Akai is a well known quality brand who exited the US market in the late 1980s or early 1990s. I owned both a reel-to-reel tape recorder and cassette tape deck from them, and both were well built and reliable.

This DVD recorder is easy to use. The manual is very simple. It has a few translation errors (overwrited instead of overwritten) but the instructions are clear and I was up and running in no time.

My first endeavor was to copy 8mm home video tapes. These transferred easily and there are simple steps to create multiple selection entries per DVD. It also automatically inserts chapter markers everyone 5 minutes which is very convenient for quick scanning. You can title each selection as well, and the selection picture shows the image from the start of the selection recording.

Picture quality was excellent, though I admit my 8mm tapes don't strain the limit of the 2 hour recording mode.

After burning some Maxell DVD+Rs, I tried them on several DVD decks. The only one that didn't work was a new auto Panasonic DVD Player. I suspect it was the player as Panasonic supports DVD-R. The disks played fine in a newer Samsung and Toshiba DVD players as well as a 5 year old Panasonic DVD Player.

Overall, Akai has come through with a great product at a great price. Akai distribution is spotty so I think Amazon may be the only source for this great buy.


Works but annoying.   July 5, 2004
 10 out of 12 found this review helpful

I specifically bought it because it has a Firewire input connection and I THOUGHT I could record my home movies from my JVC digital video camera as well as my old VHS home movies. It has an annoying flaw when the camera runs out of tape! If I end the recording session AFTER the tape ends, the recorder goes south and displays the status Stopping continuously until I finally give up and power off the recorder. The disc appears blank when I try to play it which leads me to believe the file wasnt properly closed. If I end the recording session BEFORE the tape ends, the recorder properly closes the file and the disc will play - except for the missing minutes or seconds left on the tape! Also, Im unable to record using the 1 hour HQ mode from the Firewire input but I havent experimented with other inputs or disc as of yet.


Hope It Lasts!   September 22, 2004
 7 out of 7 found this review helpful

Easy setup. Crystal clear playback with Pre-Recorded DVD'S. Will not re-create HDTV broadcasts from cable - that is not to say you cannot copy them, they will simply play back in standard digital quality. Is that so bad? So far, I haven't heard of any DVD Recorder capable of HDTV playback.

Here's The Beauty part: Thanks to John S in Toronto (Check out his review) You can utilize a secret menu to kill the Macrovision Copy Guard on all your Pre-Recorded VHS's and copy them to DVD...In the same clear quality. I don't think the Mainstream Name Brand Copiers can do that.

I have recorded many broadcasts and VCR copies on DVD+R and DVD+RW and passed them around to friends with different brand DVD players. They all played back beautifully.

Thank you Akai. Again I say: I hope it lasts.


Like burning CD's   August 4, 2004
 6 out of 7 found this review helpful

First, this is a pretty good machine. Yes, it hangs up (3/20 disks) on +R media not only if you record to the end (rca inputs) but also if you accidentally push 2 buttons. It acts like a PC peripheral rather than a consumer electronic machine. But this is no VCR. Optical drives do take more time to respond. One has to adjust. I've recorded about 20 8mm tapes (on TDK +R, 4x)and was able to record on my first night and several TV shows. Pretty straight forward with no bells or whistles but then again its only $200. One point: if you have a lot of action on tape you will have to decide whether to use internal digitizer or use the DV input (Digital 8 camera). I found the Akai internal A/D slightly better, but not perfect. Some quantizing can be seen in my son's little leaque scenes. If you have a lot of action on analog tapes, I recommended you check the A/D characteristics of the available recorders. I haven't found the spec of the Akai so I'm guessing it is buried with other brands also. The only other way way to go is to buy a video capture card and do it on your PC. At least everything is spec'ed out in PC land. My 8mm tapes were getting old so it was time to go digital. This machine is great for the novice and us cheapo's. Don't get frustrated if you throw away a few disks, media is cheap now. Just think of it like burning CD's.
Update: Does not record the date from my Canon Elura 70 via DV cable. Huge bummer, reduce rating to 4 stars!!!
Update2: Almost all recorders do not record date stamp from digital camcorders via Firewire. This is a big issue that manufacturers have missed. Rumor has it only Phillips 75 can do it.