Home > Consumer Reviews > GoVideo DVR5100 Progressive Scan DVD-VCR Combo

I purchased this for my wife for Christmas. When it was finally setup, I noticed that there were wavy lines going across the screen. They were very noticible when the picture was black or dark, and somewhat visible during playback of any DVD - I tried 5 different ones. This was through the RCA connection (Video, Left, Right audio). When I switched to the RF (Cable TV) connection, the lines were gone, but then the picture quality had all the failings of a standard Cable TV signal. I hooked the unit up to a different television and had the same wavy lines. I was about to return the unit to Amazon.com, when I noticed on the box it says "do not return this to the store, call our support line or email us at..." I called the support line and after 2 minutes navigating the phone menu, I got the message, "call back later, we are experiencing high call volume" and was disconnected. I called back an hour later and got the message immediately without even entering the phone maze. I decided to try emailing their support address. Here was my email to them:

"The picture for every DVD I have tried has wavy lines going across it, and a faint black line going up the right side of the screen. I tried 5 different dvds. It does not happen when connecting through the RF cable, but then the picture is garbage quality. The box said to contact you before returning the product, so I am, but if I do not receive a response within 24 hours, I am sending it back to the vendor. I tried calling your customer support number and was told to 'call back later'. "

Here is their reply:

" We appologies for the inconvenience you have faced,

You would have connected it with your VCR or you have a TV/VCR combo. You need to connect it to a stand alone TV."

Here is my reply:

"Nowhere did I state that I was connecting to a VCR or TV/VCR combo. I was
connecting it directly to a standalone tv; I don't know why you would
assume otherwise. Is this the only advice you have?"

Here is their second reply:

" PLEASE SEND ME YOUR ZIP CODE AND I CAN RECOMMEND YOU NEAREST SEVICE CENTER.BECAUSE FOR THIS PROBLEM UNIT HAS TO BE TAKEN TO THE SRVICE CENTER ONLY.THANKS"

These are copied and pasted with all errors left intact. Anyhow, I returned the unit to Amazon.com today and will never buy a SonicBlue product again.

Overall, the build quality and image seems good, though the price is steep and features limited compared to separate standalone units. I wish the VCR was S-VHS. Easy to use overall. Commercial Advance is best feature since sliced bread. The DVD>VHS one-touch copy is very convenient for dubbing home movies from VCD to tape for grandma. Read the fine print, and you'll find that many of the cheaper DVD/VCR combos can't record onto tape from DVD (note DVR5100 still can't record copy-protected DVDs). It will play CD-R and VCDs, but not SVCDs (beware Rio HT2030 from same manufacturer, which won't play CD-R at all!). I haven't tried it with DVD-R yet. I had the same awful experience with SonicBlue support: endless phone hold, no or useless response to emails. That said, if you must have a combo unit, this is one of the better ones. However, if you have room in your rack/reciever for separate components, you'll get more for your money that way.

I did a lot of research for a DVD/VCR combo unit when my bedroom VCR was fried in a power outtage. Most of the units seem to spread the wealth of features in the DVD rather than VCR direction, which is not good for me since I still tape a lot of what I watch from broadcast television. The one VHS feature I had to have was Commercial Advance, in which the unit marks commercials after recording and then fast forwards through them during playback. Not only does this really work most of the time and save time when watching, but I must admit that it is fun to snicker as the junk that the advertisers throw at us goes flying by without me being a captive audience. The GoVideo DVR5100 seemed to fit the bill, as it is almost unheard of to have Commercial Advance in a combo unit. Even though there were some mixed reviews on the quality of the unit, and it had some features like progressive scan that I could not take advantage of now, I decided to take a chance at $(...).

Unfortunately, the VHS picture quality was terrible. I was shocked that at this point in the evolution of the VCR, even in a combo unit, there could exist such poor quality. I was only able to use the RF cable connections going to my older analog TV, but I expected better. Whether watching broadcast cable TV channels through the VCR, taped shows, or even pre-recorded VHS tapes, there were thin white lines, sometimes straight, sometimes wavy, all over the screen, especially visible on dark or black pictures. I only tried the DVD portion once. It seemed to work OK, but it was a bit noisy.

Given that the VHS problems were not the result of poor cable signal (the television alone worked as fine as it always did) or poor tapes, I could not see bringing this brand new unit into an authorized repair center. It just does not seem like the type of problem to be fixed easily, if at all. So I returned the unit to Amazon(.com) and will probably go with the Zenith XBV243 or the new JVC HR-XVC20U and hope for the best.

Just hooked this up, and it only took a few minutes. The instruction booklet is extremely clear with a lot of screen pictures. Everything was explained clearly and I was able to start watching DVDs quickly and knew how to use the remote. It also fit right into our entertainment center where the old VCR player was. For a dual deck, it is very sleek. We also have a Go Video Dual Deck VCR and have been very pleased with its perfomance these past couple years. I would recommend this company and this DVD/VCR combo.

Finally got the time to setup this unit and the VCR tape transport eats tapes. Unfortunately I am just beyond the 90 day warranty so I am out of luck. The DVD ouput is fine through the SVHS cable but the VCR output which is a standard RCA cable is terrible. It is hard to justify spending the money on repairing the defective transport when the VCR output is such a miserable quality. Since the company is in Chapter 11 and the assets are changing hands you would be wise to find another manufacturer.