Sony RDR-HXD860
Product Rating  
Sony RDR-HXD860 ReviewRating:
Date: 15-03-2007
Sony's RDR-HXD860 is one of the best HDD DVD recorders currently available and we have no hesitation in awarding it the maximum 5 stars.
It offers all of the conveniences and advantages of a HDD recorder - around 40 hours of recording on the 160 Gbyte hard drive (more if you use one of the compressed recording formats) and 'Timeslip' recording, enabling you to pause and rewind live TV.
The HXD860 can record on most formats of disks: DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW & DVD+RW. It can play, but not record, DVD-RAM format disks too. CD's can also be played, including CD-R/RW, but not SACD. DivX & MP3 format support is included.
As you'd expect for this price, the machine comes with a built-in Freeview digital tuner. This means that you can record digital quality programmes, and it also enables the Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) to provide an on-screen guide to the next seven days of TV programmes. Selecting and recording programmes is made very easy indeed, and this is one of the Sony's strongest selling points.
Connectivity is excellent. As well as the usual range of connectors (SCART, RGB, S-video, component and optical audio) the RDR-HXD860 is one of the first DVD recorders to support high definition upscaling to 1080i/720p resolution with a HDMI port for connecting to a HD Ready television. It also has a DV input port, which enables you to connect a DV-compatible camcorder for transferring your home videos to DVD.
Really we can't fault the RDR-HXD860. If you want more disk space, you can spend a little more and buy the Sony RDR-HXD1065, which offers 250 Gbytes, or you might consider the truly outstanding Panasonic DMR-EX85EB-S, also with 250 Gbytes.
Features of the Sony RDR-HXD860 include:
- DVD Type - DVD Recorder / HDD Recorder
- Number of Discs - 1
- Playable Disk Types - DVD-RAM / DVD-R / DVD-RW / DVD+R / DVD+RW
- Playable File Formats - MPEG4 / DivX / MP3 / JPEG
- TV Tuner
- Video Upconversion - 720p (HDTV) / 1080i (HDTV)
- Video DAC - 12 bit / 108 MHz
- Video Noise Reduction - Block Noise Reduction / Mosquito Noise Reduction
- SCART Connectors - Input x 2
- Inputs - S-Video x 1 / RGB (via SCART)
- Outputs - S-Video x 1, Component x 1
- Remote Control
- Record and Play Fetaures - Chasing Playback / Pause Live TV
- Recordable Media - DVD-R / DVD+R / DVD-RW / DVD+RW / DVD-R DL / DVD+R DL
- HDD Size - 160 GB
- Dubbing - 64x DVD Recording Speed
- Programmable Timer - EPG, 40 Events within 30 Days
- Height - 7.5 cm
- Width - 43 cm
- Depth - 32.8 cm
- Weight - 6 kg
- Exterior Color - Silver
Sony RDR-HXD860 Consumer Reviews
(4 reviews)
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Reviewed by M Chapman on 05/10/2008
The HXD860 has a ghastly fault in its software which when triggeered completely cripples the machine, requiring a factory reset by a Sony Service agent. The fault is triggered by setting more than one series timer, at two series timers it starts to reset itself during series recordings, set three and its broken, as a user you cannot do anything with it - it just cycles Welcome and then off after 20-30 seconds. Look at the HXD860 reset issues listed on the internet. Service support does not seem to come clean with the real reason, lots of misinformation around. Be very careful, when working this is a good dvd recorder, but break it and its a £50 cost to get it working. In our case with no 'health warning' from the service agent that this would occur again. Only on a second failure did we find the blog entries which identified the real software issues. It seems the bug has been around a long time - posts as far back as 2005. Unimpressed - must try harder Sony
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Reviewed by Peter Archard on 02/01/2008
Faultless and wonderful, I've partnered this with an equally wonderful Sony flat panel and sound system. It's been with us for several months now and we just wouldn't be without it. Recording from the EPG is a breeze, as is dubbing to DVD. The HQ modes are unlikely to be used because the standard mode is so good and gives hours and hours of recording capacity. Twin tuners would have been a bonus but is not a problem for me because I've used an existing aerial feed for Freeview and also have a Vigin cable feed
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Reviewed by Andrew Platt on 07/11/2007
This machine is very easy to set up, and easy to operate. The picture and sound quality is excellent, I have had no problems since buying one several months ago, and I can thoroughly recommend it.
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Reviewed by Mike Stanton-Smith on 04/11/2007
The machine is good at almost everything apart from the timer drives me nuts! You can set it to record from the sevn day guide but it appears to be totally random in tis recording, it may record it may not. Having been told to reset it if the timer flickers I have tried but that doesn't seem to cure it. Also it lacks a zoom function on it so for us poor saps with a normal telly watching widescreen dvds is a pain. Hoping to return my second one and find something more reliable.
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