Hitachi DV-DS 161 E

Author's product rating:   

Picture Playback	Excellent
Sound Level	Good
Ease of Use	Simple
Range of Features	Excellent
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	Record many hours of video, upload and view (photos, music and video)
Disadvantages:	Inability to use 'Timer' function with HDD .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I have to admit when i first saw the specifications of this DVD recorder, I was impressed at what it had to offer. So i decided to buy it and give it a go, my initial reactions to the DVD recorder were great, and stayed that way for a while until it became just another piece of electronic hardware.

It was for £300-£400 when it came out about 1-2 years ago, it was well worth the price due to its range of features. I do not know if the price of this particular DVD recorder has dropped. I recently checked the Google website for prices and was not successful. Maybe Hitachi have stopped producing this model as Blu-ray technology is slowly taking over the video media world. E bay are currently selling this model, but they are not labeled "Buy Now", so you would have to bid in order to get one. You might get lucky and gain a bargain.

Now, moving onto the specifications of the machine. When you purchase the DV-DS 161 you obviously (with the package) receive a remote control and the essential wires required in order to connect your DVD recorder to the most common external device, namely the television. Internally you get a whopping 160 GB of memory. On the product information provided by Ciao it does not tell you the 4 recording modes available on the DVD recorder. The 4 recording modes allow you to record media at 4 different levels of quality. You could record up to 60 hours on the highest quality mode, up to 100 hours on the one after, then up to 140 hours on the next mode and finally on the lowest quality mode up to 230 hours.

Note! The recording hours I previously suggested are close approximations of the actual recording hours. They are not overly exaggerated in any way. I cannot provide you with the exact recording hours as I have lost the manual and I would have to return my DVD recorder's settings back to 'Factory Settings' in order to give you the exact recording hours. The information on the recording hours provided is just a little 'off' from the original and I apologize on that behalf. Only if they have caused any problems.

You can also upload pictures, music as well as videos via CD-ROM, DVD and even a memory card onto the hard-disk drive. Although, you need an SD card adapter for your certain type of memory card in order to gain access to your content on the DVD recorder. This DVD recorder can read the many types of DVD out there, so you will have no trouble in deciding what type of DVD you are going to buy for your recorder. Uploading multi-media onto the DVD recorder will certainly take up space, which will ultimately reduce the number of recording hours available on the DVD recorder. Music and photo files will not take up major space, unless you decide to upload masses of music and photo media. Whereas, uploading video content will drastically reduce the number of available recording hours on the DVD recorder. You can always opt to record your content on the lowest available quality, thus increasing your available recording hours.

The DVD recorder's HDD(Hard-disk drive)/DVD Menu is user-friendly and very simple to use. You will be able to access all your files by simply pressing the 'HOME ' button on your remote and choosing any of the available options. Your recorded content, uploaded music, photos and videos will all be in individual and separate file locations. Thus organizing your files automatically and making your life a whole lot easier. However the content that you personally record will have to be modified by YOU (the user), giving you the ability to TAG (categorize) your files in certain genres (e.g. Sport, Documentary, Drama etc.).

From the DVD recorder you will be able to copy your content on to a DVD, by a method known as dubbing and vice versa. While copying certain content you can watch your regular television channels by pressing the 'AV' button on the top right of your remote control.

You can even set a timer to record a program or movie you might be missing. The only downside to this is that you can only use the 'Timer' feature with just DVD's. Limiting the recording time as DVD's are limited to 4.5-4.7 GB of space. As i said before, you can opt to record on the lowest available quality and increase your recording time.

Overall i think that this DVD recorder is reliable, cost-effective and its list of features are very impressive. I would give it 4 and a half stars if I could, My reason for this is simply because it is almost a 'perfect' DVD recorder, apart from its inability to record content on to the HDD (Hard-disk drive) via the 'Timer' function. I would recommend this product to buyers, but due to the DVD format now ageing with the release of blu-ray technology you might be thinking of buying the future of technology rather than the past. However, If you are the type of buyer looking for an electronic to just simply record in the DVD format as well as enjoy other features, than this is the DVD recorder/player for you.