Sharp DVRW360H DVD/VCR Recorder Combi with progressive scan

February 11, 2008 | By Doug In DVD Recorders |

Sharp DVRW360H DVD/VCR Recorder Combi with progressive scan
Customer Review: pants
do not buy this machine as it is absolutely terrible. i have one and it continually refuses to recognise brand new blank DVD-RW disks saying it cannot record onto the disk error code E24. i have tried several brands of disk and none of them work. the only disk to have worked were mitsubishi DVD-RW disks from POUNDSTRETCHER at a quid each and that’s because they were only 2x speed, but i cannot get them anymore. tried calling SHARP for help but they said it won’t use disks over 2x speed version 1.2!! so i must not use anything higher…..great help there since 2x speed disks are no longer available from any brand that i can find. it’s just over a year old and now it’s useless as a dvd recorder.

Sony RDR-HX525 DVD Recorder with 80GB Hard Drive
Used Price: ?119.00
Customer Review: Niggling faults and unreliable.
I’ve had one of these since May and found it has a few niggling faults. To start with, it won’t play a DVD that hasn’t got a title, it just gives a helpful message “DVD has no title”. While it’s rare for commercial DVDs to be titleless (one example is Network’s “Ace of Wands”), it also means it won’t play any of my home videos created from my camera. The machine is very slow to respond. Switching it on from standby can take an age. I think it depends on how much is on the HDD or if there is a DVD in, but it really can take up to 45 seconds to get going, which is a long time when you want to record something in a hurry. Often you think nothing is happening so you press “on” again which makes things even worse because it remembers, then when it does finally stagger into life it immediately goes off again! The Guide+ system can only dowload from analogue ITV1, which means you must connect the arial and have a decent analogue picture. I don’t know what will happen when analogue broadcasts cease. Additionally my player had a habit of crashing when doing “time shift”, playback and now, after seven months, it has failed altogether. I’ll be looking to replace it with something non-Sony.
Customer Review: Pretty good but where’s the HDMI?
Thanks to reviewer ‘Ricko’ for the advice on setting up. Got it working fine pretty quickly. It is slow to start up but once going is very good. I use the synchro record feature for transferring from Sky+ to HDD then onto DVD. Best to transfer overnight when Sky+ is not being used though. Not sure what the HDMI interface in the manufacturers review is. I expected an HDMI output on the machine but there is not one. Buy something else if you want to connect to the TV by HDMI. Picture quality is good so maybe is something built in to the machine? Other than that I’m still getting used to all the features but out of the box set up is fine for most.

Samsung DVD-HR730 - Multi- Region DVD Recorder With 80Gb Hard Drive
Used Price: ?99.00
Customer Review: Effecient and Simple
I recently purchased this DVD Recorder as a second to an existing more expensive JVC model. The Samsung was easy to setup straight from the box and within minutes I had all the TV channels and my CCTV system linked in and working. Recording to HDD is easy although the system does not support an OverWrite feature on repeat (Daily/Weekly) recordings which is a shame. Navigation around titles is easy once you have found the ANYKEY (seriously!) and the copy to DVD is both quick and easy to operate. Editing facilities are basic but again easy to use and playback quality is good. If you need a good value for money machine with easy to use basic features or a second machine for basic duties look no further than the Samsung.

Sony RDR-HX825S DVD Player/Recorder
Not only does the RDR-HX825S DVD recorder play all types of DVDs, including dual layer RWs, it also contains a 160 GB hard drive so you can record all your programmes. The RDR-HX825S is very practical and contains an EPG function which tells you what programmes are on at the moment. In addition, you can even start watching your programme while recording. No need to wait until the recording has finished to begin watching your films or series from the beginning! The DR-HX825S also has an HDMI output for high definition and two scart sockets, which enable you to connect your DVD player to all your video appliances. Equipped with several functions that will improve your picture, you can also programme up to 40 events a month.