|
Sony RDR-HXD870 - DVD Recorder With 160GB Hard Drive - With Freeview - Black | 
| Brand: Sony
Category: CE
Buy New: £189.99
New (10) Used (1) Refurbished (2) from £169.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  75 reviews
Sales Rank: 217
Media: Electronics
Shipping Weight (lbs): 14.5
Dimensions (in): 19.6 x 15.7 x 8
Legal Disclaimer: Layer One UK does not offer any warranty other than the one imposed by the manufacturer. Consequently, the warranty conditions proposed by Layer One UK will be an exact copy of the manufacturers.
MPN: RDRHXD870B.CEK
Model: RDRHXD870B.CEK
EAN: 4905524419504
ASIN: B000OQ7878
Release Date: March 10, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
|
| Features:
| • | SONY HARD DISC DRIVE DVD RECORDER | | • | 1 X HDMI OUTPUT | | • | 2 X SCART CONNECTIONS | | • | 160GB HARD DRIVE | | • | IN BLACK |
|
| Accessories:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 70 more reviews...
Nice bit of equipment which knocks the 'spots' off my old VHS recorder July 16, 2008
I can't comment on how this compares to other DVD recorders, but I'm very pleased with this one. I didn't find it quite so easy to use the DVD recorder as others reviewers appear to have done, but I am someone who likes to read the instructions first and I did have quite specific requirements. i) I wanted to be able to record from my VHS recorder to the DVD recorder; ii) and I wanted to be able to 'burn' DVDs (known as dubbing in the Sony manual) from either my VHS tapes or from programmes recorded from the tv. I eventually got this sussed, but it's not entirely obvious from the manual.
Copying to DVD can be a little noisey, comparable to copying to VHS, but copying to hard disc is virtually noiseless. It's also such a treat to simply choose the programme you wish to record using the electronic guide and just press a button: you don't have to find a space on the hard disc as this is done automatically for you. There are over thirty-five hours of high quality recording space on the disc, and I think up to something like 255 hours if you opt for the lowest quality(which I haven't tried).
Quality of playback is superb, and I don't use HDMI upscaling. One minor glitch is that it won't play pre-recorded DVDs unless they are Region 2 which is tedious and in this day-and-age rather inconsiderate and completely unnecessary, hence the 4* rating.
Now this was not easy to set up July 6, 2008
Quick delivery and a very good price. Well done Amazon.
I bought the HXD870 to replace my worn out Sony VCR.
My bravia HD-ready Sony TV is only 8 months old and so I had hoped for easy compatibility. (Easy being the essential word).
After many hours of frustration trying to set up my new purchase, I can now use the basics on the DVD recorder and the picture quality is brilliant. So much better than a VCR.
But oh dear the manual is an utter disgrace.
If you are expecting to carefully plod through the instructions, you will be sorely disappointed.
I have better things to do with my life than study the meaning of "dubbing" and "title list" and "hook up" and "smartlink" and so on.
To get any joy, I resorted to re-reading the TV manual (how come Sony can produce a decent TV manual and an awful DVD recorder manual ?)and then I began to grasp some of the things I needed to do. I then had to use my initiative to guess at how to carry out these things. OK for you guys with reasonable initiative, but I knew I was in big trouble when I realized I had to use MY initiative.
The manual is complex, it fails to give explanations for the basics AND it fails to give a good technical explanation. Useless, utterly useless.
This DVD recorder might turn out to be wonderful, but thats no use to me if I can not work out how to use the damn thing.
A big thank you goes to the other reviewers of this product and the customers discussions. Without your goodwill and efforts I would still be clueless as to how to even get a simple recording on this machine. Due to other reviewers, at least I was aware that I was likely to have trouble deciphering the manual.
If you are tempted to buy and your knowledge is limited to setting up a VCR then I recommend that you read up a great deal or you resign yourself to getting someone else to set up this recorder. If you have to resort to the latter, then I doubt that you will ever get to grips with the machine.
Some discussion points, with answers, for the less technically minded (like me!):
I would like to transfer my videos to DVD. Can this machine do this ?
Found out the hard way: Yes this machine will burn you a DVD BUT you need a good VCR before you can start to transfer a video(maybe obvious, but was not obvious to me) AND most videos are copy protected so you can not transfer them anyway!! I can accept this situation now that I know the facts. I have purchased a brand new VCR so that I can (a) copy the amateur videos and (b) still watch the commercially produced videos, but not using my HXD870.
By the way, yes you can watch one channel whilst recording another. But this assumes your TV has either a digibox or a built in tuner, which mine does have. And, due to the useless manual, it might take you four weeks to work out how to actually do this.
Now I know how to operate this part of the recorder, the procedure is in fact quick and easy.
Wonder if Sony would pay me vaste sums of money to write an idiots guide to using their HXD ???????
 Impossible Instruction Book June 21, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I am sure that this is a very good machine if only you can understand the instruction book and the machines own set up program. I have found it next to impossible to tune it into my NTL set top cable box, and have so far only succeded in being able to record the program selected on NTL. I cannot record from the terrestrial service whilst watching NTL.
Disapointing-not recommended unless you have a degree in DVD recording.
Good product June 14, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have had this for a few weeks now and i am pleased with it.
Goods points for me are, DIVX XVID this is a good XVID player, the DVD upscaling to 1080p, i can watch another channel when recording (through my free view tuner on my tv), i have no problems with the free view tuner i used to get breaks & blocks on my old one.
It was easy to setup and selecting a program to record is simple.
The only other thing i would have liked is the function to record 2 programs at the same time, hence i'm knocking off a star.
 Fantastic piece of equipment! June 4, 2008
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
I have just bought one of these recorders and I have to say that I love it!! The initial setup is so easy even the most gadget scared out there could do it. The picture quality on the digital tuner is excellent and the recording TV while watching a DVD is really useful. I have setup the series link and it just makes life easier, no need to worry about missing the Moto GP anymore!! The only minor drawback is that it isn't multi region but I'm looking into sorting that out. Overall I would recommend it to anyone.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
