Customer Reviews

Zenith HDR230 HDTV Personal Video Recorder/Receiver (Brushed Metallic)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Zenith has made a good start here, but it is missing some key features. Notably: sharing between PVRs (e.g. like ReplayTV does out of the box and like TiVo does with an extra option). Also it needs a larger drive - 160GB at minimum, 250 or larger preferably.

Let us hope this is an early version of what will become a full-featured PVR like the TiVo or ReplayTV because it has plenty of promise!

I have waited a while before writing a review of the Zenith HDR-230 in order to gain some experience and learning curve..

This unit is really excellent, especially when paired up with a DVD-RW/VCR unit.. Recording HDTV content to the unit's in-built hard drive is a really nice feature for the ability to record a future program, however I also prefer moving content off of the hard drive in order to free up space, and save a program as part of an archive.

My HDR-230 is part of a home theater system based around the HP VP6120 DLP Video projector ($1500), an Onkyo 5 DVD disk-changer and 600 Watt Dolby 6.1 amplifier unit ($400), Zenith DVD-RW/VHS VCR unit ($400), and an 8-foot da-lite brand projection screen, which results in an 8-foot wide (diagonal measurement) screen image. The entire package ended up at an investment level of approx $2800 which is a bargain basement price for such a quality result..

A nice feature of the HDR-230 is that the output format is front-panel selectable. Note that the Y Pb Pr (component video) output is only available for 1080i, 720p, 720i, and 480p.. However there is an un-intended consequence of selecting the 480i output format, and that is that the unit will output content that can be down-converted from, for example 1080i, to 480i, and then the content can be routed to a DVD recorder or VCR that has S-video or standard video inputs ...

In doing this, my results seem to indicate that recording to DVD-RW disks in this manner is very similar to the playback resolution of typical DVD movies. It is not recommended that recordings be made to VHS tapes, as the result will be the further down-conversion to NTSC video format which is much poorer quality..

The overall result is a large amount of flexiblity..

I very much recommend the HDR-230 for anyone that would like to put together an entry-level system that outperforms many systems that currently can go for five to six thousand dollars..

A word of caution for those that wish to record commercially-broadcast movies to DVD disk in this manner, it is really worth the price to purchase your favorite DVD movies if you wish to build up a collection. The reason is that having to deal with 3 minutes of commercials every 10 minutes is simply not worth the time involved..

The tuner on this box is terrific. It changes channels quickly, has never locked up (unlike the Samsung SIRT-165), and has a good remote that lets you quickly pull up the channel info or signal strength. All of my local stations also broadcast in DTV, so I don't miss the lack of an NTSC tuner. The antenna pass through allows me to connect my analog VCR as well (useful to have a second tuner for PIP).

When considering whether or not I wanted to spring for the extra dollars to get a PVR or just a plain tuner, I hadn't realized the difference HD recording would make. I really don't want to watch TV shows any other way! And for sharing purposes, you can always edit out the commericals of your recorded program and copy it to an analog VCR.

The timeshifting feature is pretty cool. Unfortunately, you can't rewind material you've currently started recording through the timer. You have to start out using the timeshifting. The manual was a little unclear how it works exactly, so I've managed to lose 1/2 hour of a show while trying to figure it out. Suffice it to say that if you want to save timeshifted material (beyond the show's duration), you need to use the clip record function as well. Once you get used to timeshifting, you'll love it. Friends calling in the middle of your favorite show aren't a nuisance any longer.

The only feature I really miss is the ability to seek to a particular time. Instead you have to fast forward at 50x speed (unless you've bookmarked it) to the spot you want. You also can't delete the multi-channels. For example, say you only want channel 4-1, but not 4-2, you can't delete 4-2. There is a surf button that moves the channel changer between channel numbers (and then you can use the ch+/ch- to move between the multi-stations). Also be careful about your how you set the clock. I was using "automatic" and failed to record a few shows. I wonder if the machine received an errant signal and it triggered some of the reservations early. Once the clock was set, I had to switch it to manual set to get consistent results.

The Zenith HD 230 is a simple, straight-forward HD DVR. I have used this unit for a couple of years with few problems. Setup and channel scan worked perfectly. Video quality is excellent. Note that over-the-air HD broadcasts are generally higher quality than cable HD -- sometimes MUCH better. I recorded and watched both summer and winter Olympics. The fast-forward and rewind from the remote is fast and convenient for replaying missed words or scenes or skipping commercials. I have never used this unit with cable, so I can't speak to that source. It has a nice "timeshift" instant record (and pause, rewind and FF) that we use pretty much 100% with all our live TV viewing. One downside: you can't record one show and watch another on the same DVR. (You can record a show on this DVR and watch another channel live, assuming you have a TV with a tuner.) If power goes off, you have to reset the clock manually. There is no subscription service, so you have to set record by channel, date and time -- which I prefer to do anyway. User interface is clean and obvious. I don't know how many channels of sound it supports, but I have a 5.1 channel sound system, and this was fed properly during the Olympics when they broadcast this many audio channels (over-the-air). Stereo broadcast is much more common. Also, the Academy Awards sounded fabulous.

Big, big plus: NO MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE FEES!