Sony SVR-S500 - Digital TV Recorder (DVR) with 80GB Hard Drive and Freeview
Sony SVR-S500 - Digital TV Recorder (DVR) with 80GB Hard Drive and Freeview
With a Twin Freeview tuner and the 80GB HDD you will never miss aprogram with the SVRS500.
Customer Review: Love it…
Many negative reviews below, BUT (fingers crossed) I’ve had mine up and running a week now and - well, yes, it’s a bit slow, and no, it’s not completely silent, but I still LOVE it.
No messing with DVDs, you can see exactly how much room you have on the hard drive, I can pause and rewind TV whenever, and you can be recording 2 programmes at once while watching something else you recorded all at the same time (where else can you get that?)!
Channel 5 reception not fantastic but also never was with my last freeview box, so it’s not really bothering me. I may one day be tempted into cable because it’s pretty much picture perfect ALL the time, but I’ll still have it hooked up to this machine for recording.
I had a true electrickery anorak (and perfectionist) come round the other day and he made very impressed noises about how excellent it was for the price, so I’ve got no complaints.
Think the answer is to not have it in your bedroom if you’re a light sleeper.
See also review below by Allan Kelly below from 12 Aug 07, very helpful.
Customer Review: Worst Sony Product ever - and that is being kind!
I love Sony - or did at least until I bought this. After having a successful introduction to Freeview via a Daewoo unit my hubby bought me for the bedroom, we decided to ditch Sky and go for Freeview in the livingroom. I saw some of the reviews regarding the Sony, but thought they had got it wrong. After all, Sony were great weren’t they? Got it all plugged together okay, got it switched on and then heard the fan from hell. Now, we live in a detached house and have the telly up loud - and I can still hear the fan going. The 3am download it does is no laughing matter either - horrendous fan noise which sounds more like my pc when its running at full pace doing the virus scan - this goes on for at least 30 minutes and seems to get longer every day. If you’re looking to buy this for the bedroom - forget it - the only thing you’re likely to get is a heart attack. Now don’t get me started about the EPG - it is the worst I have ever seen - menus are slow to load - not user friendly in any way - interesting that the Daewoo leaves Sony standing on all fronts for this. Picture quality is appalling - again the Daewoo leaves this well behind. In short, the only reason I give this unit 1 star is it hasn’t frozen yet.
Take my advice and steer well clear.
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Toshiba DR17DT DVD Recorder with Digital Tuner 
Recordable formats: DVD-R/-RW, DVD+R/+RW.
Amazon Price: ?172.47
Customer Review: not that impressed (yet)
I’ve only had this player 2 days but I must say my first impressions are not that great. On paper this machine seems to do everything, but I took a risk buying it as I couldn’t find any reviews for it online. My first comment is that it’s so s……l……o…….w. Put in a DVD movie and it takes an age for the menu to appear. Once playing a movie things are not much better. The 1080p upscaling (via HDMI) seems to work - however Iam not sure it’s any better than the xbox360 over VGA. The user interface looks dated and again is very slow to nativate around. I’ve yet to attempt any recording, but I hope it will score better in that area! So far only 3 stars (for HDMI output and styling).
Samsung VCR Recorder & DVD SuperMulti Format Recorder Combination With HDMI DVD-VR355/XEU 
Enjoy the dual playback and dual recording options of VCR and DVD in one machine. No need to get rid of your VHS collection as you can enjoy them on the Samsung’s space saving product.
Amazon Price: ?167.24
Used Price: ?126.99
Sony RDR-HXD870 - DVD Recorder With 160GB Hard Drive - With Freeview - Black 
Recordable formats: DVD-R/-RW, DVD+R/+RW, DVD-RAM and HDD. Multiformat playback.
Amazon Price: ?202.35
Used Price: ?189.99
Customer Review: When will they get the EPG right?
The EPG lets down what is otherwise a very good machine. It does not continue to show the current channel in a window (with audio) when you channel surf using the EPG, nor does it give the program detail when the program is selected- you have to press the info button. ALL these features were on my 4 year old Grundig set top box, which I still prefer to use. On a more positive note, getting it to record is straightforward affair. The Sony does not require you switch to a standby mode to record, unlike the Panasonic DVD recorder which it replaced. This beligerently prevented you from operating basic features (like putting in a DVD to play) whenever it was programed to record anything. Whilst the noise of the SONY is not audible when watching TV you will not want to leave it on standby when reading a book in the same room. Despite these adverse comments it’s still probably the best DVD/PVR you can get at the moment.
Customer Review: Why Buy This When You Can get it for ?5 !!!!
Why Buy A Blu Ray Player When You Can get it for ?5, The latest Blu Ray, what about a HD DVD Player or a HD Player for ?5 Go for it, go to ** LatestModcons.notlong.com ** to get your Latest Mod cons Sign Up - Complete an offer - I would recommend Coral it only costs ?5 Give it a go!!!
