Sony RDRGXD455 DVD Recorder with HD Tuner

1. ( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: May 25 2008

   Was hoping this to be the best of DVD recorders but forget it because remote buttons are so small some require a pen to hit them & the unit doesn't respond especially during title list and sent unit back from frustration so maybe you won't have this trouble but Sony usually produce higher quality or maybe somebody else made this one & they put there name on it - I bought from Crutchfield and great customer service to return unit!!

2. Posted: Mar 31 2008

   I intended to replace my VCR's with DVD recorders to be able to record HD programs. So I ran some experiments with the intent of finding what DVD speed matched the VCR at low and high speeds. But this Sony recorder was so bad that I never got that far. First I tuned both units and also the television to the same analog channel (from antenna). Before I even got as far as recording, I compared the images from (1) the TV tuner, (2) the Sony DVD recorder, and (3) the JVC VCR. The VCR was very close to the TV direct, but the image from the DVD recorder was definitely not as crisp as either of the others. With such a poor source it was difficult to evaluate the recorded images. Thinking the problem was with the DVD's inferior tuner, I then repeated the test using a recording from a digital camcorder. This time the deficiency with the Sony DVD recorder was even worse. The whole purpose of changing from tape to DVD is quality, and with this unit it's definitely not there.

3. ( 6 of 7 found this review helpful ) Posted: Feb 17 2008

   At first I was hesitant to purchase this DVD recorder because of all the bad reviews on AMAZON. In the end I decided to trust the name brand instead of the reviewers and I'm glad I did! This is a superior product. I haven't had any problems so far and I find this unit easy to use in spite of the time it takes to set it up. I have used this unit to record both analog and digital TV as well as old home videos and gotten great results. The digital tuner performs better than the one in my HP LCD HDTV. I have not encountered any copyright protection problems or experienced any of the other issues that previous reviewers have complained about. This unit was purchased to replace my SONY RDR-GX315 which cost about $350. For just over $200, the RDR-GXD455 is an excellent choice. The ability to record HD broadcasts coupled with SONY reliabilty cannot be beat!

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