Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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127 of 129 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great For A Large VHS to DVD Conversion Project!, January 11, 2005
About a year and a half ago, I purchased Sony's first DVD recorder, the GX7. I have been very satisfied with it and it has let me burn about 200+ discs with almost no problems (see my review of the GX7). However, the GX7 does not have a hard drive and when I wanted to eliminate commercials from programs for archival purposes, I had to actually watch the program and hit the pause button at the breaks. I was hoping Sony would come out with a recorder with a hard drive which would allow me to edit out commercials without having to watch the entire program (this primarily relates to old sporting events and shows I have on VHS tapes). With its new HX900 model, I have gotten my wish.
The HX900 has a massive 160GB hard drive which will allow me to record a lot of programs. It also has six recording qualities (1, 1.5, 2, 3, 4 and 6 hour). I usually use the 1, 1.5 and 2 hour modes depending on the program I want to record, but I have actually used and been satisfied with the 3 hour mode as well (but not with the 4 hour mode, picture quality degrades significantly and I assume is even worse in 6 hour mode). For my VHS to DVD conversion, I'll pop in a tape in my VCR and set the HX900 timer to record for however long the program is on the VHS tape (with usually a little extra time). Then I'll step away from the machine and let the show record to the hard drive. Later, I'll use the editing function (the "A - B Erase" function) to eliminate unwanted elements of the programs (i.e. commercials, halftime shows for football games). I'd say it takes about 10 minutes of editing for every hour of programming, which I hope to reduce with experience. After I'm done editing, I'll dub to DVD+R discs (the unit accepts DVD+RW, DVD-R and DVD-RW, as well) at the same quality as I recorded the program to the hard drive. This allows for a "Fast" dubbing where a 2 hour program can be burned to disk in about 10 minutes. If you try to mix recording qualities, it takes much longer to dub. I've already converted about 15 of my 175 tape VHS collection to DVD since I got the unit at Christmas and hope to be done converting all of them by the end of the year, something I wouldn't have been able to do with the GX7 (I wouldn't have the patience). The time saved justifies the premium price of the unit in my book.
I do have some gripes. Unless you use the "VR" recording mode, all edits must be made on the original program on the hard drive (in other words, you can't record a program on the hard drive and then make edits without affecting that program). So if you've been editing a program and then you make a mistake and accidentally edit something out you didn't want to, you are out of luck. You'll either have to rerecord the program to the hard drive (assuming the source was a VHS program or a Tivo program you had saved). But if it is recorded directly from cable to the hard disk and you make an error, sorry, you'll have to hope for the program to come on again. I have decided that if I have a program that I know I want to archive, I'll record it to the hard drive, but I'll also record it to my Tivo unit, so I have a backup just in case I screw up in editing the hard drive copy (the quality is better with a direct record to the hard drive than recording from Tivo, but at least I'll have something). "VR" mode allows you to keep the original program on disk and to make the edits on DVD, but discs burned this way cannot be played on other DVD players whereas disks I create my way can be played on other players after they are finalized. I think this makes VR mode implausible for archiving purposes (what if your HX900 breaks, there is no guarantee that you'll be able to play your discs again).
I also don't care for the TV Guide programming guide that is built into the program because the DVD recorder has to be shut off in order to download the guide (I route all my electronics through it to get to the TV, so turning it off makes it impractical (I just use Tivo as my guide and manually record to the DVD recorder). If you do get the guide downloaded, it only shows two half-hour blocks on the screen, plus only about ¼ of my cable channels, so there is lots of scrolling. Not a big selling point for me.
All-in-all, I'm happy with the HX900. Yeah, it would be great if it were $200 to $300 cheaper, but that's still some time away. I think the time I'll save in converting stuff to DVD will be great.
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95 of 97 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Worth having, though not unflawed., March 6, 2005
I've had my Sony RDR-HX900 for about two and a half months now.
This is the first DVR I've owned (previously only VCRs), and I was
primarily attracted to it for the ability to store a large number of
recordings. I'm the type of person who abhors "appointment TV" - I
watch when I want to watch. I also like having the ability to pause
for any number of reasons, and come back later.
First, my overall opinion is that I definitely recommend this unit. It
is not, however, a perfect design. There are pros and cons that should
be weighed, and compared with whatever else competes on the market. Much
of the information below can be read in the manual, which you can
download in PDF format.
There are 7 quality settings available - HQ+, HQ, HSP, SP, LP, EP,
and SLP. They are described in the manual by the approximate length of
video that one can store on a single DVD, and on the hard drive. Per
DVD, HQ allows 1 hour, HSP 1.5 hours, SP 2 hours, LP 3 hours, EP 4
hours, and SLP 6 hours. HQ+ is only available for hard drive
recording, and uses about 50% more space than HQ. It is a setup option
to use HQ+ instead of HQ, while other speeds are looped through in
succession with a button press.
The difference in quality between HQ and SLP is very obvious. The
difference between adjacent quality modes is difficult to detect. I
was able to see differences between HQ+, HQ, on down the line, but only
when trying to find them. I've come to settle into using whichever
recording mode will allow the program to fit on a DVD, in case I
decide to dub it later. For things which I've no intention of
dubbing (weekly recordings, for example), I use SP mode.
Dubbing allows copying between the hard drive and DVD. Normal DVD
Video titles cannot be dubbed onto the hard drive. As near as I can
tell, only titles created by this recorder (or perhaps other Sony DVD
recorders) can be dubbed from DVD to the hard drive.
There are two types of dubbing - fast dubbing, and slow dubbing. Fast
dubbing is only available when copying the video data directly from
the hard drive to DVD, which means no quality conversions. That means
that only recordings which fit on a single DVD without being re-encoded
can be dubbed in fast mode (e.g. a 1-hour program recorded at HQ, a
2-hour program recorded at SP, etc.). When a conversion is required
(or chosen), the recorder re-encodes at real-time speed. For some unknown
reason, dubbing from DVD to the hard drive always takes place at real-time
speed. It would be simple to do a direct read at maximum speed from
the DVD, but this device insists on actually recording to the hard
drive instead of copying.
Because the encoder can only work at real-time speed, non-fast dubs are
pretty inconvenient, especially considering the fact that while
dubbing, you can do basically nothing with the recorder. You cannot
record to the hard drive or play existing recordings. Programmed
recordings will not start while dubbing. This is probably the most
irritating limitation of this unit.
Another dubbing-related limitation is that you can't split a single
hard drive title among several DVD's (in case you want to preserve a
quality level, say, or the recorded title is actually two programs that
you want on separate discs). I don't have a killer need for this
feature, but it's an obvious omission that may be important to someone.
In most other respects, however, it's an able multi-tasker. You can
watch titles previously recorded while recording on the hard drive, and
can even watch a title still being recorded (wait 15 minutes after that
network show starts, then begin watching and skip all commercials).
You can watch a DVD as well, of course, and supposedly can watch a
title on a DVD-RW while another title is being recorded (untested by
me). However, during a recording, the only editing function available
is changing a title name. You can't erase a title, so you had better
make sure there's enough space before the recording starts.
None of the recorder functions behave any differently when the unit is
turned off, except of course for playing.
Media support is another important feature in a DVD recorder. This
unit supports both the DVD Forum standard media (DVD-R/RW), and the
DVD+R/RW media from the DVD+RW Alliance (which was created because of
the exhorbitant licensing fees charged by the DVD Forum). I've
recorded on DVD-R, DVD+R, and DVD+RW media - no DVD-RW media to test.
With -R/+R, the maximum write speed is 4x, and with +RW media, the
maximum write speed is 2.4x (which is 14 minutes and 24 minutes write
time for a full DVD, respectively). The maximum speed only applies when
fast dubbing.
One killer feature (for me) is the set top box controller, which is an
IR emitter that can change channels on a cable or satellite controller
box (but not turn the box on - you must leave it on). For me, that
means I can program the recording of non-broadcast channels of my
digital cable service. However, it's an all-or-nothing thing. You
configure the unit to either use the box controller, or its internal
tuner. You cannot use both. It's a shame, too, because it'd be useful
to have the recorder use the built-in tuner whenever possible, so
casual TV watching isn't interrupted when doing a programmed recording.
The TV Guide system is supposed to download program listing information
while the recorder is turned off. There's no data in my area, and it
says in the manual that no digital system (satellite or digital cable)
supports TV Guide listing data. For those that have it, it looks to be
a fairly simple way to program recordings (select the show in the
listing grid).
I must (and prefer to use) manual timer recording, which is still done
through the TV Guide system screens. The timer entry screen is
functional enough, but not especially good compared to some of the VCR
timer screens I've used. The one good thing is that there's room for
30 timer recording entries - more than other devices seem to have.
Beyond some playlist editing features that only work with DVD-RW media,
the three primary editing functions are changing the title name,
erasing the title completely, and erasing a section of the title (A-B
erase).
Title editing is done via a text-entry screen which is anything but
convenient to use, though it's not horrid once you get used to it. I
think making it look like a QWERTY keyboard would have been much more
efficient.
The A-B Erase function is very simple. All play controls are available
when selecting the start and end points. All erasing is confirmed, and
cannot be undone. I primarily get rid of junk at the beginning and end
of movies I record, which frees up some space until I watch them and
erase them completely. It can also be used to remove commercials from
a network program.
As a DVD player, this Sony is fairly modest in features. There are
three fast-forward/reverse speeds, FF1-FF3 (approximately 1.5x, 12x,
and 150x). There are two buttons called Instant Replay and Instant
Advance. The former skips back 10 seconds, with no display while it's
skipping. The latter fast-forwards at FF2 for 25 seconds. There's no
A-B repeat feature (if you want a scene to replay over and over), and
no zoom. You can toggle the angle and subtitles with a button press.
Despite its spartan playback options, it is very good at reading
damaged, defective, and marginal DVDs (something an old Sony DVD player
I have is horrible at). One defective DVD (since replaced) that
screeched to a halt on an old JVC player, and a newer Sony DVD/VCR
combo player, did nothing but imperceptibly skip with this unit (I only
know it skipped because the on screen play indicator flashed -
automatic status displays can be disabled, if such a thing would bother
you).
That concludes my review. It's a bit long, but I figure people might
appreciate some detailed information before plunking down $700 for a
piece of electronics.
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150 of 158 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Could have got 5 star, but..., November 30, 2004
I've been waiting for a standalone DVD-Recorder for a long while as I find converting my MiniDV Tapes to DVDs on PC is too tedious process.
I've tried some high-end Panasonic and Toshiba models which I think are very good too but lack style and video quality found in this Sony model. So, I wouldn't complain about the price of this model as if you shop around you can get it for less than $700.00.
Many might complain about lack of features like recording a long title into multiple DVDs. For me that was never a problem as I can have them as different titles so I can record each titles to seperate DVD. It basically has all the features we ever get to use.
It's still not the perfect DVD Recorder I dreamed to have as it's far from what we can do on a DVD Recorder using PC. But the bottomline is, the video and audio qaulity is the best I've seen from any high-end recorders from Panasonic or Toshiba and it has great style and finish. It might also easily end-up being your best DVD Player.
I've been using it almost on a regular basis now for over 2-months and I have to say, I kind of mastered enough not to find any issues. The user iterface is very sleek and simple to understand. Quality is almost as good as the source recorded.
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