LG Electronics RC897T DVD Recorder

RC897T DVD Recorder / VCR Combo

Strengths: Good Digital Tuner with Timer

Weaknesses: Setup Instructions

Summary: I am an over the air roof antenna user and I love free TV. I have been looking for reviews on digital vcr's for the past six months. My wife and I tape a lot of TV programming via VCR timer recording. I know that in Feb. that will no longer work with our present analog VCR setup. Six months ago when I started looking for a digital VCR I had a choice of two and neither had a good customer rating. A month ago I started looking again and I found the LG RC897T. I looked again for user reviews and found only one review and it was favorable but it didn't tell me what I wanted to know which was, can I record digital programs via timer recording on VHS tape? The clear answer is yes and this unit does a fine job at that. My intention was to replace three VCR's so I purchased one at Beach Camera for about $260.00. I had a fair amount of trouble with setup on the first machine as it no longer uses a VCR/TV button and tuning to channel three to get the signal. The setup instructions could have been a lot better in this regard. Once I got past that everything went smooth. The first VCR was hooked up to an analog TV and when tuned into the digital channels the picture quality was dramatically improved. The VCR records to VHS tape for up to sox hours or DVD+RW for up to fourteen hours with timer recording. I have not tried the DVD record function yet but the VHS tape function works quite well. After I determined that I could do what I wanted to with this machine I ordered two more from Beach Camera for about $249.00. When I did that I thought to myself, what are the odds of me getting three units with no problem. My fears came true as one of the units had a problem recording to VHS tape. I called the company and they sent me postage paid stickers to return the unit for repair. About three weeks later I got a call from the company telling me they could not fix the unit and were sending me a check to cover my purchase price. I ordered another unit from Electronic Express and paid about $249.00. The check and the unit arrived on the same day. I hooked it up and it works fine. The latter two machines were hooked up to LCD HDTV's and the reception was greatly improved on one of them. The other was an LG TV and already had good reception. Because of the review I saw before ordering the units I was expecting the remote control that was skimpy but I don't agree. I think it is laid out well and after much use the only thing I would change is to add a mute button. In short this unit does everything I wanted it to do and a lot more. I am very satisfied.

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LG RC897T DVD Recorder / VCR Combo

Strengths: Digital Tuner

Weaknesses: Remote Control

Summary: I bought this unit at Best Buy for $279.00. The digital tuner brings in a better over the air signal than my LG Plasma TV does. Also I enjoy recording on DVDs. The picture and sound and control is much better than on VHS. This unit records on both and dubs both ways as well. Every thing works fine. Why though do they give us such a cheap remote control with such a nice piece of equipment. Also the display is not easy to read from a normal distance. Hense only 4 stars instead of 5.

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• I'm glad the reviewer likes his product, but I hope he KEPT HIS R...

LG 897T DVD/VCR RECORDER WITH QAM DIGITAL TUNER

Strengths: It does everything that it is supposed to do and more!

Weaknesses: I have had this unit for 3 months now and have found none!

Summary: After reading some of the comments from other reviewers I wish to clarify some things that I have read in their reviews. I too, thought that a recorded dvd on this LG recorder would not play on other dvd players that were not a LG brand. I again read the manual but could not find an explanation. But by reading between the lines and putting 2 and 2 together, I found the solution. I too ejected the dvd upon completion of the recording. It played nicely on any of my 3 lg dvd recorders (they are not all the same model). But when I put the recorded dvd in my Sony or my Samsung dvd recorder or on my pc, IT WOULD NOT PLAY. BUT THE SOLUTION IS THIS: I EJECTED THE DVD TOO SOON AND DID NOT COMPLETE THE VERY LAST STEP WHICH IS TO "FINALIZE THE DISC BEFORE TAKING IT OUT (YOU CAN ALSO DO THIS LATER AFTER YOU HAVE TAKEN IT OUT JUST BY PUTTING IT BACK IN AND GOING DOWN THE LIST TO THE DISC AND FINALIZING IT). Now all the discs that I have recorded play on 'ANY DVD PLAYER". I have this model hooked up to a analog 18 year old tv with just a Comcast cable line coming in to the unit (no set top box). Before I hooked this unit up, some of my channels on this old tv were not very clear. They had wavy lines on some of the channels and some of them were so fuzzy that I could not view them even though I was supposed to be able to view them according to comcast. Well, since this unit with the Qam digital tuner in it has been hooked up to this old tv, EVERY CHANNEL IS PERFECTLY CLEAR! The digital tuner has worked wonders on this old tv. I even get 8 more digital channels that I did not have before. I heartedly endorse this unit.

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