Magnavox ZC320MW8 DVD Recorder

If you're looking to buy the Magnavox ZC320MW8 DVD recorder you are probably looking for a no-frills machine that does the job for a reasonable price; you wouldn't expect a top of the line model with all of the whistles and bells for this price. However, if you are looking for a DVD recorder that will make perfectly good copies from VHS, TV, your home cable box with a hard drive DVD recorder, or from other DVDs, then this machine will not disappoint.

Having read the other reviews for this product, I would make the following observations:

1. The pause function works perfectly well; the BIG red pause sign that is displayed on your TV (but not on the DVD being recorded) for a few seconds is a good enough indicator of the machine's current recording status. If you forget whether or not you pressed the pause button because it is not continually displayed throughout the pause process, I would attribute any confusion more to user error than to a design flaw. In essence, it would be nice to have the pause sign displayed while the machine is paused, but I SERIOUSLY doubt it will be an issue for you.

2. The lack of a continuous 'time remaining' feature will only be a problem if you plan your recording badly. The user sets the amount of recording time on each disc before recording begins, so he should know how much time he has. And after each recording session the disc menu clearly shows how much time is still available on the disc with even a modicum of planning, this will not be a problem.

3. The machine doesn't make copies of the disc it just recorded, but by repeating the recording process you will have an exact copy. The only problem with this would occur if you were creating a disc from a large number of sources, but I'd guess that most (95%+) users will make straight copies from VHS, TV or DVD which would negate this issue entirely. BTW, I have copied many films from TV and edited out the commercials with no problems whatsoever. And you could always hook up a DVD player to the machine to play the first disc and make a copy that way.

4. I've never had a problem with the remote (pointing it even vaguely in the direction of the machine has always worked for me) or with the editing process. The only tiny issue I have is with the user manual; while the step-by-step instructions it gives are very clear, difficult to get wrong, and even have pictures to illustrate each task, I found the order of the chapters not to be intuitive. So if you can handle having to check the table of contents the first couple of times you use the machine (after two uses you should be able to use the machine without needing recourse to the manual), then you will have no problems.

To sum up; for all but the most finicky of recordings this machine will very easily do exactly what the user needs, and will do it for a good price.

Like everyone else, I also wanted to copy my old VHS in DVDs. It's easy to setup, does the job, no problems.

The price was fair and I have had it for more than a year without problems, but no heavy usage either.

Remote is kinda oversimplified. Labeling the titles is like using your cellphone to type text... clumsy.

Pause key is used a lot, so it should be bigger. In a nutshell, the design of the remote is horrible.

You want to make a second copy to send to mommy ? Too bad: the device doesn't make copies by itself, so you have to have your player hooked to it.

No display of any kind, so you have no idea how much time you have recorded.

No pause indicator.. this is worse as it only flashes on the screen for a couple of seconds, so while you mess with the source of program you find yourself unsure if pause is engaged or not.

So, here the pros:

price/value

easy to hook up

does the job

slim

your grandma is probably smart enough to use it :-)

Cons:

no pause indicator: you will miss this !

no elapsed/remaining time indicator

doesn't make copies of the finished disk : you will wish for this

remote needs to point straight at the unit.. you can live with that

editing and finishing the disk is kinda of hidden

Recommended for beginners and non techie people or, just as an entry level recorder.

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Just to clarify I bought this machine from walmart.com. The machine was refurbished and cost me $56.55 after taxes and shipping fees.

I bought this machine because I needed to transfer my 8mm Sony Camcorder tapes to DVD. About two months ago I bought the Diamond One Touch digital converter to convert my 8mm tapes to my computer so I could then transfer to DVD. Bad idea. The Diamond One touch simply sucked and created out of sync audio, choppy and off centered picture, along with black static lines appearing on the picture often. I am so glad I did some more research and opted for hardware that would convert straight to DVD rather than converting to a digital file first.

Magnavox DVD Recorder is simply awesome if you are using for the purpose of converting to DVD. I'm not sure how it plays as a simple DVD player since for the past two days I've been recording only. Thus far I have successfully converted six home videos. The audio and video quality is very good. Keep in mind though that if you are transferring from video, the quality is probably going to only be as good as the video. I played back my DVD's in a blue ray player and viewed on a HD TV and the quality was pretty good for some old 8mm tapes. The color is a little washed out yes, but that's because of the 8mm tapes and not this player. Make sure you are using high quality DVD's that have enough space. Also be sure to read the directions, it took me two DVD's to mess up before I got it right.

If you also want a digital file of the tapes you are converting then after you have recorded on to DVD and finalized, place the DVD into your computers CD/DVD drive, go to your computer options and open up the drive location for your CD/DVD and copy over the VTS files, the longer the video the more VTS files you will have. No need to convert these files since they should be .vob which will play in windows media player, not sure about quick time player. Anyway, this was a great buy if you need to convert home videos. Of course you will need the camcorder to play you 8mm tapes. Simply connect the camcorder to the DVD recorder the same way you would connect the camcorder to your TV. After that connect the DVD recorder to your TV so you can see what you are transferring. Pop in a blank DVD into the recorder, read the instruction manual which comes with the DVD recorder and go fourth from there. Everything records in real time, so it will take some time to convert everything.

Magnavox ZC320MW8 DVD Recorder

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I have 2 of these,,,one with the vhs combo and they all 3 do the job. Nothing fancy as far as trying to operate it. (That's what I like about it.) Records nice with a good playback picture. I think Walmart mightta originally sold these. I've had several dvd recorders and these do what you want for a fraction of the Panasonic and Sony's cost.

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I have two other Magnavox DVD recorders. Simple to the point. Very happy with this product. Refurbished scared me. Not anymore.