Aspire Digital AD-8091

Aspire Digital's AD-8091 component DVD player/recorder is both affordable and versatile. The unit records to blank DVD+R or DVD+RW discs--both of which are compatible with most DVD players sold today--and it plays a range of optical media and produces pristine, progressive-scan video playback images for viewing on a high-definition or HD-ready TV or monitor (525p/NTSC, 625p/PAL, which may be incompatible with some displays).
Five recording modes (HQ, SP, LP, EP, and EP+) let you scale your disc space to maximize either recording time (up to 6 hours) or recording quality. DVD+RW discs require no finalizing--you can record, eject, and play them with minimal fuss, thanks to "background formatting." This feature, which lowers total burning time, is an advantage over the "dash" formats. Other DVD+RW advantages include on-disc content editing and multisession writing.

The recorder is ideal for time shifting your TV viewing or for archiving footage from your library of camcorder and/or VHS tapes. Recording features include pause record, auto-insert chapter, index screen navigator, and multi record modes, while editing features include erase disc, show chapter, and edit title name. Program the recorder to capture television shows (up to 8 programmed timer events simultaneously) or use its real-time recording function on the fly.
Inputs include front- and rear-panel jacks for hookup convenience, with one set of composite- and S-video inputs and 1 stereo analog (left/right) RCA audio inputs in each locale.
The unit delivers high-quality playback from virtually all audio or video disc formats, including DVD, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, CD, CD-R, CD-RW, CD+G, JPEG image CD, Kodak Picture CD, and MP3 music CD.
The AD-8091 performs 4:3/16:9 display conversion and offers parental lock settings. A choice of NTSC and PAL output formatting provides worldwide compatibility. When selected for interlaced output (480i), the rear-panel component-video outputs help minimize digital and line-scan artifacts on compatible televisions, while composite- and S-video outputs bring compatibility with nearly any television.
Optical and coaxial outputs provide direct-digital connections with an audio/video surround receiver for enveloping Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1-channel surround. The unit also decodes Dolby Digital 5.1 for use with non-decoding multichannel receivers. Online firmware updates are available from www.aspiredigital.com.

What's in the Box
DVD player, remote control, remote batteries, user's manual, stereo analog audio interconnect/composite-video cable, a user's manual, a quick-start guide, and a warranty card.
Note: The AD-8091 will not record Macrovision-protected material such as the signals found on most commercial DVDs.
Amazon.com Product Description

Aspire Digital AD-8091

Test report

Buy a Sony. . ., April 9, 2005 Reviewer: Kristi A. Burnham (Atlanta, GA) -
Had the unit for 3 weeks in Dec 2004. I returned and picked up a Sony at a local store where I could lay hands on it before I bought it. I agree with all the "bad" reviews. Killed lots of disk, wasted tons of time, RF had NO quality at all, junk all the way around.




There should be a "ZERO STARS" rating for this junker, February 17, 2005 Reviewer: Chester L. Simpson "bountyh" (USA) - Do NOT buy this worthless junk. I thought I could use it to record TV shows.. First time I tried to play the recorded show back, I immediately noticed the audio volume is at least 10X LOWER than the TV source or any of my other VCR's also connected to my TV. So, to barely hear the dialog from the Aspire DVD, I have to crank the TV audio up to maximum... which allows to me to hear a lot of hiss and hum, and will knock me over if I accidentally switch back to the TV. I called the Aspire "tech support" and finally got through after many hours and learned the "problem" was that I was using the Aspire internal tuner to tape TV programs from (excuse me?)... seriously, he said to get proper audio I would have to use a second external tuner and feed it into the Aspire.

I taped three programs and learned pretty quick the unit was unreliable for turning on and taping at a specified time. I learned that the reason is it may not be "recognizing" the DVD-RW disc when it spins up and then it just shuts off and records nothing. Silly me, I bought ten brand new top quality DVD-RW discs thinking they would work in a machine specifed to record on DVD-RW. Well, they do sometimes.....

The last salt in the wound was that when I tried to watch the three programs I had recorded, I immediately noticed something was wrong. One of the "thumbnail" images for each recorded program was changed and was the same image as the previous one.... and when I clicked on the one that had been corrupted, it refused to play and just made lots of whirring and clicking noises. Program destroyed and lost forever.

So, in summary: unreliable for recording, may destroy a program you did manage to record, audio is defective by design. Other than that.... no problems to report.

I have no idea how this dog ever got out of the kennel.



Not worth the hassles...., February 6, 2005 Reviewer:K. Manahl "manahtn" (East Tennessee) - This unit is riddled with bugs. [...].htm
but it does very little to fix the problems of this model. It is EXTREMELY difficult to get it to finalize dvds. The quality with the rf connection is horrible. It's a nightmare to get around on some of the menus. I would save my money and try a different manufacturer.



great!, December 5, 2004 Reviewer: B. Dum got it 3 days ago. never had a dvd. came home, hooked it up and watch a dvd with my family. have been recording shows for my kids since. saw previous bad review before i got it, and was worried.. but i have had no problems other than figuring out how to use our current vcr with it. just need to read the directions.

Unbelievable , November 11, 2004 Reviewer: Marky Mark - I recently purchased the Aspire Digital DVD recorder and am blown away by it. When I found out I could set the recorder to record programs and also move all my VHS tapes to DVD I was amazed. I have a friend who has the Phillips piece and a comparison of the two the Aspire works just as well. I'm more impressed with it's ability to also play music and DVD's. At this price point consumers can't go wrong.


Blows Away VHS, November 3, 2004 Reviewer: Mick (Phoenix, AZ) - I have owned the AD-8091 for a few months. It took a little bit of time to get used to recording on DVD's, but this unit works great! I use it to time-shift my favorite TV shows (mostly on DVD+RW's) and make permanent recordings of cable TV movies and home movies from VHS, 8mm and VHS-C. I can't remember the last time I recorded anything with my VCR! The AD-8091 is also a great (progressive scan) DVD Player. CD's sound great too! I also like that it can play MP3 CD's. All in all, I highly recommend this model!



Aspire Digital AD-8091 DVD Recorder., October 15, 2004Reviewer:Andrew Harris "Andy" (Seattle, WA USA) - I've been shopping around for well priced stand alone DVD recorder in order to transfer my VHS tapes that have slowly been
deteriorating onto DVD media. The AD-8091 had an excellent price so I bought one. Hooking up my VCR to the AD-8091
was relatively painless, and after setting up the on screen menu I was quickly copying my tapes to DVD media. I've recorded
a few TV shows and movies as well and so far the unit has worked very well with both DVD+R and DVD/RW media. I did find that brand name blank media works much better than generic media. A plus for this unit is that it is a progressive scan DVD player that also plays MP3 and regular CD's. Overall it's
a good deal for what I paid for it. I can recommend this unit.


Perfect DVD Recorder, October 15, 2004Reviewer:Greg (California) - My experience with this unit has been PERFECT. Over the past several weeks, I've recorded off of TV 2-3 times a week, I've copied from my miniDV camcorder, I've even used it as a digital audio recorder to archive some of my LP records (remember those?). The Aspire Digital recorder has been everything I could hope, and at a GREAT price. I highly recommend this model. I do recommend using good quality recording media, as I've heard of many recorders struggling, glitching, and locking up when using cheap, no-name discs.

Aspire Digital AD-8091

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