A very nice addition to our home theater
Written: Jan 30 '04 (Updated Jan 31 '04)
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Pros: Great to have DVD-R/RW and DVR in one, we wouldn't want to live without it.
Cons: Remote may not run every TV. Shop for discount price. Big footprint.
The Bottom Line: Tivo does change the way you watch TV. Having Tivo and a DVD-R/RW means you run out of time to watch before you run out of disk space.
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| reengler's Full Review: Pioneer DVR-810H (80 GB) DVD Recorder |
We received this player as a gift, but it has been a welcome addition to our "family". It has been invaluable for TV watching with our young daughter. It means we can record her favorite show every day and play it back at any time (instead of only the half hour it's on), even while recording another show. It also means that I know that if she needs my attention while I'm watching something, I can pause or rewind and not miss the show.
We had been considering a DVR for a long time, but the DVD recorder/DVR is an unbeatable combination. Being able to record shows or movies that we want to save on DVD-R or DVD-RW mean that the DVR's hard drive doesn't fill up with stuff. In fact, we haven't been forced to delete a show in the five weeks we've had it. Most of what we record is on the "high/SP" setting (the 2nd highest). It has been fine for nearly everything we've watched. At this setting, the hard drive should hold over 20 hours of video.
Physical set-up including connecting video input (coax in our house) and output (component video--cables not included) was the same as a VCR. Setting up the Tivo software and settings took longer, mostly because it had to dial Tivo and download a lot of information. You have four output options: coax (standard cable connection), component video (like a standard VCR, 3 RCA plugs, included), S-VHS, or composite video (5 RCA plugs, best resolution), so you should find that it's compatible with most TVs. Our set-up is cable in to the DVR-810H, coax out to VCR (and through to TV) and composite video out to TV. We normally watch the composite video signal, but using the coax out feature means we can watch TV without using the Tivo unit. This is necessary if you want to watch one show while you are recording another. Note that Tivo can only record one show at a time. However, you can record one show, watch a recorded show, and burn a third show to DVD all at the same time.
If you're watching live TV with the Tivo, the Tivo records and saves up to 30 minutes of whatever you're watching, but if you change channels, it resets the 30 minutes. For example, you watch 15 minutes of channel A. As long as you are on channel A, you can back up to see any of those 15 minutes. If you change to channel B during a commercial, you lose the 15 minutes of channel A and begin recording channel B. You can, however, use the Tivo channel guide to see what's on other channels--including episode information--without actually changing the channel. That guide allows you to see many hours ahead and specify what to record as well. All of this is simply overlaid on the image of the show you are watching/recording at that time.
The controls are straightforward (it even has basic DVD functions on the front panel); the remote and Tivo menus are easy and intuitive to operate. The remote is designed to control your TV's volume, power, and input in addition to this unit's functions, but the remote does not operate our Gateway big screen TV. However, I haven't yet exhausted all the codes or contacted customer service. I've also found our Gateway remote and another universal remote don't operate the Pioneer, so we have to use both the Gateway and Tivo remote.
This unit has a USB port that allows you to attach a USB network adapter (wireless or wired ethernet). Note not all wireless USB adapters work, but the support site does list this. We have not yet set up this feature, but plan to in the future. If you do connect to the network, you can buy an additional service from Tivo that allows you to program your Tivo remotely, share programs between Tivo units on your network, and other features (see www.tivo.com).
You can definitely get by with Tivo Basic (included free) which allows you to operate your Tivo like a VCR with VCR+ (you specify each time/channel you want to record). We used the free trial of Tivo Plus and found it is worth the $13/month to get the season pass and wish list features, but it is nice to know you can save the money and still get Tivo functionality. You can buy a "lifetime" subscription to Tivo, but it's the lifetime of the Tivo box, not the subscriber. If you ever replace the Tivo unit itself, you have to pay again.
We connect our regular cable directly to the Tivo, but the Pioneer is supposed to be able to control either a cable box or dish box. I cannot comment on the ease or reliability of this feature.
The only real downside (besides the remote not operating our TV) is the large footprint of the box. It's quite a bit deeper than any of our other components (18" front to back, including space for the wires) and, as a result, hangs off the front of the shelf. It's also heavy, but probably not heavier than a DVD and DVR together. If you have a tight space that you need to fit into, measure carefully.
Finally, you never really turn the Tivo off. You can put it to sleep, but as far as I can tell, that only turns off the video output and the LED front panel. I don't yet know how that will affect our electric bill. I believe this is common to DVRs, not unique to this one.
Since we did not pay for our 810H, cost wasn't an issue, but I've seen it selling under $700 (before shipping). If you are considering either a DVD-R/RW or a DVR, getting both in this one machine is worth the extra cost.
One other consideration: If you are also in the market for a new computer, you might consider a home theater computer with DVR software and a DVD recording drive (total 2-3x the cost of this Pioneer).
Notes on ratings: audio and video ratings are for the Tivo signal, the DVD signal rates top scores for both. Durability is based on my expectation, we've only had this a few weeks.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 675
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Epinions.com ID:
reengler
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Reviews written: 9
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