Gateway AR-230 DVD Recorder

Pros: Record time, quality, fairly easy to use.
Cons: Has some surprises, no hard drive.

Why I have a Gateway AR-230 DVD Recorder / Player Over the past few years, I have watched much of the tv I watched after it has been recorded. At any given time, I will have programmed to record two to five shows. Well, as you can imagine, ...

Pros: Freature rich, on-screen display, durable, inexpensive
Cons: None

Background: Two weeks ago, one of my friends purchased the Gateway AR-230. He told me that it was a great purchase and highly recommended that I purchase one. Three weeks later, I bought my own. This device is feature rich and even that is an ...

Pros: Picture quality, ease of use once firmware is updated
Cons: Manual, hassles at the start

I read the many negative review of the AR-230. However, had a chance to buy an open box at a Country Store for $249 and could not resist. I knew I could return it in 15 days. After the first day, I was ready to send it back. Could only get the ...

Pros: Relatively inexpensive; easy to use; OK as VCR replacement.
Cons: No VCR-Plus timer; Timer inaccuracy; Tuner recordings (see review); choose blank disks carefully.

I bought this unit as a replacement for my VCR, and in that context it works fine. Initially I had problems similar to those mentioned in "billtomlinson's" review. However switching brands of blank DVDs seemed to have solved this. I now use Ritek 4X ...

Pros: The only positive I can think of is it's stylish...
Cons: There are TOO many negatives to list!!

To ANYONE who is even thinking of buying the GATEWAY AR-230 DVD Recorder, DON'T. It worked normally for about the first 4 months, then it would no longer record on time and it no longer recognized NOR recorded on the DVD+R media disks I recorded with 4 ...

Pros: None
Cons: Bad product. Horrible customer service.

Don't ever buy anything from Gateway! I saw this recorder on the today show and bought 2 units. One for me and one for my 86 yr old dad. My dad almost NEVER used his. It's as if Gateway had a "self destruct device" set in each of them to go off in 2 ...

Pros: reasonable price, firewire plug in, can record TV
Cons: See above...it just doesn't work

I bought mine in Jan '04, it would not finalize DVD R's, so I upgraded the firmware per their tech support, still didn't work, returned to store and switched for a new one, that one worked fine until June, then it wouldn't recognize it had a disk in it ...

Pros: Simple to use, low cost, plenty of manufacturer and non-manufacturer info on the web
Cons: Avoid the first model of this R0. Manual skimpy in regards to creating DVD's.

I wanted to make DVD's from home movies, and using high quality DVD R discs, I have had not a single failure. A 2 hour video fits on one disc, start the VCR and DVD recorder, and I run both till they end. This is not the unit for editing, fancy layovers and effects. For $150 new, this has been a great device. I tried making DVD's using software with Windows XP- that was a real pain. This is not.

Pros: Picture Quality, sound Quality
Cons: Everything else: UI, reliability, stability, usability, DRM, stupid chrome/silver facia

This unit would be great if it went through more Quality Assurance Testing at Gateway.

The player freezes on just about everything. Store bought movies, dvd's made off of the computer, and disks burned by the unit. It even freezes on movie scenes that played back OK the hour before! (no, it is NOT a heat problem. There is ample airflow all the way around the unit.)

The timer does not remember to record recurring recordings (Weekly or Daily recordings). It requires you to turn the unit on, go into the timer setup, and make sure the "Status" column reads "READY" ... if it doesn't, the recording will be skipped.

Recording from old home movies on VHS to dvd, you'd think it would not put a copy protection scheme on there. But there is no way to take the files off the dvd and burn it onto another with Nero. The files are encrypted. How dumb! I hate DRM!!

This unit is going to be offloaded to ebay for some other poor guy to play with. I've had it

Pros: The e-mail response was very fast, the same or next day.
Cons: No support for product, no recommendation on where to go. Fast, worthless response

Tried to get Tech Support on recorder not reading CD's, was advised that the problem seemed to be a hardware problem, and Gateway no longer repaired the recorder, and I had to find a local repair shop. I agree with other reviews, I will never buy any Gateway product again.

Pros: Good array of inputs and outputs; relatively simple to operate
Cons: Poor documentation, hard to read front panel display, unreliable recording

I have had this recorder for almost two months. I was attracted by the price and the fact I had purchased two Gateway computers with good success. However, I am greatly disappointed in this product.

First, the manual is terrible. Few examples or diagrams and in one case very misleading. The manual implies that you can set the Overwrite flag for individual titles, then record over them. The truth is only one title can be set for Overwrite at a time and then only applies to manual recording, not timed recording. Not a big problem since individual titles can be erased, but it doesn't say much for Gateway's technical writers.

The bigger problem is the recorder frequently does not playback recordings reliably. About half the time the playback will not start at all and in other cases, it starts but stops part way through. To add to my frustration, Gateway customer service has been no help. I am taking unit into Gateway store for service, but I am not optimistic.

For potential buyers, I would advise buy something else or wait until gateway works out the bugs.

Pros: Inexpensive...
Cons: You get what you pay for...

I should have read these reviews first before I purchased this unit. Overall it's design is a good idea but the quality of construction is poor. Everything works, but I'm experiencing a problem with the tuner. Some channels are blurry with a lot of garbage being displayed. When I bypass the unit and connect directly to my television using the same cables it looks normal. There must be a reason why they have an adjustable tuner feature in the Setup menu. Doesn't seemed to help this problem. I'm going to send this back to Gateway before my 15 days are up.

Pros: none
Cons: to many to mention

After returning my first one which didn't work at all here are a few comments on it's replacement.

Undependable. Sometimes it works but most of the time it doesn't. Destroys disks. While in the middle of playback it will freeze up and you have to restart it. VERY DISGUSTING!!!! The disks you record will playback sometimes and sometimes they won't.

Customer service is terrible. It took me 3 weeks and about 4 hours of telephone time to get the first one returned.

Stay away from this recorder and this company.

Pros: Give a minute, I'm sure I can think of one! Sorry!
Cons: 15 words don't cut it, it would take a book!

Gateway should be ashamed of itself putting this product on the market. It seemed affordable but given the fact it has literally eaten and spit out every type of DVD Gateway said would work, it has cost me a ton. Gateway's support on this product is disgusting. I was treated like this was the first time I turned on anything electronic while the fact is their tech's had to know all along this machine was junk and does not work as presented.

I'm now told to send it back at my expense and "IF" this machine is defective, they will send me a new one. Why would I want another one?

Pros: lasted for 15 months before it died
Cons: doesn't record well, dispenses white discharge, erases pre-recorded DVDs

I purchased the AR-230 R2 with the latest firmware updates already applied 16 months ago. I dealt with the fact that it would only accept about 1/5 of the +R discs I tried to record on. I got over that, because at the time $160 delivered for a DVD recorder was a great deal.

After 15 months of owning it, DVDs would come out of the machine with a white film -- some odd machine discharge.

Over the past month, it will no longer record -- I went through (wasted) 25 DVD +R's before giving up! And, to make it so much worse, it actually formats over previously recorded DVD's -- making them unplayable and useless! I've lost two DVDs, and that was enough!

My warantee is for one year, not for 16 month. Called and spoke to three people at Gateway, but they didnt care.

When I asked how to return it for recycling, "Mike #KS191" told me to "throw it in the trash." Great work, Mike.

I should have known better. A piece of junk -- start to finish. DON'T BUY THESE ON THE RESALE MARKET. AND, DON'T BUY GATEWAY'S JUNK!