The ideal tool for recording digital TV (and keeping copies for later!) (Sony RDR-HXD870B)

Member Name: Rocketeer007

Product:	Sony RDR-HXD870B
Date:	25/10/08 (305 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good quality, excellent capacity,

Disadvantages: Can get complex when you start using advanced features

This device from Sony serves a number of very useful purposes:
1. It can act as a digital or analogue tuner
2. It can act as a DVD player (with HDMI up-scaling)
3. It can act as a digital recorder
4. It can act as a DVD recorder

I bought this for the primary purpose of recording digital TV, burning it to DVD, and sending it to my girlfriend who is currently without a digital tuner. At this task it excels.

My existing HD-Ready TV already has a digital tuner, so I don't use the RDR-HXD870 to watch TV live. Although the tuner is excellent, the on screen display isn't as fluid as the one on my TV, so it's not as comfortable for just watching TV.

I also have a perfectly fine DVD player, so I tend not to use this machine for watching DVDs. Mainly, this is because I have not managed to connect this device to my surround sound system - but this is a failing of my speaker system, not the HXD870, which has all the outputs you could need.

The capacity of this recorder is excellent. Part of the digital signal in the UK includes "series" information, allowing you to set the recorder to automatically record all episodes of a particular TV series. I use this extensively, and have never missed a show - even a rescheduled one, or a one-off double episode.

An excellent feature is the ability to watch one show off the hard drive while another is recording - or even start a show while it is still being recorded. Great when you get home 20 minutes late - you can start playing from the beginning without waiting for the end of the program.

Note that you can't watch one digital channel through this device while recording another. You can of course watch one digital channel on your digital TV while recording a different one on this device.

Copying to DVD is very fast, and the produced disks are of excellent quality and play in any DVD player or PC.

The manual is a bit complex to read, but the on screen display is fairly intuitive and easy to use. Recording programs is as simple as finding them on the guide and pressing one or two buttons.

The device supports BRAVIA Theatre Sync, which is supposed to allow one-button startup of TV and media device; however, I don't have a Bravia television to test this with.

Setting up for the first time is complex - best get your 15 year old nephew to give you a hand if you're not familiar with your AV equipment!

Summary: Not a digital conversion kit or a set top box, but a great addition to an existing digital set-up

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