The Sony RDR-HXD 790 is a finicky but effective piece of kit.

Advantages: Does exactly what it should. Quite smart-looking. Lots of different features.
Disadvantages: Finicky to begin with. Instruction manual not crystal clear.

...For a first time buyer of a DVD recorder, the RDR-HXD 790 is admittedly not the simplest machine to operate. To begin with is the initial connecting and setting up of the recorder. Although the instruction manual gives varying options of how to connect it to televisions, sound systems, cable receivers, etc, it was not terribly clear. I bought this DVD recorder to live in the same corner as a digital television, DVD player, and Sky + box, but the instructions seemed to imply that only an analogue signal could be received through the DVD recorder, which also has a digital input and hard drive recorder built in that allows you to pause live television. However, there is a way around it: For example, if you want to record two things on Sky +, record another on the DVD hard drive, and watch another through the television, you will need to...

tuckers87 22.07.2009 · Read review
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Review of Sony RDR-HXD 790

Sony RDR-HXD870 - great picture performance

Advantages: Picture quality, series recording, connectivity, editing features
Disadvantages: Software issues, Freeview EPG takes time to populate

...Sony RDR-HXD870S We've used the Sony since summer '07 as our sole Freeview box and as a way of archiving TV series and films recorded via our Sky+ system. The only difference between the 870S and the 870B illustrated above is colour - the 870S is silver (to match the rest of our AV kit). I'll start with the bad points, of which the Sony has 2 major ones: 1. The Freeview Guide can take a very long time to populate. If you are used the the Sky guide, or other Freeview boxes for that matter, it can be a pain. Delays of over 2 minutes are not uncommon even when looking at the same day listings. We are running the 870 from a newly installed digital aerial, aligned and tested by a professional, and the 870 itself says the signal is perfect, so this is not the cause. 2. The originally supplied software that deals...

SvenP 04.02.2008 · Read review
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Review of Sony RDR-HXD 870

Sony RDR-HXD 870

Advantages: Built in HDD, Plays Alomost All media, Built in Freeview
Disadvantages: none that i can think of

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pfishers 13.08.2007 · Read review
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Review of Sony RDR-HXD 870

Sony RDR-HXD710

Advantages: Easy to use, good picure and sound and not noisy
Disadvantages: Died too young!

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Amicha2000 27.01.2009 · Read review
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Review of Sony RDR-HXD710

sony rdr-hxd 870

Advantages: twin tuners hdmi upscaling
Disadvantages: even bigger hard drive would be good

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silverspooninmouth 20.02.2008 · Read review
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Review of Sony RDR-HXD 870

User review of Sony RDR-HXD 710

Advantages: Multiple recording settings, record tv & watch DVD simultaneously
Disadvantages: when recording cannot switch channels

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Jay-S 10.08.2006 · Read review
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Review of Sony RDR-HXD710

Sony RDR-HXD-890 Hard Drive & DVD Recorder

Advantages: Record to hard drive, DVD drive, watch and record at the same time.
Disadvantages: I needed to read the instruction manual!

...Last weekend our old video-recorder started chewing tapes, so it was about time that we upgraded. We already had a DVD recorder, but had been using it in tandem with our video recorder through an aerial booster that split the signal between the two machines without loss of quality. When it comes to such gadgets, being the sort of person that likes to see what I am buying, I went off to Comet's to see what was available. Being a Sony lover I was impressed by the RDR-HXD-890, one of the latest hard disk drive/DVD recorders from Sony's Range. It seems that black is back in vogue which I have always preferred; when I bought the last recorder, all I could get was silver, but there is a choice of black or silver with the RDR-HXD-890. When I got the machine home, I discovered that there were so many options on this machine that I had to...

derek-j-a 23.11.2008 · Read review
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Review of Sony RDRHXD890B.CEK

A really excellent DVD recorder / tuner

Advantages: Features, quality of picture & sound, build quality, looks
Disadvantages: Pricey, can be slow to respond

...I was looking for a DVD recorder with a hard drive so that can watch programmes from the hard drive & erase them at will rather than have to record everything to a disc. I also wanted it to feature a built in tuner so that I could wire it into another tuner & be able to record a programme whilst watching another. I did some research & narrowed down my selection to Panasonic, Toshiba & Sony. The Sony RDR-HXD860 got the best reviews in the press at the time but it wasn't cheap. Three versions were available with either 80 GB, 160 GB or 240 GB hard drives; I wanted a 160 GB version which retailed at £399.00. I searched the internet & got one from Amazon with free delivery at £299.00 two weeks before Christmas 2006. It wasn't the cheapest on the market but it was loaded with features I wanted & there is Sony's reputation for making...

ScottishWestie 08.11.2007 · Read review
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Review of Sony RDR HXD 860

  'Sony' 172 Pages Of Instructions!

Advantages: Goes way beyond just being a TV recorder
Disadvantages: You have to read through 172 pages to find out to what extent!

...Like it or not, Freeview TV is coming - that's the over-the-air digital TV that bit by bit will see off analogue TV, and in fact the process has started, with the whole country slated to be 'cut over' by 2012. Just being able to watch it, assuming you can (I'm conveniently forgetting any aerial upgrades that may be needed), merely requires either a set-top box or a TV with the digital tuner built in. Try recording it though and your options get slimmer. You can either buy a set-top box that also contains a hard disk drive and two tuners, (aka Personal Video Recorder or PVR), or buy a machine like the Sony RDR-HXD870 which can not only receive Freeview, but record to a hard drive, and thence to a built-in DVD recorder if the need to archive anything should crop up. This also means that it doubles as a DVD and CD player. So...

BNibbles 09.12.2007 (11.12.2007) · Read review
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Review of Sony RDR-HXD 870

Excellent, but not high definition

Advantages: Does far more than you might expect
Disadvantages: No High Definition support

...Don't let the number confuse you, this is NOT an High Definition recorder (If I'm wrong, then tell me!) Sony use an alphanumeric convention with their products, RDR-HXD1065 indicates that this is a high-end digital DVD-Hard disk recorder - Having tried for nine months, I've not been able to play or record high definition content on this system. In spite of these drawbacks, I still find it an immensely useful piece of kit. The model has now been superseded, but there seems to be plenty of these available online, and at a substantial discount from the original £500 price tag. The RDR-HXD1065 blurs the distinction between where an 'ordinary' recorder finishes off, and a multimedia PC starts. It *looks* like a DVD player, and indeed all the control functions present every appearance of this. Buried deep inside is a massive...

dobieg 02.01.2008 · Read review
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Review of Sony RDR-HXD1065