( 30 reviews )
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Posted: 08-08-2009
I ordered this believing it would copy my 8mm tapes. I should have read more closely. It copies only full size VCR tapes. I kept it rather than pay the return postage. I use it by playing the tapes on the camcorder and sending them through the VCR2PC. The commands are very poorly designed and not easy to follow. I have to repeat many of the steps, very often. The camcorder has quit working now so I am really frustrated. The VCR2PC will get the job done (if your camcorder holds out), but be prepared to spend a lot of time before your tapes are on a DVD.
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Posted: 08-01-2009
One thing that I wish I read here before ordering this unit -- it only plays in Mono, not stereo. Although I haven't tried my unit yet, that fact really, really disappoints me. Stereo VCRs have been around since the mid-1980's, all of my old tapes are recorded in stereo. Using this unit will result in a lower sound quality than the old tapes. In fact, I used to record stereo radio programs on Hi-Fi VCR tapes. This will be essentially useless to process those.
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( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: 06-28-2009
I was really hopeful about this product. I really would like to easily convert a bunch of old videos we have from my childhood. Beyond the hardware complaints, my #1 problem is: THEY INSTALL AD SOFTWARE ALONG WITH THEIR OWN SOFTWARE. - The software that you have to install to record things from this unit also installs Arcsoft drivers for video encoding/decoding. The Arcsoft drivers install a service on your computer that ALWAYS runs in the background, and another service that displays ads for their products in the bottom right hand corner of your screen... even if you have all other software closed. - You can opt to "stop showing these", but their background service called "Arcsoft Connect" continues to run in the background doing God knows what. - There is no way to UNINSTALL this without uninstalling all of the recording software. - Do a quick Google search for "Arcsoft Connect" and you'll see many other complaints with this software. My other problems were with the tracking. On many older tapes, the tracking would continually adjust itself. There is no way to manually adjust it; after playing with this thing for hours, the tracking buttons on the front don't seem to do anything. Even when the auto-tracking gets it right, it starts auto-tracking again and messes up all over again. This is a great concept, but very poor implementation. Cheap hardware, cheap software. Not many options. They probably cut a deal with Arcsoft to use their drivers for free if Arcsoft could display ads. This seems to be a problem with all of Ion's products; they're just cheaply made.
