Cyberhome DVD/RW nightmare

If your Disk won't Eject and you have tried the other methods.

1. turn off the power
2. remove the cover
3. unplug the ribbon cable from the DVD drive
4. turn the power back on
5. reach between the front of the drive and the inside of the case,
about 1" in from the left, if you're standing at the back of the
player, there's a tiny button you can reach with your finger, push it and the tray ejects (If you look on your CD or DVD player, this is where the normal eject button would be. Front panel right hand side)

 

Dudes and Dudettes,

I have version UO226200401xa

I just update the firmware in my new 1500.
It seems I'm not eligable for the new
servo update, would that be correct?

Here it is from Cyberhome:

Recorder must meet the minimum requirements as shown in the following diagram: U1229200301X

*If your recorder does not meet these requirements, DO NOT APPLY THIS UPGRADE!


2.
Place the Upgrade Disc in the recorder and press ENTER when you see

 

To circumvent some of the heating issues of the recorder, does anybody know if mounting one of those small 1.5 inch cooling fans to the back of the unit would help? A standard pc dual plug power adapter plugged into the burner power plug would provide the 12vdc for the fan....

Worth a try?

 

a friend of mine mounted a fan in his and says it runs much cooler.

 

Sorry to say good-bye to the DVR 1500.....

I have had to return 2 recorders to WalMart because of problems that
most have on the forums. The third came from CyberHome via RMA. It
worked for a couple of weeks, then I was having constant tray lock-
ups with the unit. The last one, I could not get the disc out. I
packed it up to WalMart for a refund. I then ordered the Philips
DVDR 75, as suggested by many.

I tried to give the CyberHome a chance, but its engineering flaws
kept giving problems, and I didn't want to get stuck past return time.
The unit had great video/audio reproduction, it looked slim and
attractive, and it had lots of features, AND the low price. Bummer!
In the end, I had to pony up more bucks for a more reliable Philips. (I hope!). I feel kinda sorry for both CyberHome and WalMart....

Even so, any
company should thoroughly test a product before offering it for sale to the public.
If CyberHome knew of all the bugs, but decided to sell unit anyway
with low price,...who wins? Unfortunately, nobody.

To those who have a unit without problems, good luck to you all. I
think this new technology needs fine tuning, regardless of recorder
manufacturer. I sincerely hope CyberHome gets it together, and finds
corrections for the bugs.....

I give CyberHome credit for TRYING to produce a good recorder at an attractive price. Also, I have no problems with the Asian manufacture.......It just didn't work for me....Hopefully, CyberHome will invest some money in better R&D, and offer their customers repairs for all the bugs and stuff.

Thanks to all for this great forum, and good luck!

I will follow this forum for awhile, as I am interested in how things develop with this recorder.
Gee, who knows? Maybe the Philips will have WORSE problems!

 

Something I have run into lately.I buy Memorex DVD+Rdiscs in the 25 pack at Walmart.They work great until you get down to the 4th or5th disc left in the stack.These seem to be mis-shapen or something.The Cyberhome records and plays them but absolutely nothing else I have will.The computer DVD drives or my Apex or Samsung players will not play them .They buzz and sound like they are rubbing against the sides of the player.These memorex discs do great until you get down to the 4th or 5th left in the stack. Can't figure it.

 

Renderman,
I'd be curious how you like the philips instead of the cyberhome. Do you plan to append your impressions of it somewhere?
I've heard mention of poor features in other recorders, can't remember which comment went with which recorder.
I wonder how long it takes to format a DVD, to start recording to a DVD. The manual makes no mention of mp3 support.

 

ronksmith,
Don't know if someone else answered your question. The servo firmware is applied if you have firmware version U1229200301X or higher. The filename is a date run together. The required firmware is version 12/29/2003 or higher (later). The latest firmware that you've installed is U0226200401XA is 2/26/2004 which is later.

So you can apply servo firmware 128a.

That said, I personally had serious problems after installing 128a and had to back it off to 126.

 

RE: CYBERHOME DVD+RW Recorder CH-DVR 1500
I can't believe it...I have recorded movie after movie after movie...I usually put 3 movies on 1 Sony DVD+R and then watch them on my overnite shift on the weekends...I have had 80 successful movie recordings since Jan. 25, 2004...Granted, I have never tried out the timer...I always try to use either:
DVD+R Recordable DVD Discs (4.7GB) - 5-pack----MODEL# "5DPR47L2//T"...
Like I said, Sony charges $26.95 for them on their website...Target and Walmart sell them...Target more likely...I've actually stumbled upon a sales person that says they order the Sony DVD+R's in the 5 pack all the time for $12.99...If for some reason they don't have those, I go to Best Buy and buy the Fujifilm 10 pack for $24.99...and I usually get to use 7 of my 10 DVD+R's...
* I also suggest taking the DVD+R out within 2 hours of your recording
* DO NOT PLAY THE MOVIE until it is completely finalized, for some reason, if I record a movie, and then get cocky, and try to play it...the DVD+R WILL NOT FINALIZE, and then it won't play on other DVD Players...What else...hmm....*****I would say after Finalizing your DVD+R always hit Setup when the recording is done...otherwise YES IT WILL LOCK UP!!!!!!!!*******I promise you!!!...and if you do this, the movie should actually START playing all on it's own...and...I'd say try to use the remote so you don't hit the wrong button...instead of directly on the unit...also try to stick with those [2] brands I suggested...[of course that's for the people who are having issues, and I can tell you right now, it is 9 times out of 10, people having problems are having the problems based on the DVD+R brand you have chosen]...so no Memorex!...and beware of Maxell...I recommend using an S-Video cable...it improves the picture quality...I dunno what else...at this point I'm racking my brain...Oh, don't ever fall asleep while recording!...Then you'll waste space...like sometimes I like to get 4 movies on a DVD+R...and then I fall asleep and end up getting only 2 movies...I can also give you this conversion:
For SLP, Super Long Play: 6 Hours
8%= approximately 30 minutes,...I just say 8% = 30 minutes...and the DVD+R's record over 6 hours, I'd say 6 hours and 14 minutes to be precise...which converts to 374 minutes of recording time.

Something else I do---I keep a running spreadsheet of all my recordings, so that I don't drive myself crazy trying to keep track of them all...Once I had a movie in the living room, and of course there were 3 movies on the DVD+R and I forgot the DVD was out there, and I thought somebody ripped me off!...From that point on I have made a "Cross-Reference Spreadsheet" and put a bold border around each list of DVD+R's, so I have 30 DVD+R's, and 80 movies to be precise at this moment in time---that way like I said, I will not drive myself crazy you know.
*Let's see what else----I would say, even if your DVD Player will play a DVD+R that is not finalized, I would not suggest it!...I guess that's all for now...I hope these tips help all you people out there who are angry at Cyberhome!
-Catherine

 

oh yeah something else....it can take up to 4 or 5 minutes to finalize a 360 minute recording...This is a rocky moment in time---because this determines if you get the movies, or if they become your garbage man's next venture.

 

Smart move renderman you are gonna love the philips....just dont bum out on the on screen menu's give it some time to get use to them, i think they rock........good luck with the philips i love mine

 

guess what....mine just went...after 80 movies, my next 3 on this DVD+R will not finalize!...and I have gotten an error message on my last 4 brand new unopened DVD+R's...guess it's goin back to Walmart...I'm gonna get the plain looking Phillips @ Circuit City for $449.00...man it better be everything it says it is!...I think I burned the Cyberhome out...oh well...good thing it's only 2 months old.
Later,
Catherine

 

Hey dmelgar,

Every review I saw of the Philips DVDR75 seems to be favorable.....no stuck discs, no skipping, good disc compatability, no excess heat, and excellent audio/video quality......average is 4 stars out of 5.

Did I mention that I ordered mine at 6ave.com for $337.01 (incl.shipping)? When it arrives, I will give it a good test, and probably start a new thread, here at afterdawn.com

Cheers!

 

Hello Fellow Afterdawner's,

I'm a newbie here, but I'm the guy who wrote the original review for the Cyberhome 1500 on dvdrhelp back in October:

http://www.dvdrhelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=181648

It turns out that my unit has recently "locked up" and will not respond to any command. I carefully followed this thread and tried everyone's suggestions including hooking the drive up to my PC to eject the blank DVD+RW disk (which worked!). Unfortunately when I reconnected the cables back and powered back up the unit, it still will not function properly (and the dvd drawer will not open/close on it's own). I have yet to close it fully, b/c when I get an RMA from Cyberhome, I will stick the DVD+RW disk back in the unit (b/c I told them there was a blank disk inside and I don't want them wondering??? how it got out). I'm going to follow up on getting my unit fixed, but I SERIOUSLY doubt I'll buy another Cyberhome unit. These problems everyone are having are rediculous! I mean, things like "don't turn the power off with a disk inside the unit". What's up with that?

My dad's Lite-On LVW-5001 has some bugs as well, but seems much better overall than the Cyberhome. The 5005 model is just becoming available, which supports -R/RW AND +R/RW formats. Those units also have front FireWire inputs, which the Cyberhome 1500 does not.

 

sweisbrod, no joke! If you leave the DVD in overnight, the Cyberhome a lot of time will give you "error" message or will lock up or will not finlize etc.

 

I've seen posts about the Philips dvdr75, but just saw an ad for PHILIPS DVDR80 DVD Recorder. Is this an upgrade to the 75 or a completely different unit? Anyone know?

 

its a different unit, I think you can manipulate the bitsetting on it.

 

oh by the way renderman if ya start a new thread on the philips let us know here so we can follow it.

 

Well I got the Cyberhome unit about 3 weeks ago and so far no major problems. Minor problems include..can't find disk error.Solution I insert a store bought Dvd and then eject it and re-insert the blank Dvd seems to work. I agree with everyone the unit runs hot! The only other problem is if I edit on Cyberhome unit the edits work ok. When I try and play it my Go Video Dvd player it doesn't recognize the edits. My biggest fear is that my DVD's won't play at all on other machines. I haven't tried that yet. Isn't technology wonderful...When it works! ThankS

 

oh don't worry...it will play on other DVD Players...just make sure you use the DVD+R's...All I have to say is this---I recorded 80 movies, and then it started giving me an error...So I returned it...I'm going to buy the Phillips DVD Recorder instead because I can't be bothered!
-C