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Sony RDR-HX525 DVD Recorder with 80GB Hard Drive Best Buy
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Popularity - 17290. The lower the number the more popular.
Price - £317.96 Correct as of 27/09/07
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5 Reviews for Sony RDR-HX525 DVD Recorder with 80GB Hard Drive
Pretty good but where's the HDMI? - 29 Mar 2007
4 out of 4 found this review helpful.
Thanks to reviewer 'Ricko' for the advice on setting up. Got it working fine pretty quickly. It is slow to start up but once going is very good. I use the synchro record feature for transferring from Sky+ to HDD then onto DVD. Best to transfer overnight when Sky+ is not being used though.
Not sure what the HDMI interface in the manufacturers review is. I expected an HDMI output on the machine but there is not one. Buy something else if you want to connect to the TV by HDMI. Picture quality is good so maybe is something built in to the machine? Other than that I'm still getting used to all the features but out of the box set up is fine for most.
Sony DVD Recorder - 23 Feb 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful.
I must agree with the other reviewers. Sony manual is rubish.
The recorder works well and is fairly straight forwards to use, but we have found some annoying limitations with it when used with SKY.
The programme guide does not work with only a sky box - even though the manual implies that it may work. We can't pick up terrestrial TV due to surrounding hills.
We bought this as an alternative to SKY+, but without the programme guide, the system is complicated to use - my wife hates it.
Also if the kids touch the sky box - after you have carefully set up the set to record - ie turn the sky box off or put a different channel on during your recording - then you will endure the frustration of having only half the film recorded.
In summary if you enjoy a challenge, don't share your sky system with anyone and want the flexibility then this box will work well - else pay the £[...] for Sky +.
Great piece of Kit once it's set up properly! - 20 Jan 2007
46 out of 46 found this review helpful.
This device does exactly what I hoped it would - once I got it set up correctly (which took several days) and which is why I decided to write a review on here to help others!
First, the review part. Superb quality HDD recording, and the Guide Plus system makes recording a snap - choose the programme you want to record using the on-screen menu which lists the TV schedules and press one button. And that's it! The schedules include terrestrial TV and Sky channels.
Works well with a Sky Digibox and automatically changes the channel on the Sky box at the right time! No more taping the wrong Sky channel!
Supports just about every DVD format you can imagine, and transferring from HDD to DVD is just a few steps. A friend of mine has one of these machines and has transferred home video to DVD successfully and easily.
OK, that's enough "how great it is" ... now the hard part - Setup.
The manual is rubbish - full of confusing cross references and inconsistent terminology. But read it very carefully and the information you need is there although you need to be a bit of a code-breaker to get it! This took me days of deciphering to get the setup right. Once I did, wow, then you see what a great machine this is!
DO connect a terrestrial ariel to the Sony as this enables it to automatically pick up the correct Date and Time and receive TV schedule listings overnight from the ITV channel. Do this before runing the First Time Setup. Or connect your ariel then run Setup again.
DO Connect the Scart lead from you Sky Digibox to the Sony L3 connector and use L1 to connect the Sony to your TV. Ignore advice which says otherwise!
If you have a Sky box connected to L3, then DO refer to the manual page 30 and set up your video inputs like this: L1 Output = Video, L3 Input = Video/RGB, L3 Output = Video. If you don't set it up like this, you can't record from Sky on L3 and you can't pause live (Sky) TV. DO NOT SET L3 Input to Decoder. But I hear you say, I have a Sky decoder so L3 should be set to Decoder. Well, no, because by "Decoder" it means a Canal+ Analogue decoder not a Sky decoder (look at the manual page 29 it says you will not be able to select L3 if L3 is set to decoder). This ONE step eludes most people and is the key to getting the machine working properly with Sky.
DO set Guide Plus to download TV schedules from ITV, not Eurosport.
Finally, DO have a look at the Guide Plus website which is packed with great information on how to get the best out of the system (whereas the Sony manual is again poor in this area). See [...]
I hope get it set up correctly then you will come to love this machine as I do!
great bit of kit - 19 Jan 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful.
BEFORE I BOUGHT THIS ITEM (AFTER A BAD EXPERIENCE WITH A PHILLIPS MODEL) I READ ALL THE REVIEWS WHICH OVERALL WERE PRETTY GOOD. I HAVE NOW GOT THE BEAST AND I FIND IT BRILLIANT, ITS EASY TO SET UP, EASY TO USE AND AS FOR EVERYONE COMPLAINING ABOUT THE NOISY FAN, UNLESS I CROUCH DOWN BEHIND THE TELLY I CANT HEAR A THING. I THOROUGHLY RECCOMMEND THIS PRODUCT.
FHG
Superb Quality Recordings - 17 Jan 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful.
Purchased this after xmas to replace VHS and save recordings from SKY+. Having done my investigations and read the mixed reviews on here I finally took the plunge & paid £0.00 - not from Amazon. It seems that others have had problems with the set up, all I can say is that I had no problems at all & set up was complete within 10 mins. It pays to follow the manual, which may not be the best but does give all the required info.
I don't intend to use this to record from or pause TV (Sky+ is brillant for this) but have tested recordings and this Sony delivers superb visuals on SP and higher recordings levels. I have copied films from SKY+ to HD and then to DVD Disk - this ensures that if disk is faulty I can re copy to new disk. This has been simple and error free so far. It takes about 7 mins to copy a film from HD to disk on a high quality setting. Only used DVD-R disks so far but all have been fine. Now my daughter can watch her favourite films she has recorded on Sky+, in the car on her portable DVD or in her room.
The machine automatically adds chapters to recordings, which is a feature I really like. Also the editing feature is simple to use & allows you cut out bits of recording you don't want e.g., film credits, adverts etc. Have yet to transfer from VHS to DVD but intend to try this soon.
As far as noise is concerned - not been an issue for me but then I'm used to the fan on Sky+, which I feel is minimal anyway.
In conclusion, a great bit of kit that gives high quality recordings and is simple to use. Just consider how you will use it and is a great addition to Sky+