EMERSON EWH100F Anyone bought one yet?

Has anyone bought one of these yet?

 

I bought it yesterday, and overall I am pleased with it so far.
Picture/audio quality is excellent on both XP and SP modes.
The 80gb hard drive can hold about 17 (give or take an hour or 2) hours of video in XP mode, 33 hours or so in SP, etc....
I copied some VHS tapes to the hard drive and the digital copies look just as good or in some cases better than the original VHS tape.
Its pretty easy to edit video on this once you get the hang of it.

Drawbacks - I don't know if its just me beeing a new user of this machine, but it seems that in order to record edited clips from the hard drive to a DVD, you have to let the video play out while it is recording. I did not run into this with unedited clips however. Again, it could just be me not knowing how to dub at high speed at this point.
***UPDATE*** I discovered that it is possible to do high speed dubing, to DVD-RW VR discs only. *******

For DVD recordings, the manual says that it will only record on DVD-R/-RW. I have not tried recording with a +R.

Another drawback is that there is a sort of lid that flips open when the drive is ejected. I'd recommend keeping kids away from the unit for that reason. But it looks strong enough to hold up as long as good care is taken.

Overall I think the good outweighs the bad on this unit. If you are looking for something that can digitize your old VHS collection (note - will not dub macrovision protected tapes) and still serve you well as a DVR and DVD recorder then I would recommend it. If you just need a DVR/DVD recorder without the VCR you may want to go a different route.

 

where & how can i download the manual for Emerson EWH100F 80 GB HDD/DVD Recorder/VCR Combo

 

THE OWNER'S MANUAL IS READILY AVAILABLE FROM EMERSON'S WEB SITE AT:

http://www.emersonaudiovideo.com/support/manuals.aspx

It is a pdf file about 4+ MB in size

 

thanks a lot, analogeng i got it.

 

Just wondering how the owners of this machine are still liking it? I just bought one but don't have it in my possesion yet. I am wondering why one can't find hardly any information about them anywhere on the net?? Thanks

 

does anyone know a good, cheap universal remote control ($10-$15) for this? : Emerson 80 GB HDD/DVD Recorder/VCR Combo, EWH100F

 

most DVD/VCR Combos have a video/TV button on the remote control so the unit can be on but you can watch TV normally & change channels with the TV remote control. where's the video/TV button on this unit?

 

flatpick1

I've had my unit for about a month and I love it. Absolutely love it. Not that it's perfect, but it has revolutionized my watching of TV.

Heymark

I haven't needed that option, since I plug into my video inputs rather than going to a channel. The unit does not interfere with the attenae/cable signal and passes it straight to the TV. So you can watch TV, or watch the video from the unit without needing that button.

 

my TV doesn't have Audio & VIDEO IN. can you connect the unit to the TV using the RF cable only? will the unit work using the RF cable only?

 

I'm not sure. Hooked it up via RF, to pass the anntenae signals through. However, we could not find where it was broadcasting anything. We tried the standard channels of 2, 3 and 4. I honestly did not try that hard, nor did I refer to closely. Since we did have audio/video hookups, it wasn't worth chasing it down.

However as you probably have noticed on other units, the tv/vcr buttons toggles a level of interference. So when you are watching in "vcr mode", the TV channels (if you tried to watch them through the tv) seem fuzzy or weakened. On this unit, there did not seem to be any sort of interference of that kind. Which seems to indicate it either doesn't operate that way, or works differently. I personally wouldn't chance it, or would buy a TV with audio/video inputs.

 

thanks a lot for the info. a eBay seller with this item says, a RF cable only, will not work is there a conversion box that would work, like people use to connect DVD players to old TVs? thank you.

 

I have the same problem,rf is just a pass thru of the signal. i had to purchase a rf converter {20 dollars } . I thought my unit was broken until i read your thread.the machine is worth purchasing a rf converter but it would have been nice if it worked with out it .

 

I bought one a month or so ago at least. still love it..

 

i'm having a horrendous time finding DVD-RW discs to record on this unit. is anyone else having this problem? i've bought 2 kinds that didn't work. the manual says, TDK DVD-RW disc 2x & JVC DVD-RW disc 4x will work but i can't find them anywhere. does anyone know where i can buy them on the net or any OTHER DVD-RW discs that will work on this unit?

 

Given the relative inexpensiveness of the DVD-R and the 80GB hard drive. By the time I decide I want to burn something to DVD, it's only for two reasons. Either I want to keep it long term, in which case, why bother using a more expensive RW, or I want to play it on a regular DVD player, in which case the RW won't work. Thus I've never even tried to use the RW feature. I figure there's no point.

Brokk...

 

thanks for your reply. i still want some DVD-RWs but what brand & speed of DVD-Rs will work on this unit? we live in a small town in the middle of nowhere. all we have is Wal-mart. also, i'm severely handicapped & house-bound so my wife has to get them for me at our small Wal-mart or i have to find them on the net. thank you.

 

I bought a 100 pack of TDK DVD-R from Costco. You can probably get them on-line.

 

you can buy from www.tigerdirect.com , I have used the vact brand without any problems, just make sure it's the -rw format

 

I have had my EWH100F for 8 months. Just love it. Two problems so far, first be sure to set your clock to correct time before setting 20 timers. And second 16X DVDs that wont finalize. I have 98% success with 8X Memorex and Sonys but only 25% with 16 X Memorex. They burn fine, just won't finalize. I think there might be a heat issue with the burner as well, if I let the burner cool down before finalizing the success rate goes up. Go figure.