's hard to tell though because anything output from my home theatre system sounds good.

When I change the channel, it just displays the channel number. It doesn't say "Stereo" or anything like that. If I hit display it doesn't display any information about the channel.

But honestly, I can't tell for sure. Since there's no way to receive SAP, I'm guessing it's a mono tuner. But I really hate guessing. If anyone can tell me a concrete way of knowning, I'll try it out.

I can tell that it records in Dolby 2-Channel though. Since I never plan on using the built-in tuner, that alone makes me happy. ;)

Is Cyberhome region free?

Can I play a NTSC recorded DVD+RW disc on a PAL TV?

Please do not post the same question in multiple threads.

I responded to your questions in the other thread.

I have the manual. I checked no where it says it is a Stereo or a Mono except the A/V cable .
I have the unit, if someone tells me how to check if it a Stereo or Mono I can right away and respond.

Thanks

Good question. I use my HT sound system in Dolby Pro Logic (II) and listen at the surround speakers. If I hear something coming out that isn't in the center channel (dialogue) then I know the signal was stereo. Mono stays up front and center. I know it isn't always straight forward to be able to tell if there's a stereo signal but if anyone can detect the truth I'd appreciate it. (Audience sound w/o center channel sound in surrounds is stereo - anything with a "difference" signal, IYKWIM.)

We gave up satellite (just weren't watching it) a couple of years ago and live far from cable. OTA is where our TV comes from. I'd like to keep it all simple and not have to hook up through a VCR or something. We haven't gotten an HDTV receiver yet.

Thanks

I just recorded a Dave Chappelle concert off HBO HD to a DVD-R on this recorder. I have recorded to a DVD+R, DVD+RW and now a DVD-R. I have a model number MU

I just recorded a Dave Chappelle concert off HBO HD to a DVD-R on this recorder. I have recorded to a DVD+R, DVD+RW and now a DVD-R. I have a model number MU

Wow, the plot thickens! Interesting...

What is the Bios Version from the box...and the manufacture date?

The reason why there are different bios versions of the Cyberhome is that probably different chipsets are used. Z is for the Zoran chip and I am not sure what the other chip they are using. There have been over 10 versions of the cs 300 non recording player.

I was going to guess "MediaTek" for the MU chipset...assuming that's what is going on (different chipsets).

I think you're right though.

I just recorded a Dave Chappelle concert off HBO HD to a DVD-R on this recorder. I have recorded to a DVD+R, DVD+RW and now a DVD-R. I have a model number MU

Interesting.. Yes please post Bios and Manufacturing date.

I guess now the question is "Do all these 1600's burn -r/-rw's?"

I visited both Best Buy and Target in my area. They have the unit with the Zoran chip set both April and May builds. Different Bios. I have not found any unites with the MU in the serial number. I would agree that the units with the MU probably are using the MediaTek chipsets. If anyone has a unit with the MediaTek chipset, please see if it burns DVD-R disks and check the time for the layer change on a dual layer dvd. The MediaTek should be very fast.

My guess, however, is that most of the units will be made with the Zoran chipset. Cyberhome has a close relationship with Zoran. They also make many internal changes from time to time. No one actually knows how many versions of the CS300 have been made. Regarding post of the Bios. I only know that Cyberhome did it once with the CS500.

They have never posted a Bios for the CS300.

I would suggest than anyone who purcheses this unit check it out on different disks immediately. See if you get any costers and if the disks play on other units.

Here's what powerdvd info said about a cable recording i did with the cable input, it does say 2 channel audio..........

Player Information:
Player Region Code: Not Specified
Current Drive: F:
Title Region Code: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, All

Display Information:
Video Mode: Interlaced
Display Mode: DirectDraw
FourCC Code: YUY2
Surface Type: Overlay

Video Attributes:
Video compression mode: MPEG-2
TV system: 525/60 (NTSC)
Aspect Ratio: 4:3
Display Mode: Both Pan&scan and Letterbox
Source picture resolution: 720x480 (525/60)
Frame Rate: 30.00
Source picture letterboxed: Not letterboxed
Bitrate: 4.52Mbps

Audio Attributes:
Audio Coding mode: Dolby Digital
Sampling Rate: 48kHz
Audio application mode: Not specified
Number of Audio channels: 2
Bitrate: 384 Kbps
Number of Audio streams: 1


I recorded from VH1 so i know that channel is stereo.

Bitrate not bad, set at the 2 hr recording mode.

I conclude that the cable tuner DOES record in STEREO!

Also i tried a region 2 dvd, it was a no go.......tried the 0000 region hack code, no good either. i have a ZU april build as atrac does.

There is a hack to play other region dvd's Go to Video Help and search for the Cyberhome 1600.

Well, it sounds like it doesn't matter which unit to get (MU or ZU) to burn in -R (-RW would be nice, too.).
And thanks to those exploring the Stereo matter. I know it's not always obvious, or easy, but Stereo can be detected aurally. For most users Stereo doesn't matter as this deck's tuner won't be used. And I won't be using it that much. Mostly for time delayed watching. I'd rather have it in Stereo, though.
I guess I'll buy one and find out for sure about the Stereo. I'll just be sure of their Return policy beforehand.

And what's the consensus on which chip is best? (I know it does depend a lot on how the particular chip is implemented.) I have Mediatek in a few players and it does a very good job. My other player is a Panny RP-62 which uses Faroudja for deinterlacing (I don't what it uses for scaling) and it is excellent. I don't know if I have a player with a Zoran chip.

Here's (http://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers.php?DVDname=dvr1600&Submit=Search&Search=Search&chipset=&country=&orderby=Name&hits=25) a link to the Videohelp site's review of the 1600. The ZU is cited as being dual format by one reviewer.

Here's (http://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks.php?dvdplayer=dvr1600&hits=50&Search=Search) a link to the Videohelp's hack page on the 1600.

I just recorded a Dave Chappelle concert off HBO HD to a DVD-R on this recorder. I have recorded to a DVD+R, DVD+RW and now a DVD-R. I have a model number MU

What STB did you record off of ? Can you post the firmware of the STB as well. I tried recording off my 6412 with a ZU unit and as soon as I plug in the 1394 the 1600 locks up.

Has anyone tried buring DVD- Disks with the May build. The May units are the only one's available in my area.

Mine has May date (ZU model). I burned -R disk yesterday without problems. I used Sony (4x) disk. -R disk still won't play on my pc dvd player.

I have a D* HDTivo, the HR10-250. I did not use 1394, I used Svideo.

also, the hack from the link above works for playing other regions! the front display still says "stop" but you can fast forward using the remote and change the audio tracks too.

Can someone tell me if you can edit the +rw or-rw disk on the Cyberhome DVR 1600 DVD recorder to remove com. or other unwanted parts .
Thanks Joe

In the DVD Recorder section of the VideoHelp website, I found this:

"Hans de Jong from Netherlands reported June 08, 2005:
Comments:
It does not say it on the box and it does not say it on their website. But mine DOES PLAY Divx and XVid, no problem. And with great quality too. What a nice surprise!!!"

I have tried Divx on my recorder and it did not work. I have an April ZU unit. Can anyone else confirm the above?

I'd be really surprised if it works. But who knows about the MU chipset. ;)

European CH-DVR 1600 is different in appearance......................

http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0007WU1GO

Ive tried divx/xvid a no go, maybe someday somebody can dump the european firmware and we can load it in ours, if it has the same chipset......need to find out if that dude from the netherlands has a Zoran chipset.
This could get promising in the near future.

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

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


I can't get to the manual from the Cyberhome site, the error, "page not found" comes up. Does anyone else know a direct link to the user manual for the 1600? Other manuals are available, but the 1600 isn't accessible. Thanks.

It seems the link is now broken for the manual. It should be reported to Cyberhome.

It looks like the ILO DVR05 is the same unit as the Cyberhome 1600. The link to that manual is:

ILO DVR05 (http://www.iloservice.com/download/DVDR05_D%20ENG%20Manual%20Ver.4.0%20%20(05_03).pdf)

If you look at the index, it states the specs for the DVR 1600 is on page 28. Also at the bottom of the manual, there's a reference to Cyberhome's liability for errors in the manual. So it's the same machine, different brand name.

I bought one from Target AND one from Bestbuy. The Target one is manufacted in May and the Best Buy in April.
Neither of them have recognized DiVX, XVID or AVI in the menu. Mp3s and Mpegs do show up.

I'm going to test a bunch of ways of burning the files tonight and see if I can get it to work. Maybe they need to be ISO name compliant? (I doubt it)

Tomhayes:

Thanks for the report. Looking forward to your results. I plan on going into town tomorrow and picking up a unit at BB or Target.

I ended up getting one of the Ilo versions at Wal Mart today. From the manual, they are the same machine, they even refer to it as a 1600 at one point. I liked the ILO as my other components are all black, and the Ilo model has more of a black face on it than the Cyberhome. I haven't even unboxed it yet, but it's also a ZU serial number, made in March 05.

I actually emailed Cyberhome Tech Support on Monday to ask if they would post an updated firmware for us April 2005 ZU Owners. I also told them that the link to the manual is not working.

I haven't heard anything back from them yet.

Okay, I can confirm that neither one of the ones I bought (MU and ZU) can play AVi, DiVX, Xvud or Windows Media Video.

If anyone can confirm they have aunit that play these pelase post your firmware information.

This would be a nearly perfect palyer if it could do Divx.

-Tom

I purchased a ZU April 05 model at BB today. I burned a -R (teac 8X) and a -RW (fujifilm 2X) and they both play on my other decks (except for my Panny RP-62). The -RW plays on my other decks w/o finishing (finalizing) The -R needs to be finalized to play on other decks.

Titles can be edited out of the -RW disc; Chapters cannot be edited out. A new Title is created whenever the disc is stopped and a new recording is started. It's not that versatile of an editor.

The tuner IS mono. :( And there is a low level hum that not everyone will notice. I do. :(

There are a lot of recording speeds to choose from. The HQ and SP are excellent. The LP ( 3 hours) is really quite good. Beyond that is EP (4 hrs), EP+ (7 hrs) and SLP (8 hours).
I auditioned the HQ, SP LP and EP+ on our X1 PJ and the first three speeds look excellent to very good. The EP+ is not very good but is better than EP on a VHS deck.
The remote is not ergonomic but it is very small and does the job; just keep a flashlight handy.

Except for the very slight low level (on all channels; I think it is the tuner) hum the sound seems quite good and true to the source.

I probably won't keep this Recorder. I'm not sure what tuner to go with. I would really like to find a DVD recorder whose tuner was in stereo.

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



Walter Chan


it sok, not that great

I can't find these in stock anywhere. The Cyberhome 1600 was not in any of the local CC or BB stores, and the ILO model was out of stock at one Walmart near me. Another had them, but still was selling them for $118.

K-Mart is supposed to the Cyberhomes on sale Sunday for $99 after rebate, at least here in AZ.

I've got the ZU with a May manufacture date. I am having a lot of problems getting the unit to finalize a disc. It will record to the disc (I can view the Title screen and access the recordings); however, 3 attempts to finalize 3 different discs have failed.

I also tried DVD-Rs and, as reported, the unit recognized and recorded to it. Just like the +R discs, though, it wouldn't finalize the -R either.

I'm using cheap Office Max +R media and slightly less cheap Memorex for the -R. I'm gonna try some different brand discs and see if that works.

OK, I've had some success with the Memorex DVD-R media since my last post. I've also taken some photos of the 1600 recognizing and using DVD-R media. I also took a shot of my firmware version if anyone finds that helpful.

Here is a link to those photos on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/smorty71/sets/444431/

On all of my other recorders, finalizing problems are always media problems. Of course, with an inexpensive new recorder, there may be other things to consider, but I bet it's the media. Anybody have suggestions as to which media work best in this device?

Could owners of this unit tell us how EP+ recordings look? The manual states that they should be as good as VHS, but doesn't say if that is VHS at SP or VHS at EP (or ELP).

Do EP+ recordings play in other players?

Just picked up this unit today at Circuit City ($99.99). Works great creating DVD from Comcast/Motorola DVR using Maxell -R media. (As noted, manual says use + only, but - worked fine for me. Mine's a ZU model number, mfgd April '05).

Then was able to play and copy the DVD-R in my PC. My burning software, Sonic RecordNow, showed an error message at completion of copying process ("some files did not match the original") -- but it did make a complete copy.

I recently returned a $200 Samsung DVD recorder because the discs created would not work in my PC. Now, for half the price, I'm happy. :)

I had 5 fujifilm +rws that were essentially coasters since my hival +/- rw always seemed to choke on them. I was able to burn 3 dvds with this media after copying from tape but I found when I tried HQ format (1 hour disks) it dropped as much as 5 minutes from a 50 minute recording (the dvd said 45 mins elapsed, the tape had 50). I havent yet done any playback, including of the tapes I recorded.

This is a ZU unit. Not sure which firmware though.

This unit doesnt seem to work with cds, so I'm looking at the lite on model for $130.

I have been doing some copying of Laserdiscs with my 1600 (ZU april 05) and I am very happy with the results. The -RW discs copy easily to my hard drive and DVDShrink (W/DVDDecrypter) burns them nicely to -R discs.

The editing on the 1600 is pretty minimal but putting the pieces together with DVDShrink works pretty well. I would like to find a way to put pieces together that could all be chapters under one title. There is a delay (some players show it more than others) when cutting from one scene to any other when the scenes are different titles. I guess I have more research and exploring to do. But on my HTPC the changes are seamless.
I now have a very nice original edition of Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back (before added special effects) on DVDs. And the quality is pretty good. I recorded using the SP speed. I first tried using the HQ speed but the pieces of the movie were too "bit" heavy and DVDShrink had to do a lot of compression. (59%) With SP speed the compression was 98.4%. Actually the heavily compressed edition I made (HQ pieces made up the original) copy looks pretty good, but it is softer.

I have lots of video material that can be resurrected now. This method works extremely well. I've learned that it is VERY IMPORTANT to keep the -RW disc untouched by anything. A regular disc is more tolerant, but an -RW (which can be used over and over again) requires very careful handling.

I think I like this cyberhome 1600 - so far, so good. :)

Bought a DVR 1600 today..has not locked up..however, disc finalizing has failed 3x..once when finishing a movie recorded from encore saved on my comcast dvr and then 2x when finalizing discs after recording programs from HBO (all as backups for personal use of course)....tried 3 different dvd discs (2 formats- dvd-r and dvd+r)...thinking it is not the machine or the discs but the copyright in these programs?....above posts seem to indicate folks were able to record premium content (ie HBO,etc) w/ out problem..am i doing something wrong? if not able to record content of this type from my dvr to save space, the concept of a recorder seems kind of useless...

The media I am using is -R 4 & 8X Teac and 4X Sony. -RW 2X Fujifilm. No problems so far. The speeds I used today are HQ and SP. I've used EP+ in the past couple of days for testing and it played in our other players.

you don't believe it has anything to do w/ copyright protection (Macrovision built into recorder)..

I thought macrovision was only used by DVDs (and VHS tapes). I didn't know broadcast TV (satellite, cable et al) used it.

does anyone know if broadcast and/or cable tv is copyrighting programming in a way that would cause dvd record finalization process to fail?

I thought macrovision was only used by DVDs (and VHS tapes). I didn't know broadcast TV (satellite, cable et al) used it.

It's not macrovision but some premium channel providers, most notably HBO, are using CGMS analog encoding on their feeds to provide copy protection controls (copy once, copy never, copy always, etc.) for some content. This is different than the so called digital "broadcast flag" but the result is basically the same.

I finally had success finalizing both a DVD-R (cheap Memorex) and DVD+R (really cheap Office Max) disc. One thing that I have noticed is that both types of disc fail when I record anything over an hour.

Both of the discs that worked were under 60 minutes. All of the failures have occured trying to record shows that are 90 to 120 minutes.

Any ideas on that?

I tried several different brand disks. Memorex and Maxwell were the worst. Failed two times to finalize on Memorex +R but both times it was running 120 minutes. Couple times it even failed to erase/initialize the Memorex disks upon startup (froze at 99%). On Maxwell +R it would record and finalize ok but won't play on my other dvd player. Phillips +R disk I had one failure out of 4. But for Sony +R no failure over 5 burns. On Fujifilm +RW no failure also. Wrote and erased many times and played on all my players including PC.

It's not macrovision but some premium channel providers, most notably HBO, are using CGMS analog encoding on their feeds to provide copy protection controls (copy once, copy never, copy always, etc.) for some content. This is different than the so called digital "broadcast flag" but the result is basically the same.

That's interesting. What programs has anyone had this prevent them from saving, and what were the visual effects?

i've read in some other forums however that in general cgms code does not interfere w/ one time recording..is really meant to stop widespread piracy..

i've read in some other forums however that in general cgms code does not interfere w/ one time recording..is really meant to stop widespread piracy..

Interesting. I've read similar type things but I've never read where someone's actually seen them or their effects.

i've read in some other forums however that in general cgms code does not interfere w/ one time recording..is really meant to stop widespread piracy..

As vferrari said, there are three types of CGMS: copy always (no protection), copy once, and copy never.

Copy once is so that you can temporarily save the program to HDD, DVD-RW(VR), or DVD-RAM for viewing at a later time, a la TiVo or even the old fashioned VCR. Consumers would absolutely rebel if they could ONLY watch TV when the program was being actually broadcast, so copy once was invented for this purpose.

If you want to save the program indefinitely, the only way to do so is on -RW(VR) discs or DVD-RAM discs. That can get a bit costly after a while, plus there are compatibility issues (particularly with RAM). CGMS won't let you record on anything else, though I read somewhere that DVD manufacturers are thinking of enabling VR mode on -R discs. That will lower the cost, but does not address the compatibility.

Don't think for a minute that Hollywood is trying to be nice to us. All they think of is the bottom line.

Folks,

I would be extra careful in placing much faith in these units. They were on sale this weekend at Best Buy and Targer for about $98. I bought three of them at various Targets and had to return all three defective units. These were the 'ZU' units.

Unit #1:
- two screws rattling inside unit. Opened it up to take a peek. The cover to the DVD drive was missing two screws. When I tried to screw them back in, I realized both screws were stripped out.

Unit #2:
Actually worked. Picture on a 42" EDTV plasma via component video and progressive scan was excellent. 3:2 pulldown actually appeared to work. Note that I was using Vampire component video cables which probably cost 1/2 the price of the unit :). Unfortunately, as soon as I pressed 'record' internal electrical noise in the units cheap @#$ circuitry introduced wavy diagonal lines into the recording and picture. This noise stayed until I stopped recording and switched video inputs. The picture looked like a typical picture from an over the air antennae with bad reception.

Unit #3:
Wouldn't power on at all.

I probably spent more in gas buying these units and returning these units that the unit cost. If they worked, they'd be a great deal for $98. My guess is that even if they work, they will break pretty quickly. Three bad units from two different targets is likely stastically relevant.

Beware!!!

What month is your unit, jrmarek?
My April, '05 ZU worked very well for many hours this last weekend. I got excellent copies of my Star Wars (original version "faces" discs) put onto DVD. I copied the LDs onto -RWs @ SP speed and transferred all the digital info onto my computer. From there I assembled and made some very nice exact copies of the LDs, minus the side and disc pauses. There is a slight hitch at the title changes (2 per disc) but it is amazing to see that there was no loss at all using the SP speed.
Perhaps this Cyberhome will show some sign of trouble eventually but it is an excellent little machine right now. I'm going to give it a good workout so that before 30 days (return time) is up I'll know if it's a keeper. It's great being able to so easily do digital video work.
The tuner is only mono but it is a very clean and sensitive tuner. If one is using cable one needs to be careful of ground loop. I use OTA and the images are clean.

Here are some reviews from Videohelp.com: http://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers.php?DVDnameid=5507&Search=Search&#comments

Emailed ilo about whether or not the tv tuner in the DVDR05 is mono or stereo.

Response:

"Yes, the unit does have a stereo TV tuner. Please let us know if you
still have any questions"

Is it possible that they are shipping both and some get lucky and end up with a stereo tuner?

Not very likely that some are mono and some are stereo. At this point I tend to trust the individual users (AVS members) rather than some anonymous e-mail or phone tech drone for the manufacturer. The "techs" are often misinformed or ignorant of fine details (such as whether a tuner is mono or tuner) and are usually shooting from the hip. In other words they are often more wrong than right. I would like to know how Cyrano/Mike above finally determined with certainty that the tuner was mono.

I did a few minute record on VH1 and played the dvd-rw on my computer,used PowerDvd and went into settings and it showed it was STEREO!!
I also used virtual dub and it showed the same results..if you look back a few pages you'll see my results posted.
Possibly the station they were recording esp from OTA wasnt in stereo in the first place...who knows.
I got some time off this week and have alot of different media to test i'll post results in a few days.

I determined it was mono by listening to it during news broadcasts and a couple of game shows ( :eek: ). We have an LCD TV that really seems easy to judge mono versus stereo with. Put my head in the middle and if the sound is stuck in the middle with me all the time it is mono. I switch back and forth between the TV's tuner and the AV input for the Cyberhome. The TV tuner is stereo and the difference is easy to hear. I want to be clear here that I am *not* using the RF passthrough as the Cyberhome reference. (I haven't even used the RF output on the Cyberhome.)

I also take the discs into the HT and audition them on our X1/Kenwood setup. The sound is solidly in the center using Cyberhome tuner fed material.
The odd thing was the disc I made with the Lite0n 5005. (I returned the 5005) The sound did display some "width". There wasn't much discrete separation, but I could hear seemingly ambient sound (audience?) in the surrounds of the disc I made of the Tony Awards. It could just be some imbalance in left and right.
I hear nothing at all in the surrounds of recordings made using the Cyberhome tuner.
Of course, recordings using the audio inputs on the cyberhome are stereo (if the source is). And they are quite good.

I guess I should post a question of my own about editing. The discs that the 5005 produced were DVD-VR and I could not transfer them to my Hard drive in a usable form. The 1600 is easy to transfer to the Hard drive but I would like to be able to work with the files in a more flexible fashion. All my editing software seems to want AVI or Mpeg files. And I really don't want to go the file conversion route (DVD2AVI and so on) as it is VERY time consuming.

I know I've much to learn.

I did a few minute record on VH1 and played the dvd-rw on my computer,used PowerDvd and went into settings and it showed it was STEREO!!
I also used virtual dub and it showed the same results..if you look back a few pages you'll see my results posted.
Possibly the station they were recording esp from OTA wasnt in stereo in the first place...who knows.
I got some time off this week and have alot of different media to test i'll post results in a few days.

I don't think PowerDVD is making a judgement based on whether the sound has a "difference" signal present. Stereo usually means it recorded two channels. The Cyberhome always records two channels. In the tuner's case both those channels are the same. That equals Mono.

I wish I was wrong. I would like to find a recorder with actual stereo using the builtin tuner.

Is the Panny ES10's tuner Stereo?

I just picked up the 1600ZU and I'm a little concerned about the heat given that this unit has no fan. The only place I can fit it in on my unit is right above or below my Dish Network 721 receiver, which runs REAL hot. Does anyone have any thoughts on whether this would be a bad idea. I certainly don't want to damage the 721.

Thanks.

David

I just picked up the 1600ZU and I'm a little concerned about the heat given that this unit has no fan. The only place I can fit it in on my unit is right above or below my Dish Network 721 receiver, which runs REAL hot. Does anyone have any thoughts on whether this would be a bad idea. I certainly don't want to damage the 721.

Thanks.

David

I have the same concern. I have mine sitting by itself with nothing above it and a small stand (two pieces of 1"X1.5" wood) holding it up in the air.
It really gets too hot to sandwich it between gear, I think.
Most gear should be separated from each other anyway. I was picking up a very slight hum when I had this unit sitting on top of a DVD player when I first tried it out.

I did read in a review where one user installed a fan.

YMMV

I emailed cyberhome about a week ago asking if the device was EIA-775A compliant, which is needed to record from DVRs over 1394 (ie firewire). I just got back the following reply.

Your DVR-1600 unit is not EIA-775A compliant. It only supports DV cable to DV camcorders and in fact not Firewire

C'mon Cyrano computers dont lie, your ears in between 2 speakers isnt the "proper" way either...haha.
It's possible it could be recording in simulated stereo.....try recording from mtv or vh1 which are true stereo channel.
It does get warm, mine is inside a Ikea tv stand with 3 other dvd players, a HTPC and the "heater" a Motorola 6412 DVR.
I played a few of my burned dvd-r's and it was freezing up alot, ive just switched dvd's with a sony -R and so far it's playing fine as we speak.
I took the same dvd and played it fine in my philips dvp642, sound was ALOT better thru optical out than the cyberhomes coaxial, thats one feature they removed from the dvr1500, optical out.
Ive been thinking of returning it as ive had for 2 weeks already and does have some quirks i dont like.
Dozen's weve tried recording direct with firewire from dvr, just locks the recorder up, have no problem recording from the s-vid input thou.......
We really couldnt of gotten that lucky....:)

I just played back a dvd recorded from the DVR using S-Video using SP 2 hour mode, looks horrible with alot of interference, my kid might think it ok but i'm not impressed.
Recording from cable tuner is very grainy also.
Any idea's?

I emailed cyberhome about a week ago asking if the device was EIA-775A compliant, which is needed to record from DVRs over 1394 (ie firewire). I just got back the following reply.

I emailed them about a week ago and asked them if they will be releasing a firmware update for those of us who purchased April manufactured units (since the May one lists a newer firmware for both the software and the loader).

"we in process of upgrading.
thank you"

Well there you have it.

I've tried the 1600 from Target and BestBuy AND I now have a iLo DVR005 from Wal-Mart with a March manufacture date and a ZU on the package and I can say a few things for sure:

1)None of the three units play DiVX/XvID

2)The coax input does not have Macro-vision detection. Using my "Devo:The Men Who Make the Music" video tape I am able to record from the coax input fine but when I try the composite output from my VCR into the composite input on the recorder I get a "Protected Content" warning.

3)Playing a non-region encoded Pal disc works fine.

4)Playing a Region 2 disc gives a "Wrong Region" error but you can start the disc by pressing a number (e.g., number 2) on the keypad. It will go to that chapter. Several buttons on the remote such as "Menu" will not work but "Title" does. Just choose a title that you know ends quickly and try to get back to the main DVD menu from there by navigating. back. It's kind of a pain but it does work.

5)The unit quickly forgets which ""Source" input you are using but it's pretty easy to switch back.

6)The DVDs it burns do not work in my Mac on my Pioneer DVD player but DVDShrink on the PC will re-burn them into useable discs.

7)I have recorded with DVD+R, DVD+RW and DVD-RW. All seem to work fine.

I think this unit is great for backup up Tivo recordings and old VHS tapes but I don't think the recording quality will be acceptable to videophiles.

Take this unit for what it is: a DIRT-cheap recorder and a useable (if inconvenient) multi-region player.

C'mon Cyrano computers dont lie, your ears in between 2 speakers isnt the "proper" way either...haha.
It's possible it could be recording in simulated stereo.....try recording from mtv or vh1 which are true stereo channel.


I don't think you understand what I'm saying. Stereo is Not two channels of the same material. Mono can come out of 5 channels. The Computer hears two channels but they are the same material. Mono. Two channels of mono does not equal stereo. (Someone take over for me)

And I read someone (in some related thread or this one) saying that it sounds so good they can't tell if it's stereo or mono? :confused:

Use your ears. They will tell you the truth.

It is a mono, not stereo tuner. Perhaps your tuner is different. I hope so. Listen to it. Listen to your surround speakers (read my entire pervious posting.) Mono will not come out of them.

Do you hear instruments in the left speaker that you do not hear in the right?

Oh well - Good luck to ya!

And, BTW, I only use an OTA signal as I mentioned in another posting. I do not have cable nor satellite. We live where cable doesn't reach and Dishnet looked pretty bad on our PJ and we just weren't watching it. The shows I use to test with display great Stereo separation. You can actually hear it - with your ears. What a concept! :cool:

Okay, I thought of another way of explaining it. When I play back the DVD on PowerDVD (I prefer Cineplayer by Sonic) it says Stereo (2 channels). And since the recorder is only capable of recording two channels it must say Stereo. It is a Stereo (2 channel) recording of a monaural signal (I'm only referring to the tuner here). I wish it were not so but it is with my unit. I hope you got one where you can hear separation between the sounds. To hear stereo one must use one's ears, not eyes.

And I read someone (in some related thread or this one) saying that it sounds so good they can't tell if it's stereo or mono? :confused:

Use your ears. They will tell you the truth.



That was me when I did a brief test to see if it was stereo or not. Since reception in my area sucks, the only thing I could tune in during the middle of the day was a Soap Opera and Sesame Street. Both of which sounded "good" to me, but I could not tell if they were stereo since it was not material that "screamed" stereo (musical instruments playing in different channels).

If MTV or VH1 were available OTA, I would have of course tuned in immediately to those stations and could give a more accurate description.

In that thread I also noted that *most* (if not all?) stereo tuners these days (in a VCR, TV, or DVD Recorder) also receive SAP broadcast. So my hypothesis (using my brains, not my ears) is that since this tuner cannot receive SAP, it is most likely not a Stereo Tuner.

Dang, if that comment was meant as an insult to me, I would not have even wasted my time testing it out, since OTA tuning is useless to me. :(

I'm sorry Atrac. I did not mean to insult you. I meant to say that one needs to use one's ears to determine whether or not a sound is stereo. Your method of using your brains is excellent. (I had trouble finding stereo program material as you did, OTA doesn't have a lot of variety!) If there is no SAP, there probably is no stereo.

I do think the terms mean almost nothing sometimes though. Stereo doesn't mean better fidelity. Just as Mono doesn't mean bad fidelity.

An LP (an ancient vinyl method of transmitting sound - ;) ) can use a stereo stylus to read the grooves of a monaural recording. The resultant sound is Mono, but the delivery system is 2 (or more) channels. The result is a mono sound. (This is just another attempt to explain how something that "seems" to be Stereo is not.)

Again, I apologize for my faux pas, Atrac. You were right in your method of examining I think. Please don't let my clumsy words affect you. I was frustrated and I felt insulted unjustly, just as you probably did. My bad. :(

I'm sorry Atrac. I did not mean to insult you. I meant to say that one needs to use one's ears to determine whether or not a sound is stereo. Your method of using your brains is excellent. (I had trouble finding stereo program material as you did, OTA doesn't have a lot of variety!) If there is no SAP, there probably is no stereo.

I do think the terms mean almost nothing sometimes though. Stereo doesn't mean better fidelity. Just as Mono doesn't mean bad fidelity.

An LP (an ancient vinyl method of transmitting sound - ;) ) can use a stereo stylus to read the grooves of a monaural recording. The resultant sound is Mono, but the delivery system is 2 (or more) channels. The result is a mono sound. (This is just another attempt to explain how something that "seems" to be Stereo is not.)

Again, I apologize for my faux pas, Atrac. You were right in your method of examining I think. Please don't let my clumsy words affect you. I was frustrated and I felt insulted unjustly, just as you probably did. My bad. :(

I appreciate your comments. Thank you for taking the time to respond thoughtfully (something that is becoming more and more rare these days in forums). :)

I'm sorry Atrac. I did not mean to insult you. I meant to say that one needs to use one's ears to determine whether or not a sound is stereo. Your method of using your brains is excellent. (I had trouble finding stereo program material as you did, OTA doesn't have a lot of variety!) If there is no SAP, there probably is no stereo.


Have you tried running a bit of the audio through Soundforge? You can zoom into the audio waves enough to tell if it is an identical signal in both L/R.

Good idea, NVboy. I have another similar program I'll try using.

If anyone is familiar with the Hafler effect that is essentially what I've used to detect any difference between the two channels the 1600 records with the tuner signal. So far there is no difference between the channels. 2 channel mono is what I've found.

I'll look at the two audio waves and see. Thanks.

Good idea, NVboy. I have another similar program I'll try using.

If anyone is familiar with the Hafler effect that is essentially what I've used to detect any difference between the two channels the 1600 records with the tuner signal. So far there is no difference between the channels. 2 channel mono is what I've found.

I'll look at the two audio waves and see. Thanks.

Please post your findings. I've been waiting & waiting for 1 unit to be introduced that won't have all the flaws people are posting about. This would be a nice cheapo alternative in the interim before something worthwhile is released.

PS-no offense to those who have standalone DVD recorders.

Please post your findings. I've been waiting & waiting for 1 unit to be introduced that won't have all the flaws people are posting about. This would be a nice cheapo alternative in the interim before something worthwhile is released.

PS-no offense to those who have standalone DVD recorders.

I have used Waveedit and the samples I used from all the stations I can receive using an antenna are Mono. Two channel Mono using the builtin tuner. With my software players it says Stereo as I thought it would since there are two channels.

The waveforms look identical to me. In my opinion it is 2 channel mono. (If someone finds other evidence please post it. My sampling may be too limited)
For my purposes it is a good buy. (Timeshifting and transferring videos and LDs to DVD.) The unit runs consistently well for me. No hiccups, nothing unexpected. It does run hot and has no fan. In a previous posting I listed a link to other reviews. Read them all. I think build quality may be the only issue from what one recent poster here said.
But some of the problems that happen with this unit may be ground loops and learning curves. The mechanical problems are another thing. Mine is good, but if someone had a problem with loose parts, that should be taken into account.
30 days should allow one to discover most bugs. I would recommend mine to someone else. It is an April 05 ZU model.

YMMV - For the price it seems a good unit to try, but then the Liteon 5005 is only $129 at Costco. (Mono tuner and the DVDs are not as editable in my experience. I'd be glad to find how I am wrong about the editability as it is a very versatile unit.)

No offense taken, BTW - we Home Theater Folk are a sensitive lot are we not? :)

Well if only the tuner is mono, i dont record off that anyway,
Unfortunatly composite input is better than s-vid,which shares a ground with the RF input which was said in the vcdhelp website.
For $30 more i might get the Costco Liteon as there return policy is excellent, even years down the road.

Bud-man:
I had the Liteon 5005 from Costco for a couple of days. I liked it a lot.

But, I returned it because I could not copy the files to Hard drive and do some assembly (using DVDShrink) and reburn it to another disc. If you (or someone) could tell me how to do this I would return the Cyberhome and get the Liteon.
I've got about 24 days left to decide. The Liteon is a better build, more versatile (except where noted, AND Costco will always take it back if it develops a problem. (The last part is a big consideration)

Here (http://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=28&sid=181a7fc2637bce54af31c9d7ea8f9b93) is a link to Videohelp DVD recorders postings. From what I read about Cyberhome I wouldn't recommend it. I hope to find out more about the Liteon and its DVD-VR mode. Does anyone one know if I'll be able to put info burned with the Liteon onto my Harddrive and reassemble, and burn it onto another DVD (DVDDecrypter is what I burn with)

vferrari: You seem to know a lot about the Liteon - any advice?

Thanks

vferrari: You seem to know a lot about the Liteon - any advice?

I don't want to hijack the Cyberhome thread with Liteon advice>see my post in the other thread you started. ;)

You're right! No piratical behavior here.

Thanks for the post in the other thread.

I think i'll keep this unit,with it's popularity i'm sure there will be some sort of hack/upgrade in the future.
I'll just keep of checking various forum on a daily basis.

Budman: I might do the same. I am working with discs I made on the Liteon and it is an added layer of complication to transfer video stuff from disc to disc. My cyberhome works fine so far and it is a simpler format. (fingers are crossed)

For my purposes it is a good buy. (Timeshifting and transferring videos and LDs to DVD.)

Cyrano, I've been putting off buying one of these lowerend units because I didn't believe you could timeshift. How is this accomplished without a builtin harddrive?

It timeshifts the same way a VCR does. You tell it when and what channel and it does it. Also I like the very long recording times so I can just start it recording hours before the thing I want and it gets the program (if I don't want to set up a specific recording time).
It inserts chapter stops every 5 minutes so it's very easy to get to the item one wants.

I do like that there is a digital clock on the front panel.

It timeshifts the same way a VCR does.
I guess I consider timeshifting being able to record and watch a program at two different points. IE. The recording began at 7:00pm, but I started watching the program from the beginning at 7:15pm, while still recording.

I guess I'm looking for the $99 dvdburner, with a small harddrive. A guide would also be nice, but I won't pay $13 a month (tivo) to use it.

Thanks for your input.

I guess I'm looking for the $99 dvdburner, with a small harddrive. A guide would also be nice, but I won't pay $13 a month (tivo) to use it.
When you find one let me know. :)

The monthly charge keeps me from TIVO although right now all we use is an antenna. We find our DVD Theater is better than satellite, and cable doesn't reach this far out in the woods.
Timeshifting the occasional TV show suits the 1600 fine.

But it seems we haven't enough time to watch the films we've got. :D

Good luck.

I bought mine about 2 weeks ago. I have been recording everyday converting old vhs to dvd+r. I have been recording about 6 hours a day. The first week everything fine. Last couple of days Had trouble finalizing Memorex dvd+r. Disc error. Bad?

Now I tried recording shows from satellite. The recorder would hang up during record time and would not let me stop the recordings. Had to unplug it last 3 times. I bought mine at target and will bring it back today for a NEW one.

Target has 90 return policy. I'll just keep returning them within the 90 days.

One more note: I bought a cyberhome dvd player "300" for $39 at bestbuy for the kitchen. It played the burned dvd+r's but it had alot of artifacts and freezing up. Returning that today too.

The burned dvds played fine in my Sony dvd 5 disc player.

Has anyone seen/purchased an "MU" version of this recorder?

Paul

Target has 90 return policy. I'll just keep returning them within the 90 days.

I believe the way it works is that the clock is not reset after each return. You are covered within 90 days of the original purchase. After that you need to take it up with Cyberhome no matter how many lemons you bring home within that 90-day period. They may accept a final return for refund after 90-days based on getting several lemons, but they sure as heck aren't going to allow you to return the units and reset the 90-day clock every time. YMMV.

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

I have seen this player in 6 stores. Best Buy, Target, & Circuit City. All have the versions with the Zoran chip. The MU is the Mediatek version but I have not been able to find one.

There are firmware and loader updates for both versions on the Cyberhome web site.

What I'm curious about is how good are the recordings in 1 and 2 hours record speeds.

Is the encoding as good as say on the Sony or Pioneer?

Nice to find a dirt cheap recorder but it has to record close to the $200 Pioneer and Panasonic,etc.

Hopefully someone posts a good test review.

And plays the dvd recording back on a good player when comparing to other recorders.

bjf

HQ/1hr rec are fantastic and SP 2hr are excellent. I'm only getting 1h 57m in SP but 68m in HQ. I rec 'Hit Me Baby' in HQ via my vcrs stereo tuner with 18" 'Straight-Wire' cables and it looks and sounds amazing on my 32" XBR. I'm useing the CH-300 for dvd playback as the 1600 is just to slow in loading to be used as a dvd player and only has 3x speed for FF/REV. the discs dont play on my neighbours HP pc and there was some slight pixels on their Toshiba dvd player for the SP discs but the HQ discs looked the same as on my XBR. there are zero pixels when the discs are played on the CH-300.

There are firmware and loader updates for both versions on the Cyberhome web site.[/QUOTE]



How does this firmware update thing work. Is there a link. Is it like patching a pc game. I am a newbie. thanks

More help.

I downloaded the front end file but could not open it. I downloaded winimage and now what do I do next. i tried writing it to a cd the the player does nothing. Anyone know how I use winimage??

there are zero pixels when the discs are played on the CH-300.

My CH-300 won't even play the disks from my DVR1600! It just locks up. My JVC machine does kinda play them but I can't bring up the menu or use the FF or REW buttons. The disks do play okay on my PC though.

Looks like there's new fw/bios available on the Cyberhome website dated 6/17/2005. Be careful, there's downloads for the front/back ends and both ZU & MU. Haven't had time to mess with it yet (having problems with the new Plex may have to go back to the BenQ).

Sorry took a little time to register and post... dogs wanted out, etc. :D

Looks like there's new fw/bios available on the Cyberhome website dated 6/17/2005. Be careful, there's downloads for the front/back ends and both ZU & MU. Haven't had time to mess with it yet (having problems with the new Plex may have to go back to the BenQ).

Sorry took a little time to register and post... dogs wanted out, etc. :D


holly cow! what file is for the ZU FRONT END? did they even proof read those crazy instructions before posting them and the pics are all showing MUs where are the pics for the ZUs going alonge with the proper instructions? what a mess....

holly cow! what file is for the ZU FRONT END? did they even proof read those crazy instructions before posting them and the pics are all showing MUs where are the pics for the ZUs going alonge with the proper instructions? what a mess....

it must be the Front End file is:

SERVO_V105.iso

These instructions are for those who do not have experience updating firmware.
I agree the instructions are very poor on the Cyberhome site. I hope these are better.

1. Go to the link below and download the firmware that you need. ( I suggest that you create a folder on your desktop and call it Cyberhome.)

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

2. Check the version of the 1600 that you have MU or ZU. (Most are ZU.)

3. Download the two parts of the firmware that you need (If it is the ZU version download
the V70.ISO file and the Servo V105.iso and place them in the folder you created on the
desktop. If you have the MediaTek download the other two files and put them in the
folder you created.

4. Download the free program "Burn at Once"

http://www.burnatonce.com/index.htm?downloads

It is the easiest way to burn ISO files (You can also use Nero to Burn the Files but you
must burn them as an ISO)

4. Open Burn at once and from the file menu load the Servo File first (105) if you have the ZUVersion. Place a cd in your Burner and write the file. Label it as Disk 1 Do the same
for V70Iiso file and label it as Disk 2.

5. Place Disk one in your 1600 and you will be asked if you want to update. Say yes and
wait about two minutes or a little longer until the disk ejects and you are told the process
is finished. Do not remove the disk or unplug the unit until the process is finished. You
must have patience or you could ruin you machine. Turn the Power off and back on and
go to the setup menu. Go to the general menu and scroll down to restore. Restore and
scroll up to check version number.

6. Place disk two in the 1600 and when asked if you want to update say yes. This disk
takes less than a minute. You will see a progress bar on your screen. Wait until the
process is finished and turn you unit off and back on. Go to the setup menu and scroll
to restore. Restore you unit to factory defaults and scroll up to check version number.

7. If you have the MU Version follow the same procedure but be sure to Download the two
files for MediaTek. (Front End should be disk one, Back end disk two)

Be sure you download the correct files. They are out of order on the Cyberhome page.
For the ZU you need V70.ISO Disk 2 and Servo V105.ISO Disk 1.
For the MediaTek you need the two MediaTek ISO files. For MediaTek 105 under MediaTek is disk 1 and version 413 under MediaTek is disk two.


Good Luck

rwestley

Thanks for the instructions. Very valuable and Well written. My version now states
"zch_18.3.01.05.70.cu". I guess this is the new version.

Do you know what the update did? I am on my second unit. Hope this helps.


Thanks Again.

Has anyone found DVD media that consistently work in this unit? I've tried Memorex (fail about 1/2 time), cheapo Office Max (fail about 1/2 time) and Sony (fail about 1/2 time).

It seems that all of these brands will work well with short recordings (1/2 to 1 hour); however, all of them have trouble with longer recordings.

Most of the time, the problem occurs during the finalizing process; however, I've had both the Memorex and Sony fail after doing a recording (and waiting to return to the "Title" screen).

Anyone having better results with different brands of disc?

BTW, I've got a nice set of silver coasters for sale...

I wish I knew. My guess is that the loader update helps with DVD recognition. Usually loaders are updated to accept more types of DVD's. This is often done with computer DVD burners. I would love to know what the other update does.

I have had trouble with fully loaded -Rs. Teac 4X and 8X have failed on both tries if I let the disc fully load. It fails in finalizing. I've had no failures with these same discs if I stop early (about 3/4 of the way is the amount I've tried so far.)

I have no problems at all with my -RW Fujifilm discs, even if I've let the recording go to the end.

I haven't tried the fw update yet. Has anyone noticed any improvements in good burn percentages with the new fw?

I upgraded my firmware and am now 2 for 2 with the same cheap Memorex DVD-Rs that had been failing 1/2 the time. That was the first time that I was able to burn 2 discs in a row (using the full 2hours).

I'm going to try a few more before I (reluctantly) declare victory.

I'm not sure what the fw upgrade did; however, the unit seems to move between menus and functions a bit quicker than before.

I believe the way it works is that the clock is not reset after each return. You are covered within 90 days of the original purchase. After that you need to take it up with Cyberhome no matter how many lemons you bring home within that 90-day period. They may accept a final return for refund after 90-days based on getting several lemons, but they sure as heck aren't going to allow you to return the units and reset the 90-day clock every time. YMMV.



Hi

When I got my 2nd player they issued me a NEW receipt showing the date of purchase as the day I received the 2nd unit. There is NO reference to the first purchase date. Since they treat it as a NEW purchase I should be fine.

It also states on the NEW receipt that it expires in 90 days. Awesome !!!! Peace of mind....

Has anyone found DVD media that consistently work in this unit? I've tried Memorex (fail about 1/2 time), cheapo Office Max (fail about 1/2 time) and Sony (fail about 1/2 time).

It seems that all of these brands will work well with short recordings (1/2 to 1 hour); however, all of them have trouble with longer recordings.

Most of the time, the problem occurs during the finalizing process; however, I've had both the Memorex and Sony fail after doing a recording (and waiting to return to the "Title" screen).

Anyone having better results with different brands of disc?

BTW, I've got a nice set of silver coasters for sale...


I've only had 2 coasters out of 32 discs with -R and none with +R TDK & Dynex +R. and this is BEFORE the firmware update today and have not burned any new discs yet. however I noted my May ZU must of had the most recent firmware version as this new firmware only the ZCH number changed from 66 to 70 and with the loader numbers the first three went from 097 to 105. one lockup with the first coaster and 'not a quality disc' message with the second aft 44min. it did STOP rec twice on two discs but I just rev the vhs and started the rec again and no problems with those two aft finalzed.

4. Download the free program "Burn at Once"

http://www.burnatonce.com/index.htm?downloads

It is the easiest way to burn ISO files (You can also use Nero to Burn the Files but you must burn them as an ISO)



Can I use Roxio Easy CD Creator ver. 5 (I believe; not at home; can confirm later if necessary)?

If so, how? (Note: Still running WIN98.)

TIA

It is possible to use Roxie or Nero to burn Iso files to a CD. I find easier to use the free download "Burn at Once. The reason is that many people who use Roxio or Nero do not hit the ISO button and they have problems. Burn at Once can only burn ISO files and it is free.

I use Nero for all my other burning tasks.

i used dvd decryptor

DVD decryptor is another great program. If you use it be sure to burn the file as an ISO.

I have Nero, Decryptor, DVD Shrink Burn at Once and Roxio. I use them for different tasks.

For burning ISO files I still like Burn At Once but it is your choice. They all work if you do it right.

BrandsMart USA in FL has them for $88.88 anybody want to guess what the closeout price will be? :D

It is possible to use Roxie or Nero to burn Iso files to a CD. I find easier to use the free download "Burn at Once. The reason is that many people who use Roxio or Nero do not hit the ISO button and they have problems. Burn at Once can only burn ISO files and it is free.

I use Nero for all my other burning tasks.

I use Nero on my win98se pc. it was my first ISO cd burn ever. Dont use the dialog box with the tabs just go to the top of the screem to the drop down menu and go to FILE, etc. that was the first time I've ever even used nero that way. hey teach a old dog new tricks...........

Nero and Roxio are also fine for burning ISO images as I stated. The reason why I like the
free Burn at Once better is that you can't make a mistake since it can only burn ISO images.

There are so many versions of Nero ad Roxio and I have seen many people burn regular CD's and wonder why they will not work. If you know how to burn an ISO image any program will do.

Nero and Roxio are also fine for burning ISO images as I stated. The reason why I like the
free Burn at Once better is that you can't make a mistake since it can only burn ISO images.

There are so many versions of Nero ad Roxio and I have seen many people burn regular CD's and wonder why they will not work. If you know how to burn an ISO image any program will do.

Thanks, I'll give it a try on Roxio. The reason I asked is because the Burn At Once site said it wasn't supported for WIN98, which I still run.
Is there a way to confirm that I've properly created the CDs before sticking them in the DVD unit?

Hi All-

At this price im really thinking of picking one of these up. Does this machine record CD's (audio)? I have some vinyl id like to transfer to CD and if this machine records to CD id pick one up for sure.


thanks!
-j

jamesgf, i tried loading a blank cd-r, all it said was blank disc, so i dont think so.
I'm waiting for the european firmware update, i looked thru the latest US firmware thru a hex reader and would like to compare it when i becomes available.

Bud-man-

Thanks for the info. I read through the manual and there was no mention of recording to CD. I suppose one could record the audio only onto a DVD-RW, and rip the audio to .wav on a PC, but i was hoping to avoid it.

Still, at $99 it seems like a great deal!

-j

I was reading the Zoran website and it said the chipset was capable of cd-rw writing, possibly a cd-rw might work.
But cyberhome's firmware might of "turned off" that feature.

I have a ZU model with the latest firmware and have noticed that the clock loses about 1 second a day. It was doing this before I updated as well. Anyone else notice this? It's not a big deal for me since I don't use the built-in tuner.

Also, has anyone with the MU chipset updated their firmware and tried DIVX yet? :)

Many VCR's and electronic devices loose or gain a small amount of time each day. This is usually because the time is based on the 60 cycle electric that we have. This may change slightly causing the clock to gain or loose time. This can and often does happen to a computer.

So has anyone done an A-B comparison between this Cyberhome and a brand name recorder like the Panasonic ES10? I'm wondering just how much difference there really is in quality, both playback and recording.

Normally I wouldn't hesitate to spend the extra money on the brand name product, but since DVD recorder technology is evolving so rapidly I'm thinking about just getting this cheapie for now until a machine with all the features I really want hits the market. That is, if the quality is reasonable.

First, sorry in advance for the length of this post. Second, thanks to all for your help with creating CDs for the firmware updates. If anyone else is still running WIN98 and thus has an early version of Adaptec/Roxio Easy CD Creator (ECDC), here's how I did it (running v. 4.05): Start ECDC; put blank disc in CD-R drive; click on File; click Create CD from CD image; in window that pops up, select folder/location of iso files, then change Files of Type to iso; select/highlight iso file to copy and click open; in the CD copy dialog, check Creat CD, Disc-At-Once, and then OK -- the CD creation process should start (if the program starts searching for files to verify drive speed, click cancel; the copying should then begin).
Third, my first two recording attempts have resulted in coasters (both Verbatim +R discs). In the first, I set recording to 3 hours and recorded a program that was approximately 2 hours. At the end of the program, I hit pause, then stop. After a few moments, the player said something like "press title to return to disc," so I did. The title page came up with the recording playing in the preview window. Everything seemed fine. I edited the title and, after playing with the thumbnail view and watching some scenes from the program, I hit stop. Then followed the finalize process: Pressed button to eject disc, was asked if I wanted to finalize, said yes, and it did its thing and ejected the disc. I put it in my DVD player and the only thing it showed was the title page with the first thumbnail, the title line was a grayed out box without letters, and hitting play or trying to select a chapter yielded nothing. Then I tried playing it in the Cyberhome and the same thing: title page with one thumbnail and no action when hitting play or trying to go to a chapter. So this morning I tried to record a different program. I set recording time to 2 hours (BTW both discs had auto chapter at 10 minutes), and then recorded a program that was just shy of 1 hour and 50 minutes. (Also BTW in both recordings I paused to edit commercials in the original program.) When I hit stop, I got that message about pressing title, which I did, but nothing happened. So I hit eject and it did, without asking if I wanted to finalize! So I reinserted the disc, and after trying to load for what seemed forever, I got a message saying it was trying to recover from a previous error, and then it said the disc was bad and unusable. I tried reinserting twice and got the same error.
So I'm frustrated and beginning to think I'm missing some important step.
Any ideas?
I'm going to make one more attempt soon and if that's not successful I'm returning the unit.
Thanks for letting me vent and TIA for any assistance.

Anyone having problems with the Machine hanging up. I updated the recorder with the firmware. I did a scheduled recording and in the middle of the recording it got stuck. It locked up and I good hear the machine whining. I had to unplug it.

Anyone else have this. Seems ok when I manually record while watching it. Very frustrating.

Is there a way to clear the onscreen "bug" when recording?

Just got mine yesterday from Best Buy. All I want out of this thing is to turn my vhs home video tapes (about 20-30) into a decent dvd. Here is what has happened to me so far.

Failure rate is HIGH. For every success, I have failed at least 5 times. I have 4 burned dvds and about 15 coasters. I was burning on HQ and SP but just turned it to EP in hopes of a higher sucess rate. So far I am one for one.

The problem is after I am done recording, the machine wont even go back to the title menu. It will load and load and finally give me the bad disc error thing. I want the download from cyberhome but those files arnt working now for some reason. CAN SOMEONE SEND ME WORKING LINKS? please =)

Just got mine yesterday from Best Buy. All I want out of this thing is to turn my vhs home video tapes (about 20-30) into a decent dvd. Here is what has happened to me so far.

Failure rate is HIGH. For every success, I have failed at least 5 times. I have 4 burned dvds and about 15 coasters. I was burning on HQ and SP but just turned it to EP in hopes of a higher sucess rate. So far I am one for one.

The problem is after I am done recording, the machine wont even go back to the title menu. It will load and load and finally give me the bad disc error thing. I want the download from cyberhome but those files arnt working now for some reason. CAN SOMEONE SEND ME WORKING LINKS? please =)

I upgraded mine and am still experiencing failure rates similar to yours.

Tired of this piece of crude.

I had 2 episodes of The Wire recorded. Went to recorded the third episode and got the disc error. I lost all of the shows.

Can anyone suggest a DVD recorder with a hard drive for the best price. This way I wont lose my show.

Record level (audio) too low?

I've been reading this thread for about a week now, since I got DVR 1600 for my birthday. I'm completely new to this DVD Recorder lark, but have been producing DVDs on my PC from DV tapes for a couple of months.

It's still going strong after about 5 DVD +RW's burned (Fry's cheapest $9.75 for 25) from my Time Warner DVR box.

One thing I can't figure out is why the audio level through the DVR 1600 to the TV (and on played back recordings) is substantially lower than the DVR (cable) box straight to the TV, or playing back 'kosher' DVDs. Anyone noticed the same thing? I have the recording audio level control at 100% (the default) on the DVR 1600.

My BIOS version is: 05.56/090N. Manuf April '05. ZU model.

Fine job outlining the upgrade instructions! Did it the first time without a hitch. Usually I'm not that lucky... :rolleyes:

These are pretty sweet little machines for under 100 bucks. Been burning Imation DVD+R/W's and DVD+R's without a single problem. At first I bought the cheapest DVD+R's Wal-Mart sold, the 15 pack Ilo's for $8.50, and had problems... but sticking with Cyberhome's "approved" media works fine.

Not a bad deal at all for $90 at Best Buy with 2 free DVD movies thrown in... :D


These instructions are for those who do not have experience updating firmware.
I agree the instructions are very poor on the Cyberhome site. I hope these are better.

... but sticking with Cyberhome's "approved" media works fine.

. :D



what is the approved list of media????? anyone..

As pointed out in this post on videohelp.com (http://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers.php?DVDnameid=5507&Search=Search#61999) , the mysterious 1600MU is the version of this recorder that plays DIVX!

I checked around at a few Targets today and finally managed to find an MU version. Sure enough, it does play DIVX. I also tested some XVID files and they played fine.
And to be sure, it does record to DVD+R/W and DVD-R/W.

I have updated the loader firmware and the software firmware and indeed, no features were "lost." I kept my fingers crossed that it wasn't going to pull away DIVX.

Other good news, this unit does not show the "Record" icon for more than a few seconds after you hit record. As we know, the ZU one stays on the whole time.

The clock on the front of the unit also displays differently. It shows 8:51 PM instead of 8:51:45. Personally the ticking of the seconds was distracting.

OK, so the big POSITIVE news is DIVX support. Here's the big NEGATIVE -- It doesn't record in 2 Channel Dolby Digital. It records in 2 Channel PCM. I'm sure that little tidbit is going to be a deal breaker for a lot of people.

Recording quality to me (at SP) looks to be a little more sharp than the 1600ZU. It's a tough call though. There is nothing about either one that screams "better."

I've tested the tuner and it sounds like Mono. There's no SAP so I'm betting it is Mono.

So now I need to decide which one to keep. Dang, DIVX is a NICE feature....but then again PCM recording is a turn-off.

I can say this though...so far the 1600MU seems to be difficult to find. Who knows? Maybe the newer shipments will be MU's.

Are you sure it records PCM audio at all speeds or just the highest quality setting?
Does the ZU version record AC3 audio?

As pointed out in this post on videohelp.com (http://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers.php?DVDnameid=5507&Search=Search#61999) , the mysterious 1600MU is the version of this recorder that plays DIVX!

I checked around at a few Targets today and finally managed to find an MU version. Sure enough, it does play DIVX. I also tested some XVID files and they played fine.
And to be sure, it does record to DVD+R/W and DVD-R/W.

I have updated the loader firmware and the software firmware and indeed, no features were "lost." I kept my fingers crossed that it wasn't going to pull away DIVX.

Other good news, this unit does not show the "Record" icon for more than a few seconds after you hit record. As we know, the ZU one stays on the whole time.

The clock on the front of the unit also displays differently. It shows 8:51 PM instead of 8:51:45. Personally the ticking of the seconds was distracting.


OK, so the big POSITIVE news is DIVX support. Here's the big NEGATIVE -- It doesn't record in 2 Channel Dolby Digital. It records in 2 Channel PCM. I'm sure that little tidbit is going to be a deal breaker for a lot of people.

Recording quality to me (at SP) looks to be a little more sharp than the 1600ZU. It's a tough call though. There is nothing about either one that screams "better."

I've tested the tuner and it sounds like Mono. There's no SAP so I'm betting it is Mono.

So now I need to decide which one to keep. Dang, DIVX is a NICE feature....but then again PCM recording is a turn-off.

I can say this though...so far the 1600MU seems to be difficult to find. Who knows? Maybe the newer shipments will be MU's.

Awesome news Atrac!!, i was waiting for a euro firmware update to test the divx theory, have you tried Xvid?, also can it play qpel encoded xvid?
My philips dvp642 has a hard time playing qpel as i have to use mpegmodifier to repair.
I really dont care about mono tuner as i doubt i'll ever record from the tuner,i have a motorola dvr to record from if need be.
The lack of the seconds on the clock is the deal breaker for me!!!
Now if i can find a MU and my BB reciept!!!!
also have you tried s-vid input?, the cable input and s-vid share the same ground on the zu, poor recording results with wavy lines when played back.

Awesome news Atrac!!, i was waiting for a euro firmware update to test the divx theory, have you tried Xvid?, also can it play qpel encoded xvid?
My philips dvp642 has a hard time playing qpel as i have to use mpegmodifier to repair.
I really dont care about mono tuner as i doubt i'll ever record from the tuner,i have a motorola dvr to record from if need be.
The lack of the seconds on the clock is the deal breaker for me!!!
Now if i can find a MU and my BB reciept!!!!
also have you tried s-vid input?, the cable input and s-vid share the same ground on the zu, poor recording results with wavy lines when played back.

I tried Xvid and it played fine. I don't have any qpel encoded Xvids to test though.

The S-Video input does not produce any wavy lines. I don't know if it shares the same ground as the cable input though...I'd imagine it's the same hardware design with just a different motherboard with chipset inside...but then again I could be wrong.

Something else I've noticed is that DVD+RW's are ready to be ejected immediately (which is how it is supposed to be...they don't require finalizing) but on the ZU the menus are created and then it is ejected.

Well i finally found my BB receipt dated june 2nd...phew!!
I'll check today at the 2 area targets, there price is 109.99 on there website, will target price match BB?
Who'd think the MU series would be the king!!
Also i'll dig thru BB's stash for a MU but as reported people have only seen ZU's there.

The clock is innacurate on mine too

I've set the clock on mine numerous times, and within a couple of days, it's 2 minutes out. I turn mine off when it's not in use, BTW.

How d'you get it to record to DVD-R's?

I tried to copy a movie onto a FujiFilm DVD-R and here's what happened:

1. Inserted blank -R disc
2. DVR 1600 shows the old "Disc is blank wanna initialize it?" message
3. I clicked 'Yes'
4. It started initializing the disk, and the bar graph quickly got to 99%, and then got stuck
5. I had to remove power from the unit to stop it!
6. Turned the unit on again and it seemed to think the disk was OK.
7. I then recorded the movie onto the disc, but haven't tried playing it back yet. I can see that the media has lots of data on it now.

Is this what's supposed to happen?

Took mine back today (ZU version). First disc recorded but after finalization the only thing that "played" was the title screen (no access to recording). The next two discs were "bad" after recording; wouldn't finalize. It seems that the MU version is worth looking for and that the unit is picky about the media used. I've given up on this unit for now and will try a different brand.
Best of luck!

Went out at lunch, local BB no units in stock, target had 3 May ZU's, Walmart had 3 Ilo dvdr05's march ZU's....the hunt is on!!
I'm going to return to BB soon, will worry about a MU later.
After work excursion came up empty, went to 2 other Taget's and a BB, all ZU's!!!
I asked 2 guys working at a target if they had any more then 1, he said how many you want?, i told him i wanted a MU, he said we cant look...i was PISSED!!!

Went ahead an ordered a dirctv dvr ($49) for existing customers. They install two lines to it for recording one show while viewing another. $4.99 a month for the tivo service. Now I can transfer a show to the recorder and if I get a coaster and can try again. No more lost shows.

El Geraldo or Anyone:

I'm having problems recording from my relativly new sony dv camcorder to the DVR-1600. I have my sony cam setup to record and play back in 16x9, but when I connect w/ the firewire cable and begin recording, the Cyberhome only seems to record in 4x3. I tried switching the video output, but no luck.

I have it hooked up just basic w/ just regular audio/video cable, since it not my primary player. I bought the machine to simplify having to connect to the pc, convert to mpeg-2, burn to dvd, etc. But doing it the computer route always gave me a 16x9 image on the dvd, black bars, top & bottom on a 4:3 tv. Do you guys have any ideas? I'm primarily only going to use the DVR for home movie conversions. Thinking about getting an open-box pio, phil or sony if I cant get 16x9 recordings. :mad:

Help!

Jonathan

Atrac, you mean whichever input you record from it records in pcm?,or is it from the tuner only?
CC sells them here, i'll look at lunch for a MU there, they usually sell stuff in stacks not just a few left like Target'

Atrac, you mean whichever input you record from it records in pcm?,or is it from the tuner only?
CC sells them here, i'll look at lunch for a MU there, they usually sell stuff in stacks not just a few left like Target'

When I recorded with the AV Inputs it was in PCM Stereo. I didn't try tuner recording but I'd imagine it would be PCM as well.

I FOUND A MU!!!
Went on another road trip target all had ZU's, next stop BB had 2 , 1 MU!!!
Got another 10 pack of free Verbatim medium, tried to scarf a 10 pack of DL's...hahaha cashier almost fell for it!

Can any of you copy the VOB files to your PC hard drive?

If I try it with short recordings (400MB) the copy succeeds. If I try it with longer ones the PC complains that the file or directory is corrupt. The DVR 1600 seems to break up the recordings into 1.2GB VOBs.

I am copying to a NTFS drive but have also tried copying to a FAT32. Using WinXP Home. Have tried it on 3 different PCs to same result. I believe others have mentioned problems copying files as well.

FWIW, I have never had a problem with a disc finalizing.

pwright use a free program called dvdecryptor to transfer the vobs to your hard drive
i use the program daily to either copy or mostly burn dvd's on my pc.
dvdshrink is another fairly good and easy progg to use.

I FOUND A MU!!!
Went on another road trip target all had ZU's, next stop BB had 2 , 1 MU!!!
Got another 10 pack of free Verbatim medium, tried to scarf a 10 pack of DL's...hahaha cashier almost fell for it!


I only get 1h 56m of rec total time in SP with -R & +R TDK and cheep +R Dynex. whats strange is aft my ZU formats the disc and if I eject it and reload the disc it says 126 min total rec on the disc in the display window but ALL my SPs clock in at under 1h 57m. is there any diff of total time for for the MU in SP? this is a big pain as I have to use the pause, etc just to fit a 2hr vhs in SP. if the MU does rec 2h or a few min more I'd go look for one myself. the good part is HQ is 68min. but with vhs tapes and dvds clocking in at 2h +1 or 2 min its a big problem and hassell to have to trim to fit that damn 1:56 limit.............

pwright use a free program called dvdecryptor to transfer the vobs to your hard drive
i use the program daily to either copy or mostly burn dvd's on my pc.
dvdshrink is another fairly good and easy progg to use.
Are you saying that you have copied VOBs off of DVR 1600 created discs successfully?

I've tried using DVDDecrypter and it always fails at some point with the Cyberhome created discs. (Works fine with commercial DVDs though.) Fails on discs that playback on my consumer SONY DVD player.

Just picked up some Verbatim 4x DVD+Rs to try since that is the brand they recommend.

If anyone has the files from the cyberhome website for the ZU model, PLEASE send them to me at preppy95 at aol. I would appreciate it GREATLY since the files on the site arnt downloading.

Thanks so much. Maybe that will help a little on this piece of junk that works about 1 of 5 times.

It amuses me to see people complain about a $99 DVD recorder. Like you expected something more...

Yeah, I expect it to WORK. I dont expect good quality. I dont expect awesome menus or options. I dont expect good sound. Yes, even at $99, I expect it to work.

You're obviously expecting too much.

Any of you with both a ZU and MU model, do you notice any difference in picture quality between the two, either on playback or recordings?

I've been trying out a ZU here today. DVD playback picture quality is pretty low-fi, even in progressive mode with component out. It lacks crispness and has poor color purity. No surprise, I know, but I was wondering if the MU provides any upgrade at all in that department.

Carnivore, atrac said he saw some improvement over the ZU,i still have to open the box and try my MU......i'll let you know later today.
atrac i think said the recorded playback was better i dont know about the normal dvd playback, i have a 42" panny plaz so it should show pretty easily.
I know the sound sux esp with no optical out.....which the dvr1500 has.
I'm using s-vid out on the ZU so i cant really tell if component is better.

Also theres a website comparing the 2 different models and menu's
I tested briefly mine this morning and when i tried a dvd-mpegiso with both
vcd and avi files it did play, but i noticed there was no preview showing the movie
being played in the small window...maybe the reason of a software update?

http://webpages.charter.net/zone97/webpages/cyberhome/

I obtained a list from cyberhome with all compatible dvds for their machine and all non-compatible.

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

I've never tried connecting my camcorder to the DVR 1600; only to my PC. I do a lot of editing on the PC before burning to a DVD, so not really much point in dumping the entire, unedited DV tape to DVD. Sorry!

Have been reading all your posts and have found my problems and some new ones. couldn't finalize any disk no matter what brand for love or money. Went to the cyberhome website and downloaded 2 firmware updates and this little machine just sings. My machine was manufactured in april and is the zu version. There are firmware updates for the zu and the mu machines. If you are having trouble go to the website, download and try. I am happy now and maybe it will help some of your problems too.

Hey VF- My Cyberhome 1600 is better than your E-95. :) Sense of Humor !!!!

Returned my ZU for an MU and had much higher success rates. Downloaded the update from cyberhome website and have not had a single problem since.

For those who have no purchased yet, get the MU model and dl the firmware upgrades. After that, you will have a machine worth more then the $99 you paid.

You can get the DVR 1600 at Best Buy for $59 or less open box, with this discount

I'm not permited to post URL's yet so add this to Best Buys web address
/site/olspage.jsp?id=pcmcat59100050011&type=category



It's YMMV but I see a number of these coming back at the Best Buy near me. Just do the firware upgrade.

$99 - 10% open box price - an additional 30% with coupon.

Here's a website with pic's of the inside's of a 1600, a MU or ME model. if your interested...
http://www.redhawk.demon.co.uk/ch-dvr1600/

the only problem I have had was with Memorex 4x disks in either + or - R, they will not finalize but yet I can burn 16x(+R) memorex from two different batches with not one problem. Even bought some of the Office Max india made DVD - R's and they burn no problems. Seems to burn any DVD media other than Memorex 4X media.

the only problem I have had was with Memorex 4x disks in either + or - R, they will not finalize but yet I can burn 16x(+R) memorex from two different batches with not one problem. Even bought some of the Office Max india made DVD - R's and they burn no problems. Seems to burn any DVD media other than Memorex 4X media.


it would not work with HP +R. it would not even got to the title screen so I took the 25pk back and exchanged for Maxell +R and the first disk failed. on the second disc it stoped rec. but now no problems after the 3rd disc on. I'll try Philips +R next on sale at CC. so far the only zero problem discs are TDK+R and Dynex and since TDK is NOT even listed as one of the brands they recomend it shows that list is a joke.

Most of Cyberhomes testing was probably done before the firmware update.

so far the only zero problem discs are TDK+R and Dynex and since TDK is NOT even listed as one of the brands they recomend it shows that list is a joke.

They don't recommend the TDK because they have a high failure rate.

I have the TDK + R and they fail about 1/3 of the time. I have burned about 25 of them.

The HP DVD+RW have 100% perfect burn rate. Awesome. I will stick with these for the rw's

as long as the firmware is updated I really don't think the brand name is overly important, there are obviously people that are having no luck with memorex and TDK brands and there are those of us that have no problems with them. Matter of fact I have burnt about 15 TDK's with not one problem. it's obvious that the media companies switch around the stock they stamp there names on, one mans tdk is a crap disk from a second rate company and anothers TDK is from a solid vender. You really never know for sure what your gonna get. the only thing you can control is the company your buying it from. companies with liberal return policies are usually your best bet. I guess I have been lucky thus far.

I can confirm that BB is carrying both ZU and MU models in the Baltimore/Washington metro area.

I received a free DVR 1600 with an HDTV purchase 2 days ago. It was a ZU model, May 2005. I went back to that store to look for an MU. They didn't have any but their stock was old. They were waiting for a new shipment. I went to another BB and they had received a fresh stock this week. Sure enough, Their units were a mix of ZU and MU. I swapped mine out for an MU, May 2005 since they seem to be less fussy. Haven't upgraded firmware yet. Still fooling around with it.

I think it plays very well. I stuck in my daughters Harry Potter and Shrek and both look very detailed with very good colors. No noticable difference from my brand new Sony DVD player.

Hope the info helps, this is my first post.

P.S. All the open box units were ZU's.

If you have Nero 6 on a computer use the info tool in the toolkit to find out the read manufacture of the disks. That is probably the best way to see which disks work and which ones will not work. The label on the disk does not mean much.

cyberhome DVR 1600 - scheduled recording function is faulty

I got the MU version two days ago from BB. Manual recording seems
to work every single time. But, it fails to record when I setup schedule
recordings.

It supports max of 8 programs to record. I have all 8 programs setup
each would record for 1 minutes and each are 4 min. apart in time.

50% failure.... it asked me to insert a disc to start recording
even a disc is already in the machine. :mad:

cyberhome DVR 1600 - scheduled recording function is faulty

I got the MU version two days ago from BB. Manual recording seems
to work every single time. But, it fails to record when I setup schedule
recordings.

It supports max of 8 programs to record. I have all 8 programs setup
each would record for 1 minutes and each are 4 min. apart in time.

50% failure.... it asked me to insert a disc to start recording
even a disc is already in the machine. :mad:

By any chance have you updated the firmware of your unit yet? I'm not sure what problems the new firmware addresses but hopefully that is one of the problems it fixes. ;)

These units have shown up at Wal-Mart Canada. I'll check to find out what version they are tomorrow. They also still have the Liteon 5005 but (sadly) no 5045. I was holding out for one of those...

Guys, I have purchased the DVD-1600 ZU May 2005 model and I'd like to know how to get rid of that Big Rec display dot, if I don't, it will cause that image to burn onto my HD-Projection TV screen, and then a lawsuit will follow, I will make millions of dollars, and do over until I become richer than Bill Gates..ok one can only dream right?..

But really, I don't want a 99 dollar unit to destroy a 2000 dollar tv. So what can I do, there has to be a way to get rid of it, I haven't tampered with it because I might kill it if I do since it's incredibly cheap.

Also, I test recorded a few things
-The HBO Richard Pryor special that was on, prevented me from recording it, must be the MacroVision chip Bastards!

-Espn games were only allowed to be recorded AFTER they played them again at 1 AM

-Anything that's High Definition or "Pay Per View" can never be recorded with this unit. Ever! Which is a huge blow!

Even some local programs like 24, CSI could not be touched.

So I waited till about 2AM to record infomercials and used up all the disk space.
I did half HQ and the last half SP, horrible picture quality, not excellent like it saids on the manual with the SP, but HQ recorded exactly as what was aired. WYSIWYG.

Then I was ready to delete.
Erasing the disk killed the CD forever, NEVER erase the disk. Manually delete the chapters and you will be okay.

I recorded the Tonight Show and Late Night with no problem the second time.
I have not tried schedule recordings yet.

Even for 99 dollars, so far I give it a C grade.

So how do you get the Rec symbol from displaying?

You want to get rid of the red rec dot...buy a MU model, it stays on only for like 5 seconds after you record
It's a 100 times better machine anyway!!
So go down and shove that ZU up BB's arse and go hunt down a MU...okay...buddy!

-Anything that's High Definition or "Pay Per View" can never be recorded with this unit. Ever! Which is a huge blow!



I'm able to record a High Definition broadcast onto a +RW disk. Obviously the recording isn't high definition, but the resulting recording is better than anything else I've ever recorded on dvd or vhs. Here's my setup:

I connect the S-video output from a Directv HD receiver to the s-video input on this dvd recorder. I then use the remote to change the source to s-video, and then hit record. I try to use the 1 hour HQ recording if I'm making a HD recording ... It really makes a difference in my opinion.

Perhaps the problem your experiencing is being caused by the HD source, not the recorder.

Friar

Yes, that's exactly what I've been doing to record in HD.
Well, I figured out the problem I was having when trying to record in HD.
I called my cable provider (it's Cox)
The only way to record HD is to buy or rent their High Definition Recorder, Their tivo version as a recorder which sucks because what's the point of having a DVD recorder?

The local programs problem, I went another route
My tv has Antenna A and Antenna B.

(A) was hooked up just to the DVD recorder and the S-video source.
(B) was the cable box.
Everything local could finally be recorded but as I was channel surfing, right away I noticed I lost a lot of picture quality
on A. "Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?!"

Intially i was hoping for a direct firewire from cox dvr to 1600, but we all know thats a no go, ive been working on some kind of down conversion thru my htpc to trick the 1600.
Ive been using the s-vid with fairly good results, the ZU model shows alot of static when recording due to shared ground with the RF,looks better using composite, MU model records alot better.
I can record my HD channels but they will be letterboxed.

Guys, I have purchased the DVD-1600 ZU May 2005 model and I'd like to know how to get rid of that Big Rec display dot, if I don't, it will cause that image to burn onto my HD-Projection TV screen, and then a lawsuit will follow, I will make millions of dollars, and do over until I become richer than Bill Gates..ok one can only dream right?..

But really, I don't want a 99 dollar unit to destroy a 2000 dollar tv. So what can I do, there has to be a way to get rid of it, I haven't tampered with it because I might kill it if I do since it's incredibly cheap.

Also, I test recorded a few things
-The HBO Richard Pryor special that was on, prevented me from recording it, must be the MacroVision chip Bastards!

-Espn games were only allowed to be recorded AFTER they played them again at 1 AM

-Anything that's High Definition or "Pay Per View" can never be recorded with this unit. Ever! Which is a huge blow!

Even some local programs like 24, CSI could not be touched.

So I waited till about 2AM to record infomercials and used up all the disk space.
I did half HQ and the last half SP, horrible picture quality, not excellent like it saids on the manual with the SP, but HQ recorded exactly as what was aired. WYSIWYG.

Then I was ready to delete.
Erasing the disk killed the CD forever, NEVER erase the disk. Manually delete the chapters and you will be okay.

I recorded the Tonight Show and Late Night with no problem the second time.
I have not tried schedule recordings yet.

Even for 99 dollars, so far I give it a C grade.

So how do you get the Rec symbol from displaying?

You really need to get a MU unit because I have had different results than you have. I'm using Comcast with just a regular digital box (no HD yet).

I am using a May 2005 MU. I was able to record and playback the Richard Pryor special (from OnDemand) and also regular HBO and Encore. Funny thing though, they will only playback on the recorder. When using my PC they don't show up in the menu at all. Other programs from none premium channels show up and play. Also the disc, Memorex -R won't play at all in my Sony DVD player, but then again I haven't finalized the disk. That may make a difference.

A few other items to note:

Recorder came out of the box displaying time as A or P, no seconds.
Unit does not get hot at all. At least after recording for one hour straight.
Unit vibrates a good bit when playing DVD's, but doesn't when recording. The vibration isn't bad, I just noticed it when I set my hand on the recorder.

Overall a decent recorder since it was free. Would be worth the $90 or so in my opinion.

One last thing mentioned in an earlier post, when I returned my ZU for a MU at BB, the manager at the Customer Service desk told me my 30 day return policy started all over again with the new exchanged unit.

Gonna update the firmware tonight and get some RW's.

Ok, I went through the firmware upgrade but things didn't go as documented.

Mine is a MU unit.

Put the 105 disk in first. Followed prompts and was told upgrade was successful and was told to remove disk and press enter. Now the machine rebooted on its' own. When it restarted I went to SETUP-GENERAL but there was no RESTORE. I checked the version number and it showed:

SERVO : DX041D D 105N

So I assume that upgrade took.

Now I did the 413 disk. I followed the prompts and after several minutes I was told the upgrade was successful and told to remove disk and press ENTER. This time the machine did nothing. The display showed "UPGRADE" but the machine was locked up. Couldn't turn it off, open tray or anything. Had to unplug it. When it started back up I went to SETUP-GENERAL but again no RESTORE. Checked the VERSION and it said:

Control : C00000413

So it appears that it upgraded since the numbers in the VERSION match the firmware files, but I was too stupid not to write down the version numbers before I started.

Anybody have a May 2005 MU unit that has not been upgraded? I'd be interested in the SERVO and CONTROL numbers under version.

So what do you think? Did it upgrade?

[QUOTE=onufryk]

One last thing mentioned in an earlier post, when I returned my ZU for a MU at BB, the manager at the Customer Service desk told me my 30 day return policy started all over again with the new exchanged unit.

QUOTE]

TARGET HAS A 90 DAY RETURN POLICY. I ALREADY RETURNED ONE. I TOO WAS TOLD THE CLOCK STARTS ALL OVER AGAIN AND I HAVE A FRESH 90 DAYS. I WILL BE BURNING LIKE A NUT. ANY HICCUPS AND IT GOES BACK FOR A NEW ONE. YIPPY.

AFTER THE UPDATE AND USING HP DVD RW+ I HAVE NOT HAD ONE FAILED DISC.
ABOUT 40 BURNS SO FAR AND COUNTING. BURING ABOUT 4-5 HOURS A DAY.

OUT

Hi,

I just bought one of the 1600mu units last night at Best Buy. It is a May 2005 MU Bios version 363/100N. Out of the box it recorded fine on a two year old 2.4x Memorex DVD+RW and played Xvid files that I had recorded on a couple DVD-Rs. Tonight I decided to try upgrading the firmware because I was disappointed that a formatted disk only showed 59 minutes free in highest quality and less than 6 hours in lowest quality. Here's my experience:


This time the machine did nothing. The display showed "UPGRADE" but the machine was locked up. Couldn't turn it off, open tray or anything. Had to unplug it. The exact same thing happened to me. I thought I was going to have to return the unit to Best Buy. This alerted me to frantically search the internet. Thankfully I found your post and got the courage to unplug the unit.


So it appears that it upgraded since the numbers in the VERSION match the firmware files, but I was too stupid not to write down the version numbers before I started.

Anybody have a May 2005 MU unit that has not been upgraded? I'd be interested in the SERVO and CONTROL numbers under version.

So what do you think? Did it upgrade? I think you can look at the sticker on the bottom of the unit or box to see the versions yours shipped with. Mine was 363/100N


A couple things I've noticed in the 30 minutes since the upgrade:

1. A formatted disk now reports 61 minutes in highest quality mode and few minutes more than 6 hours in lowest. This is what i was looking for in the update. Also, it now reports over 8 hours free for "SEP" mode. Too bad there is no "SEP" mode in the menu for me to select.

2. Maybe it's just me but the unit seems to take less time to close the title when I hit stop after recording for a bit.

3. My old 2.4x Memorex got a disc error the 2nd time I tried formatting it after the upgrade. When I reinserted it I got an unknown disc error and the formatting progress bar hung at 0%. Only when I went to push the eject button did the progress bar start to move and then formatted the disc. (Not sure if the eject button actually did anything. Maybe it was just good timing.)

4. Xvid files still play (hooray!)

5. Channel scan seemed to go about 4x faster than it did before the upgrade.

I'll update if I find anything else new....

-Eric

I traded in my April 05 ZU for a May 05 MU. The differences are (so far):

The Zu recorded the sound to a Dolby Digital track. The sound was very good. :)
The Zu had trouble with burns a couple of times. Might be fixable with firmware update.

The Mu records the sound to an MPEG track. The sound recorded from the builtin tuner has a distant sound like a car horn from whichever channel I record from. :(
So far the Mu has burned two discs on media that wouldn't work on the Zu. (8X and 16X Memorex -R)

I need to check and see if the MPEG sound has the "distant car horn" sound when I use the other inputs. The Zu sound from the tuner was very clean.

I'll probably end up returning this one too and waiting until better quality is the norm.

Both recorders produce discs which are easy to use dvddecrypter and DVDshrink with. The Liteon 5005 produced VR mode discs which had many redundant files (13 gig sized directories when DVDdecrypted onto the HD). SEE BELOW

BTW: I do like the Mu much better in its recording usage. It is much faster. And the LED front panel clock doesn't count down the seconds the way the zu did.

I was wrong about DVDShrink working with the MU disc. I had used DVDDEcrypter and assumed that the disc would work with DVDShrink because its size was the same as a normal disc. I was wrong. It won't shrink.

Ok, I need to buy some DVD+RWs.

I know SLUDGE has had great results with the HP RW+, but the only place I can find them locally is Staples at for $39.98 for 25.

Are there any other DVD RW's out there that have been fairly reliable to try?

That's not a bad price.

That's not a bad price.

Ok, then the HP it is. I'll pick them up today when I go to work.

vferrari, I work in Montgomery County. Looks like you might be in that neck of the woods.

Another thing about the MU model: I am unable to use DVDShrink to edit it. (VR, I guess-DVDShrink gives the "Incorrect Navigation" message. The ZU doesn't have this problem, but I am told they are both VR.) The ZU model edits nicely with DVDShrink (reauthoring mode).
I did find "one" ZU model at BB today so I got it and I'll work with both models to see which suits me best. My main need is to be able to copy SVHS tapes and Laserdiscs to DVD form. Being able to use DVDDecrypter and DVDshrink with the ZU model is a plus. And the tuner in the ZU model (not many will use the builtin tuner, I know) had cleaner sound. I want to be able to copy the occasional TV show for later viewing.
My main use will be with -RW discs which the ZU handled very well. I may do the firmware upgrade and see if the ZU can have better success with different makes of -Rs.

I still have a lot of testing to do and a little under thirty days to do it in. :)

BTW: Thanks to srnile in a post above I was able to use the 30% off (Open Box) coupon and get an Athena AS-C1 center channel speaker and two AS-B1 Athena front speakers for $110 tax included! They sound incredible!!! And this is the last day of the coupon.

These units have shown up at Wal-Mart Canada. I'll check to find out what version they are tomorrow. What part of Canada are you in? Did you find anything out? What price are they selling for here in Canada?

What part of Canada are you in? Did you find anything out? What price are they selling for here in Canada?Walmarts in the Ottawa area have them for CDN$150. I'm not sure whether these are ZU or MU models.

Tony

Walmarts in the Ottawa area have them for CDN$150.

And they sell for what, $100(US) in the States? Convert that $100(US) to Canadian funds and it works out to $125(Cdn). Yep, we get screwed over again. :(

And they sell for what, $100(US) in the States? Convert that $100(US) to Canadian funds and it works out to $125(Cdn). Yep, we get screwed over again.


Yeah, but at least your prescription drugs are cheaper. ;)

I have been monitoring this site for the last week or two and finally decided to post.

I had purchased a ZU from a BB and had it for about three weeks and slowly it started to have problems with it recognizing discs...plus it would not play the discs on my panasonic DVD player but it would play in all the others except that one and that really annoyed me...i took it back to BB yesterday and got an MU...

so far i have been able to burn a disc that will successfully play on all DVD players....and now i am copying some TV episodes from VHS to DVD...one thing that i found odd is that you cannot edit a disc (remove commercials etc) on the ZU but you can on the MU, which is nice because that is what i am looking for...

I also got my machine ZU replaced with the MU. I have always liked MediaTek chips better than Zoran chips. The MU menu is much nicer and there seem to be more options. I have also updated the firmware. I have not checked this out yet but other posters have stated that the tuner has better sound on the ZU model. I would hope that Cyberhome continues to resolve the problems with posted firmware updates.

My experiences....
I bought a DVR-1600 at Walmart Canada (Vaughan) last week. Paid $149.95CAN, yes that's an unfair US/CAN exchange rate but what ya gonna do... Mine is a ZU. Did the upgrade but didn't notice any significant differences but then I didn't use it in its virgin state for long. Tried a few Ritek +RW that I had bought recently but they all failed a DVD speed test when the disk was put in my computer for editing. Shrink and Decryptor will handle the disks but the read error prevented me from getting a complete show. Then I tried a box of Verbatum +RW's They ware $20.00CAN for 5 at Grand and Toy. That's pricey for sure but guess what? They work!! DVD speed reports no errors and the read graph is smooth all the way up to 4 gigs then the read rate drops but there are no errors all the way until the end of disk. All 5 work this way. I'm currently trying Sony +RW's and will report back. I will be sticking with a ZU because for me the PCM audio on the MU is the killer. That severely limits the record time per disk. I'll bet that's why another user reported no SLP mode on their MU. I have been converting analog video to DVD's for a few years now using a Sony DVMC box that converts to firewire. I import the firewire signal, edit, then encode to DVD. The process works great but is very time consuming. I am hoping the Cyberhome will give me a shortcut for videos that I don't have to edit. I will let you guys (and gals) know how I do.

so far i have been able to burn a disc that will successfully play on all DVD players....and now i am copying some TV episodes from VHS to DVD...one thing that i found odd is that you cannot edit a disc (remove commercials etc) on the ZU but you can on the MU, which is nice because that is what i am looking for...

I found that the disc made on the MU played in all my other players. It could not be duplicated on my Computer, however. That is one of the things I need.

Also can you tell us what media you used for editing out the commercials? (+ or - RW or R?) And are you keeping the discs for archival purposes?
I like to transfer stuff to -R discs (compatable on more DVD players). After I make a disc on the recorder (usually an RW) I transfer the pieces I want to my hard drive. I then put all the pieces together on one disc. I use DVDShrink for this (after using DVDDecrypter to transfer the DVD to the Hard drive). The Mu model (I have one and I'm still learning about its uses) won't allow me to use DVDShrink. The Zu model works fine with DVDShrink. And the sound (I mentioned this earlier) of the MU is MPEG (my dvd players tell me what form the sound is) and the ZU is Dolby Digital. My preference is for Dolby Digital but perhaps I am wrong in this. Most cheap recorders use MPEG, I've read.

I'm just still trying to decide which one to keep (I have one of each). The ZU always works with the -RW discs I use and that is my main need (at the moment) for this machine.

Can you tell us how easily and well the editing goes for you? Are you using the builtin tuner? When you turn the sound up on discs made using the builtin tuner do you detect a distant buzz sound? I do on mine. The ZU tuner sound is quite good (albeit mono).

Good luck with your new toy! :)

EDIT: Stephenisaacs: keep us posted.

I am wondering if anyone has figured out a way to tell the Cyberhome 1600 to create a new chapter? I know it creates on automatically every five minutes, but I am hoping to be able to create my own manually. When recording old videos of bands, it makes more sense to be able to break the show up according to the song.

I keep looking at the manual, thinking that the information will magically appear on the fiftieth read, but alas, it has not.

Alternatively, you could just keep stopping the recording: the DVD keeps playing in between titles. However, this makes for very blocky playback that I would prefer to avoid.

Thanks!! ;)

I have followed this post as a newbie and ended up buying both a zu and an mu.
What I have found is that the ZU will create a new chapter each time you pause a
recording with the auto-chapter timer set to off, while the MU does not. It creates
one long file until you stop the recording. Frustrating actually, because as most
here, I like the MU better. Firmware updates on both of the machines didn't change that difference. So I guess the ZU stays in service to do tv recordings.

Thanks, CaptFantastic! Now I just need to find out which I have. I believe it's an MU, but I looked on the back, and didn't see either designation where the model was printed.

Could you tell me where the option is to turn the Auto-chapter off?

Thanks, CaptFantastic! Now I just need to find out which I have. I believe it's an MU, but I looked on the back, and didn't see either designation where the model was printed.

Could you tell me where the option is to turn the Auto-chapter off?


It should say on the box the Recorder came in..it will be on the barcode i believe...

In reference to DVD Shrink not recognizing a disc burned in the MU version, i unfortunatly found this to be true for me as well. I did some experimenting and was able to use DVD Decryptor to rip it to my computer HD...DVD Shrink said it did not recognize the DVD structure which is odd because Decryptor breaks it down into the same packets that it would of a regular store bought DVD (at least it looked the same to me) but i remembered reading on another site that NERO Recode and shrink do the same thing (they are made by the same person, only diff is that one is free and the other is not!)...so i ran the disc thru Recode and it recognized the disc. I have not tried to burn the disc (DVD+RW) to a regular DVD+R yet because i have some more editing to do on it...so i will probably try later tonight or tomorrow depending on when i have time..will keep you all updated...

Well, I went to use my upgraded MU unit today and the remote won't do anything. Going to find a replacement battery, although I can't believe it died in 4 days.

Anyone else had problems with their remote?

I've been reading this site for the last couple of days and have found a bunch iof good info. I just bought a cyberhome 1600 dvr and have 0 experience in this field. Anyways I hooked it up and made a couple copies of movies that I own. I tried making a copy of the movie Confidence and it told me the content I was trying to record was protected. Why am I able to copy other movies without a problem. Is this a macrovision issue? If so how do I fix it? (All movies are dvd to dvd.) Any help would be welcomed.

More on my experiences with a ZU....
Well the Sony DVD+RW work exactly like the Verbatum and they are about half the price. $11.48CAN at Walmart for 5. Their media code is RICOHJPNW11. Most DVD+RW's I've bought from the majors (Memorex, Maxell and now Sony) were all RICOH. Even the Ritek's were RICOH but for some reason didn't perform as well. I tried a multiple record on a +R tonight. I used a Benq +R (media code Daxon) The first title worked fine. I didn't finalize when I ejected it and was able to record another title on the same disk but... when I ejected and reloaded it, the Cyberhome refused to load the disk. It said recovering from previous error for about 2 minutes then ejected the disk with a flash of the words bad disk in the corner of the screen. The player's own display also said bad disk. I've had good luck with Benq so I'll be trying this experiment again. As far as adding chapters, that's a no go. You can only specify you want auto chapters at 5 or 10 minute intervals. To selectively add chapters you need to import the video into an authoring program like TMP Author. It has a import DVD video feature that I'm going to try soon. If it accepts the video you can add chapters where ever you want and reburn it. One other discovery tonight. Did anyone else notice the Cyberhome will play at double speed with pitch corrected audio allowing you to watch a show in half the time and still understand every word!! Not since my 1977 JVC VHS have I seen this feature. Wonder if the MU can do this. More to come.

I am wondering if anyone has figured out a way to tell the Cyberhome 1600 to create a new chapter? I know it creates on automatically every five minutes, but I am hoping to be able to create my own manually.

Thanks!! ;)


on my ZU the only way is when you press 'pause' and I allways have the unit set for 5min chapters. I started useing Philips +Rs and so far are trouble free and at only $6.98 at CC for a 25pk!

Did anyone else notice the Cyberhome will play at double speed with pitch corrected audio allowing you to watch a show in half the time and still understand every word!! Not since my 1977 JVC VHS have I seen this feature.
Wow, now if I can just talk my girlfriend into watching her soaps in this mode it will be the best investment in a piece of cheap equipment I ever made.

Are there any other DVD RW's out there that have been fairly reliable to try?

I use the cheapest ones I can find - 'GQ' from Fry's. $9.75 for 25 on their Friday deal. Haven't let me down yet!

More on Editing...
The files on the ZU DVD+RW disks are compatible with TMPenc Author. You can import the video from a Cyberhome disk into the program using the "add DVD video" tool. It copies an mpg file from the disk onto your hard drive and you can edit that file to create chapters or delete commercials as you like. The only caution is because you are dealing with an Mpeg file you can't edit on just any frame with this tool. You are limited to full frames which occur once every half second or so. This is fine for commercial cutting and the like. More to come...

I exchanged for another MU unit, and this works good. Schedule recordings
work even I did not have firmware upgraded. Was it just poor QA at the
factory?

More on editing...
This time I tried a DVD+R disk. I recorded a segment, ejected the disk without finalizing then loaded the disk again recorded a second segment. Two titles show up on the opening menu and I was able to rename those titles but... I couldn't delete either of them. I wanted to delete the first one and have only the second one on the menu but the trash can and erase icons were skipped over when I tried to use them. I ejected the disk and finalized it. The disk plays fine in my philips and citizen players. So much for editing on a +R. I realize the space wouldn't be recovered but I expected the bad title could be hidden. More to come...
More on bitrates...
We knew that the video bitrates dropped as record time increased but the audio bitrate also drops. Its 384 for HQ and SP, 256 at LP, and 128 at SLP. Interesting....