Sony RDR-HXD870 - DVD Recorder With 160GB Hard Drive - With Freeview - Black

Didn’t realise it was used, and the exact same model as mine that wasn’t working! Sent it back and no quibble from the seller. They are lovely machines when they work, but mine is 20 years old so it’s kinda forgiven!

Just bought this through amazon market place.Good points:- This has a fantastic quality freeview picture that blows my old pvr80 out of the water.- its quiet for a hard disk recorder and starts quickly too- Straight forward to use but you do have to read the manual- You can watch or edit a recording on the hard disk while recording another channel- Easy to make great dvds with your own chapters and theres a few different index themes to choose from- Upscaling DVD playback is good but not quite as impressive as some of the high end upscalers (but then I am comparing it to a top end Denon that is three to four times the price)- looks like a quality piece of av kit- freeview playback is the feature I bought this for. Being able to automatically record a whole series of my favourite programmes is great.- connectivity is great: hdmi, component, scart, usb for pictures/music and you can hook up a printer- PRICE!!! 160gb hard disk, fantastic freeview tuner, freeview playback, dvd upscaler, dvd burner, usb port for pics and music from Sony. That is a lot of machine for your money.Bad points (or why its not perfect and looses out on that fifth star)- Only one tuner, why do all manufacturers of hdd/dvd recorders only include one tuner with their machines? However Sony have made up for this (a little bit) with their great remote that can be used with other brand tvs which means that I can easily switch to my Toshiba tv tuner with one button press when I am recording something.- The tuner is fantastic but it doesn't appear to have a built in signal booster so sometimes weaker signal channels can have some artifacts and stuttering. This is very rare for me and doesn't affect the major channels but I am sure if you have a weak freeview signal it would be worth investing in a signal booster.- Early batches of the machine lose recordings unless you turn off EPG link when setting a recording. If you have an early machine contact Sony and they will send you a cd with software that will fix this bug- Some people don't seem to like the EPG, I think its fine as it looks similar to Sky. However if you don't like it Sony have also included Guideplus which means you don't have to put up with it.So overall I am very happy with this unit and can highly recommend it, the quality and features make it a steal at current prices. Even the bad points are just minor niggles rather than anything to worry about. The only competitor would be the panasonic ex77 but it doesn't have freeview playback and is more expensive.

THE SONY RDR-HXD870 is a fantasic piece of kit.Once set up it is very easy to use.The guideplus tv guide system is just like the tv guide on any sky digibox but this can list both analogue and digital tv listings (using the built in digital and analogue tuners).Also when connected to a sky digi box or set top will also list their tv guides.The unit is very quite in operation and will record directly to the hard drive instantly.You can connect your video and sky box via the scart lead to record from these devices to either a dvd or the built in hard drive.It also has a magic eye which will change the channel on your sky digi box so when the timer is set on the dvd recorder it will change channels on the sky box automatically.I recorded a full length film to the hard drive you can edit the film or program before transfering it to dvd (handy to remove the adverts) and it only takes a few minutes amazing !!.It also has a firewire socket for connecting any digital camera or video camera you can then transfer the films or pictures direct to the hdd or dvd.It is a very very good sony machine and has on screen information to guide you threw every step from editing to even setting the timer.When you have recorded a programme to the hard disc drive and press the title list button you don't just get a list of programmes you have recorded, But you get a video of each programme you have recorded with sound brillant idea.Also when setting the timer for recording a programme you even get a small picture of the channel you are watching in the corner so you don't miss a thing.There is just two many good things to list really.Buy today and with the brilliant amazon price and their fast after sales back up from the customer service department you cannot go wrong.

I used to have seperate freeview box (phillips) and a cheap dvd recorder. The freeview was great, apart from locking up now and again but the dvd recorder sub £60 was a chore to use, having to format dvd disks, then trying to get the player to read them usually meant missing at least the first 5 minutes of a program. Now i've got one of these and removed the other two machines from my cabinet and what a difference. For a start the machine itself is very well built, it feels solid compared to the other boxes I had, it's a bit bigger but definately feels like quality. It's also really easy to use, the remote is nice and simple and it's easy to set up. Took about 10 minutes from unpacking the box to scanning for the freeview channels before attempting my first pause of live tv, which worked perfectly. You can even rewind and fastforward while recording which is fun. You can also set up scheduled to record an entire series of programmes similar to Sky+. Overall an excellent buy and I just hope it will last for a few years.Follow up: After a few days i've noticed freeview sticking on BBC and ITV channels, i've now gone back to my old phillips freeview box which works perfectly but still using this sony to record tv from the phillips freeview box. I'd give it 3 stars now because of the problems with the freeview hardware unless they bring out an upgrade to fix the problems it looks like i'll be stuck with an extra remote until I get Sky.

Far 2 complicated for a 66 year old.instructIon manual was well over 120 pages & loose leaf, it wasn't the original. The recorder was t a new one, I hadn't under stood that when I purchased it. I'm not sure if I've been reimbursed £16 for the postage?