Sonic Blue Go Video 6060 – Deck Number Three Is A Winner For Me!
Written: Feb 14 '05
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Sound: |
 |
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Picture Quality: |
|
|
| Durability: |
|
|
|
Pros: One touch copy mode, all access remote, easy to operate.
Cons: Lose the original remote and you are in trouble.
The Bottom Line: Need to copy VHS tapes? Want a quality VHS recorder with on screen programming? Check out the GV6060
|
|
|
| Freak369's Full Review: Rio Go Video GV6060 Dual Deck VCR |
Anyone that’s looking to purchase a VCR might get some funny looks when they walk in to an electronics store; almost every where you go, DVD’s have taken over. Even when it comes to recording your favorite television show, digital recorders and TiVo have sort of cornered the market. Over the years we’ve accumulated a lot of VHS movies and I am not about to start buying them on DVD since they only get watched a few times a month. When our single deck VCR finally bit the dust I had to decide whether or not to replace it or to just get another DVD player for the livingroom. Seeing as how this room doesn’t get much use these days I figured it would be a good time to start upgrading the electronics in there, the brood are getting older and have their own gadgets to fool round with so that means most of my stuff is considered outdated or off limits. I found a new Go Video GV6060 unit online and the price was a lot better than what I expected to pay for it so I placed the order and stared pacing like I was watching a pot of soft boiled eggs. I was hesitant about ordering a dual deck VCR from a site that I’d never dealt with before and when it finally arrived I was like a kid in a candy store.
Sonic Blue Go Video GV 6060
This isn’t a new product; dual deck VCR’s have been around for a long time but only over the past few years have they actually redesigned them to be side by side decks instead of the stacked one like the GV6060. Before I go any further there is one huge warning that you have to know in advance about this unit – if you plan on watching a ton of VHS tapes on this, you are going to pay dearly for it in about a year. The machines are made to copy tapes as well as to record line in feeds but when it comes to them handling the play, reverse and fast forward action on the top deck, it just can’t seen to keep up with the start and stop action. I blame a lot of this on cheap parts that are designed to break after a certain period of time, but that’s just me and my paranoid mind at work. The GV6060 is a step up from my pervious models and I am hoping that it lasts longer than it’s predecessors before it needs to go to the shop to get repaired. That means that if something happens to the bottom deck, they need to take the top deck apart to get to it – translation – a hell of a big labor bill. If you thinking about buying one of the Go Video units and think you will use it to watch movies, I strongly urge you to get the side by side version, not the stacked one.
With that out of the way … let’s get down to the GV6060. The unit isn’t all that heavy nor does it take up a lot of space – most of this is due to the fact that there are a lot of plastic components inside and the decks are stacked on top of each other. Hooking it up is simple, even if you have a Playstation or stereo hooked up to your television or entertainment system. There are audio and video jacks on the front of the deck but in order to use them you have to have the access panel open – this means a lot of dust can get into the unit this way as well as making the control section look really nasty and grimy. Almost all of the tasks that you need to operate the unit can be accessed through the remote control including the on screen programming, tracking, duplicating and powering the unit off and on. This is a good thing and a bad thing; if you lose the remote or it gets damaged you will have a hard time doing some things like adjusting the tracking. This model does feature automatic tracking [ATR] but there are some cases where you need to tweak the image a little. Most of the time I don’t even mess with the remote because it’s easier to use the buttons that are on the face of the VCR than to try and use those tiny little buttons. The buttons and AV jacks are hidden nicely behind a door on the front of the VCR; this gives it a nice appearance and keeps dust from getting all over them.
You will want to make sure that this has adequate air ventilation. There are slots on the top back and sides of the unit and if you have this on for a while it does get a little warm. Keeping air flow high will keep the unit from overheating and shutting down, I’ve never had this happen to one of my Go Video decks but after feeling the backs and sides of it after using it for about ten hours to copy tapes I could see how this could easily happen. I won’t say that Go Video decks are poorly made but they do require some upkeep, making sure the vents are clean, the deck is dust free and you use head cleaners on a regular basis are just a few of the ways that you can keep it running smoothly and out of the shop. Some VCR repair shops won’t even look at a double deck VCR for less than $50.00, regardless of whether or not it can be fixed. There are a lot of pros and cons involved with buying a double deck VCR – especially those that are stacked on top of each other like this one so make sure that you are in it for the long haul because repairs are never cheap.
Remote Control
You can control almost every function of the VCR decks from the remote; about the only thing that is a little tricky is the tracking, that you have to play around with and you have to make sure you have the correct deck selected. The VCR does have automatic tracking recovery so when you pop in a tape it automatically adjusts it to give you the best picture but on tapes that are of poor quality, you will need to do some fine tuning yourself. The shape of the remote is nice but it is different from other Go Video units so it takes a little while to get used to the placement of them and where some of the options are. About half of the keys are double feature so you need to select one then use a second one [to adjust the time, programming options etc]. About the only things bad about the remote is the number keys are too small and it isn’t backlit.
Speed Dubbing
You can use the “Copy” button on the VCR deck to automatically set up a tape to copy; put a blank in the bottom and the original in the top and hit the button. You will see some action with the on screen programming and it might look like there is something wrong with the tape; it will start to play, freeze, rewind a little then start to record. This is so there are no gaps in programming and the entire tape is copied. Like almost all the other Go Video decks, this one automatically detects how much tape there is left and it will slow down the record speed if it anticipates that you are going to run out of tape on the second deck. This might impact the recording quality but at least you will have a complete copy. Speed dubbing isn’t something that I suggest you use unless you aren’t concerned with the quality of the tape, the duplicate will look a little fuzzy [like a second generation tape] but if time is of the essence then this is a nice thing to have available.
Contact Information
GoVideo / Sonic Blue
7835 E. McClain Drive
Scottsdale, AZ 85260-1732
[480] 998-3400
www.govideo.com
Warranty
This comes with a 90 day warranty from Go Video but if you buy this from a place like Circuit City or Best Buy they will try to sell you an additional plan. If you thinking about purchasing one of these plans read the fine print before you agree to it because in some cases some of the repair might not be covered. This is what really puzzled me, why bother to pimp out a warranty if it won’t cover certain things. The 90 day warranty covers everything from top to bottom except misuse or if it is used for commercial copying of tapes. I have no idea how they would know if it was used for such purposes but that’s how it is worded in the warranty agreement. Go Video customer service is pretty nice to work with if you have problems and if you need to get something fixed after the warranty is up, call them first so they can give you the name of someone in your area that specializes in these types of repairs. Be sure to read the warranty and send it in when you make your purchase so you are protected in case there are any problems.
Things To Know
This dual deck VCR comes with a “video image stabilizer”, a fancy name for something that helps to deliver high quality copies of video cassettes, home movies, tape transfers and DVD to VHS copies [cables for this are not provided but can be purchased almost anywhere]. The Go Video 6060 is not sold with the intention of overriding any type of copy-guard or copy protection device that may be encoded on to videotapes so make sure you read the information in the user manual about the legal repercussions and ramifications of duplicating products that are copyrighted. With all the brouhaha about illegal downloads and pirated media items it’s better to be safe than sorry.
the Bottom Line
Even though most people are saying that VHS tapes are a thing of the past, I like them a lot. DVD are nice, have a higher quality and give you more replay value but they also get scratched, skip and can freeze at the most inopportune moments. You can find these decks for about $160.00 dollars these days, less if you are a bargain hunter. For what they do and what they deliver I think it’s a good value, if you are just looking to make a few copies here and there then this isn’t for you. If that’s your deal then invest in some good cables to hook up two VCR’s to make copies. If you have kids or want to make copies of tapes so the originals don’t get destroyed then this is a unit that you have to check out.
As always, thanks for the read!
~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~
© 2005 Freak369
Related reviews …
Sonic Blue / Rio Go Video GV6010 VCR
Sonic Blue /Rio Go Video GV6025 Dual Deck VCR
Thomson RCA Surge Suppressor
Samsung DVD-611 Standard DVD
Sony RM-V201 Remote Control
One For All URC 4081 Video Expert Universal Remote Control
One For All URC-3050 So Easy Universal Remote Control
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): $124.99
|
|
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.