Sony SVR-S500 - Digital TV Recorder (DVR) with 80GB Hard Drive and Freeview

November 20, 2007 | By Doug In Freeview TV |

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.

Enjoy your favourite programmes in high defintion on the LNXTY-37F from Elonex with its 37″ screen. This television has a brightness of 500 cd/m? and an impressive contrast rate of 1200:1 to display fantastic images in vibrant colour. Also offering Virtual Dolby Surround sound, the Elonex LNXTY-37F will provide you with sound power which will compliment your audiovisual show a treat! In addition, this appliance has an extensive connection system including a PC input, 1 scart socket and HDMI outputs, enabling you to hook up all your video appliances. - Features - 37″ Diagonal Viewing Screen - HD Ready 1366 x 768 Resolution - 1200:1 Contrast Ratio - Progressive Scan - Brightness 500 cd/m2 - 8ms Response Time - 100 Storable channels - Supports PAL and SECAM broadcasts - Integrated Speakers - Virtual Dolby Surround - Connectivity, 1 x HDMI , 1 x SCART , 1 x S-Video , 1 x Component , 1 x VGA (15 pin D-Sub) , A/V in. - Full Two Year On-site Warranty - Dimensions Width 93cm , Height 74cm (with pedestal) 68cm (without) , Depth 13cm , Weight 24.5kg - Includes IR Remote control, SCART cable, Power Cable and User Manual - Also includes a free digital freeview set top box featuring dual scart inputs and 7 day EPG.
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