Sony RDR-HXD870 - DVD Recorder With 160GB Hard Drive - With Freeview - Black
Sony RDR-HXD870 - DVD Recorder With 160GB Hard Drive - With Freeview - Black
HDD DVD RECORDER 160GB INT DIG TV TUNER HDMI OUTPUT IN
Customer Review: Very good.
I’ve only this a couple of weeks having eventually got my money back for a ’similar’ Philips product that was so bad as to be unfit for purpose. Anyway, very pleased with the Sony. SOOOO much better than the Philips in every way imaginable. It looks good, it works, it’s quick and responsive. Good manual. The lengthy EPG updates are a bit annoying as I always record from a connected Sky box so will never use it - can’t switch it off according to another reviewer below. Minor gripe though.
Customer Review: High Quality 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!
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With unique technologies, nothing delivers a combination of visual and audio in-home experience quite as stylishly as a Bravia. The Bravia Engine processor and unique high-spec S-PVA panel deliver rich, deep color, like no other. Thanks to Live Color Creation, a Sony technology, the V2500 Series can produce far deeper and more accurate tones, for absolutely stunning color reproduction - exactly as nature intended. TruSurround XT technology delivers a virtual surround-sound experience from the front, with no additional speakers required. The built-in digital amplification and BBE digital enhancement ensures a pure ‘noise-free’ clarity to any sound, be it a gently inhaled breath or a deep-space explosion.
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The freeView IP 100 defines a new class of remote KVM access devices. It combines digital remote KVM access via IP networks through comprehensive and integrated systems management.The freeView IP 100 offers convenient remote control and access via IP LAN or Internet. It captures, digitizes, & compresses video signals and transmits them via a keyboard, mouse to & and from a remote computer. It provides a truly non-intrusive solution for remote access and control. The Access & Control software runs on it’s embedded processors, not on mission-critical computers. Thus, there is no interference with server operation or impact on network performance.
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Freedom9 freeView 2PA - KVM / audio switch - 2 ports - 1 local user 
The freeView 2PA connects two computers and eliminates the need for extra cables and peripherals. This saves the user valuable time, space, power and additional equipment cost.Controlling 2 PCs/MACs/SUN Microsystems from a single keyboard, mouse, monitor and audio device has never been easier and more convenient. Its keyboard and mouse emulation allow you to simultaneously boot up multiple PCs. On top of all these loaded features, is the hot key and auto scan control keyboard commands which render more user control.
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