Wharfedale DVDR24HD250
These machines are currently on sale at Argos for a bargain price of £79.99. For this you get an analogue tuner and a DVD recorder with a 240 GB hard drive. There is HDMI output, but I have not been able to test this yet as I have not bought an HDMI TV. Looking at ... Read review
Advantages: Versatile machine at a bargain price Disadvantages: Poor manual, some quirks in using it need getting used to
Wharfedale DVDR24HD250
These machines are currently on sale at Argos for a bargain price of £79.99. For this you get an analogue tuner and a DVD recorder with a 240 GB hard drive. There is HDMI output, but I have not been able to test this yet as I have not bought an HDMI TV. Looking at the list of what it has and what it can do runs to a list of 40 items. I have tried to mention the most useful ones.
At home, I have ... ...- I still have a working one after 25 years!), a Virgin cable box, and a free Sky satellite box. I can record from all of these, plus the analogue terrestrial TV signal.
The 50 page instruction manual could be better - as all the screen shots are in black and white and it is hard to see the details. I was ready for it, as I had owned a previous model.
With DVDs, you can record from 60 minutes to 360 minutes, in 5 different ... more
Wharfedale DVDR24HD250
These machines are currently on sale at Argos for a bargain price of £79.99. For this you get an analogue tuner and a DVD recorder with a 240 GB hard drive. There is HDMI output, but I have not been able to test this yet as I have not bought an HDMI TV. Looking at the list of what it has and what it can do runs to a list of 40 items. I have tried to mention the most useful ones.
At home, I have it fixed up to my VHS, my Sony Beta (yes - I still have a working one after 25 years!), a Virgin cable box, and a free Sky satellite box. I can record from all of these, plus the analogue terrestrial TV signal.
The 50 page instruction manual could be better - as all the screen shots are in black and white and it is hard to see the details. I was ready for it, as I had owned a previous model.
With DVDs, you can record from 60 minutes to 360 minutes, in 5 different measures of quality. Likewise on the hard drive, it can record from 60 hours to 350 hours. Picture and sound quality is good, and even the SLP is better than VHS.
There is a continuous 60 minute 'time shift' function, so you can answer the phone, and spin back to where you were watching. You can also record onto the hard drive and playback a different item, at the same time.
You can 'edit' out items recorded on the hard drive, like advert breaks. This is called 'segment' in the instruction manual.
I put in a blank DVD to record items to and it told me that it was not a recordable disk. I tried another, and another, before I realized that it was stuck on the same error report, and when I pressed the 'add to list' it was all fine. Made me think that I had got a load of duff blank DVDs.
On one occasion I managed to get a completely blank screen, with bars running through it. I was unable to fix this. I rang the 'helpline' that was quickly answered and was instructed by a young Scottish lad, who told me what to do in a couple of minutes. I was quite impressed.
Also, on the controller - beware of the 'HDMI' button. If you press it by mistake - you get the same effect - the blank screen with bars running through. Pressing it again will get it back to normal, although it seems to take a number of presses, because of the number of HDMI options. The remote controller has 52 buttons to press, and does take a bit of getting used to.
So, to sum it up, a versatile machine, it's a bargain at the price, has a few quirks that you need to know about, and the manual could be better. I would give it 4.5 stars.
Ease of use - Medium Ease of Installation - Easy Range of features - Above average Value for money - Very good.
Advantages: Big hard drive and DVD record also HD ready, upscalling Disadvantages: Difficult menu system, bright blue light on front distracting,
OK, I have only had this unit for one week now and to really truthfull, I wish I had not bought it. Lets start with the outside of the unit. It looks nice being all black because it fits in nicelly under my tv. Now the negative part. When the unit is switched on and is in the standby mode, you have a bright blue light from the power button on the front right side. When the unit is on this light goes off. I thought it should be the other way round. ... ...watching anything where you want the lights out. It is so much so that I have actually put a small peice of sticky tape over most of the light and left maybe a pinhead size showing so you know its powered. The numbers on the readout or small enough to make you squint at them to read if you are sitting, like me, 12 feet away. There is no option to make them bigger or indead make the blue light less bright. When you start the installation process you ...
kindlyraccoon 25.09.2008
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Wharfedale DVDR24HD250F
