Sony RDR-HXD970 250GB Storage, , Upscaling DVD Recorder Reviews

+ Hook up my outside surveilance camera, Sky box and aerial easy to use lots of hard disk space. Price.

- I took it to Spain to use so the Guide plus system does not work out here, have to manualy time shift recordings.

+ I like the hard drive which is very easy to use and great for showing digital photos.
Very high quality playback.

- Cannot get it to tune channels from sky dish. Tuning for freeview users only. Have to use guide plus which in itself is good.
Cannot watch one programme while recording another.

+ looks sleek and sophisticated.

- not as easy too use for the less unknowledgeable people but once u get the hang of it its ok.

+ -very straight forward
-lots and lots of hard drive space
-very unimposing
-very satisfied with it!

- -some of the functions could be better thought out. Can't switch between functions e.g if you have pressed information and want to switch to display, you have to get out of information first.
-if you press record during a programme then the recorder keeps recording indefinitely not just until the end of the programme.
-it is as only good as your signal strength

+ Picture quality, ease of recording, jukebox feature

- Unable to add an artist to tracks in jukebox

+ Everything - easy to set up and use especially as I am all Sony

- None as yet

+ - Interconnection with other components

- - Inability to schedule other recordings whilst a programme is being recorded

+ If you have recorded to the hard drive and you start viewing the recording, you can stop the viewing and come back days later and start from the same point automatically, even if you have switched off the machine.

- Slow to start up, if you try to access menus before its started up correctly, it can lock up.

+ Series recordording is really good. Use DVD Guide in preference to TV Guide as better.

- None really. Not quite as easy to use as some I've come across but not bad.

+ Very versatile.

- Program guide erratic,though this is dependant on the signal broadcast,so is not entirely the machines fault.

+ Excellent product. Exactly what I wanted. Very easy to use, and with the connectivity, I was able to integrate together with my existing digi-box so that I can watch digital programs on the same tv while I record.

- Glitch in the EPG means it sometimes resets itself during a search. This is then fixed by switching off/on. Annoying more than anything else.
Also, hard drive crashed once, and could not repair itself, which meant a system reset. I lost all my programs... but I guess this is why they warn you to treat HDD as temporary medium, and to burn to DVD to keep those important programs. Still, one crash in five months, I'm still impressed!

+ Generally easy to programme, intuitive to use for mainstream functions

- More advanced functions take some getting used to and in some instances could do with being easier to use.

+ Excellent Pictures and Sound. It is user friendly. I am using a HDMI cable f connecting the recorder to my Sony Bravia LCD Television.

- I have not found any yet.

+ It is fairly easy to use once you have had a look at the manual. There is a logic about the machine that you get used to. I love the fact that you can watch a program as it is being recorded. In fact you can watch other recordings while making a recording, but you cannot watch any TV.

- The image quality is bad; very oftern you see a superimposed image under the one you are looking at when playing back from the HDD. Having an analogue and a digital tuner seems a waste of time as you cannot watch anything other than the program you are recordning if you are recording something. The DVD works OK but can take ages to power off sometimes.

+ The Sony is very good at what it does and is very straightforward to use, the picture and sound quality is good. The set is is quick and straightforward.

- The machine is very loud when it is switched on and even when in standby the motor unit comes on randomly for an extended period of time and is disturbing if you want to sit quitely and read.

+ As above easy to understand, use and quality of pictures excellent.

- Reviewer left no comment

+ performance & quality are first class.

- User guide is not easy - could be an alien language!!
Not particularly easy to use - still trying to master it!

+ Good quality and value for money

- Would have looked better in silver to match my other Sony products

+ Easy set-up, looks good, great for DVD playing and recording.

- Still overpriced

+ Mostly Integrated with Sony LCD Bravia 46" set.
Can play music and display photo's from USB stick
Good reording from Programme Guide

- Channels slightly different to LCD Bravia.
Remote Control not as intuitive as would expect

+ The simplicity of it use and its general convenience ie not having to get recordable DVD's ready at the time you want to record. Record what ever you want, when you want at the press of a button and transpose onto a DVD if or when you want at a later date.

- None experienced so far. Wife now records soap operas!

+ Actually quite simple to use once you have mastered the basics. Picture quality very good. Some of the reviews I had read before buying commented on the poor user manual - I found it clear and comprehensive

- The actual set up was a little more complicated than "plug and play", particularly linking to Sky but was achieved in stages over a couple of evenings.

+ Very good product with loads of features. Big recording capacity and easy to use, HDMI output gives good pictures and tuner easy to use.

- Only disadvantage is that you cannot record freeview while using the other analog tuner to watch a programme.

+ The picture quality is superb sound is excelent the design is faltless the remote is easey to understand.

- Only one hdmi input apart from that go for it .

+ ease of use is it's best asset,excellant performance and high quality construction.

- none

+ does what it says and comes up to expectation of magazine reveiws

- Reviewer left no comment

+ Editing features, HDD size,

- Small size of onscreen font

+ So easy to use, excellent machine.. my first hard drive dvd recorder :)

- none really.

+ Does everything it says and is easy to use.

- Not straight forward to set up, but once it's set up no problems. Upscaling using HDMI not brilliant.

+ Huge 250 gig hard drive,great freeview tuner better than my stand alone tuner,picture quality is great,no noise can`t tell if it is recording so quiet,very pleased indeed.

- None so far

+ Easy to set up and use.

- No twin tuner

+ Ease of use . Hard disk size . Good quality

- ?

+ can now save programs and such

- cant find any

+ Easy to set-up and use. Very good value for HDD/DVD Recorder. Sony reputation.

- No HDMI-in socket

+ Ease of use and picture quality.

- On screen text could be larger.

+ Product features

- Poor instruction book.

+ flexible to use good range of options

- could have greater range of screens when finalising dubbed programes

+ Recording in HQ (high quality) mode is absolutely superb, the picture quality is the same as the original programme quality. Recording onto the HDD is very easy. Also your recorded titles on HDD are very easy to navigate. The 250GB memory size will allow you to keep dozens of programmes without worrying about filling it up. Pay the extra for the 250GB- its worth it.This is the first HDD recorder ive bought after viewing it in `which` magazine where it won best in its class. A truly brilliant piece of kit.

- Recording from the HDD onto DVD is a bit trickier. The explanation in the booklet could have been simplified (A minor point). Also, if you have recorded films in HQ mode- you wont fit it onto a regular recordable DVD if you want to keep it (as it will be about 8MB -dvd`s are generally 4mb). I think you can get dual layer recordable DVD`S with greater capacity. Dont let this put you off.

+ Built in Hard Drive

- no twin digital tuner

+ Integrates really well with my Sony TV. Great product, quiet, fast, loads of features

- Doesn't seem to allow you to record a few minutes either side when timer recording a programme from the TV guide.

+ Does what it says

- No built in surround sound system. Why not have an HDD PVR, 5.1 surround system and multi DVD player/recorder in ONE box

+ the look and design are vry good, and the quality of the dvds are good,

- the manual from sony isnt easy for a layman to understand, and still havent figured out hdd to dvd, and the remote could have been done better i.e. different colour and not at many buttons on it.

+ Good machine - works fine with Sky + - which was a worry - Seems to recortd for ever and you can remove adverts - Get CD-R+s as this lets you record 3hrs in 10 minutes - You can put thumbnails on disks too

- Menus and stuff a little quirky - sky + is a millin times easier - but fine.

+ looks good easy to use

- instructions make it look more complicated to set up than it is

+ hard drive is easy to use and huge memory - takes about 10 secs to set timer and you're away! Sound and audio quality improves if you use some top-notch cables.

- none

+ It works

- none to date

+ i dont need the kids to do it for me i can do it myself, for the first time since video tape, most of it is self explanatory, it even sets itself up.

- none so far.

+ Design and picture quality.

- Instruction guide - ease of use.

+ Excellent picture quality, massive disk space, simple and easy to use.

- The limited clock/info display is of little help when recording.

+ Huge disc capacity. Ideal for archive storage of non-HD material. Very good image on recording playback. DVD image very good (1080p).

- Manual a bit of a slog, particularly the complicated discussion of various 'video modes' and getting widescreen on playback of recordings copied from Sky box . But with a bit of perseverance (and a trawl through avforums.com help threads) all problems or difficulties have (so far) been solved in minutes.

+ Reviewer left no comment

- It is really difficult to download the Menu guide and this has to be done everyday for you to be able to record in advance of the programme starting. we have cable and the initial set up wasn't as straight forward as we are yet to become a digital area.

+ Difficult to fault. Have used all basic functions so far and have found no real problems.

- The on-screen info as you channel hop through Freeview is not as good as an older Sony DVD recorder that we have - but this is a relatively trivial fault.