Cyberhome DVR 1600 DVD Recorder

At first glance this system is awesome for the price. It is one of the lowest priced, high function machines available. It has excellent quality and function. However, it is not user friendly and it is very difficult to figure out the functions. If you are not technically inclined you will have a very hard time with this player/ recorder. Just trying to figure out how to get from one programming screen to another will cause you to throw it away.
The other problem is tech support. Cyberhomes website is nice enough until you need help. Their tech support links do not work. All of us at one time or another have lost our remotes. If you lose the one for your Cyberhome player you need to buy a new machine. They do not have codes for universal remotes and although they say they have replacement remotes available, unfortunately, their online store is now non-existant, the link no longer works. If you try to email tech support for this matter, the link for tech support email doesn't work either.
My summation is that for a player/recorder that is available at most retail/ discount stores it is not worth the money and aggravation you put into it. To own this piece of technology you need to be an expert or above to work it and if you need any kind of support, forget it. Stick with the brand names.

Having worked with electronics for many years I was pleasantly surprised when I opened up mine after it went dead.
I like the way it has been put together, very neat, BUT! some very poor quality parts,
I bid on one that was powering up but was not reading discs, when I got it I removed the power supply and put it in my dead machine,
I had the same problem so I knew not reading disc is a power supply problem, it was a capacitor that was loading down the
spindle motor voltage so it wouldn't turn the disc to read it, this power supply had two bad capacitors mine had four bad
capacitors, they went bad in less than a year and that means they cut corners by using inferior quality parts and are paying for
it, perhaps that is why the company is for sale.
I bid on and won two more, they are coming tomorrow and I have new capacitors waiting.
I don't like is the input selection, it stinks, otherwise this is a nice DVD-R
"If you can't fix it don't own it".

PS.I rate it Good because it is good for me it might not be for you.

At first the $110 price was better than other DVD recorders.But after about two months it would freze during the formatting,only formatting 98% of the DVD-R,Now it doesn't even begin the formatting showing "no disc" when put in.The only discs it will read are pictures and data now.
Stay with a name brand.This one will turn into a waste of money.

GOT IT NEW AND RETURNED 2 OF THESE ALREADY. HAD THIS ONE FOR 8 MONTHS. IT WORKED FINE THEN THE SAME THING HAPPNED AGAIN. IT STOPPED READING THE DISK. NOW THE DOOR DOESEN'T EVEN OPEN. I AM PLACING IT IN THE GARBAGE NOW. GET A BRAND NAME PLEASE LIKE I AM NEXT TIME.

This model is JUNK! Don't waste your time or $$! I took the whole thing apart since it didn't work anyway just in hopes of jarring something to get it to work. It won't even format a DVD to 50%.

Firstly, I would like to say I was really happy with this item. I had it a couple years and it was a time saver.

It worked very well and I did manage to create numerous DVDS. It had no trouble with any of the media I had purchased (ok, one or two types were not compatible but for the most part this was minor).

The trouble began when the remote seemed to stop working. The remote is sending its IR but the unit is no longer responding. Ok one figures buy another remote and no worries...ok, from where?

Universal remotes do not work with this unit (I have tried 4, ok it could be the IR in the unit itself). There are a number of sub menus for recording you will never be able to reach with a universal remote (if you can find a UR that it responds to).

The Cyberhome brand is up for sale due to Phillips patents infringements so getting a working remote from them will be incredibly difficult. Having it serviced? Naw...to the landfill for you!

I liked being able to record my favs and movies. I liked using all the features but that was short lived. I had it almost a year and had the following problems: Messages saying "bad disc", "no disc", it would stop in the middle of recording and say "bad disc". I threw away so many formatted dvd-rw's I can't count them all. I was able to record about 20 movies & programs before it lost it's mind. It finally wouldn't go past "Hello" even when I powered it off an on several times. I can't get my dvd out of it at all because now it won't even power on. I wouldn't buy it at all, save your money for a nice dvr.

This product works great. has a lot of options and records great dvd. Not many people have good thing to say about this product but to me was worth all the money I spent for it

I've gone thru 6 units is LESS than 1 year and THEY ALL STUNK!! This unit is ONLY good for recording the NEWS, sitcoms or anything that does not have any MUSIC as MUSIC warbles faster then slower (like you are listening to a PHONO/TURNTABLE while someone presses down on the turntable as it spins). The UNIT ALWAYS RUNS HOT so don't record more than (1) thing NOR any LONG MOVIES (as they won't FINALIZE)!!! Support... what support! JUST SAY "NO" to ANY CYBERHOME DVD RECORDER!!!

Unit is priced cheap and worked fine. As far as the hooking up, not everyone is technically advanced, but it was simple enough as long as you follow directions. If you can walk and breathe at the same time, you should have no problem. With name brands all you are doing is paying more for the name.

It's easily the most functional DVD burner I've ever owned, far better than the Memorex and TruTech I tried to replace it with. Programs are capable of having 15-character labels, whereas on other machines you could only use 12 (or even 10!) characters, which is a big handicap if you're recording TV and want to list the episode # as well as title. No other recorder has an editing function that's as easy to use. It would be excellent value for the money…if only the parts were good enough to last longer.

The first unit I had lasted 6 months.
The second lasted 3 months. (Then I tried the other brands, and found them annoying and inferior, despite the higher price on the Memorex.)
My current unit I bought off eBay and it's lasted 14 months, but is rapidly giving up the ghost. (Sigh.)

I hope it is just a capacitor problem (I've never heard that idea…usually they say machines don't read discs because the lens needs cleaning, but that never seems to be the issue), and easy to fix. If these units would last, they would be excellent.

On my fourth one, discovered that if you use RWs re writables, it's excellent. Had it for about 2 or 3 years. It also plays DivX.

I should have read the reviews beforehand, Item was broke by the time it was delivered. Wouldn't even register a DVD.

More than 70% of these appear to stop functioning after only a year or less. This happened to me as well. Also the company had their rights revoked due to a law suit from Philips, driving them into bankruptcy.
http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/16/fbi-seizes-20-000-cyberhome-dvd-players/

Check out the hundreds of bad reviews at the following URL:
http://www.videohelp.com/dvdrecorders/cyberhome-ch-dvr-1600/1092#comments

product helped me copy many movies and save hundreds of dollars going to the video store.even though they didnt send me a manual,it was still very easy to use and so far ive made about ten copys and still doing more evry chance i get

Works great. Had a little trouble setting it up. Thge only problem is that with a satellite system you must ensure that your TV is actually onthe channel you want to record which negates some of the intent in purchasing it in the first place!! Seller was prompt in shipment.

the cyberhome dvr 1600 dvd recorder didnt work... it doesnt record or play any dvds... i wasted my money... i dont think im going to ever purchase anything on ebay again...

I recieved the player recorder and set it up with no problem (functions could be a little easier to navigate ) . about 2 weeks later I tried to record and it just read no disc so I tried another brand with the same result . The next thing I tried was to put a disc in to play and again no disk . No response from support !!!

poor quality, stopped working after attempting to burn 1 DVD. Sometimes will recognize disk, other times not..would not reccommend to anyone.

It was not the easiest unit to set up and program. While recording the first movie it would pause and restart recording on its own, only recording about half of the movie. If you need Tech support there is None. And if you try to get help using the toll free number, after 12 tries it is still busy. I don't know if I would recomend this to anyone to buy.

Cheap machine thas has no tech support..burnt 4 dvds in the 2 years thatI have owned it..power supply board went bad, all the filters dioeds and shot.only thing didn't blow was the fuse. Terrible machine to invest in.

player doesnt work sold me a broken player when you put any disk in it reads no disk seller said it work !!!!!

I like the ability of switching to a analogue signal to pick up programs not shown on digital channels. I own 4 other major brands of HD and Digital receivers and find the cyberhome compares favorably and is much cheaper to buy. I own 1200, 1500 and 1600 and all are operating properly.