Customer Reviews

Sony RDR-GX257 Recordable DVD Player with HDMI Upscaling, Black

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

The Sony RDR-GX257 is a low-cost, tunerless DVD-Video recorder that manages good recording quality at the two faster speeds and isn't too difficult to use.

Normally, a recorder that performs its designed function well enough and with sufficient ease would, at least, deserve four stars. Unfortunately, in the case of this recorder, it earns two stars because, for the price, it lacks features that similarly priced competitive units have, such as the Toshiba D-R410 or, for a few more bucks, the Panasonic DMR-EA18K.

One feature that is lacking on the Sony is recording support for dual layer recordable discs. This problem itself may not be an issue, except there are units similarly priced that do support such media. Support for dual layer media on both -R and +R media would've added a bit more flexibility to this model that you get from the aforementioned Toshiba and Panasonic models.

Another feature that is lacking are s-video inputs, so you will never be able to record high resolution analog formats, such as S-VHS or Hi-8, to their fullest. On top of that, there are no s-video outputs. There are other players that have s-video inputs (and outputs) at the same price point, so why Sony decided to omit this from this model is baffling, especially since these inputs are included on the mentioned Toshiba and Panasonic players.

What is even more baffling was that the model that the RDR-GX257 replaced, the RDR-GX255, had these features! What in the world was Sony thinking?!

In all, because the features that were in the previous generation model did not get incorporated into the current model and that you can have more features at around the same price from someone else, it is very hard to justify this machine.

In all, I don't recommend this one.

I read a lot of the reviews on this product and did not have very high hopes but seeing as all the stores that I went to did not have a large selection of dvd recorders I had to get this model. What I found that the setup was fairly easy if you are technical savvy, if you know what I mean. Well I got it set up to my satellite receiver and I said I was going to test the recorder first, so I got on of my dvds that I use from my computer, DVD+R, which cannot be re-recorded on once it has been recorded on. And what I got was a perfect picture with no 6 second record, like a previous reviewer said, it recorded everything that I wanted it too, it was fairly simple for me. I like to read the instructions that come with the product as it makes getting to know the product a whole lot easier. I suggest if you are going to set this up to give yourself some time to read the operating instructions, because you will not have trouble with this machine. Thanks and I hope this helps.

This dvd recorder is somewhat hard to use, BUT it switches the cable box for you on a timer. The Toishiba 420 does not do that. That makes this recorder 100x more useful than the Toshiba, because I often want to record on several different channels in advance.

I have owened one of these puppies for about a year now. I ran into this PRODUCT on your site and saw the reveiws. It really does not make sense. I have to say you need to know what you are purchasing. Once you know that, then you can actually see that this product does what it's supposed to do with ease. I have no issues with it at all. I use it frequently with no issues. As for the machine itself, it plays quietly, and would suggest it to anyone onverting old VHS or Hi-8 to DVD as well as someone recording digital satellite or digital cable instead of using a DVR.

Maybe it is just my machine.. but I bought this and a pack of DVD-RWs to replace my VCR, Big mistake! I set the timer for over the Thanksgiving holiday and when I got back I had all of 5 seconds of an hour long program recorded to the disc and nothing else (I had set the timer for 3 separate hour long programs). I tried again, set the timer, being more careful to ensure I wasn't making a mistake, and again I got less than 10 seconds of an hour long program. So I tried to manually record and found that the player would stop recording after a few seconds and I'd get a Huge: Cannot Record Copy write Protected error across my screen whenever I tried to record Anything! It wouldn't even record a 30 second commercial and when it Errored when I tried to transfer Home movies from VHS to DVD I gave up! I have had it for 7 days now and needless to say I am returning this machine first thing tomorrow morning!

It is important to note that this recorder does not have any tuners, limiting its usefulness.

Whether this is right for you, depends on how you are going to use it. If you just want to transfer VHS tapes on to DVD, then this would be OK.

You won't be able to record TV shows without some sort of external tuner. This could be a digital TV tuner for over the air broadcast or a cable box or a dish box.

But, in any case, you will not be able to record a high quality video picture. You will only be able to record in standard definition and not in widescreen.

For copyright protection (so people can't copy high defintion signals), no commercial DVD recorder comes with component or HDMI inputs. They only have composite inputs and in some cases, like with this player, S-video inputs. But, composit and S video are lower qualify.

I prefer a DVD recorder with digital ASTM and QAM tuners. With these, you can take direct digital signals from either over the air, or directly from a cable and record higher definition DVDs in widescreen.

This does everything that II want and more. I didn't think that it would be that good but it really fooled me. II am so happy with it that Ii want to get another if I can find one. My order was here in a few days and I installed it right away. We have used it several times already with no problems at all. I couldn't beleive how easy it is to use. I recommend it to anyone who wants to put their movies on DVD. I didn't need a tuner because I use a cable boxso it was what I needed.
"Two thumbs up"

This recorder is a big disappointment. The final straw for me was while trying to record I paused it and a screen come up saying something about system reset complete.I lost an hour of recording ,and had to hold down the power button to get it to respond.I made a nice shiny coaster.

This recorder is under powered and often there are freezes and artifacts on the screen. Sometimes the errors are so bad it won't play back.

If it worked properly it would be a nice machine. Maybe I got a bad one ,But I doubt it.

If you buy this one I wish you good luck.

I had one DVD recorder already, but didn't like the quality of the picture. This Sony recorder with the 1080 P. upgrade has a real quality picture. even my homemade DVDs from the other recorder have a better picture now that I am using a Sony recorder/player. I highly recommend this product to all of those who want to start recording their own DVDs.

To those who like to transfer old VHS tapes to DVD's or classic VHS tapes not available in DVD or Blue-Ray:

Do not bother to purchase this product. This is my second purchase of a Sony DVD recorder. Its predecessor operated better and the only distruction to that model was using a cleaning disk. Warning: Do not use any cleaning disc or cleaning products for any DVD recorder. It will destroy the recording head.

The problem with this recorder is that the door/tray begins to malfunction after one year of use. First the door/tray will not want to stay open long enough to unloaded the disk; then the door/tray will not want to stay close to play the disk. I contacted customer support by email and the course of action involved was to unplug the product and reboot the unit. Guess what? The problem still persisted. Unfortuately, the warranty I purchased from Wal-Mart expired.

One customer tried to send their Sony DVD Recorder, RDR GX257 unit to a repair shop after an expired warrantly and was handed a whopping $115.00 surcharge in addition to shipping and handling charges. Who can afford to waste that amount of money when a new Panasonic is just only $50.00 dollars more. As a word to the wise, do not purchase any DVD recorder from Walmart. The only available recorder Walmart has is the Sony DVD Recorder, RDR GX257 model. Instead, shop Amazon.com and the like and find either a new or refurbished Panasonic or Toshiba product. Forget the Sony RDR GX257, especially if you make a lot of conversions from old VHS tapes to DVD's.

I will likely send this machine to a video repair shop and give someone else the product. The over all grade for this product is a "58" or high "F". It should not break down after one year of use, all the Panasonic products I purchased are still working. Even my Philips DVD player / VHS recorder combo still works. So "good by Sony!"

Therefore, I do not recommend this product.