|
I have a great basis for comparison as the Toshiba does so many things that the SONY either cannot or does much worse.I keep scouring the manual thinking I'm missing something, but I will just have to deal. If you're a movie file and don't care about these type things this may be a good unit for you as the picture quality is very good in HQ, not on SLP however, so forget the 200+ hours on the HD if you want a good picture.I see these glowing reviews except regarding the guide and I am stunned. This unit falls incredibly short in comparison and has me scratching my head, why did I get this unit. You can only use playlists on one type of disc and that disc is -RWvr and it's not usable on all DVD players after finalizing. Playlists on the HD are used everyday, playlists on the DVD are not. On the positive side, I normally upgrade every couple of years and until then I will make sure not to record my sports on this stinker. No playlists on the hard drive, if this is your first DVD HD you may not know how valuable they are for sorting the shows and editing them, I am kicking myself for buying this unit.
Editing and dubbing large lists /scrolling through each show separately without grouping them in playlists, I am not even going to get started on that, its futile and in in the stoneage of editors. The Toshiba has variable slow motion speeds all using one button - slow to a speedy slow motion. But one of the biggest things (how the heck did I miss this in the specs) no picture in picture. It's a must for watching recordings while watching live tv, so you know exactly when the commercials are over.Like I said, if you have not owned a DVD with these other goodies, you may not know what your missing until you read this.We all know about this but I feel its worth mentioning one more time, the on screen guide is useless, you have the option to program the channels manually, as I did you will too, painstakingly moving the channels to the correct position and channel number, only see your 1 hour of work disappear with the next tv guide download.SONY, I am surprised, but moreso mad at myself for after owning a superior in features DVD player, (and much less expensive unit) I should have known better. AAAAHHHH. So, in other words after 2 years with the Toshiba, I can get through the commercials in about 5-8 seconds, with the Sony its about 15-20 seconds having to watch the stupid things on fast forward. Looking to get another unit to go with my Toshiba RD-SX32, I went for the HX-900.
Fantastic for sports, the commercial skip is even worse, fast 1, 2 and 3 doesn't skip past it runs through the commercials the Toshiba truly skips past instantly at totally programmable intervals.I find its better using the fast forward 2 to get past the commercials as opposed to the not so) instant skip, problems are forward one and 2 are too slow, for some unknown reason Sony figured if you keep forward 3 depressed it rips past everything progressively faster leaving you with no control over where you are going to stop like the movie the time machine, making forward 3 useless for fast forwarding past commercials. If you like your sports, sorry, this is where the separation starts to happen, the slow motion stinks, you have to press 2 buttons, pause and then slow forward / back, it is seriously to slow, one speed. You have to be kidding SONY. This unit needs lots of work what ever the price you pay.
Also it's best to not schedule one show immediately after another - say 9-10 then 10-11 because you'll lose the ending of the first show if the 2nd one is on a different channel. The F3 super fast forward jumps longer and longer the longer you leave it on. I only notice the fan noise when its super quiet in the room. You have to cross reference lots of stuff, always jumping 50 pages back and forth. So why lose the schedule if its off a week, why not just set the next date to 2 weeks from now. Oh, the recorded shows will still be on the HD, but the scheduling will be gone. Every so often - once a month, or week, or day (seems to be random) the schedule will dissappear and it will take all your scheduled programs with it.
Sometimes this isn't until several minutes after the show is actually over. Wait a couple days and most of the TVGOS will be back, and you can reprogram all your stuff. Keep the user manual handy; there are lots of little features you'll want to look up. 5 months later: TVGOS is getting more stable but still fails once a month or every other month. Oh, and forget about the "I'll just do manual recordings like on a VCR" solution. Standard SP mode is all you really need for a regular TV.
In SP mode the HD wouldn't even be half full yet.DVR Nits to pick: I wish the Start/End X minutes early feature would let me start/end early or late. This shouldn't be this way; if the show IS on this week you can access its schedule data and it will show you when its on next time. Getting the full schedule takes days, and this stinks when you've had a blip and are trying to reschedule all your shows.end update***********************************************Original Review:I've had this unit for 4+ months. You can't do high speed HD-DVD dubbing in HQ+ mode. When TVGOS forces a reset you lose those too.TVGOS is faulty. Some sort of frame counter would be helpful there. And there WILL be a next time. Works great, records great, super quality picture.You are pretty much forced to use the TV Guide Online Service (TVGOS) feature, which is easy.
stick with SP.Bottom line after nearly 10 months of ownership: still very happy with the unit, picture quality is great, use a UPS with it, it takes some effort to learn how to do everything. And you will NEVER know when, or how often, this will occur. Last TVGOS nit: it sure would be nice if updates were done at a known time, and a whole lot faster. except it is very undependable. HD capacity is great: I recorded the entire season of Lost in HQ+ and still had room for a couple of other shows. Its not an issue. TVGOS doesn't sort the channels by number, and this is a huge pain to do manually.
That's a lot of buttons to press, but I think all DVRs are like this.TVGOS Nits: TVGOS must send out some kind of Show Is Over signal which ends the recording. HQ+ mode is fantastic but you can only fit about 40 minutes onto a DVD. I've read several message boards online, and I gather all DVRs that use TVGOS do this. Adding titles is a bit cumbersome; each number on the keypad is 3 letters from the alphabet and the number. Ok, the clock is really accurate. F2 is a bit too slow a jump as well. Some kind of look ahead feature would be nice too: if you've scheduled your show to record weekly but it isn't on this week you have to reschedule it.
until the next time. I advise using a little UPS with this recorder because all your TVGOS gets lost if the power blinks. I'd prefer it to go 6 minutes a jump, which is about how long the typical commercial block runs. The DVR is still working perfectly.What else can I tell you. When editing out the commercials using the A-B Erase feature, it's hard to find the exact instant the recording starts. I think the user manual was really rushed. Don't bother, just jump to the channel you want in the TVGOS listings.
Do not buy anything that uses it until they work out the bugs.
The hard disk has many nice options for quality and has 160G of storage. You have to scroll everywhich way to name the program on your DVD (a function of the TV Guide info not getting through).
The dubbing feature (to the built-in DVD recorder) is pretty easy - and tells you how much space you need, how big the program is, etc. The title keyboard is ridiculous.
Unfortunately - in the 8 months I have had the HX-900 it has never workedwith my Motorola digi cable box - making the TV-Guide funtion useless. Disappointing considering the unit cost over $1000 - and I only hook it up when I need to record a show.
It workswell when manually programmed to record a specific program at a specific time ona specific channel but requires your cable box to be left on at all times. Also - I find myself disconnecting the DVR and running my cable around it so I can see HD channels - which will not go through the DVR.
Get a TiVo and a DVDR.
The only commonality is the TVGOS. Unfortunately, that one problem is a fatal design flaw that renders the product unreliable.The HX 900 downloads the TV Guide OnScreen (TVGOS) television listings that orignate from GemStar. You have to go through at least three people at Sony before you can even get anyone to admit that they have ever heard of the problem. Based on message board postings, owners all over the country experience the same thing: every once in a while, the unit loses all of the program listing information, the channel lineup, and -- worst of all -- your scheduled recordings. If your unit is not downloading at the moment that the reset comes across the line, you're ok; but if you are downloading, your DVR resets.
And, it is with all brands of DVRs. You leave for work in the morning and things look great; you think that you will record some shows while you are gone. Some of the customer service people are so clueless that they actually believe that the problem is with your outgoing connection to the television; obviously the problem comes in through the input, not the output.People all over the country have the same problem. This signal is delivered to you via your PBS station. Read more about this at:http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/2/139837.htmlI believe that GemStar periodically sends some sort of reset signal down the line.
It is so unreliable that I have a VCR sitting right there next to the DVR to serve as a backup -- the VCR records everything that the DVR does, because I know, without a doubt, that at some seemingly random point, the DVR will fail to do its job.I have spent hours on the phone and on the internet researching this problem. The Sony RDR HX900 is a truly great product, except for one problem. When you come home, no program listings, no more recording schedule, and the shows that you thought would record, well, they did not record. Thus the apparent randomness of it all.I finally got a technician at Sony to tell me that he would check to see if anyone was communicating with GemStar about this (GemStar's support number tells you that they communicate only with manufacturers, not consumers). Now, anything that you have previously recorded is still there on the hard drive, but your entire upcoming schedule is gone.
Until the manufacturers and GemStar solve this reset problem, you should not buy any product which relies on TVGOS data.
I can also record TV programs on the RDR-HX900 hard drive and copy them on DVDs (and from these DVDs to the HV-670 hard drive). There are no digital audio input ports.(.).So, now I can play all my video files from the HV-670 removable hard drive (or from the RDR-HX900) on my TV. From the HV-670 hard drive I can copy files to/from my computer. Strengths: This is a great DVD recorder, easy to edit and program, really sharp DVD's, the best electronic equipment I ever had (I did not try a progressive mode, because I have a regular TV).Weaknesses: TV Programming Guide does not work for digital cable boxes (but I don't really need it). delay between chapters, when you copy directly to DVDs (you will not have it if you turn off Auto Chapter). If I need to copy anything from the HV-670 hard drive to the RDR-HX900, I just play the file on the HV-670 and record it on the RDR-HX900 hard drive. There is a half of sec. I think this is a perfect combination of all options, you ever dream of.
|
