The New Funai ZV427FX4 Combination VCR and DVD Recorder

CUSTOMER REVIEW



I had an old Panasonic DVD/VCR recorder and it finally died. I thought about taking the 100 VHS tapes I have to a professional place to get it done, but at $25 a pop ($2500!!), this machine looked like a better deal. It is very, very easy to 'install.' Unlike my last one, I didn't have to deal with red/yellow/green/blue/white jacks, trying to figure out what goes where. They do have that option, but one HDMI cable did the trick instead.



Directions are simple and clearly printed. I only had to look at a few pages because I'm only interested in the dubbing part of it. I don't care about any other features. However, we do watch DVDs on it as well, and we were amazed at the quality. Our old Panasonic had really gotten bad and we didn't even realize it. This new one has a great picture.



You can't watch and tape TV through it (no tuner), but we have a DVR with our satellite dish, so we didn't need that.



It does the job easily. I thought about getting a Toshiba, but several reviews seem to indicate that it was a bit more difficult to dub. This machine is simple, IF you follow the simple, illustrated directions.



I had never heard of Funai, but for the price I was willing to give it a try. Since I have no clue how long it will last I bought the extended warranty (cheap). If it gets all my videos done, it will be more than worth the price.



IMPORTANT!!! You need to have DVD- (MINUS) not PLUS. This unit will not work with PLUS (DVD+). DVD- are easy to find. After looking at reviews, it seems that not all recordable DVDs are created equal. I ended up ordering "100 Taiyo Yuden/JVC 8X DVD-R 4.7GB Silver Thermal Lacquer DVD-R." These appear to be the best quality and last the longest. Amazon has the best price for them.



EDIT on April 18, 2014: It's still going strong. The dubbing is even easier than I thought. I put the VHS in one side, the DVD in the other and just press the "dub" button on the remote. I don't have to set anything up or do anything else to start. After it's finished, you do have to "finalize" it, but that's not hard at all. Simple directions are included.