Humax DRT800 DVD-R/RW Recorder/TiVo Series2 DVR Combo

With this unit I am able to record all-all-all shows that and see and burn them to a DVD. I bought it when TIVO offered a lifetime subscription for $299.00.

RUN AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY AS FAST AS YOU CAN - As you can read below the problems we had with this unit. We had to put a $225 deposit down on to get a new unit shipped which was supposed to be refunded as soon as the defective unit was received by them. Since it only took them 24 hours to take the $225 out of my account to begin with, they should be able to refund it quickly too, right??? It's been over a week since they received the defective unit and I still haven't been refunded my money. Customer service is absolutely USELESS!! The supervisor who intially took care of the problem and charged my card now REFUSES to talk to me and Humax has NO RECORD of my $225 deposit. I guess I'll wind up having to dispute the charge with my credit card company to get my money back. BUYER SERIOUSLY BEWARE!We purchased this item on 11/1/04. On 11/26/04 we began experiencing difficulties burning DVD's. We kept getting errors. So we contacted Humax on 11/29. They told us our hard drive was corrupt. They told us that for a $225 deposit they would ship a new unit and when they received the defective unit, they would refund our deposit.We agreed. 10 days later, we still hadn't received the new unit. When we called, they told us that the credit card came back "invalid number." Apparently they transposed the numbers when taking them. However, we never received a phone call from Humax that there was a problem with the credit card numbers.So we asked for them to run it again so we could get this matter cleared up. Now the deposit had gone to $499. That's right, more than we paid for the defective unit. We asked them how many people they knew that had an extra $500 laying around during Christmas season. They didn't care. After all, it would be refunded upon return of the defective unit. What a joke!!! So it would take about 2-3 weeks to get our refund if everything worked out right!! No way!!!Don't expect this company to stand behind their products! If you get a defective unit - expect to pay out the nose to get it replaced.I wish we would have never purchased this product in the first place.FOLLOW UP - After a nasty email to corporate, I finally got a phone call back from someone higher up the chain. They went back to the original $225 deposit for a new one, but told me that their policy has changed and it's $499 now if you need a new Humax. Of course the money is refunded when you return defective unit. But still $499 is steep to get a replacement unit for something that doesn't work in the first place. So I still say buyer beware!

The DRT800 was a great machine. That is until it stopped working one day short of two months after I bought it. I had just completed copying movies from my video camera through the firewire interface to burn onto a DVD. When I came home from work the next day the Tivo was powered off. Well, I thought it was just a problem with my outlet or the circuit breaker tripped. To my dismay something had happened to the Tivo itself. For the record I do have it plugged into a good surge protector. The customer service rep said that more than likely the power supply malfunctioned.Now I have the DRT800 and I have two options for replacement from Humax. I can send it to them at my expense and they'll send me a new or refurbished one. Keep in mind I just paid $400 for a new one two months ago. The second option is that I can give them my credit card, they'll charge $499 and send me a new one. When I return the broken one they'll refund the charge. This option works, but is a huge hassle for the consumer.I asked if they could just repair the power supply? They said no.I asked if there was any way to save the hard drive. They said no.I asked if I could speak to someone sympathetic to my problem to make an exception. At first they said that they would have someone call me in 72 hours. When I waited over a week without a call I called back and they said there was no one else to talk to.Bottom line is that Humax does not have good customer service. They are new to the US and they have a small operation here that has bad warranty policies.My main concern was all my home movies on the hard drive. They said that there are very few of these units that go bad and if I replaced it the new one couldn't possibly malfunction again. Why not?Mine broke after two months, how about yours?Do you still want to buy one?