500GB Hard Disk - 400Hour Recording - MPN: DHGHDD500
Strengths: Record/Pause Live HD TV, free TV Guide On Screen Listings, Configurable playback controls, Hard Drive storage space, NTSC and ATSC combined tuner, Setting Chapter marks during playback.
Weakness: No single frame advance, or slow rewind, No previous channel feature, No option to name manual recordings, TV Guide On Screen scrolling is a little slow, and getting the listing requires patience.
I have a JVC Hybrid Recorder with Hard Drive and VCR. It let me pause live TV, but only has a 40 GB Hard Drive and will only record analog channels. I wanted to be able to pause/record Hi-Definition TV. I am not very familiar with TiVo, but knew I didn't want a pay service for the TV schedule. I also wanted the ability to record analog, and digital Cable channels. The Sony DHG-HDD500 does both very well and I was able to get it for a reasonable price online. Having 500 GB of storage space was a great selling point for me too.
I have the Recorder connected to a Hitachi 50 inch Hi-Definition TV via the included HDMI cable. The menus are very sharp, and the set up was easy. The Recorder gets the TV Guide On Screen schedule from a nearby analog PBS station. By selecting a 720p, or 1080i screen mode, you can view an hour and a half of the schedule in the TV Guide grid at once. If you select the wrong Cable listing for your area, you can change it later. I was able to add local digital cable channels that are part of my Expanded Basic Cable, and receive their listings.
I only have a few complaints, or wishes for enhancements. Overall the Recorder is very good, and I'm glad I purchased it.
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TopStrengths: Easy setup. No subscription needed. High definition receiver included. Above average on-screen programming. Can watch one recorded show while recording a new one. Sleek case design.
Weakness: Some occasional screen data garble introduced when recording while watching previously show. Reception of non-high def channels appears to be worse than what can get without using unit.
Overall I am satisfied with the unit. It took a while to get used to operating it. Differences in being able to send out setup/channel menu thru different video outputs caused confusion. High def channels come in great but regular channels appear darkened, over colored. If you never had HD recorder before it's good to know before hand that they introduce a tiny amount of operating noise to living room. Two HDs inside, can imagine that the spin of HDs is not masked inside the case 100%. A great addition to Plasma TV where TV did not come with Hi Def receiver but has Hi Def screen capability. No subcription needed is a plus, unit needs to offline itself around 12:30am everynight to get TV guide which produces on-screen question if you want to skip or not.
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TopFirst and foremost: QUALITY. Watching live TV on the Sony unit is *almost* as good as watching TV with my TV's built-in ATSC tuner. The colors are slightly less-vibrant and there are a few more compression artifacts, but this is to be expected, and not terribly noticeable. Recordings are first-rate, and infinitely better than any low-def DVR, VCR, or even DVD recorder. And with the HDMI output, you can have a pure digital connection from the DVR to your TV. Probably the only quality issue is the confusing "Format" button on the remote, which allows you to stretch or shrink the video to display correctly on a 16:9 widescreen TV. It works, but it responds very slowly, is inconsistent, incomplete, and hard to figure out. Why they didn't include a simple "zoom" feature (like every TV on the planet) is beyond me.
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TopStrengths: True high definition video recorder. Excellent picture.
Weakness: Program Guide does not work [at least for me].
I purchased this in November 2005. The unit had a bad hard drive and the dealer replaced it for me with no problem. Since December I have been working with a Sony Product Specialist in an effort to get the TV Program Guide to work. After much back and forth between Sony and Comcast it was determined that there is a known problem getting the TV Guide to work through the cablecard. It works fine without the cabecard but, of course, you cannot record HD without the card. They are presently supposed to be working out the problem not only for me but for everyone else. I can record HD manually [bummer because you cannot tell what you have other than date, time and channel recorded]. I hope they can make this work because no one else makes an HD DVR that you can buy. All of the others must be rented from your cable company. Sony no longer shows this unit on their website probably becaue of the TV Guide problem but dealers are still selling it. Would give it 5 stars if the TV Guide worked. If not then 1 star.
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TopStrengths: No Monthly Fees, 500gb of Storage, Universal Remote, No Phone Line Needed, Complete Set of Video Cables, Includes HDMI to DVI Adapter, Receives All Availible Channels, Recording Quality Identical...
Weakness: No Audio Optical Cable Included, TV Guide is Slow
If you love TIVO and don't value money, don't get this product. If you hate subscription fees, but don't want to sacrafice quality, stop reading now and buy this product. I unpacked this product, easily set it up, and began watching HD TV very quickly. The TV Guide was updated in the morning and immediately I began to set up recordings. It is so nice to have a product that just works!
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TopStrengths: Records HDTV! User-friendly, did not even have to read the guide for setup and basic recording/playback operation. The over-the-air / cable TV Guide is just like TiVo without a monthly fee.
Weakness: Scrolling through the TV Guide Listings from channel-channel or from hour-hour is a little slow - 2-second delay when scrolling between cable-air channel inputs. (minor complaint)
We (wife and I) had limited exposure to family/friends TiVo systems, but never took the plunge. We have a 50 in HDTV DLP television (no tuner), and were viewing regular digital cable. Cable company offered extra monthly charges to deliver HDTV programming, again couldn't bring ourselves to pay the extra expense. Recently decided to make the one-time investment to get both with the Sony DHGHDD500. Very pleased. It is a struggle to watch non-HDTV programming now! Sony does a great job of creating a user-friendly interface. For the first week just ran the system off air broadcast input. The system downloaded the first TV Guide Listings within 24 hours (default set to do this at 0100 hrs). Later, added a split signal from our cable TV into the box, changed setup to both air/cable and the next day had all the air/cable channel listings. Awesome. Seemlessly integrates both air and cable/satellite television inputs. Affords the user the option to change listing, recording/playback presentation and display formats. Only complaints not identified in "Weaknesses" is that I can't seem to scroll through TV Listings without changing the current channel (displayed in the PIP window), but there is probably a way to change that if I would only take the time to read the manual. Can't watch a different channel while recording on another, but work-around involves just splitting signal sources (route one set air/cable directly into TV and another set air/cable through the recorder). Multiple output options from the recorder into your television (HDMI cable being the option-of-choice). Nice remote control, also easy to use and programmable.
Highly recommended.
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TopStrengths: Everything you read in the other reviews is true, I won't repeat how great recording HD on disk is with the built-in TV Guide; if you've gotten this far you probably already appreciate its strengths. I really like the one-button format selector once I
Weakness: W1. No editing of recordings. W2. Can't copy from DVDs/VCR. W3. Too few audio outputs. W4. The manual is hard to read, confusing and incorrect. W5. Menu navigation is slow. W6. Can't record back-to-back shows on different stations. W7. TV Guide is
W1. No editing of recordings. I only use broadcast, no cable and few DVDs. I would love it if my 4yo son could watch Nemo as many times as he wants Without memorizing all the commercials but there's no way to edit them out; that's what happens when the content providers work together with the content presenters. The best I can do is set chapter marks where each batch of commercials is over and program him to press the 'next' button (conveniently placed in the lower right corner of the remote) each time a commercial starts. Not too bad.
W2. Can't copy from DVDs/VCR. It would be really nice if I could copy my favorite DVDs onto disk but there are no other inputs into the DVR; again, a conspiracy between the providers and presenters. I guess I'll have to figure out if I can play a DVD onto the antenna.
W3. Too few audio outputs. My other alternative if I want Nemo without commercials is to play the DVR recording into my JVC HM-DH30000U HD VCR, being careful not to copy the commercials, but then he can only watch the tape after doing the tape shuffling that the DVR eliminates. The problem with this is that the VCR eats the second of the 2 DVR audio outputs and leaves me with none so I have to split an output to my headphones (which I have to use when watching violent programming that I do not want to attract the loud-noise magnets in my son's little, impressionable ears).
W4. The manual is hard to read, confusing and incorrect. It's not too bad that the screen shots are so small and dark, I can refer to the TV itself or brouse the on-line manual. I have a huge problem, though, when the "Playing Recorded Programs" section on page 55 says "3 Press and hold the Play button for one second", which is absolutely not true. I tried for far too long thinking that I'm not holding it down for exactly one second, maybe a little shorter will work, maybe a little longer will work. Later, on page 67, the manual describes the correct method that I was forced to discover on my own by pure accident, this because both the table of contents and index only mention page 55. I honestly thought that I was sent a defective unit until I happened to get something to play and spent more minutes pressing everything in sight to recreate what should have been on page 55.
W5. Menu navigation is slow. Other reviews have mentioned the slow menus but I have to emphasize how truly slow they are. I'm used to pressing a button 10 times as fast as I can if I know I have far to go; with this frustrating interface, any key presses before it is completely finished with the last one is completely ignored. I often exited and navigated back in to the top of a list rather than wait while scrolling back to it. My analog TV has GuidePlus on it which is almost identical to the TV Guide on the DVR, it is somewhat faster than the DVR to the point where I'll go into the other room for GuidePlus rather than trying to scroll to see what's on tomorrow. Forget about scrolling to find out what's on two days later, much less a week later. I have to rely on the category searches, and only if I know exactly what I'm looking for.
W6. Can't record back-to-back shows on different stations. If something I want to record runs from 7 to 8 and I already have something scheduled to record at 8 on a different station, I get a dialog that says I can't have both and need to choose one or the other. This probably has to do with some shows starting or ending just before/after the hour, and you can probably use the 'start x minutes late' or 'end x minutes early' to eliminate the overlap but who knows how many minutes or seconds of conflict there are?
W7. TV Guide is lost weekly. It seems like every Wednesday the TV Guide is empty and I get a message that it will be refreshed within the next 24 hours. Luckily, it seems to retain the recording schedule but I, again, have to go to my TV in the other room to use Guide Plus.
W8. No actors listed for movies. Guide Plus lists the actors/actresses in the movie descriptions, TV Guide does not. I rarely remember movie titles until I know who's in it. And, if I haven't seen a show yet, it really helps to know whether it stars Cary Grant or Mel Brooks or Jim Carrey or Ahnold. ;)
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TopStrengths: I don't know. Haven't been able to get it properly hooked up yet.
Weakness: Many
I purchased this by internet three weeks ago, and got it two weeks ago. I have Time-Warner cable and tried for several days to get it to work with their cable box. Had to schedule a service call, because they said it could be done.
One week later, I found it can't. With their help (their expert who communicates directly with the top people at Sony and other manufacturers), I have been trying to connect it to a cable card the last three days.
The manual says they do not recommend connecting the recorder to a cable box. The reason (which they do not state)is that you will not be able to record in high definition, which defeats the purpose for buying the machine. I have been advised by Time-Warner that there are no cable boxes anywhere with coax High Def out, and none planned. The only input in this machine is coax in. Cable boxes have composite out and analog coax out.
If you want High Definition, you must run a cable card in the machine and do away with the box. However, I have not yet been able to get the pay packages from Time-Warner that I had received when I had the box. They do not understand why, and their experts have tried several times to get it to work. Maybe it is just my machine!
There is a serious time delay when changing some channels. Other reviews said 2 seconds. Many times when I change channels, the channel NEVER shows. I have to turn off the recorder and then turn it back on to get the channel to show up.
Time-Warner told me that there is a known problem with the recorder that will cause the card to stop working. Perhaps that is what I am currently experiencing. However, when I asked if they would fix it before I installed it, I was told that Sony refuses to fix it until it breaks. maybe mine has broken already.
Also, like other similar products, this one uses on screen TV Guide. When the program runs to determine your channel settings, it gives several choices of cable settings, depending on your area - all with 4 digit numbers. It tells you to contact your service provider for the correct number. However, nobody at Time-Warner knew anything about the numbers. They checked with Sony and nobody there knew about them either. Both say it is a Gemstar program that neither company knows anything about - nor support. They said they would try to contact Gemstar to find out what numbers they expect you to enter to get the proper TV Guide settings. On the good side, I think you can manually reprogram the TV Guide channels (305 channels).
I agree with others here that the manufacturers and providers have eliminated any useful (or even non-useful) inputs to avoid people copying DVDs from a player, but isn't there copy protection on the DVD's anyway? Why would this be different from copying from one DVD player to a DVD recorder?
I think that this machine is too costly at this point to have to deal with the problems. If you are considering this purchase and have cable - check with your provider first to see if you will be able to get it connected properly. Otherwise, go with something else.
I haven't even tried the record since it has been hooked up. I did try to record before they installed the cable card (from the analog out on the cable box). Until you set up TV Guide, you can not even reocrd from a program already being watched. You must set up the TV Guide before it will let you record any program. If you do not want to use the TV Guide features, tough - you must still set it up!
I will probably try to return this product - hope I can!!!
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TopPlease give us an update when available. I also have Time Warner and am looking for ONE box that will allow me to get BOTH HD cable (like HBO) AND off-air HD content (like PBS) to my HD tuner-less TV. Thanks.
This person is completely incompetent. I have TWC and the unit works fine both with OTA and HD cable signals, they are completely and seamlessly integrated. You DO NOT need CableCard to get Hi Def. In fact, you can have the basic 8$/month TWC subscription and still get the channels in that lineup in HD, like PBS HD, ABC, CBS, NBC.
The channel lineup he describes as being incorrect and only using 4 digit numbers means he has selected the wrong cable setup.
As for the pay per view offerings not being accessible, of course they are not. The ONLY way you will EVER be able to watch PPV and OnDemand stuff is with the cable company's box. Why would they let some third party box get their PAY services for free?
Try actually using a product and understanding what you are buying before posting a stupid review.
I think that the problem is your cable company. I have Comcast and they installed a Cable Card that receives HiDef with no problems but using a Cable Card in my TV does not allow PIP. Apparently there are many Cable Cards. Also, Comcast had mucho trouble initializing my Cable Card because it was intended for use in another regional zone in their system. The Cable Companies initially opposed Cable Cards because they prefer making you pay a rent for a converter box, which only exists to protect their revenues, i.e. they get it both ways. Now they are changing their position but for today's Cable Cards the Cable companies lobbied to make them inoperable for all except basic functions. Remember the Cable companies are not your friend and in most areas of the country they have monopoly pricing and service power and they use it freely to the detriment of their customers. That is why Dish Network and DirecTV are growing so rapidly.
Strengths: Works well. Easy to use TV guide
Weakness: None
This is a good unit that records well. There is some heat generation so be sure that the unit has some ventilation. Ocassionally one of the HD tv channels are lost due to weather or wind. Don't keep waiting for the HD TIVO, this works and lets you record High Def and watch it when you want.
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TopStrengths: Storage, recording, and signal clarity
Weakness: Not intuitive (i.e. READ THE MANUAL AND EXPERIMENT) and good luck with your cable company
Not the easist DVR to learn, but it definitely does the basics. Go through the manual and try out different settings. I have had this thing over a month and two days ago I learned how to keep the PIP display the same while scrolling through the TV guide. Search works well and can record HD on a dime.
My $.02 - be sure your cable company knows that the card goes into the DVR (some evidently go into televisions). And if your cable company insists on sending a technician out vice handing you a 4 oz. piece of metal, well you can kiss +4 hours of your life goodbye. AND if your neighbor is stealing cable, chances are he did not have the decency to put an amplifier on your connection (some thieves can be SO inconsiderate). What it means is a low signal equates to few channels and your cable company will start pointing at the DVR . The DVR is solid. Compare the track records of cable companies vs. Sony if you have any doubts. Yes, TV guide scrolling is slow. Be sure to learn how to get to the service bar quickly or you will be doing a lot of unnecessary scrolling. I have not tried the digital audio out, but the HDMI out is superb. Comes with IR remote control connector to your DVD recorder/VCR. Very nice. One disturbing note - I called Sony prior to purchase and I had to show THEM where to find it online. Their customer service did not seem to know anything about this unit. So much for Sony's track record - hrrmmm.
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Top
The Sony DHG-HDD500 (along with the Sony DHG-HDD250) is the first HD DVR to feature CableCard support allowing it to work with any digital cable system in the United States. This also means that it can take the place of a cable box, but also has the added ability to receive any any local digital and high-def stations not made available by your cable provider thanks to a built in over-the-air HD...
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Sony HDTV DVR! Wow! Nice!
Strengths: Stand alone, no monthly fees, no "viewer habits" marketing info (like Tivo collects), no requirement for phone line connection.
Weakness: Slow scrolling through TV Guide listings, can't watch a different channel while recording, relatively slow loading of TV Guide listings, complicated features.
Love it. Would buy it again. Excellent alternative to Tivo grasp. HDTV to our Sony 60" LCD projection set is great, and both remotes integrate well, although the DVR remote is not designed quite as well as the TV remote. I would recommend this DVR if you want stand alone recorded HDTV.
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Dec 4, 2007
Are you sure that it doesn't allow you watch other shows while it's recording?