Customer Reviews
Unlovely But Productive 
2007-03-16
The manual is rubbish, the interface is basic (to say the least), but the bottom line is that this bad boy just keeps going, and going, and going...
I have been using this unit since 2003, first in the tropics, then in Europe, using 220-to-110-volt transformers, and the bottom line is that it works fine. I can burn VHS tapes to DVD whenever I want, and as a football coach with several hundred old VHS tapes lying around, this unit has been a godsend.
Since it copies in real time, I usually only burn a disc or two a weekend, but I have never had problems with copying unprotected materials, nor complaints from coaches who have received the discs I burn.
ZEROOOO stars! 
2006-12-08
If I could have given this a "0" star, I would have. I also bought mine at Sears for $400; as soon as the warranty ran out (naturally), the dvd recorder part quit working & I can't find anyone in my town (Casper, WY) who will even try to work on it, including Sears. So, what I ended up with is a $400 VHS player...
Awful!
DO NOT BUY!! 2006-08-25
I, too, made the $400 purchase at Sears for the purpose of moving our video collection to DVD. Due to the difficulty using, I did not use it that much. Unable to return for refund, same reason as customer below (SALE). I think in 2 years we maybe watched 15 DVD's and never successfully burned 1. Now it does not work. Will not read DVD's. Took it to Sears, had to pay to have it sent off ($39), after 2 weeks they call and say the laser is out...it will be $400 to repair. I refused repair but will still have to pay $100 for the diagnostic fee.
There are MUCH cheaper and better brand units at Walmart now.
I REPEAT...DO NOT BUY!!!!
Good Bare Bones Machine, Terrible Manual 
2005-11-24
I've happily owned this sturdy VHS/DVD Recorder for a year or so. I've probably recorded 50 VHS tapes to DVD without issue (except from copy protected media, which it will not record), and have used it also for hundreds of hours as my primary DVD player. After a year, it's still going strong. For what I paid for it, I have no complaints.
Be aware that it's capabilities are very limited. Menu editing and setting scenes is impossible if you intend to ever use DVD burns on another machine -- for all practical purposes, a DVD burn will have only one scene on the menu.
The manual is a confused and overwritten button-by-button/menu-by-menu inventory of features. Seriously lacking are good *functional* quick-start descriptions of how to use actually use those features.
As an example, to simply record from VHS to DVD, one must first go to page 52 to learn how to set up the disk. Then go to page 27 to learn how to format the disk. Then to page 76 for dubbing instructions. And finally back to page 27 to see how to finalize the disk. I tend to think the tech writer neglected to run his instructions through the virgin eyes of a user unfamiliar with the machine to make sure they made sense -- Lesson VI if I recall correctly from freshman year Introduction to Technical Writing class.
I was lucky, in that the store from which I bought this machine included the needed page numbers, in step-by-step order, to accomplish this task -- an act of benevolence apparently beyond the tech writers at Sansui.
Were it not for the grossly inferior manual, I would have given this machine 4 stars as among the best of budget recorders in it's era.
Given the very reasonable price this machine can be purchased for, it's quite the bargain for anyone needing a nearly featureless vanilla VHS-DVD recorder/player. Be prepared however to read the instruction manual in depth, cover to cover, and do not fail to take extensive notes.
MY EXPERIENCE EXCELLENT ALL THE WAY!!!! 
2005-01-16
I purchased one of these units from the Sears website approximately 1 year ago in January 2004..liked it so much that I bought another one in February 2004 (one for each of my cable boxes). I use both of these units AT LEAST 4 hours per day for recording TV programs...HAVE NEVER HAD A SINGLE PROBLEM. Haven't had the need to do too much dubbing, but the five or six things I did dub came out perfectly. I don't know the life expectancy of these machines, but at this writing, one year later, I AM EXTREMELY PLEASED. Can't speak to the negative reviewers, I am sure their experiences are real. I guess every manufacturer produces lemons. Perhaps the key to my success with these recorders has been that I use Fuji DVD-RW disks EXCLUSIVELY. As per the instructions that came with the unit, it is essential to use Version 1.1. of the blank DVD-RW disks.
Dont Buy 2004-12-11
Sansui Dual Deck DVD-R/-RW and VHS Recorder, Progressive Scan DVD Playback. Enjoy exceptional viewing. Dual deck player plays and records TV to DVD and VHS tapes. VCR records from VHS tapes to DVD deck or watch DVD while recording TV shows to the VCR or vice versa
Very Troublesome 2004-07-03
I bought this unit 6 months ago from Sears ($375) with the idea of transferring all of our family (kids first steps & such) vhs tapes over to dvd format. With instructions in hand, the unit was up and running in a couple of hours. The instruction book is pretty well written but a little confusing. You don't copy to a dvd or tape, you "dubb" to it. I figure that dubbing is the result of some bad translation from Chinese to English. The copy process is very straight forward. Put in a burnable dvd, select the speed at which you want to record, I mean dubb at and your ready to push dubbing. The burning process occurs as the tape or other input device plays so there is nothing fast at all about the copy process. All this is pretty straight forward once you figure out how to find your way around the 50 button controller. After two months, the unit started acting strange. Before you could play anything on the dvd side, you first needed to start a vhs playing, stop the vhs, transfer over to the dvd then select menu and start playing or recording. The unit was also prone to locking up on a regular basis. So, back to Sears we go and swapped out for another one since it was within the 90 day warranty period. After four months on the second unit the exact same thing started happening again except now the 90 day warranty was over so to the shop it went. After 2 weeks of in the sears repair shop in California ( the local shop could not work on it ) and $275.00 we were back in business,,, for almost two weeks before it started crashing again. This time it is under the Sears 30 day repair warranty so I'm really hoping for a new unit.
Bottom line is that this unit has some serious design problems. Skipping, starting over in the middle of a movie, pausing while recording can all be expected, so buy rewrightable dvd disks to start over with. I would really look at other consumer reports before buying another vhs/dvd burner combo. This one just ain't worth it.
