Sony DVD Recorder

[Lucienne]

My faithful VCR has just died, and I have been advised to buy a Sony RDR-HD 970 DVD Recorder. I would welcome any comments from anyone who has this model regarding ease of use, satisfaction with the product etc. Many thanks.

[pug100]

Hi Lucienne
Been looking around for one myself an went for the RDR 870 model. It may operate in much the same way .
At fist glance it looks quite daunting with quite a few setup pages to negotiate. Digital tuning was very simple though and didn't really bother with the analogue tuner but looks just as easy to set up. Had a few connection probs mostly cos my telly is only single scart and I neeed to make either the sky box the main unit or the DVD recorder.
In operation I mostly use the HDD to record onto and only use DVDs when I need to archive.

[pug100]

.....There's lot of options as regards video recording quality 9 using record mode ( from 1hour per dvd to10 hours), 31 using manual mode.
As well as high speed dubbing, the machine has the ability to do simple editing on the HD as well as DVDRWs.
You can record on +R, +RW, -R and -RW and dual layer discs but not DVD RAM.
Playback is DVD, Video CD, CD,Divx, mp3 from either disc or memory stck (via the USB port) CDr and DVD data disc(Jpegs etc).
As with a lot of Sony gear the manual is quite comprehensive (170 pages) but sometimes skips over the exact details of how to do something. You will need to play with the machine quite a bit before you get confident at using it.
I'd say overall it's an advanced machine, possibly not aimed at the first time user, but will allow you to slowly get better at using it's many functions.

[Lucienne]

Thank you very much pug for all your help. What I should have said was I had just managed to work the timer on my aged VCR, before it expired, so when I read your comment about the number of pages in the instruction manual, I visibly blanched. However, I have done a print out of your very useful suggestions, so that I shall be more prepared when the machine arrives. I think I could be sending you an SOS in the near future, so watch this space! Cheers!

[pug100]

The problem I find with DVD recorders is that they aren't as easy to use as VHS machines. If you record too much at the end of a programme you cant go back and wipe over the unwanted stuff so you can fit one more recording on the disc (unless it's a rewriteable)
I mostly use a Humax PVR for day to day recordings and only record to DVD what I really want to keep.