Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony RDR-HXD995 Freeview+ 250GB Hard Disc Drive DVD Recorder

I've had the 250GB version of this hard disc recorder for about a month now and I'm completely happy with it. I understand if you've got Sky or Cable it's a bit tricky to setup, but if you're planning on using it for just Freeview it's perfect. Some reviews have mentioned that the unit is loud, but I think they must just have faulty versions as mine is quiet as a mouse.

Setup is a doddle... simply put your ariel lead into the back of the Sony, a scart lead between the Sony and your TV, plug it in and you're away. Once the clock is setup and it's downloaded the programme guide (all done via a simple menu) you can begin watching, recording, playing.

Quick extra tip: If you put an ariel lead between your Sony and TV (in addition to the Scart) you can watch normal terrestial without turning on the Sony... or watch one programme whilst it is recording another for you.

If you have American DVDs, I don't think this is multi-region as standard, however I bought my box from one of the sellers advertising on the Amazon marketplace (rather than Amazon direct) because they are selling a multi-region version.

In summary: if you're trying to work out to get this or a Philips, choose this.

This is the first review I have ever submitted but I feel this products definitely warrants it. Having had my previous Sony DVD recorder for about 3 years I decided to take the plunge and get a hard disk version. This unit is a dream. Easy to set up and the Freeview reception and picture are immaculate. But the best thing about this item for me is how easy it is to set up programs/series to record. Just select from the guide and press OK. Whereas with my old recorder I would have to think twice about going through the laborious setup routine for each programme, now it takes seconds. I have also been using it to transfer treasured VHS recordings onto the hard drive and then 'dubbing' them back onto DVD. Again, this is so easy to do and I can edit the recordings before transferring them. The dubbing process is really quick. This was my first major electrical item purchased from Amazon and it arrived within a few days. I am so pleased with this product and do not have a bad word to say about it!(And rest assured, I do not work for Sony or Amazon!)

Recording quality is excellent - so far, I've had no problems making great-looking 1hr 40min long DVDs from a Sky+ box by recording to the Sony's HD, editing, then burning to DVD. Freely (almost infinitely) adjustable recording quality. Happily records RGB-format signals from your satellite receiver, which helps a lot. Freeview picture quality also seems excellent. You can fairly easily edit the adverts out of recordings before burning to DVD, add more chapter marks, etc. They seem to have thought of everything in terms of facilities (apart from a manual audio level control. That would have been nice.)

Recording from the built-in Freeview tuner also works... although by comparison with a Sky+ box it's tough to get your head around.

And that's the real problem. The user interface is ugly, with poor use of the screen "real estate". Some of it is confusing, and some just downright awkward (for example, naming discs and programme titles is unnecessarily slow and laborious). I could live with that if the finished DVDs looked good, but the available DVD menu designs are laughable - there are only six, and all of them are ghastly, with almost illegible programme titles. They've clearly attempted to "jazz" them up with additional graphics, but the graphics are about Teletext quality. Yes, I think on one of them, that blocky-looking blob is supposed to be duck. Do you want a maroon duck on your DVD menu? No? Then that's one of the six designs you won't be using. Again, it wouldn't be a problem if there was one basic menu design that worked, but there isn't. So you end up trying them all in an attempt to decide which menu looks "the least bad"!

It's as if the engineers at Sony spent six months on the hardware, then an afternoon doing the software. That said, for simple archiving of TV programmes without firing up a computer, it works, and the actual video itself looks great. At the end of the day, that's all I need most of the time.

But beware, if you're not good with AV equipment you may find this machine too complicated to figure out... although I couldn't tell you if other DVD recorders are any better in this regard as this is the first standalone DVD recorder I've owned.

In summary: Great picture quality, but somewhat frustrating to use.

I wanted a new Freeview recorder that was both HDD and DVD. I really wanted a twin Freeview but could not find one that was acceptable so decided to go with this after reading the excellent reviews. At least you can record one program while watching on normal analog TV. This arrived within 2 days of ordering and only took 15 minutes from opening box to full set up. Very easy and the instructions for operating the unit were good too. My wife normally has a problem the first few days with new electronic gear but she got to grips with this very easily. The picture quality is excellent and the DVD upscaling is great too.

I don't usually bother to write reviews, but in this case I thought it was warranted.

This is a FANTASTIC bit of kit, and wish that I had bought one earlier!

I had a little bit of trouble setting it up (for some reason it didn't initially want to be recongnised on my TV), but eventually it was ok.

The Freeview tuner offers superb signal quality compared to the Freeview box I used in the past.

Recording programmes is a breeze. When I compare it to how difficult my Sony video recorder was to record from this is simply amazing! I used to go out of my way not to record things before because it was so much hassle. I have recorded more in a week of using this product then I did in the previous five years...

The quality of recording to the HDD even on SP mode is excellent. Infact it's so good for your normal viewing, I haven't even bothered to record in HQ mode. This also means that you can record & store a lot more programmes.

Amazons customer service was excellent. I received an email within 1 minute of ordering, and the tracking system makes life very easy. Although I opted for standard delivery, I still received the product within a week. Well done Amazon!