It records beautifully... but it sucks! (not literally) (Sony RDR-HXD995B)

Member Name: JJJJ

Product:	Sony RDR-HXD995B
Date:	13/03/09 (774 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good recording quality

Disadvantages: Bad interface, poor manual

We've all heard of 'Sky+', the digital satellite tuner which allows you to pause and rewind live TV - but did you know that Freeview offer a similar service in the form of 'Freeview+'? Unlike Sky+ where there is only one box to choose from (well, technically two if you include 'Sky+ HD'), Freeview+ can be accessed by a wide variety of set top boxes made by a number of manufacturers, as long as they display the Freeview+ logo on the front. One such device is the Sony 'RDR-HXD995' which currently costs £269.99 from Amazon.

Having previously owned the HXD995's predecessor (the RDR-HXD890) and being rather disappointed with its performance (see previous review) I was hoping for better with the next version up, which has a hard drive capacity of 250GB. This equates to to roughly 36 hours of recordings in the high quality mode, and a whopping 710 hours in the bog-standard lowest setting. As well as recording via hard drive, the RDR-HXD995B also has the capacity to record onto DVD's, which is a bonus as it allows you to lend copies of your recordings to friends and family.

Although the device may sound impressive on paper, the user interface and general responsiveness let this machine down badly.

To get the good bits out of the way first, like the HXD890, the picture quality of the recordings are very good - the high quality setting results in playback that seems to match the sharpness and vibrancy of the original transmission without losing any detail. Secondly, the machine is fairly nice looking, and although a little chunky, it's smooth front panel is part of an overall pleasing design. However, in terms of the positives, these two points are all I can say in favour of the machine.

There are a couple of real criticisms I have with the Sony RDR-HXD995, and the first one regards the instructions. Never before have I struggled with a piece of literature in the way that I struggled with the manual. It's badly written and overcomplicated, and i've set up plenty of AV equipment in my time so I know it's not due to a lack of technical understanding on my part.

Secondly, and again this is a problem which is shared with its predecessor, you need two Freeview boxes to make the Freeview+ functions of this machine work to their full potential - which is quite ridiculous. The result of it having only a single internal tuner, means that it if you use this device as your main Freeview receiver, you won't be able to record one channel whilst watching another - something you shouldn't even question being able to do.

My final complaint relates to the main user interface / Electronic Program Guide, which looks terribly dated and resembles something from a video recorder circa 1995 - very poor indeed, especially when compared to Sky+.

A final word of advice from me if you're looking to get into the world of Freeview+, would be to recommend purchasing a simple Hard Drive recorder *making sure it has a twin tuner*, instead of splashing out on this model. That way you can do all the stuff that this machine should be able to do (barring DVD recording), without the need for two Freeview boxes.

Technical Bits
- - - - - - - - - -
250GB capacity for a max recording of 710 hours
Electronic Programme Guide (8 Day on digital)
Integrated Digital and Analogue Tuner
BRAVIA Sync
HDMI output with 1080p upscaling
USB Port for Digital Camera
USB Port for PictBridge Printer
i.LINK (DV) input for Camcorder
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Summary: DVD / Freeview Recorder

Processing/Quality:
Reliability:
Ease of use:
Installation:
Features: