Home > Consumer Reviews > Zenith XBV342 Progressive-Scan DVD-VCR Combo

On day in August my eight year old Panasonic Hi Fi VCR died. I was going to get a new HiFi VCR but they were about $80. I had an original Toshiba DVD which worked fine, but I wanted to shrink down the space for components.

This unit is all in one. I hooked it up in ten minutes to the TV, Digital Cable Box and Receiver. What is nice is that you can watch TV, DVD or VCR throught the RF output (LESS HASSEL). When you watch a feature film you can route it throught the receiver and Component Video in on the TV for clearer picture and great sound.

The unit is very quiet (even rewinding tapes). It doesnt whistle playing DVDs and I tried an MP3 CDR of 10 hours of Jimmy Buffett Music (through the TV Speakers or Receiver). It is great with onscreen display.

If you are worried about the price don't be. The next step up offers a few more features but not worth the extra $20 unless you need it.

I purchased this item as I wanted to save some space in my entertainment center. The DVD VCR combo seemed a great option and for the price I thought it was a bargain. You get two high end machines in one box, less then half the price you would pay for two seperate machines and half the space consumption.

The machine is very quiet, no squeeking when rewinding tapes, no buzzing when playing DVD's so you get the imression its worth alot more then what you paid for it. Also I love how you can plug it into the tv, amp etc... from the front of the machine, it's convienent if you move the machine around alot. Also it's good to hook up a video games machine to it.

All in all its a great machine, cheap and worth it.

Since the price of this combination unit is only slightly higher than a free standing DVD player I purchased it to replace an aging Toshiba VCR as well as a first DVD player. It is simple to connect and just as simple to operate. After several hours use in both DVD and VCR mode I can say that I am very happy with this purchase. I would recommend this unit to anyone.

Bought this as a replacement for a 20 year Toshiba VCR that finally bit the dust. Worked fine for 3 weeks, then the audio output circuitry for the DVD player went south. The sound would die after playing for an hour and the only way to get it back was to shut the player off for 15 to 20 minutes. I suspect an overheating problem in the circuitry despite more than adequate clearance and airflow. VCR continues to work fine. The store (Circuit City) gets this one back today.

I would agree with the other reviewers that this is a quiet unit. VHS autotracking left a bit to be desired playing back tapes recorded in other VCRs but this is a common problem with most VCRs out there. What I do like about this unit is that it played DVD+R/RW and DVD-R media. I did not have any DVD-RW media to try. My main complaint with this unit is that it does not play VCDs and had trouble reading at least one brand (generic) of CDR media that I have. It did not claim to read VCDs though but my old cheap Apex played VCDs fine. Otherwise, compared to the other offerings of DVD/VCR products, I picked this because it seemed to be the best value of the bunch. I recommended the Toshiba SD-V391 to a friend prior to buying this one for myself. The Toshiba is a cheaper looking and smaller unit but the technical specs are better. I still think the Zenith is a better value but would order the XBV343 instead for a few bucks more. The 343 was out of stock when I ordered the 342. At the time of this writing, both are showing OOS. The 343 appears to be a cosmetic refresh and one previous reviewer (maybe from another site) had both and claims that the specs are equivalent. Another thing to note about the 342 is that it does not come with component cables.