Pioneer DVR-810HS DVD Recorder with TiVo Basic Service

by Pioneer

Product Details

• Item Weight: 17 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 19 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0000YDALM
• Item model number: DVR810HS
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #118,632 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid performance--so far, February 5, 2004

By 

careless whiz (Rhode Island, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pioneer DVR-810HS DVD Recorder with TiVo Basic Service (Electronics)

I was longing after this machine for a long time and finally bought it two days ago. It was very easy to set up (although when I had a question, Pioneer customer service took forever on hold and then the person answering the phone was unhelpful), with a good Install manual (and an even easier quick-reference pamphlet), and a good User's guide. The picture is great--I'm not sure why the two people above me had troubles. I am recording in Extreme Fine and I have no complaints. I generally go by the rule that Medium quality is only for animated programs, and I use Best/Extreme Fine for everything else. DVD picture is excellent. I recorded an old videotape to the DVR hard drive and then burned it to DVD, with superb results. I set up my old TiVo in the bedroom and used wireless network adapters to link them, and now I can transfer programs from one set to the other. The DVR is able to record a new program onto the hard drive even while transferring another program from the other TiVo! And while burning a DVD, all other TiVo capabilities are available--you can watch, record a new program, etc. The burner is fairly quick (in extreme fine, it is a little faster than real time), and the interface is very easy to use. The only glitches/inconveniences I have experienced so far are: (1) programs transfer from TiVo to TiVo in slower-than-real time (ie, they take a while)--but you can watch while they transfer, if you give them a head start. (2) The Amazon description which states that you can edit a program once it is on your DVR hard drive is inaccurate--THERE IS NO EDITING FEATURE. (3) It seems impossible to transfer a program from one Tivo to the other and then burn it to DVD (the DVR says "this program is taped in an incompatible format"). (4) There is only one set of video-2 inputs on the back of the set, permitting only ONE of the following {VCR, videocamera or DVD player} to be hooked up. Another set of inputs would have been nice. (5) The 80 gig hard drive holds only about 14 hours of extreme-fine quality video--but with the capability to burn to DVD-RW that shouldn't be too confining and (6) The video inputs are composite, not component, although that is a very minor annoyance. In all, however, I am very happy with my new "toy."

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Used this for a few months and like it, May 14, 2004

By 

JS "joesquid" (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pioneer DVR-810HS DVD Recorder with TiVo Basic Service (Electronics)

I have had this unit for a few monts in my bedroom. Medum quality records just fine and makes DVDs that dont have any pixelization (basic quality sucked). I have used el-cheapo DVD-Rs and it has worked well. The unit is no more noisy than my 80 hour seris 2 in the livingroom and the wife and I never hear the unit. On numerous occasions I have burned a DVD while recording a show and watching another and the unit performed like a champ. A note: The burned DVDs use the Tivo interface for the menu which is neat but confusing when watching the DVD - we keep thinking we are in Tivo and wonder why the 30sec skip doesnt work.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars All was fine until..., February 19, 2006

By 

J. C. Guy (Newtown, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pioneer DVR-810HS DVD Recorder with TiVo Basic Service (Electronics)

I bought this unit in August 2004, and had been using it with both TiVo Basic and TiVo Plus, until it conked out in February 2006. Eighteen months is not an acceptable product life for any video component in my book, and now I have a friend trying to hack a repair by swapping out what is apparently a dead HDD with a $40 Seagate 160GB HDD. If he succeeds, the unit will go to 160 hours of available recording time. That will make up for the downtime.

In short, however, I must warn any prospective buyers that these kind of hard disks are not really meant to run non-stop for years on end. Perhaps the best plan is periodically to have a tech friend create a mirror/backup of your season passes/preferences/etc, and to use "TiVo to Go" regularly to send your favourite recordings to your home PC. The system inside is Linux, not Windows, so that's why a techie is needed for the hack.

Finally, if you don't care to do more than use this as a modern VCR with time-shifting, stick with the free TiVo Basic. In retrospect, paying for the lifetime service doesn't make sense when not six months later the unit dies...