Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) - Product Reviews

molder101 - (November 02, 2005) The fact is if you want to record HDTV over-the-air (OTA) this IS your only option (the LG recorder is a serious problem child). What's even better is that you can now do it (even though you practically need a second mortgage). This Sony recorder lives up to Sony technology. It has been running essentially problem free for a little over a week. Positives: Recording HDTV is fantastic and this model Sony provides just as good resolution as the originial broadcast. Those with very large screens may notice a slight difference but I have not been able to pick out a recorded program from a live one. The best part of the recorder is I can receive HD channels and a program guide

gmoney323 - (June 03, 2005) I received my TiVo Series 2 (80-hour) last Christmas, and once I familiarized myself with the controls, it has been an awesome addition to my entertainment setup. If you're familiar with basic TV/audio-visual technologies, setting the TiVo up should be a breeze. For me, I did have to take some time to make sure I would be recording and viewing with the best picture and sound. Which meant: figuring out the proper S-Video, cable and RCA ins and outs. The menus are simply and very user-friendly. TiVo seems designed to make sense to the average user, and at adequate all-around quality levels for the more demanding audio-video geeks (meant in a nice way, since I'm one of them). The i

thebeaz - (March 21, 2005) When you consider what this box is designed to do, it does it very well...In fact, BETTER than anything else on the market. Anyone who spends time with it and doesn't give an unqualified 5-star rating is either out of their league with this technology or is just one of those who is never satified with anything! There are (unpublished) incentives for existing DirecTV customers to go HD-DVR, but you have to talk to the right people - Customer Retention. If you're a good customer (never late pay, long-term, good history), then you should get a $250 CREDIT on your account once you buy and activate the unit, free or discounted dish upgrade & professional installation, 3 to 6 months free HD progra

PARAVIC7 - (12/02/2008) TOTAL RUBISH, I WISH I HAD STUCK WITH SKY. ONLY BUY FOR SOMEONE YOU HATE. IT WILL DRIVE THEM CRAZY. SETTING IT UP WAS HARD ENOUGH, BUT THEN KEPT FREEZING, AND MENU'S DISSAPEARING, CANNOT CHANGE PROGRAMMES, I COULD GO ON.THIS IS ONE OF THE WORST THINGS I HAVE EVER BOUGHT.

srasania - (08/07/2008) I just got this recently, and even though it's a good dvr system..i am not too fond of the time taken for it to finalize the recorded dvds..was a bit surprising to see that it takes so much time to finalize.. there is no hd recording..it does broadcast hd channels..but recording on dvd as well as hdd is only in sd quality.. it does a pretty good job in upconverting normal dvds though..and the 160 gb drive is enormous space..specially since the dvr doesn't record in hd..so, alot of sd programming can be kept on it's internal 160 gigs.. the player does look nice and stylish..i wouldn't say it's slim..but it does have a nice shiny black finish.. overall..buy this product if you don't care about the capability to record in hd resolution.. plus, i am presuming prices of this would go down pretty soon in the near future...so, you may want to wait a bit, unless ofcourse you need it urgently(like me)..i had to record some vhs cassettes to dvd before disposing the tapes..so, had to buy this recorder..plus, since i didn't have an hd set top box, i thought this would be a good upgrade to my television system..

rszabo - (07/27/2008) I bought this DVD recorder to replace a VHS recorder as I am getting ready for the digital transition of February 2009 that is widely being publicized. Having just upgraded to a 1080p 50 inch plasma TV I felt obligated to look for the best recorder out there. Now my friends say that I am a dying breed as I have a channel master roof top antenna and do not subscribe to cable so I thought Tivo was not an option. A little research, however demonstrated that I was wrong. One can purchase a Tivo machine and then pay for Tivo service or pay a one time forever license fee and use the machine to record off the free airwaves. This pathway is rather expensive but it is the only way independent of subscriptions to cable or satellite companies to actually record in high definition. This is not a HD recorder but does a good job of producing the 480 SD digitally. So right now this machine is the best one available for the price to record TV programs to a hard drive and if you like directly to disk. You can also transfer what has been recorded to the hard drive to a disk if you want to save the recording or play it in another TV or computer. These features alone make the machine worth its price. Philips is a Dutch company with a strong reputation but to my disappointment (I should have known) the unit is made in China. The email and phone “help” from Philips is in need of improvement but I could say that about almost every electronic or phone company these days. Setting up and connecting the unit is rather straightforward. If you can, I recommend getting a male to male HDMI cable (can be had for under five dollars with shipping). This cable is not included. If you are even slightly electronically challenged, once connected allow a good part of the day for figuring out how to operate this machine. The directions come in three volumes for three different languages and there were times it did not matter which volume I was reading. It still was not clear how to do certain functions. So far I am able to record, play back, pause live TV and play a commercial DVD. Part of my next vacation will be devoted to figuring out some more of the functions like editing. Why can’t the manufacturer create a short interactive tutorial and preload it on the hard drive that can teach consumers how to use their machine? Wouldn’t that be nice? The bottom line is this product is OK and does what it says it does. I hope one day there will be a true high definition, maybe blu-ray, recorder that is user friendly and easy to learn. Until then this will have to suffice.