Cyberhome DVR 1600 DVD Recorder

DVD recorders today are still in their infancy, which is why I was surprised to find the DVR-1600 at my local Wal-Mart for only $129 CAD; not much more than what VCR's were selling for a few years ago. Since they have a good return policy, I decided to check it out.

On the outside, it appears to have all the important connections: S-video, two composite, Antenna/Cable TV, and a DV in. Output includes one composite, both analog and digital audio output, and another video output which consists of three connectors of which I'm unfamiliar with. The Antenna/Cable TV out is simply a pass-through. For my testing, I used the composite in connector connected to my digital cable box.

Opening the box, I discovered the DVR-1600 main unit, power cable, composite/audio cable to connect to my digital cable box, the remote control, and a rather thin multi-language instruction manual. Upon reading the instruction manual, I quickly came to the conclusion that it was more useful as a liner for the bird cage. The remote control is a loathsome thing, with 44 identically sized tiny rubber keys arranged in a 4x11 grid with very tiny words printed above them. It takes a small round lithium cell, and works only at point blank range. Okay, so ergonomics isn't Cyberhome's strong point.

Setting it up and using it for the first time wasn't exactly straight-forward. I noted that since there was no cooling fan, it would be wise to not have it stacked with other components. The physical hook-up was straight forward enough, but it took me 10 minutes to figure out how to change the input source (one of the tiny buttons at the bottom of the remote). Every time it is powered on, it defaults to itself as a DVD player no matter what the source was the last time it was used.

To make up for its lack of intuitiveness, the DVR-1600 features on-screen help which, while at first appears comprehensive, is actually about as deep as a half-full wading pool. That is to say, they give you a good general idea as to what each feature does, but doesn't really go into enough detail. What is also annoying is the fact that you can't, say, jump from setup to schedule without first exiting setup.

There is a clear attempt at mimicking VCR's in that you can select different quality modes such as SP, LP, EP, SLP, which reflects similar times and image quality as VHS videotape. This means that SP provides 2 hours of recording time on a 4.7GB DVD+R, while SLP provides 6 hours. My main interest is time shifting programs, so I was pleased to discover that SLP mode gave me 6 hours on a DVD with image quality that roughly the same as a VHS tape recorded in SLP. The fact that it had such good image and sound quality made up for the other shortcomings, so I wasn't ready to return it just yet.

As I mentioned, my interest is in time shifting. Imagine my disappointment when the DVR-1600 promptly locked up every time my program was scheduled to be recorded. Judging by the bird cage liner...er, I mean instruction manual, I had my doubts about the usefulness of their technical support...so I turned to the internet and did a search. I discovered a forum which directed me to Cyberhome's web site where I downloaded two ISO images which were updates for my unit. The instructions on-line were worse than the ones in the manual (which I didn't think was possible), but fortunately someone in the forum provided easier to follow directions. I burned two data CD's; one a front end update and the other a back end update. The update went without a hitch, and corrected the lock-up problems my unit was having.

Over three weeks later, I'm still using the DVR-1600. It's now faithfully recording my programs, even though the clock doesn't keep time very well and needs to be re-synchronized on a weekly basis. The remote does feature a commercial skip button, and it sets bookmarks at intervals that I set (I set it to every 10 minutes).

I can only recommend this product to people who know about such things as ISO images and are comfortable with burning CD's and DVD's already. 12 o'clock flashers should avoid this unit at all costs. With the updates, it's actually a competent machine. Do note that I did not test it using the DV in, S-video connector, or Antenna/Cable TV connector; if and when I do, I'll update my review.

UPDATE Dec. 14, 2005:

This unit is still functioning well and relatively reliably after over a month of use. I discovered that it can record on DVD-R just as well as it does on DVD+R discs, making it a very good deal. It's not 100% flawless, even with the firmware updates, but it still works reliably enough. It seems to work better with rewritable media (DVD+RW), and I recommend using that with this product. It can be maddening when you finalize a disc and it fails (it's rare but it does happen now and then). One time it kept locking up after recording 2:26 from video in 2 in 4 hour mode consistently; I was letting it auto-detect a video signal before recording (a nice feature), and finally discovered that waiting then hitting record at the right moment instead of using the auto-detect feature got me over that hurdle. At least with rewritable media, you can reformat and try again when you hit these minor glitches that'll probablly find their way into the next firmware update.

From now on, I'm recording on rewritable media (Fuji DVD+RW), then using my computer to copy onto DVD-R so I can recycle the rewritable media...and hope the next firmware update will take care of these hard-to-find bugs. Rewritable media makes more sense with this type of product anyway.

UPDATE Dec. 15, 2005:

I think I might have jinxed this recorder with my last update. I wanted to like this little DVD recorder; I really did...but today was the last straw. 3 1/2 hours into a 4 hour recording, I had just transferred a Hi8 home video, stopped the recorder to make a chapter, and the drive started clicking. It did that for a few minutes, then announced that the disc was unrecognizable. Even though I used a reusable Fujifilm DVD+RW, it really was the straw that broke the camels back. I have been struggling over the past couple of days just to get this 4 hour recording done, but these stupid problems keep me from doing so. It's too darned frustrating.

I found a suitable replacement; a Citizen C801DVR. It looks more substantial than the DVR 1600. It has all the same capabilities as the DVR 1600 at the same price, but works perfectly. What's more, I could read that "Unrecognizable" disc from the 1600 in this unit. Using the "Adapt" function, I could adapt discs formatted in the DVR 1600 so the Citizen unit could continue to record on them, leaving the recordings already on it intact.

My advice to people who have bought the Cyberhome DVR 1600 and are having problems; the Citizen C801DVR seems to be a good replacement for that piece of plastic waste.