Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony RDR-HXD890 Freeview+ 160GB Hard Disc Drive DVD Recorder - Black

Even if you are currently only able to receive analogue TV this recorder is very good.
I bought this machine because my trusty old VHS packed in. I am in a non-Freeview area at present, but, as I am in the Border region, the analogue signal will be switched off next summer (2009) so I needed a machine that was usable now (with only analogue) and at some point would be OK with digital terrestrial only.
'An impossible dilemma' I thought till I did some research online and found this Sony as a potential solution.
So far so good. I am very happy with the machine. The instructions were clear, but as ever you should read them before you start setting up. As I was setting up on analogue only there were a few bits to skip. I had not come across Guideplus before. It was a bit of a trial waiting 24 hours for it to download its information - but it was worth the wait! This is a big improvement on Videoplus and makes setting up to record programmes very easy.
After being limited to 4hour VHS tapes it is a joy to have 60+ hours capacity on the hard disk.
I had been resisting upgrading my recording gear until the digital switchover of my local relay station, but, after just a fortnight using this machine, I wish I had replaced my VHS earlier (at a time of my chosing rather than when it gave up the ghost).
My concerns about the one machine working on both analogue and digital systems were unfounded.

Having had a bad experience with a cheaper no name product, and fighting tooth and nail to get a refund I decided to up my budget and get a named brand. Had a DVD recorder from Sony for about 4 years before it gave up the ghost, so felt comfortable with my purchase. As stated before the instructions can jump about abit but having mastered Sony's style before this was fairly straight forward to set up and get recording. Have had recorder for 4 days and am still finding options that will probably never use. If you just want to record digital TV to disc then this will do just fine. I have tried the usb port for playing music and viewing pictures very easy to work.Only niggle is when connected with HDMI cable mine gives a reduced screen size on some channels i.e. not wide screen as set. Have switched to using a scart lead and this solves screen size problem with no noticable change in picture definition.

I feel bad about going against what others have been saying but Im just not that impressed by this box. For a start its really difficult to use theres nothing about the interface thats intuitive at all. It also has a nasty habit of saying unable to do this operation at this time but not telling you why, its up to you to go through all the possible issues that it might be having.
The point I need to be most clear on is you CANT watch two freeview channels at the same time. Even if you plug in another input from another freeview box it wont let you switch inputs whilst recording one channel. I just feel that to be able to record one channel whilst watching another is a pretty basic feature on a model at this price range and on a day to day basis its really frustrating not to be able to do so.
Its not by any means all bad though. It does have lots of really handy features like being able to copy DVDs onto the hard disc. It is capable of watching Divx videos which is very convenient. One of the nicest things is that it looks like s Sony aught to. Its well built and the case looks classy.
On balance I think the clunky interface and the fact you cant record one channel whilst watching another means it only gets 3stars.

I bought this to replace an LG DVD recorder which had gone wrong for the second time. The Sony RDR HXD890 is recommended best buy by Which, Home Cinema and others. It is well finished and quite heavy.
From the moment I turned it on it was simple to set up and after acquiring the digital TV channels reading the instruction book I set up the HDMI output for the TV from the menus in only a few minutes. I must say on my 47inch Full HD TV the picture quality of the freeview, the HDD and the DVD is very good. This unit is well worth the money. Also a neat touch is the TV controls on the bottom of the Sony remote, enter the code for your TV and then you can control the sound, channel and the input on your TV without having to reach for another remote control. A Sony quality product well thought out and worth the money, buy it.

Overall easy to set up and begin recording. The instruction manual is a little off-putting as it is quite thick and I found the beginning explanations about wiring it up a little confusing (I'm not a tech-head at all!). It records in very good quality. Programmes stored are easy to view and delete after you are finished watching. A great buy for a great price!