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I so got sucked into ‘new and improved.’

Recently I bought a brand new ilo DVDR05MU.

I don’t like it 1 bit. Why?

#1. It’s so smart it’s stupid.
Unlike VCR tapes a blank tape is a blank tape. It doesn’t matter if there is 10 min left or 8x60min left on your tape it will record until the very end.

You’re DVD-R it knows how much space you have left down to the second, and won’t record unless there is enough space. This could be a good thing, this could be a a bad thing. Depending on your point of view. So you will almost never use a complete DVD-R (on timer record)

#2. My VCR has 8 timers you can set, the DVD-R has 8 timers you can set.
Now this kind annoys me. Due to the fact that it does not take more than a 1K of memory to set this stupid stuff. – if it was programed right – I expect a new device like this (compared to my 7 yr old vcr) to have more memory to store timers.

#3. 8hrs on DVD != 8hr VHS
You can record so your DVD can store 8 hours. Very poor quality. You have to run the 6 hour one just to get some decent quality. 8 hours is such poor quality it’s a waste.

#4. It has to finalize/update between shows.
Say for instance you have a show you want to record at 7:00am every day, and it ends at 7:30am, and then start another show on a different channel at 7:30am to 8:00am. On a VCR this is a very easy feat to accomplish. At most you set the first one for 7:29am, and you’re good to go.
This dang thing sucks so much in this respect. First I start a recording at 7:00am run it till 7:29am figuring that would be ok. Nope it’s one of those it’s so smart its stupid things. A dialog box comes up, and says to insert recordable medium at 7:28am. So you can not record back to back shows with this thing. I’ve even tried recording to 7:00am to 7:28am in hopes that it would finalize and be ready for the next show by 7:30am

Alas it sucks. I think I’m going to return this thing.

For the record I updated the firmware, and it seems to be functioning a little closer to what you would think a DVD+R should be. The firmware update seems to fix my biggest gripe, and that’s the unit not recording back to back shows. I did a few tests record 1 minute, change the channel record 5 minutes to see if it was smart enough with the new firmare. Apparently it is.

We’ll find out later in the real world test of today’s recording schedule.