Toshiba DR160 DVD Recorder
Toshiba DR160 DVD Recorder
Customer Review: Adequate basic recorder
I was looking for a second entry-level -R/RW recorder, having already got a Funai 2737 (which does the job fine). Decided to try the Toshiba as it had the benefit of Chase Play. In actual fact, this Toshiba seems to be the same underlying chassis as the Funai, with a different (somewhat more attractive) fascia. All rear ports and the user interface are all identical. The only difference is the addition of chase play. If you are drawn to this machine because of this feature then beware. Chase play can only be used when recording in quality setting of long play, or lower. This is tolerable on a small screen TV, but the quality when viewed on a large screen is barely acceptable, more or less making chase play a feature you will never use anyway.
Apart from that, the unit looks and works fine, however, it might be worth considering the Funai and saving yourself ?25.
Customer Review: Not a bad machine, just too noisy
This machine has some very good points, but its too noisy to be used in a living room. Ours was RMAed.
On the plus side:
- Discs are initalised quickly, you can be recording on DVD-R within 20 secs.
- The menu system is clear and easy to use
- The DVD playing machanism is very quiet, you can’t hear the disc spinning at all
- The DVD-R disc recorded played perfectly in Pioneer DVD (Dv464), Argos in Car DVD and PC.
- It can play CDs of Jpegs.
However the downsides out weight these good features:
- Its very noisy, there is case fan at the back, that is always on when the recorder is. Watching Planet Earth with the DVD recording is, unconfortable, there is a constant whiring. Its 3 or 4 times noisyer than my AV reciever and I thought that was noisy!
- remote control is “boxy” and square, hence unconfortable in the hand.
- DVD-R take a LONG time to finalise, over 20 Mins.
- It cannot play DVD-R discs of photo JPEGs burnt on my PC, that my Pioneer DVD player plays fine.
Hence only 3 stars I’m afraid ….
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Sony RDR-HXD870 - DVD Recorder With 160GB Hard Drive - With Freeview - Silver. 
HDD DVD RECORDER 160GB INT DIG TV TUNER HDMI OUTPUT IN
Customer Review: High Quality but with some limitations
This is an incredible machine for the money. It’s best trick is the DVD upscaling to 1080p through HDMI which has stopped me bothering about HD-DVD and Blu-Ray until the format war is over. On my 1080p capable Sony TV the picture quality is simply staggering - worth the asking price alone. Normal TV upscaling with less data to work with is less impressive but perfectly acceptable. Recording quality depends on your signal quality and compression - use HQ if you have the disc space. Flexibility to edit TV recordings before transfer to TV (removing unwanted sections) is easy and the transfer quality is very good depending on the settings you use. When dubbing to DVD the HXD870 appears to be incapable of recording something else to HD (unlike when watching a recording or DVD at the same time which is fine). It you look ahead a few days in the digital TV listings there can be a substantial delay in completing the full schedule - for some reason this data isn’t immediately available on the hard drive which seems an odd decision by Sony. This can be annoying when trying to schedule recordings, a procedure that is otherwise very simple. I was disappointed that despite indications to the contrary your recorded TV and DVDs cannot be played back through the aerial. This is a simple pass through connection only - there is no channel to tune into like a VCR. It does feed a picture to HDMI and Scart outputs at the same time so you can use a separate modulator if a feed to a remote TV is wanted. Digital audio output is coax only. If you ask a question through the Sony website, be prepared to wait. They get to it eventually but this service does not appear to have a high priority. The limitations of the HXD870 only affect you when doing unusual things. As soon as you play a DVD at HD resolution you forgive it everything!
Customer Review: Wonderful box
The Sony RDR 870 is simple a wonderful piece of equipment once you are able to get it up and running. The documentation is easy to follow if only concerned about connecting Freeview or analogue/satellite. Trying to connect both is not explained and you are more or less left with trial and error and some pointers hidden in quite a sizeable document. Contacting Sony was a waste of time as no one appears to respond to your email*. As always Amazon did a great job in delivering on time and the equipment in one piece. Unlike a friends experience with Bt Shop were the whole process was a nightmare from beginning to end *To update my review and to be fair to Sony, they made contact by telehone and confirmed my connections to be correct. A bit late but at least they showed that they do care about customers.
Philips DVDR3590 - 250Gb Hard Drive DVD Recorder 
Toshiba RD-85DT DVD Recorder with Digital Freeview and 160Gb Hard Drive 
With the RD85DT player/recorder, you can enjoy digital television and archive hours of TV programmes on your hard drive. The RD85DT comes with a digital TV tuner, a 160 GB hard drive and allows you to enjoy advanced recording functions such as TimeSlip. The RD85DT is also equipped with the electronic programme guide, EPG. The RD85D player/recorder is a real digital video recording tool which will allow you to build your own personal video library.
Customer Review: Dissappointed
Had the unit for a few weeks now, have found it OK as far as recording to HDD, but thats only if I’m not watching anything else at the same time! As it interferes with the TV station that I’m watching. It is very slow at start-up, seems like ages before I can do anything! and the drive is a little noisy. I live in an area where there is very poor digital signal, so dont have alot of channels to view via the set, no ITV or CH4, and sometimes no BBC!… hope that will change in the future. In the meantime I have to record via the satelite, which defeats its object really!
Customer Review: Dissapointing
Sorry, but I have to go against the flow here. I found this machine both difficult to use and unreliable. So much so that I had to take advantage of Amazon’s excellent return policy. I now have a sony RDRHXD560S which I find simnplicity itself to use and excellent quality.
