Humax DRT400 40-Hour TiVo with DVD Recorder

by Humax

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 20 x 16 x 7 inches ; 17.3 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 18 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B0009I2FQA
• Item model number: DRT400
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #87,381 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)

Product Description

Humax DVD Recorders with TiVo service - the best way to watch and record TV. This full-feature, 3- in-1 product is a powerful TiVo Series2 DVR, an advanced DVD player, and an easy-to-use DVD Recorder. Because Humax DVD Recorders integrate TiVo service, you'll never have to struggle with videotape again. Now you can search for your favorite shows and store them directly onto your hard drive. And when you're ready to get mobile or create an archive, burning a DVD is as easy as using the TiVo service. WishList searches find and record all programs that feature a favorite actor, director, team or topic TiVo Suggestions automatically records shows based on your preferences Smart Recording will detect line-up changes, adjust recording times automatically and even skip reruns Schedule recordings online Inputs - front S-video, composite and IEEE 1394 FireWire Outputs - 2 audio, 2 composite video and S-video Telephone jack, low-speed data port, 2 USB ports and IR blaster Quick, convenient 1-button recording Includes remote control Use of TIVO requires a service subscription - One-time service fee of $299 (good for the life of the recorder) or monthly service fee of $12.95 for TiVo Plus required by TiVo

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Product overall; Disappointing Video sometimes., July 18, 2005

By 

J. Giordano (Bellmore,NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Humax DRT400 40-Hour TiVo with DVD Recorder (Electronics)

I am a very big Tivo fan; and had 2 original series 2 tivo's. So when my 1st Tivo went on the fritz I decided to buy this unit. I figured ease of use; one device, and a recorder something previous Tivo's don't have. I have to be honest the first unit I bought gave me trouble with the remote control and other universal remotes. After returning it the next unit worked fine.

Setup:

Setup is fairly easy; even though I wish the networking option would work straight out of the box, instead of connecting to the phone line for an hour. No Biggie though; I survived.

Configuration:

Standard configuration s-video; component audio. Eventually I am going to use HD component cables (but supposedly they don't improve video on regular tv signal on DVD)

Ease of Use:

It's Tivo thats a no brainer; there is a DVD button on the remote press it, move the selection to play or burn dvd and you are done. Very easy to use.

Positives:

Addition of LCD time on the front.

Fact that it is a DVD recorder

Fair Price

Negatives:

After reading alot of reviews regarding the DRT800; the people who complained about the blacks not being distinguished are right. The video colors suck! Especially When you have a seperate input with HD and you toggle between them.

There is no HD support (Tivo Doesn't supoort HD yet)

Support took a few days to get back to me.

All in all it is a fair price and I knew I wasn't getting an High Def picture out of it so the video doesn't burn me that much. It burns and plays DVD's with ease. It is worth $250-300. If I could give the unit 3.5 stars I would b/c it's better than 3 but the picture makes it less than 4!

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Humax TiVo DVD R fails to work, January 18, 2006

By 

Dianne Jones "DianneEJL" (Fremont, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Humax DRT400 40-Hour TiVo with DVD Recorder (Electronics)

After analyzing the differences between Comcast DVR and TiVo, we decided a TiVo purchase would be best. And since we have a lot of VHS tapes that we want to save, the combo DVD-R was a great feature.

The setup was easy, it ran fine, but it had a whirring / clicking noise - the fan was not spinning, although it was moving back and forth slightly, and this was the cause of the noise. Called Humax tech support, they said to return it.

Got my next one from Circuit City. After running fine for about 15 minutes, the same problems with the fan happened. Called Humax Tech support, again nothing to do but return it.

Went back to the store for one last try, but had them plug it in at the store so I did not have to bother hooking it up to my entertainment center. Same problem. Called tech support, and they offered to give me an address to write a letter of complaint.

Needless to say, I returned the product, never to buy from Humax again. A great product concept spoiled by poor quality.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Trouble writing DVDs on the Humax, November 26, 2005

By 

rockyhawky - See all my reviews

This review is from: Humax DRT400 40-Hour TiVo with DVD Recorder (Electronics)

I purchased this 40-hr Humax with the DVD recorder on Oct 28, 2005. The manual indicates DVD-R compatibility with any type of DVD. However, the Humax began "eating" my HP 50-pack I purchased. I then purchased a 5-pack of Memorex and it began ruining those. It indicated "incompatible format" or simply gave a "write error" without completing the recording. In one case it went into a continuous write loop and required rebooting.

I returned the unit to Circuit City just over 30 days later and received a new replacement. Same result.

I then contacted Humax directly. Barbara recommended TDK, Sony, Verbatim and Imation DVD-Rs. I purchased the Sonys and they appear, at least for now, to work. I'm irritated that they do not specify the DVD compatibility in their manual.

In general the Humax is quite promising. The interface, especially for writing DVDs is very simple. The write speed, whenever it did work, was pretty fast. I haven't timed the transfer rate to a computer yet (e.g. TiVo2Go). The original Series 2 TiVo is fairly slow through a wired connection (approximately 3Mbps for me).