The record company needed to transfer the VHS tapes I bought years ago to DVD format. The younger tapes weren’t getting any better, and I didn’t know if they were still in good condition. I looked at several duplicate comments and it was wrapped up in the purchase model of Magnavox, due to the former’s loyalty. Or so I thought. It cost me about $150, which I figured was effective as my VHS tapes were worth close to $500. I’m happy I told my wife that I saving her a ton of money and I want to have one. tapes on DVD forever. He half-heartedly nodded and gave me the green light.
When he arrived at the unit home, the electronic nightmare began. I cannot blame Magnavox for the confusion and stupidity of the traditions which were most likely written by someone whose native language was not. In English. For all guilt is forgiven. When an Electronics Engineer admits that he can’t figure out the wiring diagram and instructions, he’s in the game.
But he was relentlessly pursued. What did you decide? I tried saving money on groceries and he couldn’t do what was sitting in the original box in my basement. I struggled through various combinations of wiring options, trying to find which diagrams that didn’t match my parts would be correct to hook up. I plugged in the power cord without too much effort. My back was killing me from leaning on electronic toys to run the hooks.
As a male, the usual route would be to randomly start clicking random buttons until something happened. This time, though, I had a brainstorm and wanted to do the right thing – by following the command. Now that it was wired, the secondary fun began: getting the unit to work properly. This proved worse than the wiring. I recall my troubles with this model down to two more important things: the owner’s manual and the remote control.
The transfer of my VHS program to blank DVDs went surprisingly well. After all, this is the primary reason for purchasing this model. The quality of recorded DVD is equal to the original tapes – it is superb. Magnavox therefore gives this task an “A” grade.
The owner’s manual was printed in China. I suspect he is a Chinese writer who is the author of Latin grammar and composition. Without sounding xenophobic, Chinese writings too. Hey, I wish I could write one for them. The result is no comprehende. The words to the TV program were ambiguous, at best. For example, I set a suitable memory for an episode of The Sopranos. The next morning I checked the status and only found an error message. He mentioned something about overlapping programs. Where are they hindered? It is nothing at all. Fugged about it!
Then I tried again to record two hours using the timer function. I breezed through the setup, and then asked for the mode on it. I clicked on the blank selection and it defaulted to HQ. “High quality”. Great! We live that very way! Later I found out that HQ mode was only an hour, so I missed the second half of the program. I was relegated to the constant “know the error and the way.” But it doesn’t have to be a painful process. Again, the worst thing about the manual was the vague installation terminology and the mismatch with the illustrations of the component settings.
I was also very disappointed that I could not look at the photos in this model. It doesn’t support JPEG images, which is ridiculous. The $49 DVD player I bought for my laws does it, and it does it very well. As far as playback of the memorabilia goes, this cheap DVD player has it all. What I really regret is that I didn’t mention that the model doesn’t support it. So how are you supposed to know all the ins and outs of a unit before buying? You can’t do this.
Finally, remote control is fun. The model is very slim, only about two inches wide and five inches long, and has buttons of small size. The buttons have functional designations that mean nothing to me. I can’t just try to match the hands of the vagrant with them. But it gets worse: the buttons are so small that skinny males can easily press two or more times. And they are almost all of the same form. A good remote, like my TV’s, has various shaped buttons that are ergonomically designed to be recognized by the user without looking at them. It would be acceptable to remove this pattern if we had sharp stubble instead of fat fingers. If enough of these remote things are generated, human evolution can adapt to this configuration.
Is this a good copy to buy? I don’t recommend it for the price. Look for one that has all the features you want, first and ask to see and hold the remote control. I happened to buy this on the spur of the moment, without the benefit of researching the various brands. If I did it again, I’d check out the first copy of Consumer Reports’ email specials and reviews. It could save you a lot of grief in the end.
