close enough to flawless for me
Written: Mar 15 '04
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Pros: Good user interface, simultaneous record play-back and auto titling
Cons: inflexible remote, some user interface quirks
The Bottom Line: Highly recommened. Good blend of technology and design.
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| winslowg's Full Review: Pioneer DVR510HS (80 GB) DVD Recorder |
Purchased mine 4 weeks ago, and I've recommended to everyone from my engineers to my mother. Almost everything is perfect from the basic operation, the smoothest parts being the simultaneous record and playback.
Video recording in the SP mode is of acceptable quality and yields about 35 hours. LP mode is about equivalent to VHS, and will give you arount 50 hours. The touted 100+ hours is only in ELP mode, which is unacceptable from a quality standpoint.
One of the advantages of this unit over others is that when selecting a show from the "digital pile" you wind up with, it shows you little thumbnails of the shows, and they play. Some other DVR's just give you the time and date or channel, which is less convenient. In addition, the 510 can title the recording from the stuff encoded in the signal. Other DVR don't and force you to title them by pecking at the remote (YUK!).
The only gripes I have concern the user interface and remote. First, the thing seems designed for those with math-phobia. In many cases, you can't just type in a channel or selection number, such as when setting a timer event. Instead, you have to use the channel up and down keys. Kind of silly.
Secondly, the angle on the remote is very narrow, requiring you to line up rather accurately with the 510 to control it. I have a suspicion this is linked to the possibility of people using several of these, and Pioneer made the angle narrow to facilitate control of a given player. Still, this is annoying in use.
Finally, the remote allows you to control your television (good) but only with the volume up/down, channel up/down, power and input select keys. You can't key in a channel number! This makes an aftermarket remote a likely purchase.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 800
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Epinions.com ID:
winslowg
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Reviews written: 1
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