Customer Reviews

Pioneer DVR-640H-S DVD Recorder with 160GB DVR

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

We bought this unit to supplement our TIVO which, because of its single tuner and inflexible program guide, has difficulty recording both cable-scrambled and unscrambled channels. The 640H is directly replacing a VCR that we used to record scrambled channels and, for the moment, will give us a second DVD player.

This is our first experience with a DVD recorder and I suspect that, since we don't do home video or want the jukebox, we do not need many of the included features.

One of the reasons we chose this particular unit is that it DOES NOT depend on either the TV Guide video input or a TIVO-like service but rather, has its own programming options very much like a VCR. Note, though, that for scrambled channels, both the cable box AND the unit timer need to be set.

For us the DVR-640-H-S does the following:

-Records cable-box scrambled channels directly into the unit's channel 3 and then onto the hard drive (HDD) or a DVD. Again, the individual channel must be set on the cable box, either manually or using the cable box timer and the recording time must be set on the unit. If a blank DVD is used as the recording media, several settings must be made to accomodate the specific type of DVD. The HDD is more forgiving.

-Records cable non scrambled channels without going thru the cable box using the unit's built-in tuner and the recording timer. Same settings as for scrambled channel recordings cited above. Note that on the Pioneer web site (but NOT in the manual) there is a footnote stating that the unit's tuner is analog and may need a converter starting in the year 2009.

-Records from the HDD onto a DVD for permanent storage. Depending on the media selected, this can be done at high speed rather than real time.

-Records from a DVD onto the HDD. Important: copy protected commercial movies cannot be recorded or copied so do not plan to create your own library from rented movies. Non copy- protected prerecorded disks can only be copied in real time.

-AN ADDED PLUS: Records from VCR (video tape) to the HDD or a DVD, thus allowing archiving of video tapes and eliminating the need for an extra piece of equipment to perform this function.

The list of recorded programs is accessed thru a "disk navigator". The screen contains a block of info for each recorded program including a playing thumbnail and the time/channel of the recording. Unfortunately, the screen does NOT contain the title or program name so that, even if you put it in manually when you set up the time record parameters, you need to input it manually again. We find this system not as user friendly and much slower than TIVO's, but it is functional and the thumbnails are a plus.

There are also a series of playback adjustment options to improve the picture.

Undocumented feature: The "slowest" of the fast forward speeds includes sound, sped up but still intelligible.

Be aware that, because of the fluid standards, ridiculous jargon and general lack of intuitive nomenclature in the DVD industry (-r; -rw; +r; video mode; vr mode, etc.) plus multiple disk, speed and other adjustment options, the DVR-640H-S manual is some 135 pages long!! It is comprehensive and well written. I suspect this little book will be our companion at least for a while. I also recommend downloading the manual from the Pioneer web site. Read it before you buy the unit and keep it as a easily searched PDF reference.

And, quite frankly, be prepared to experiment and make some mistakes before everything works out.

So far, we give the Pioneer DVR-640H-S five stars, not necessarily for its ease of use but because, if you read the manual, hook it up correctly and make the effort, it can replace a TIVO, VCR and DVD player while performing functions that these units probably can't do alone or in combination.

I dont think the previous rating can be taken seriously, because shipping problems should not affect the product rating.
Having owned 3 previous DVD recorders (Philips, Panasonic 100 and Pioneer 320), i was anxious to check out this product. To make a long story pretty short. This recorder is just about perfect, but missing 2 things.... if you need them.
1) believe it or not.... this recorder does NOT have a DV in. Every cheap 90 dollar DVD recorder has it now, for some strange reason, Pioneer does not include it in this year's model.
2) An HDMI out, if you need it. For a 400 Dollar model, you would assume, this is included for the 2006 model year.
Now the good thing. This year, for the first time. Pioneer recorders finally do record on ANY media, even DVD+RW and DVD-RAM and Dual-Layers.
Whats very unique on this recorder and not available anywhere else is the jukebox function, which lets you store several CD's on the harddrive, an alternative to an IPOD.
The Pioneer quality is the best next to Panasonic. So if you miss the DV and the HDMI, i suggest you purchase the Panasonic 55 model (just coming out now in july 2006). The Panasonic runs about 100 bucks more, but would miss the jukebox.
Those two models are clearly the best for the calendar year 2006.

I purchased this DVR a couple of months ago to replace my Sony DVR that could not be relied upon to time record. My purposes are pretty simple, just recording TV programs directly off the analog portion of my cable so I can't say that my usage has been anything involved. I haven't even recorded to the DVD yet, only to the HDD. But, my experience is that it's very easy to set the time recording, the time and counter display is easy to read, playback is simple, deleting is simple, and I like the fact that it fast forwards much easier than my Sony. It also has a nice large hard drive so I don't have to worry about running out of room. I love it so much that I'm even putting it on my Christmas list in hopes Santa will bring me a second one since I often like to record more than one program at a time. Good-bye VCR!

There is a disclaimer on the Frontier website that this unit does not have a digital tuner so in 2009 when everything goes digital, it may not be able to record without going through a digital cable box. But, I feel that for the money it's still worth it even if I can't use it without a cable box in 2009. I suspect there will be significant changes in these devices in the next few years to accomodate the upcoming changes ordered by the FCC.

I have owned two other dvr units that only record to dvd from Samsung and Toshiba. In terms of features, quality and ease of use, this Pioneer dvr-640 trumps them both. In addition, this unit comes with a nice sized hard drive, meaning there can be weeks of programming on the unit before you are forced to watch or burn your recorded programs to dvd as with the other units.

My own quest was to find a device that had time slip, dvd recording, and vcr plus. All three are found here. If you are like me and see no reason to pay Tivo a monthly fee to program your dvr like me, then this is the unit you have been looking for,

Just received my unit after a bad experience with a Toshiba model that had a loud fan that never stopped running. So far it seems good. I like that it plays all DVD formats including dual layer. I even tested to make sure it plays DVD DL burned from my computer--no problem.

I would have given it 5 stars but the one short fall is the remote. Although I like that it is simple(something the Toshibas was not) it is not programable to control my TV. My past DVR and DVD players always had a remote that is programable to control at least the power and volume of my TV. I tried to purchase a universal remote but none of them will support the ability to change the controls of the remote from controlling the HDD to the DVD player. So for now I am going to use the universal remote I purchased so that the only time I have to use a second remote is to flip it over from HDD to DVD or vice versa. If you don't want to purchase a universal then you will have to keep two remotes handy-- one for your tv volume and power and the other to control the DVR.

I have been using the 640H-S for about 2 months. I researched several DVR's before selecting the 640H-S. None had all the features I considered essential. It came down to figuring out which features I could not live without and selecting based upon them. Unfortunately, some things I only discovered after owning.

First the bad:
1. You take the trouble to enter a title for each show when setting up recordings then discover the title is *NOT* displayed in the list of actual recordings. Sounds trivial but when you have a bunch of shows recorded you only see a list of time/date stamps. Makes it very difficult to determine which listing corresponds to which show (was Dec 10 at 7:00PM a "Friends" rerun or that movie you wanted to see?). Ironically, if you just hit record for a something you see playing, the show title is (usually) picked up automatically and filled in instead of the normal time/date stamp.
2. Difficult/impossible to read the menus from across the room. We have a 27 inch TV but the menu fonts are small and thin making it necessary to move close anytime you are accessing a menu.
3. Automatic chapter markers are supposed to be inserted at periodic intervals (10 minutes is default) but the chapter skip forward/backward does *NOT* work. These means that there is no fast way to move through a recording - for instance if you recorded two, 30 minutes shows together, you can't just skip forward 3 chapters; instead you must fast forward or hit the skip button a bunch of times.
4. The music jukebox feature does not have a "random shuffle" feature. This means that you always hear the songs in the exact same order.
5. You can pick a "genre" name and assign to any timed recording but it is not displayed by default for your recordings. I tried to use this to bypass the problem in #1 above by making the genre name the show name but it is not simple to display the genre name and any action reverts back to the default display (no genre name).
6. While you can view pictures from from your digital camera, you cannot view movies recorded on your camera.

The good:
1. The skip feature is wonderful. You can press it several times in rapid succession to add time if you like. For example, first press gives 30 seconds, 2nd gives 1 minute, 3rd gives 1 minute 30 seconds. Eventually, subsequent presses add larger increments, up to 10 minutes. Backward skip starts at 5 seconds (good if you just overrun when skipping forward), then 15 seconds, then larger increments.
2. Love the chase play feature and being able to watch a recorded show while recording another one. These are the main reasons that a DVR beats a VHS recorder for recording shows. Also, no need to worry about running out of space like you do for a VHS tape.
3. If you hit stop, the 640H-S remembers where you stopped the next time you come back to the recording. Hitting stop twice in a row resets to the start of the recording the next time you come back to it.
4. Quick copy feature makes it simple to copy a show from the hard drive to a DVD.
5. Easy to extend recording time if you realize that your set recording time will end before your show ends - for example a game ran long and pushed out the start, and therefore the end, of your show.
6. The 640H-S usually will automatically pick up the title of the show currently playing and display momentarily as you change channels. If you hit record while the show is playing, the title is saved and displayed in the recordings list.

In summary, if it has the essential features you desire and you can live with its bad points you should consider the DVR-640H-S when looking for a non-subscription DVR.

I've had my Pioneer DVR-640H-S for a few weeks now, and since it's the first DVR I've ever owned, it's hard to compare. I will say this: it's fairly easy to operate and does a pretty good job recording off the air. (I recorded from VHS tape once and that went well also.) The primary reason I bought mine was to record off Hi Def channels. Since the built in tuner is analog, the DVR has to be set to the cable converter box, which means if I want to record from two different HiDef channels while I'm gone, I'm out of luck. But I guess no one manufactures one with a digital tuner yet, so... My other complaint is this: I record a movie on the HD, then want to preserve it on a DVD. To record the movie only to the DVD (cutting out the extraneous stuff before and after the movie) there's no way to go directly to the end of the movie. So it takes time to FF all the way to the end to do the "divide." It seems to me it would have been easy for Pioneer to set up a "time slider" so you could go directly to a spot, let's say, an hour and 45 minutes into the movie.
On the plus side, I had read some negative comments on the fact that this model does not have a "TV Guide" feature. I don't miss that because I'd rather program my time recordings manually, i.e., start and stop times, input source, etc. The other plus is when you record in highest quality on the HD and you transfer to DVD, it checks the DVD and tells you what the best quality recording will fit on the dvd.
All in all, I am satisfied with the purchase!

I purchased mine in Oct 2006 and have made dozens of hard drive and DVD recordings. For DVD, I record to hard drive first and then to DVD after editing. Editing is very easy, just make sure to use the "exit" option when finished, similar to hitting "apply" on a computer instead of just returning to next level menu. The DVD menu screens are very basic, but this allows for maximum use of DVD space for video instead of bells and whistles. The manual was not very clear about automatic chapter stops, but a call to customer service clarified that the auto chapter stops can only be generated in real-time recording, not in the high speed dubbing from hard drive to DVD, so you have to take a couple of minutes to add manual chapter stops if you want them. The hardest part of using this machine (and it's not very hard) is getting the right compression to fit the length of the recorded material, similar to setting a VCR recording time at SP, LP, or EP. If you want to get the best quality for the length of the recording, you need to spend a little time . All told, an excellent machine with great video quality, ease of use, and great features.

I have only recorded a couple of items on the hard drive and one item on the DVD burner but it is simple to use. The thing that impressed me the most so far is the speed of copying from the hard drive to a DVD-R. I recorded a six hour program on the hard drive and when I copied it to the DVD-R it only took about six minutes! This is a slam dunk compared to having to copy in real time which would have taken six hours. I thought that is was a good value as well. The owner's manual is rather thick - over 130 pages, but I probably will not utilize every feature with this equipment. So I read the areas that I needed to know to do what I wanted to do. It was also easy to hook up - I am using our digital cable box for the tuner. I also like the size of the hard drive and the fact that it can copy to DVD-R, DVD-RW as well as DVD+R and DVD+RW discs. I would recommend this recorder to anybody.

Quite honestly, this machine is exactly what I was looking for in a DVD recorder. I did a pretty fair amount of research prior to buying this model, and it seems to me that this is about the best you can get for the price. I have had the unit for about three weeks now, and it has exceeded my expectations. Because of the built in tuner, I am able to watch one show and record another at the same time.

Many people have mentioned that this dvr is a bit difficult to use. I couldn't disagree more. In my case at least, I have looked at the manual the first time I try anything drastically new, but operation is very intuitive after that. I am impressed with the editing capabilities of the machine. In a few minutes, I am able to edit out commercials from recorded tv shows and have them ready for dvd.

I would highly reccomend this DVD recorder. The hard drive is a fantastic feature, and everything works as well or better than advertised. This is a great alternative to a tivo.