HDD/DVD Recorder

[thomvic]

I am looking for a Hard Disk Drive TV recorder. Does anyone have one that they can recommend?
I have tried the Philips HDR3700/05 - a totally bad experience with the machine and the supplier - Comet.

I bought it yesterday morning after being assured by the salesman that it had been reduced by £50 in the sale and at £180 was an absolute snip - a price that couldn't be bettered anywhere he said. When I tried it at home it wouldn't receive some of the freeview channels - not even BBC 1, 2 or 3 or ITV 1. My digital TV receives these perfectly from the same arial. I phoned Philips excellent helpline. After a few minutes trying the set-up under guidance the tech guy said that it had a faulty tuner and that I should return it for exchange. Comet exchanged it last night with no hassle. Got the second one home - exactly the same problem.
The shop was closed by this time so I surfed the net for a solution. I found that the problem was a common one for the machine concerned and that there was no easy fix. More significantly, I found that the identical machine was available anywhere, including Comet's own website for £140! :evil: I took it back this morning for a refund. No apology for the duff gen given by the salesman. The lady processing the refund said that they had "only had 18 returned in the last year out of sales of 140." Blimey! 13% reject and she says "only 18!"

Can any of you recommend a good one please?

Richard

 

[andyw]

Hi Richard,

we've had the the Humax 9300T since Xmas and are very happy with it. Big hard drive and really easy to set-up, record and use the programme guide. We originally bought a Samsung one and returned that to Comet after a couple days. The good thing was the ease with which Comet replaced it.

 

[RogerS]

Having been bitten twice by Philips electronics, I have vowed never to buy their stuff again and, judging from your unfortunate experience, see no reason to change!

I have a Sony RDR-HXD880 and am very pleased with it. Only downside is that it has just the one tuner. My Humax has two which I find more convenient but the downside is that it does not record to DVD. I've not tried out the Sony with double-sided DVDs yet.

You could also try the avforums website.

Roger

 

[Shultzy]

I have a Sony RDR-HXD995, 250Gb disk and a writeable dvd. I've had it 6 months with no problems. My analogue vcr is connected via scart and I can record pre-recorded tapes to the dvr and then edit them and copy them to the dvd drive.

 

[thomvic]

That's three very helpful replies so far. Thanks gents. Any more advice or recommendations will be welcome. I will report back when I have made my decision.

Richard

 

[motownmartin]

I have a Panasonic thats a few years old and its superb, I also have Panasonic TV's and will highly recommend their electrical equipment.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Another vote for the Humax.
Can I ask why you want to be able to record to DVD? It's a pretty obsolete method isn't it? Ok there may be few things you may want to keep for ever, but you could transfer them to your laptop and burn there. We just watch what's on the disk and then delete it.

I have an entry-level Panasonic HT system for playing DVDs and it is fab.

Cheers
Steve

 

[motownmartin]

Another vote for the Humax.
Can I ask why you want to be able to record to DVD? It's a pretty obsolete method isn't it? Ok there may be few things you may want to keep for ever, but you could transfer them to your laptop and burn there. We just watch what's on the disk and then delete it.

I have an entry-level Panasonic HT system for playing DVDs and it is fab.

Cheers
Steve

Why have both Steve when you can get it all in one, or am I missing something.

 

[dickm]

I've got a Panasonic combined DVD/HD, but it's quite old, so is analogue only. Very good when it's working, but it did need £80 of repairs earlier this year - should probably have bitten the bullet and got a newer one with built in Freeview like my daughter has.
Panasonic generally get rave reviews, but Humax also seem to be well-received. Have heard lots of bad reports on Phillips, though.

 

[Steve Maskery]

But Martin, can you get it all in one? Perhaps you can now, but when we were looking, it was PVR or HT.
S

 

[motownmartin]

Technology moves so quick these days Steve, you can probably do it all with a memory stick or smart card :lol: it beats me half the time :?

 

[Michael7]

We have had the Humax 9200t for a few years now. Works flawlessly in everything it does and quietly. Series record is so handy and works out for itself if a program to be recorded is running late. Humax seems to have got a good name for itself. There is a new HD version out now.
We have an Inverto IDL7000 also which the children use now, its good too but locks up sometimes in the middle of the night during EPG downloading, nice EPG layout. Theres a new model out - IDL700M

 

[Anonymous]

If you have BT Broadband, their vision box is the one to go for.
Freeview-on demand- 2channel record and all for a fiver a month.

Koolwabbit

 

[RogerS]

We have had the Humax 9200t for a few years now. Works flawlessly in everything it does and quietly. Series record is so handy and works out for itself if a program to be recorded is running late. Humax seems to have got a good name for itself. ....

it does have some glitches and oddities but then don't they all. Mine locks up from time to time.

Transfer to PC is s.l.o.w. if you want to regularly record to DVD then a combined unit like the Sony much better than copying to a PC - especially as the interface isn't that fast. Also Humax support for transfer to Macs is not that well supported.

 

[Michael7]

We have had the Humax 9200t for a few years now. Works flawlessly in everything it does and quietly. Series record is so handy and works out for itself if a program to be recorded is running late. Humax seems to have got a good name for itself. ....

it does have some glitches and oddities but then don't they all. Mine locks up from time to time.

Transfer to PC is s.l.o.w. if you want to regularly record to DVD then a combined unit like the Sony much better than copying to a PC - especially as the interface isn't that fast. Also Humax support for transfer to Macs is not that well supported.

Yes, I suppose "working flawlessly" is a bit exagerated but at the time of buying the Humax was the most reliable. I have never tried to copy to PC and IIRC it copies in real time, the Inverto does the same.

 

[misterfish]

We've go a Panasonic DMR-EX77 - hard disk, DVD recorder and Freeview tuner. This seems to work fine. I can record on to the hard disk and transfer to DVD without problem. I can also record from the Sky box.

This seems a neat bit of technology though I do need to keep the manual close at hand as an aide memoire.

Previously we had a Philips DVD recorder which never gave us any problems though it was finicky about which DVD+RW disks it would reliably use.

Misterfish

 

[kityuser]

HUMAX 9150T

did alot of research before buying as I can't stand electronics that crash (which PVRs are notorious for).

its worked flawlessly for 3 months now.
Dual tuner, biggish harddisk but does have some pitfalls:
1) EPG is rubbish and needs reloading from the overair channels EVERYTIME you sleep the unit :?
2) menus look like they were drawn by my 2 year old :shock:
3) can't cue up programmes to watch, only to record
4) series link facility is limited to 25 series, not sure why
5) can't check harddisk level whilst recording (why?)

biggest gripe is that I can't pull programmes off as there is no usb or UART.
BUT I do have a mac with a digital tuner to do exactly this.
(interesting to note that DVB transmissions are DVD compliant MPEG, just "record" and burn, no transcoding needed 8) )

putting this all into perspective, I design ICs, mostly large embedded digital systems (SOCs), it ticks me off when a system is let down by bad software.
As per usual I probably expect FAR too much, I suppose thats just me 8)

Another Humax vote here.
Steer clear of most of the unbranded boxes from Tesco and the like, utter rubbish!

Steve

 

[MikeH]

I also have a panasonic DMR, HD recorder and DVD recorder/player. HD upscaling.

I particularly like the way you can easily trim recorded stuff before putting onto a DVD, take out the adverts and duff stuff before and after etc.

It will also take SDRAM cards from your camera.

 

[Vormulac]

I have a Pioneer HDD/DVD unit, DVR-640 I think it is - been doing sterling work for about 3 years now and has never skipped a beat. Absolutely brilliant piece of kit. If Pioneer still make PVRs I would recommend them to anyone.