Group test: Budget DVD/HDD recorders | |  | 1 2 Next page: Sony RDR-HXD890, Toshiba RD88DT and winner >
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A DVD/HDD recorder is arguably one of the most useful 'everyday' AV products. Each of the four sub-£300 machines featured here will timeshift to the HDD from an onboard digital tuner or - via a standard RGB Scart connection - an external source like a Sky Digibox. You can then archive anything worthy of repeat viewing to DVD - after editing out the ad breaks. Such discs are compatible with the vast majority of DVD players. Taking of which, DVD/HDD recorders will of course play your movie discs too!
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Price: £230
More info: Panasonic
Hard-disk capacity: 160GB
DVD recording: DVD-RAM, DVD+RW, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD-R
HDMI upscaling: 720p, 1080i, 1080p
Connections:
Rear: HDMI output, 2 Scarts (both RGB), composite, component and S-video outputs, optical digital audio output, stereo audio output, aerial input & output
Front: Composite and S-video inputs, stereo audio input
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Panasonic DMR-EX768
The DMR-EX768 may be Panasonic's entry-level Freeview DVD/HDD recorder, but it has all of the essentials - except an analogue tuner. Thankfully, external RGB Scart sources like Sky are catered for. GuidePlus is supported, albeit without control of set-top boxes. There are no multimedia jukebox features, but everything you'll need for DVD playback and TV timeshifting is present. HDMI upscaling (up to 1080p) is included, as are 'true' multi-format DVD recording (including dual-layer), a 32-event timer and 160GB of HDD capacity - enough for up to 279hr. of video, depending on which of the four recording modes you've chosen.
Freeview Playback allows you to pause 'live' TV, although this is spoilt by a pointless on-screen graphic. Furthermore, you can't permanently 'save' buffered recordings. You do however get series recording, and compensation for delayed starts (Guide-Link) and 'split' programmes'. The EX768 is easy to set up and drive, thanks to sensible auto set-up and menu systems. Your recordings, navigable in list or thumbnail form, can be edited with simple yet powerful 'trimming' and 'divide' tools. The result can be 'downconverted' when dubbing to DVD; associated with this is a 'flexible recording' mode that crams your dubbing list onto one disc.
There's also 'lossless' high-speed dubbing, the ability to transfer non-copyrighted DVD material to the HDD and playlist editing/dubbing. You can't alas record to dual-layer discs directly; copying from the HDD is required here. Freeview pictures are clean if slightly 'soft', while recordings are excellent - especially in the 'top' two modes. The full-resolution LP mode (4hrs per DVD) is highly detailed, although movement is spoilt by obvious blocking - the 2hr SP mode is perhaps a better bet. Sound quality is good, while DVD playback pictures are characterised by superb detail, contrast and colour fidelity. The EX768 was the only machine of the group to pass all HQV 'jaggies' tests.
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Plus points
Excellent AV performance, features sensible but basic
Minus points
No analogue tuner, set-top box control DivX playback |  |
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Price: £250
More info: Philips
Hard-disk capacity: 160GB
DVD recording: DVD+RW, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD-R
HDMI upscaling: 720p, 1080i, 1080p
Connections:
Rear: HDMI output, 2 Scarts (both RGB), component and S-video outputs, coaxial digital audio input, coaxial/optical digital audio output, stereo audio output, aerial inputs and outputs for analogue and digital tuners
Front: i.Link (DV) input, S-video input, composite video input, stereo audio input, USB
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Philips DVDR 5520
The conservatively-styled DVDR5520 combines DVD+RW/-RW/+R/-R (dual-layer for the latter two) recording with 160GB of HDD capacity, a Freeview digital tuner (analogue too!) and 1080p HDMI upscaling. Also offered are multimedia playback coupled with a 'jukebox' facility, i.Link for dubbing from digital camcorders, a GuidePlus EPG (which can take control of an external set-top box) and automatic HDD 'buffering' of the current programme. Uniquely, the DVDR5520 boasts Dolby Digital 5.1 recording, from a coaxial-only digital input. Sadly, 5.1 recordings can't be played on other equipment.
Depending on which of the six recording modes you choose, up to 180 hours of video cam be crammed onto the HDD. The 5520's USB 2.0 port allows you to copy JPEG, DivX and MP3/WMA files at will between the DVD, HDD and solid-state USB memory devices. Set-up and use are, on occasions, frustratingly-unresponsive. More positively however, you can record to the HDD while playing a DVD. Naturally, recordings - whether manually-invoked, retroactively-captured from the timeshift buffer or scheduled with the 40-event timer - can be dubbed from HDD to DVD at high-speed, but not vice-versa.
Recordings can, however, be trimmed with basic hard-disk editing (notably 'divide'). Inflexibly, you can't change the recording mode when dubbing, and so more material (albeit at lower quality) cannot be accommodated. Pictures from DTT, commercial DVDs and its own recordings are subjectively crisp and noise-free pictures. Go below the 'SPP' recording mode (2.5hrs per DVD) and the resolution takes a noticeable turn for the worse. Dual-layer DVDs are therefore recommended for longer 'quality' recordings. Sound is more than acceptable in all cases - but while upscaling works well subjectively, the 5520 fails all of the HQV DVD 'jaggies' tests.
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Plus points
5.1 recording, funky clickwheel remote, strong AV performance
Minus points
Ponderously unresponsive, 5.1 audio can only be played on the 5520 | |
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