Sony DVDHX525 as advertised in the Radio Times

Has anyone seen a review of this DVD Recorder?

Is the built in EPG/ Radio Times facility unique to this advert?

Any advice on the merits or otherwise would be welcome.

Mike


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alfred wrote:
Has anyone seen a review of this DVD Recorder?

Is the built in EPG/ Radio Times facility unique to this advert?

Any advice on the merits or otherwise would be welcome.

Link to the RT advert (269.00):

http://www.radiotimes.com/content/fe...nydvdrecorder/

User reviews:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-RDR-HX5...748035-8050260

First of all this machine is only 220.00 at Amazon.

Also, I'm not sure of the benefits of the 'Radio Times' enabled EPG - it's
basically a Gemstar Guideplus by the look of it, which is pretty standard.

Sony machines are pretty good but up until recently they had one major
fault, which is that it was impossible to easily pad the out times of
recordings made from the EPG, meaning that the ends of programmes were very
often clipped. This can be overcome by making manual recordings, or
converting the EPG recording to a manual one, but this defeats the purpose
of a easy to use EPG facility.

The two new machines from Sony (HXD 560 and 860) have now addressed this
problem - you can set up a default pad time for all EPG recordings so that
they will all add say five minutes to the end of the recording without you
doing anything - very useful.

The machine you were interested in, the HX525, doesn't have a Freeview
tuner, so you'd have to hook it up to an external box for any additional
channels. The 560 and 860 both have Freeview.

If you're happy with an 80 gig hard drive (the size of the HX525's drive)
then I'd recommend the new HXD560 - very similar to the 525 but with onboard
Freeview tuner and the ability to automatically pad the endings of
recordings. The EPG works very well and the machine is quick, quiet and
responsive. My mother has one and she likes it very much.

Both the 560 and 860 also have a 'series link' facility - this is now
available on the BBC channels and will come to the rest next year - it means
that you can set up a recording for an entire series in one go and if you
can't record a programme due to it overlapping with another programme it
will automatically find a repeat transmission and grab that.

Sony HXD560 (227.80):

http://www.multizoneav.com/web/produ...7e1eb2bcc 41f

NB If you are thinking about having a digital connection between your DVD
player and TV (HDMI) then unfortunately this machine doesn't have that
(neither does the 525). The 860 does however, as well as offering a 160 gig
hard drive. The 860 is around 298.00, so only 28.00 more than you were
prepared to pay for the 525.

HXD860 user reviews follow (NB the very few complaints about this machine in
the reviews are due to user stupidity and not reading the manual, rather
than the machine! It will definitely enable the playback of a DVD whilst
carrying out a recording of a TV programme to hard drive. Also, the person
moaning about the fan coming on at 4am doesn't realise that the machine
updates its EPG at that time, so that is why the fan comes on

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-160GB-R.../dp/B000HD6888

In article , Vaughan
wrote:
alfred wrote:


Sony machines are pretty good but up until recently they had one major
fault, which is that it was impossible to easily pad the out times of
recordings made from the EPG,

Well, the main fault that caused me to return the Sony DVD recorder I tried
a couple of months ago was the distractingly loud noise level from its fan!
This made it irritating for watching general programmes, and useless for
music. It was so loud that I could hear it out in our hallway when the
recorder was on!

Also, the person moaning about the fan coming on at 4am doesn't realise
that the machine updates its EPG at that time, so that is why the fan
comes on

That might not be a problem if Sony could do the R&D needed to source a
quiet fan - or even develop a recorder that does not need one. :-)

Perhaps the 'moan' the person made wasn't really about the EPG update
causing the fan to operate, but Sony choosing a fan which makes so much
noise...

Slainte,

Jim

--
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Audio Misc http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/AudioMisc/index.html
Armstrong Audio http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/Audio/armstrong.html
Barbirolli Soc. http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/JBSoc/JBSoc.html

Jim Lesurf wrote:
In article , Vaughan
wrote:
alfred wrote:


Sony machines are pretty good but up until recently they had one
major fault, which is that it was impossible to easily pad the out
times of recordings made from the EPG,

Well, the main fault that caused me to return the Sony DVD recorder I
tried a couple of months ago was the distractingly loud noise level
from its fan! This made it irritating for watching general
programmes, and useless for music. It was so loud that I could hear
it out in our hallway when the recorder was on!

Also, the person moaning about the fan coming on at 4am doesn't
realise that the machine updates its EPG at that time, so that is
why the fan comes on

That might not be a problem if Sony could do the R&D needed to source
a quiet fan - or even develop a recorder that does not need one. :-)

Perhaps the 'moan' the person made wasn't really about the EPG update
causing the fan to operate, but Sony choosing a fan which makes so
much noise...

Slainte,

Jim

I think it must have been faulty on your machine. On all the user reviews
I've read about the Sony models over the last year or so fan noise has never
been an issue (unlike Pioneer and Toshiba, where the issue is raised
frequently).

Indeed, with my mother's Sony HXD560 the fan is whisper quiet during normal
operation. The only time it runs faster is for about ten seconds when it
powers up or down or updates the epg or software.

Having said that, I agree about having a fan-free machine. TiVo managed it
so it's obviously possible.

Mike Henry wrote:
In , "Vaughan"
wrote:

Having said that, I agree about having a fan-free machine. TiVo
managed it so it's obviously possible.

Interesting example - actually the UK TiVo does have a fan! The
earlier software ran at variable speeds depending on the current
onboard temperature reading, but the latest software upgrade in 2002
runs it full speed all the time. But it is nice and quiet even then.
Some purists have replaced theirs with "quiet" fans such as those
used in "quiet" PC cases etc.

Blimey, I never knew that! I must have an exceptionally quiet one in that
case. It was also upgraded three years ago with a 120 gig Samsung spinpoint
drive which is totally quiet, so I never hear a peep out of the machine.

In article , Vaughan
wrote:
Jim Lesurf wrote:


Well, the main fault that caused me to return the Sony DVD recorder I
tried a couple of months ago was the distractingly loud noise level
from its fan! This made it irritating for watching general programmes,
and useless for music. It was so loud that I could hear it out in our
hallway when the recorder was on!


I think it must have been faulty on your machine. On all the user
reviews I've read about the Sony models over the last year or so fan
noise has never been an issue (unlike Pioneer and Toshiba, where the
issue is raised frequently).

Alas, since the consumer mags don't ever seem to bother to measure this, or
comment on it with any consistency, it is impossible to know if it was
'faulty' or not.

When I asked Sony about this they replied that all their recorders had
fans, and made a noise, but were unable to specify how much noise. The
impression I got was that they don't bother to even measure or check this.
No spec to quote or check against.

Indeed, with my mother's Sony HXD560 the fan is whisper quiet during
normal operation. The only time it runs faster is for about ten seconds
when it powers up or down or updates the epg or software.

Yes, the one I tried made far more noise for a few seconds at power
up/down.

Having said that, I agree about having a fan-free machine. TiVo managed
it so it's obviously possible.

The old Philips DVD recorder I had has an internal fan, but is almost
inaudible even in an otherwise silent room. This machine is a couple of
years older than the Sony I rejected.

Slainte,

Jim

--
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Audio Misc http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/AudioMisc/index.html
Armstrong Audio http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/Audio/armstrong.html
Barbirolli Soc. http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/JBSoc/JBSoc.html

Jim Lesurf wrote:
In article , Vaughan
wrote:
Jim Lesurf wrote:

snip

Having said that, I agree about having a fan-free machine. TiVo
managed it so it's obviously possible.

The old Philips DVD recorder I had has an internal fan, but is almost
inaudible even in an otherwise silent room. This machine is a couple
of years older than the Sony I rejected.

All good points. I also wish that reviewers would highlight fan noise in
their articles as it's very important when considering living room type
devices.

I read as many user reviews as I can and then see what the consensus is, and
that's why on the issue of fan noise I was put off the likes of Pioneer and
Toshiba in favour of Sony.

In addition, the latest Panasonic range (EX75 and EX85) are also praised by
users for their quiet fans.