Oh, How I Wish Epinions Had "Zero Stars"
Written: Dec 28 '04
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Pros: Inexpensive
Cons: Poor build quality, eats tapes, poor image quality, slow and unresponsive
The Bottom Line: While the price may be tempting, don't fall for it. The problems will result in this unit costing you more in the long run.
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| americanbear's Full Review: Emerson EWD2203 DVD Player / VCR Combo |
A Highly Over-rated Product
I want you to know that Epinions requires me to give a product at least one star. This product doesn't deserve a star. It deserves a warning sign, which at least one retail employee I'm aware of is trying to give it. Also, I don't like to make negative reviews because it's possible I just had a bad experience. This review is based on my personal experience with three Emerson units our church bought (two of these and one of the new redesigned 2204 version); as well as my discussion with a retail employee at the major retailer these were bought from. Nevertheless, I recognize the need to provide you the potential buyer with information about the product's features, not just the shortcomings. First, I will give you this warning - if you value your money and video tapes, this is a strictly academic discussion, avoid this product completely.
Okay, so if all goes well what does this unit offer?
This unit offers a very basic, very simple VHS VCR and a very basic DVD player. These were purchased for about $90 but now sell for about $80 at a major big-box discount store. Wonder why the price decrease?, read on... This product is made by Funai Corporation, which markets products under the Funai, Emerson, Symphonic, and Sylvania brand names. The VCR features include:
VHS playback - This is a basic VHS VCR, playing and recording only normal tapes (not even S-VHS Quasi Playback). Recording is monophonic only, Hi-Fi playback is supported.
Cable-ready Tuner - This is one of this units few, well-working features. Since one of these units is connected to a video projector with no TV tuner this is critical. The tuner in this unit is quite acceptable. Nothing special but not total garbage either (unlike the rest of the box).
Digital Tracking, Auto Head Cleaning, Slow-Motion Playback, and other common goodies - Commonly expected these days, I'm glad to see that (at least on paper), Emerson does not fail to include these expected features.
The DVD Player features include:
2x and 4x Zoom Modes - This DVD player enables you to zoom in on the action, but only to 4x.
Component video output, S-Video, and coaxial S/PDIF - For the home cinema person, these enable optimal quality video and sound.
MP3 Playback - I've never tried it, but it is on the list of features.
Now for what is really helpful when deciding on this unit
Here is my list of reasons I have not to buy this unit:
It eats tapes - After about four months, one of these units ate it's first tape. Two of them have now gotten hungry, and we've lost a couple rather expensive tapes. When they do so, without fail the image will start to break up (when it happened playing back - once) or it'll start making noises (when it happened while rewinding - twice) and then the "VCR" light on the front begins to blink. In the case it was really bad, it blinked much faster so this seems to be the unit's version of an error message. Ejecting the tape presents a stuck in the VCR, thoroughly chewed-up precious videocassette. Do not trust important tapes nor rental tapes to this unit at any cost, I will repeat I've seen this with not one but two of these units.
The DVD player doesn't read all discs - Some discs simply will not read in this unit, those that do have a tendency to freeze up or glitch. The remote becomes unresponsive at times in DVD mode. Not quite as bad as it ruining tapes, but another good reason not to buy this unit.
Audio CD playback is very unresponsive - Changing CD tracks takes several seconds, just like the DVD menu problems presented above. This leads me to believe that this system uses a very slow transport and also has a drastically underpowered processor.
Poorly designed remote and cheap build quality - This unit has very flimsy build quality, and the remote is designed in a readable, but very poorly laid-out manner. In retrospect, the remote is probably the best part of the unit so I won't criticize it too much.
At the best of times, image and sound quality are poor - Especially with the VCR half, this unit does not present a quality picture. Video tapes are noisy looking, and auto-tracking leads to very poor results at times. DVDs have a soft, unfocused look (poor quality video DACs) and sound is flat and lifeless. So, even if you get a unit that works and doesn't eat your tapes you still won't get acceptable quality by any modern standard.
These problems are not just mine - In talking to the guy at the major retailer these were purchased from I asked him what DVD/VCR combo he'd recommend. I didn't mention I was replacing this one because I wanted to make sure he wouldn't recommend it. He didn't. He gave a brand preference, then said that most of all was to not buy an Emerson. I mentioned I knew that, and briefly told him of this experience. His exact words were "welcome to the world of Emerson" - these are all apparently common problems with these units. They may be cheap, but in the long run they'll actually end up costing you more than a quality DVD/VCR combo unit (one eaten tape easily eliminates the savings, not to mention having to buy a replacement unit). Two thumbs down.
Conclusion
If you're looking at buying this unit, I say to you to consider yourself warned. Take that sales guy's advice - buy anything but this Emerson. It truly is the worst DVD/VCR unit I have ever seen. Unbelievable that they continue to sell these; but the sales guy mentioned above said that even after warning people half go ahead and buy one of these due to the price. Don't make that mistake.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 89
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Epinions.com ID:
americanbear
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Member: Mark Uhde
Location: Montana, USA
Reviews written: 67
Trusted by: 13 members
About Me:
Thanks for reading my reviews! Learn more in my profile or at markuhde.com
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