I purchased this product in August 2007. The objective was to find an easy way to convert videos from analog camcorder to DVDs and also be able to record some TV programs directly to DVD. While comparative products from Samsung, Sony were costing Rs 15-18k, this one was Rs 9, 900/-. At that time I did not find a lot of negative reviews of the product either. While there were quite a few negative reviews on Onida service and support, I discounted that. My prior experience was an Onida 14" TV that has been working since 1997(spent Rs 200 on an aftermarket service)
Life was good for the first few months. DVD recording was easy and good quality. The player would play almost all media and we were enjoying it.
However, around July 2008(1 month before expiry of warranty) the tray would no longer open. It did work on occasion but after a few days it completely broke down and that was the last time the tray every worked on that player. I was a little careless in tracking the warranty and unfortunately for me I let the warranty period elapse.
I thought well, what the heck, we will get it fixed and a few weeks shouldn’t matter. I tried calling in a complaint with the Onida customer care in Pune. After multiple calls and promises of the engineer showing up, nothing ever happened. And then I had to travel a bit and before we knew, it was November and still there was no sign of the engineer.
In December 2008, finally the engineer showed up and after 8-10 days called back saying the main board is gone and that replacing it is going to cost Rs 2k. Wow! And I also have to pay the service charges for them to figure out what the problem is.
When I went back to the net to check on Onida reviews I seem to find more negative reviews than what I thought earlier. I don’t think I would bought it if I had seen as many negative reviews earlier than one. Or, to be fair, may be I was blinded by the cost and overlooked the reviews;-)
Oh well, not a terrible loss but still sucks to be dealt a lemon and not being able to do anything about it.
Another alternative is to try and cannibalize the drive and do some fun stuff with it;-)