Home > Consumer Reviews > Ellion 900A Multi-region Capable Multi-region Capable DVD Recorder with MPEG4 Playback and i.Link

May I first of all say thanks to Amazon who delivered this item postage free within 2 days. The Ellion DVR 900 is an excellent machine and rates with machines that friends bought for over twice the price. Easy set up and clear instructions make it a joy to use even for the beginner. Apart from its stylish good looks,which should please the wife,it also delivers in the quality department. I experimented with an un-branded DVD+RW disc trying all 6 quality settings and I was more than pleased with the results. The unit also delivers excellent Dolby 5:1 sound from commercial discs and crystal clear stereo from discs you have recorded yourself. One small criticism is that I would have liked a 'scart in' socket,luckily my TV has 2 scart sockets otherwise this would have meant the addition of extra S-VHS leads which do not come supplied. However purchase of one of these leads is still required if you wish to get the best recording results. Overall I have given this product 4 stars out of 5 and thats only because I can't rate it at 4 and a half. If Ellion had of included either an extra scart socket or supplied an S-VHS lead then I would have given it the magic 5. So it's bye bye to my VCR and and bulky tapes,which I have set about recording on to DVD with this machine,so far with great results. If like me you are looking to replace an aging VCR then I would say 100% go for this machine.I doubt very much spending the same or more on a VCR would give you the quality and ease of use as the Ellion DVR-900.

DVD RECORDER REVIEW
====================
The Ellion DVD Recorder is a nice looking, slim unit, which has a very modern look. The unit is easy to use and is excellent value for money.
One thing to note is that, as with most recorders currently on the market, is that any programmes that you record will be in Dual-Channel (stereo style) only and not in Dolby Surround.
DVD's produced in Dolby (i.e. purchased films) will however take advantage of the Dolby support.
This is not really a negative as I dont know of any recorders that do support Dolby recording but thought it is something that you should be aware of when using the unit to avoid trying to get your recorded programmes to play in Dolby. The Dual-Channel sound is very clear so not really a downside.
Picture quality is excellent in all modes, even the 6 hour recording mode (ELP) and the Auto Chapter feature is very useful when playing back!

FIRMWARE UPDATES
=================
One thing to look out for is updated firmware which is available from :-
http://www.elliondigital.com/firmware.htm
Since these recorders are very new these firmware updates are useful to make sure that you recorder works to the best of its ability. Full instructions on how to install these updates are available on the website (it is very easy if you have a computer with CD Writer).

TECHNICAL SUPPORT
==================
Ellion's technical support department are excellent and the one query I did with them was answered within an hour of sending an email. Ellion called ME on the telephone and paid for the call. Now thats what I call support!!!!!

SCORE
======
Well done Ellion. All round I would give this player 8 out of 10 and would definately recommend it if you are thinking of replacing your video recorder / existing DVD player.
Great price too!

THE CODE to make the recorder multi region is 770. Switch on the machine. Remove any disc from the tray. Close the tray. Point the remote at the machine. input 770 on the remote. The TV screen will tell you it is now multi region. No problems.

UPGRADING. I crashed the machine when upgrading the firmware. The good news is that the box from Amazon includes the name of the UK service gaurantee company. Goodiesenterprise.com They are based in Bedford. After one telephone call they sent a courier next day to collect the machine. Fixed it. Returned it three days later with the latest firmware upgrade. Now thats what I call service! And all free of charge.

But you still have to make it multiregion by using the code above.

After months of thinking about getting a dvd recorder, our search led us to amazon. We saw this dvd player and it sounded a very good product. We were a little sceptical of the name, but thought we'd give it a chance. On receiving the dvd player, we found it remarkably easy to set up. It came with its own scart leads even though we have upgraded it now. The instruction manual is quite easy to follow, and we got it setup and recording within an hour.
The quality of picture and sound is very good indeed. We have tried recording on all levels of quality and found that even the 6 hour one was very good if a little grainy.
All of our friends who have dvd players and are more dvd literate than us, think we have got a bargain - even my technophobic mum wants us to order her one.
All in all so far so good. This is a very good product and priced well compared to other models in its range.

In brief, I'm so impressed with this machine that I've ordered a further two; one for my 60+ year old parents and one for my boyfriend.

I ordered this unit chiefly on the strength of the reviews from Amazon customers and on the fact the unit had a plethora of input and output options. I have a fairly complex Media setup at home, with surround sound amp, Media PC, Tivo, PS2 and wanted a flexible unit that would fit in.

The first delivered machine was dead on arrival. I was a bit gutted, but Amazon sent out a replacement within 24 hours and the second unit arrived next day deliver - and is working flawlessly.

Don't be intimidated by the complexity of the rear panel. Set-up is a doddle with everything well labelled and a clear instruction manual. It has high quality inputs and outputs, but simple SCART connections to your existing equipment work perfectly well and you'll have this in place and working in a couple of minutes.

I have a very high quality home cinema setup and can confidently say the video and audio quality from this unit is superb. You won't find it lacking at all. Playback of bought DVDs is very impressive. Recording from a good quality source gives you very impressive results that you'd have to examine very carefully to discern any difference from live broadcast.

My source is digital cable, over a RGB-SCART connection and the recorded picture quality is just superb.

Basic editing is included, allowing long recordings to be split into seperate programs, trimming, adding your own chapter markers, etc. All fairly easy to use, does what it says on the tin. The only comment I'd make is that I've found it better to use DVD-RW discs as these allow you more flexibility to cut bits out of recordings and be able to re-use that space on the disc for further recording.