PHILIPS Hard Disk/ Multi-region Capable DVD Recorder DVDR3300H/05
PHILIPS Hard Disk/ Multi-region Capable DVD Recorder DVDR3300H/05
Customer Review: a disaster for any advanced user
Don’t buy this! Here is why:
- non-intuitive remote - choice between HDD,DVD and Tuner should have been placed together, instead Tuner button is micro-small placed on completely different side than the first two
- never seen such a bad software
- typing a name to each of the recordings takes ages - unbeleivable but true - you have to press 25 times to get to the letter Z f.e., if you press and hold nothing happens; count yourself how many times you need to press the button to add a name The Silence of the Lambs???
- info bar does not go away - after any action you will have to press i+ button to make it go away
- you can not rewind to the start of the recording, but you have to go in 5 min steps - that’s 60 actions on your button for 5 hour recording
- you have only 8 timers for recording setup
- timers can only be repeated “Monday-Friday” and “Weekly”, so if you want to record a show every day at preset time you will have to burn 3 timers, one will cover Monday to Friday, second one will do Saturday, and 3th Sunday. And if you want to record Football World Cup which has 3 games every day, you will need 9 timers set in this peculiar way. Disaster.
- when I press Record button I get the choice 00:30, then 01:00, 01:30, etc, 06:00 then again 00:30 01:00 etc in circles, so there is no way to change your mind and abandon recording.
- rewinding one chapter back requires pressing 2 times on the back button, and you have to do it quickly! This is basic function and yet it does not work!
- pressing fast and repeatedly rewind button sends you to the slow-playback mode!!!
- million other things
Philips? Never again…
Customer Review: Wot am I watching!!
There is just one thing about this machine that is puzzling me and that is why on the title menu is there a ‘thumbnail’ picture facility but yet you cannot change it, only the first frame of the recording can be seen which will probably be blank or a tv company logo. If you cannot unlike other recorders choose the thumbnail then why bother having one at all. It is a minor niggle but when you have been used to this, my usual ‘trick’ was to make the thumbnail the shows title, it seems a shame for it not to be incorporated when there are other features that are available but just not used!
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Toshiba RDXV47 160Gb HDD/DVD/VHS Recorder 
Toshiba DVD 160GB HDD VCR Recorder
Amazon Price: ?175.00
Ellion 530S Slimline Dual Format Multi-region Capable DVD Recorder with iLink 
Amazon Price: ?99.99
Customer Review: Looks great but Problems Problems, PROBLEMS!
BEWARE- although this is a lovely looking player after exactly 1 year of owning its now unusable for recording. When originall bought i had to have it replaced several times before i actually recieved one that worked. Throughout its life i’ve had a few things go wrong such as locking up and having to reboot, then recording a program only to find at the end there’s nothing recorded or at least the recording is unaccessible. Not only that. the recordings are in a non-standard format therefore cannot be recognised for playing by some computer programs. Right now, even with a firmware upgrade and a factory reset it just makes RW disks unusable and just doesn’t record reliably. In fact if it does record i’m surprised and then if i try to record another title on the same disk it usually becomes unreadable on that attempt! Whats even worse is -if i lock the disc on this machine which is meant to protect the recording - it actually makes it unreadable. I PERSONALLY HAVE LOST IRREPLACEABLE FOOTAGE BECAUSE OF THIS AND ITS JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH. overall the spec looks great on paper, its easy to use but it would be nice if it all just worked. I just hope that the other Ellion models are better designed for those who buy them. Watch out folks
Customer Review: help with Ellion 530s
This is the the queries that I have sens to ELLION, If anybody can tell how get My Ellion dvd 530s to “SEE” my Freeview settop I will be Most grateful. This is my Fifth attempt to get help from ELLION? I am trying to setup my new digital Ellion DVD-530s (PAL) Dual Recorder. I have tried to follow the manual, but find it rather lacking in detail. All my equipment have scart connectors, can you show me the best and easiest way to setup the following System. Freeview set top, VCR and a DVD-530s (PAL) dual, to PHILIPS widescreen TV. So far I’ve been able to make recordings from 4 normal transmissions, but my dvd 530s will can’t “see” my Fergison Freeview set top, therefor I am unable to make any recordings from it??? Come on, If you can’t give me an answer at least acknowledge my Emails. I am Still Waiting. Tom Lyon
Sony RDRHXD560S 80GB HDD DVD Recorder with Freeview 
80GB Hard Drive DVD Recorder model with Digital Tuner.
Used Price: ?105.99
Customer Review: Switches off every 5-10 minutes - stay away from this!
It is too late for me to return the product to Amazon, but I will see what I can do with the Sony customer services. I have used it for a month and, with a few minor problems, it has worked OK for 3 weeks. In the last week, however, it keeps switching off VERY frequently. It does so when I watch TV and also when I am watching TV. On the TV, it freezes for a few minutes, so you lose 5 minutes every time it switches off - frozen image, switch off, switch on again and bring it back to the right channel. I am going back to my cheap freeview box + dvd player. If I cannot return the dvd recorder, I will only use it for the occasional recording, but then it is far too expensive for this!
Customer Review: Sony DVD recorder just keeps powering off
Bought this recorder in March 2007. Initially thought it was fantastic but after a few weeks started powering off at random times. This week, despite putting everything to the factory defaults I am now trying to return it to Amazon. It can be ok and then will power off and try to restart. My wife has missed loads of programmes and is not happy. We have loads of Sony gear, telly, camcorder etc and always thought Sony was great. First Sony product I have had which has been faulty (replaced a Sony video recorder which was brilliant) I think I am being harsh but I expect a really high standard from Sony - might have expected this from some unknown brand.
