ZV427MG9 DVD Recorder/VCR Combo, HDMI 1080p Up-Conversion, No Tuner

I bought a refurbished unit, cause I know its working when it leaves the factory. Got free shipping and received it in 3 days. Purchased from eComm Electronics. This unit has many features that I will never use, as I only ordered it to copy all my vcr tapes to dvd. I worked perfectly for that and was very simple to use. And of course, it will play the vcr tapes that I have that were copy protected and still want to play from time to time. I hooked it up to my TV using a HDMI cable, (not included). It copied all my tapes, recorded 1985-1998, without any problems. With the refurb unit, the owners manual was a photocopy, and a lot of pages, (as it has many fine features). If you are only going to copy vcr to dvd, just take the following steps for best results: (1) Set "source" on the unit to "vcr", (2) Insert the vcr tape, fast-forward to the end, and re-wind. (don't skip this step, especially if your tapes are old. Playback will be better and you won't have to mess with the tracking). (3) Press "play" on the remote and when you get the part you want to copy press "pause" on the remote. (3) Set the "source" on the unit to "dvd", and insert a dvd disk and wait for it to load. (4) Press the red "dubbing" button on either the unit or the remote and the copying will start. (Make sure the red dubbing light is showing on the unit just above the clock). (5) When the tape is done, wait for the dvd to transfer the recording, (progress shown on screen). (6) FINALIZE You must do this if you want your dvds to play on other dvd players. You can set the unit to "auto-finalize" when a tape reaches the end, but this won't work unless to go the end of the tape. To do it manually: When recording is over, push "stop" button on dvd side of the unit, then press "set up" button on the remote. You will see some options on the screen. Select "disk edit", then select FINALIZE. The screen wil display the progress until it is done. Take the dvd out and test it on another player. I tested them on my computer. This machine has hook ups so you can also copy from an outside source, (camcorder etc), but you will need to learn how to do that via the manual. To sum it up: Great price, fast free shipping, easy to operate, did everything I wanted it to do.

This is the second Magnavox ZV427MG9 DVD Recorder/VCR Combo I purchased within a 2 month period. I really like these units. There are 2 things that are important to address here in order for this unit to work to its full potential. First, your television must have at least one composite input, and one hdmi input, otherwise this machine will not do what it is meant to do: dub from VHS to DVD, dub from DVD to VHS, nor will it record in 6 hour mode on VHS tapes. Second, it is important to push the 'TIMER SET' button after you completed programming for DVD or VHS to record while you are away, if you just turn the machine off, your programs will not record. I have a Magnavox DVD recorder that automatically sets to record once the power button is pushed to turn off, but not this unit because it is a combo unit, so this new feature took awhile for this to sink in. Just look for the little red clock once you completed your programming, if it is there then your DVD recorder will record as programmed, if the little red clock is not displayed then your programs will not record while you are away because you didn't push the 'TIMER SET' button. The channels are brought in via 'RCA cables' because there is no tuner which is not a problem at all. I really enjoy this unit, I don't have a problem buying refurbished units, especially when it saves me more than half buying new. I highly recommend purchasing a refurbished unit, it is under $100 and works great. I also bought a Toshiba DVR620 DVD/VHS Recorder because I needed to have a different brand combo near my Magnavox recorder because I wouldn't be able to program just one device because that one controller would operate both units at the same time because they would be on top of one another. They both do the same thing, only thing the Magnavox is less expensive. Update 10-2-2013. The Source button on the unit that has the DVD and VHS written next to it wouldn't work. So I tried pushing the DVD and the VHS buttons on the remote control and the same results, nothing. I was recording on VHS and I wanted to now record on a DVD disc but I couldn't switch because it got stuck on the VHS mode. Luckily I had another DVD recorder so I recorded on my backup unit. Going back to my Magnavox VHS DVD dual recorder I turned my unit off for a couple minutes and no change, it was still on VHS mode. So I decided to leave it unplugged overnight, and sure enough it worked, it reset itself. Now I am able to use my DVD function buttons. So if you have any problems with a stuck or non-functioning button, try leaving the unit off overnight, and hope it works the next morning. Resetting the time and date the next morning was a blessing. I work on restaurant appliances which are computerized nowadays, 20% of the problem is solved by simply unplugging the units overnight, thus I only charge 1 hour and no travel time the next day, a win win for everyone.

I purchased this unit to copy old home-recorded video cassettes, some of which were 25+ years old. I was concerned that the tapes would become unplayable and I would lose the programing/films that were stored on them (films that were never released on DVD and entire broadcasts of Superbowls and World Series, etc.) I even stumbled on a press conference in March 2003 where George Bush clearly states that we had invaded Iraq because of WMD's- so much for Dick Cheney's revision of history... This remanufactured unit came in very good condition with no visible evidence of wear or abuse and performed its functions as advertised. The manual is well-written and will aid the user in getting up and running in very little time with a little study. The only two issues I had with this DVD recorder were: 1.I had trouble getting some of my video cassettes to track properly on the VCR of this unit. Since these recordings were made on up to 10 different VCR's, this is not too surprising. (I simply used a separate stand-alone VCR as my playback source for the recordings to get around this problem). 2. The recording quality of the 4 and 6 hour modes is pretty poor. One of this unit's nice features is the 2.5 hour recording mode which is perfect for recording films which run longer than 2 hours without having to step down to the 3 or 4 hour modes. Remember that 6 hr video cassettes have a very limited resolution and that they will not produce high quality digital re-recordings in any recording mode on ANY DVD recorder. The DVD's recorded on this machine tend to look much better on an older CRT television than on a digital display. For the price I paid, this unit is quite good and serves the purpose for which it was purchased.

You can't be too finicky when it comes to electronics these days. Gone are the days when big brand names actually meant something. In days past buying a Magnavox meant something. In this case, I believe it still does. Seven or eight years ago, I purchased a stand-alone DVD recorder from Walmart under the Magnavox name. I recorded tons of DVD's on it, quite literally probably 100's and I logged 1000's of hours of playback time with it. It finally bit the dust when my son accidentally spilled water inside it. In this household a DVD player is a must! I didn't have intentions of purchasing a VCR with it. I already have a DVD/VCR combo from LG (one of the lesser products they've made) and I simply figured on using S-video out to the new unit from the LG. I'm not impressed with the menu on the LG and I refuse to use it for dubbing. Sadly, the model I had was no longer available except in refurbished units and I want new. This came in yesterday and I wasted no time getting it hooked up to my 55" LG LED TV. My first try was season 1 of Barnaby Jones DVD's. To be a 1970's show, it looks SOOO crystal clear, like it was filmed yesterday. Even some older homemade DVD's of The Beverly Hillbillies that were on VHS and transferred to DVD looked better than before. Right now I'm in the process of re-transferring said VHS tapes to DVD. These are the old Columbia House tapes from the late 80's, so there is some degree of quality to start with. However, it looks as if though this unit is upconverting the VHS signal to semi hi-def at least. It isn't as sharp as an HD remaster obviously but it isn't bad. Even copying at the slowest possible speed doesn't cause too much degradation in quality at all. The menus are easy to use and do not differ at all from my previous unit. Sometimes change is good but other times you shouldn't mess with perfection. Magnavox didn't mess with perfection, thankfully!!!! This is a must have if you want to transfer your old VHS tapes to DVD!!!!

This DVD/VCR Recorder worked just fine for about 60 days. I used it MAYBE 10 hours total. Then, the VCR part wouldn't record or play a tape any longer. It would go about 15 seconds and shut down. I contacted Magnavox and they said to clean the tape head. Out side of that it needed to go in for repair. Naturally, I was reluctant to do this as I hadn't used it enough to either clean or repair it. (I have several of these older units in my home and do clean them about twice a year...needed or not) I asked WWD to replace the unit and they said: yea, just send it back at your expence and we will refund your money. They seemed to not hear what I was saying so I repeated it and again they would refund my money as soon as I remailed it, packaged, to them.. I asked for a shipping label but NO...returned items are my responsibility. OK....it would cost me a huge amout to rebox and buy the freight when they could easily generate a shipping label for a minimum fee to me. I'd be happy to pay for THEIR shipping rate. So.........DON'T BUY ANYTHING FROM WORLD WIDE DISTRIBUTORS. If something happens to your product it will COST YOU to get it refunded.....only.....no replacement as a turn-around. Needless to say, they are very UNFRIENDLY to friendly customers.

Having had one of these with a built in digital tuner that finally crashed after two years of good service and having had our local cable company upgrade their cable service, I decided to try a tunerless one to see if it was any good. I must admit being a bit put off by the "refurbished" tag but after I got it in, I feel I made a good choice. First this deck is almost exactly like the one I brought eariler and has almost all the same features. I've only had two small glitches with this deck. First, one time while the DVD recorder was writing to a disk, the DVD froze up and wouldn't let me eject the disk or even access the DVD functions. (By the way, this was what happened to the earlier Magnavox and if I had known then what I know now, I would have taken a different approach with it.) When that first happened, I thought there goes another deck. However this time, I decided to try a different approach. First I tried turning the deck on and off to no avail. Then I tried the unpluging and pluging it back in routine and still no luck. Then just out of a hunch, I began switching back and forth from the VCR to the DVD modes over and over again. After about a couple of times doing this to my surprise the DVD side unfroze and started working again and has continued to do so without any further problems. I can't say this will work for everyone but it did for me. I didn't try this with the first deck and now I wish I had. Anyway, the other small glitch is that at times it acts as if it doesn't want to go into a timer mode, but this normally works after a couple of firm presses on the timer button. Overall, this deck is still working great at this time and I've had no more trouble with it other than the main item noted above. I'll more than likely buy another one when this one goes out.

I have ownned VCR/DVD recorder/players for over 10 years. For the first 10 years I got along with a Panasonic which broke down after only 3 years.(cost about as much as a new machine does today to repair). When I went to repair it about 8 months ago (mostly because of the convenience of knowing how to operate it), Panasonic screwed that up so bad that I had to cancel my credit card payment to them (about $170.)and they returned my broken unit to me which I limped along with (the VCR side still worked) all this time while TRYING to check out other manufacturers. I finally decided to choose this Magnavox. I liked the fact that it was American made (?????)and thought the price was right (about $209.) with tax and shipping. Now the issues. 1st, the seller (Christian Integrity) charged me sales tax. Why?. Because the seller simply went down to her local Walmart store in Idaho and purchased it and had it sent to me in Florida. I could have purchased it for the same price through Amazon and had the comfort of knowing that Amazon stood behind it which I think it still does, but, I would have rather dealt directly with Amazon. Now the unit. Why, why, why do even American manufacturers have to make these units sooooo complicated to operate? Ok, many of the controls are the same as my Panasonic and I can make the adjustment, but, to do that I have to do a lot of manipulating with the remote. Many of the buttons are not in logical locations to perform the function it was intended for. example, pause button located near the bottom of the remote away from the play, stop and FF and RW buttons. I spent all of my adult life working in the electronics industry in radio, TV, computers and satellites. OK, there are blank spots in my 68 year old memory banks, but I ask. Should that matter to a customer? It seems like none of these manufacturers employ design engineers anymore to sit down and play with these units for 6 months before they dump it on the unsuspecting consumer. I had a coaxial connection on my Panasonic and they were simple to hook up to, reliable and convenient. Yeah, better picture with the S-video blah, blah, blah. Well, my satellite converter box doesn't have an S-video connection. Why does the printing on the remote buttons have to be so small and in almost the same color as the background. Why can't the unit record some disks without using the +VR feature? WHY IS THERE NO ON/OFF BUTTON ON THE UNIT? I have to unplug the unit from the wall outlet to shut it off. Is it because I lose all memory if the unit is unplugged for even a few seconds? I have used most of the features on this unit and, at first, I thought some of the other reviews I read were correct that the unit had problems reading DVD's etc. and I did experience that until I ran my disk cleaner disk and lo and behold, not only did the picture quality improve dramatically, but, all of the other features such as loading disks and playback searching for chapters etc. work immediately. Many of these features were not listed in the product description or shown in the on-line pictures (such as the remote). I'm still trying to get used to the clock/timer function, so, clearly I have some more work to do. Also the fan is loud probably due to the plastic ball bearings used today (as opposed to steel). I do like the fact that the pause button stays on pause for a very long time as opposed to others I have used that only last about 4 minutes (the length of a typical commercial on todays TV today). Overall, this product is acceptable but I would have to think about purchasing another like it. How long it lasts without any problems will be a deciding factor.

If you had one in the past and now cannot do what you used to do with it, you will love it!!

With no manual I am not sure I am getting the most out of the product, like where is the panel display?