Pioneer DVR-810H DVD Recorder / Player with TiVo - If you can live with limitations
Written: Jul 15 '04
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Pros: Picture quality in Fine and SP modes, DVD playback quality, TiVo convenience
Cons: No DVD+RW, DVD+R or DVD-RAM recording, no editing, no FireWire, price
The Bottom Line: The Pioneer DVR-810H is a very good choice for somebody who mainly wants to time-shift record off the air programs and occasionally archive...
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| dkozin's Full Review: Pioneer DVR-810H (80 GB) DVD Recorder |
I have to immediately note that the Pioneer DVR-810H will not let you record your camcorder footage directly to DVD and it will not let you record from other sources directly to DVD either. What you can do, however, is record from the hard drive, which can store programs (off the air or from other sources) in the TiVo’s “Now Playing” list.
Thus, recording from external sources to DVD is a two-step process (copy to the hard drive first and then copy from the hard drove to DVD). Aside from that, recording of the TiVo programs is ridiculously easy.
TiVo
Out of the box, without having to pay subscription fees, you get TiVo Basic Service. It lets you pause, rewind and fast forward live TV, record live TV, program the hard drive to record shows much like a VCR and you also get a 3-day onscreen program guide (for one source only). If you upgrade to TiVo Plus Service, you get onscreen guide for more than one source, 14-day program guide, search by title and wishlist search, season pass recordings (skipping re-runs if you want) and other fancy features.
You can pause live TV, then resume the playback, fast forward, rewind, use slow and frame-by-frame playback. Even better, you can record shows by selecting them in the TiVo’s onscreen guide (you can search by channel, time, category, etc.) And you can even get “Season Pass” – one of the best features.
E.g. you want to record all South Park episodes. You can set up so-called season pass and specify if you want only new episodes, new episodes and reruns or all episodes (including repeats). The device will record all of them. You can also specify if you want to store all episodes or specific number of them (up to 5). If you haven’t deleted some of the episodes before it is time to record another episode, and the number of the episodes stored reaches the limit you set, the least recent episode will be automatically deleted.
The TiVo Plus Service costs $12.99 a month or $299 for the life of the 810H. The hard drive has capacity of 80 GB and holds 13-82 hours depending on the quality selected and the programming content.
DVD Recorder
The DVD recorder is a part of the 810H and it lets you record on DVD-R and DVD-RW discs. It can record at speeds of up to 4x on DVD-R and up to 2x on DVD-RW. This means that if the program is recorded at a low bit rate (Basic quality), it will be recorded fairly fast – about 7 minutes for a 2-hour program.
The picture quality for both hard drive and DVD-recorded material depends on the recording mode selected. The 810H offers four of them: Basic (the worst in terms of picture quality) - EP, Medium – LP, High – SP and Extreme - Fine.
The hard drive fits 82 hours in the EP mode, 55 in LP, 27 in SP and 13 in Fine. One DVD fits 6 hours, 4, 2 and 1 respectively. The difference between Fine and SP modes (Extreme and High) is difficult to notice and I would recommend the Fine mode only for programs you want the best possible quality for.
The EP mode looks to me even worse than VCR’s low quality mode would look, partly because of the fact that digital “block noise” looks worse (more organized) than analog (more chaotic).
Keep in mind that you cannot record on DVD while the program is still being recorded on the hard drive.
Bit Rate Limitations
In addition to inability to record a program on DVD that is still being recorded, you cannot change the bit rate of the program after it was recorded on the hard drive. This means that you should be extra careful choosing the bit rate (quality mode) before recording programs on the hard drive.
Also, you cannot edit the recorded programs (e.g. remove commercials) before or after recording them on DVD. Same applies not only to the programs recorded off the air/cable/satellite, but to the video recorded off external sources (VCR, camcorder, etc.).
Another limitation (but not unique to the 810H) is that you cannot record copy-protected DVD, VHS or satellite programs.
Connectivity
The inputs are 2 A/V inputs with one S-Video input. There is also an RF input. There is also an RF out, 2 A/V outs and 2 S-Video outs. The unit has a component video out switchable between progressive and “standard” mode. The digital optical audio out, a USB port, a phone line port, a serial connector and a connector for the IR repeater complete the list.
Phone Line Connection
The phone line connection or a broadband internet connection (you can get a USB-to-Ethernet adaptor) is required for the recorder to get programming updates from TiVo. You can schedule them nightly to make sure they don’t interrupt your phone conversation.
DVD Playback
The DVR-810H is an excellent performer when it comes to DVD playback as well as CD audio playback. It has an acclaimed Faroudja DCDi deinterlacer which produces the best possible picture quality in the progressive scan mode. The image is sharp and clear with great detail level. The sound depends on the receiver/amplifier you use.
Some functions require you to press the remote’s “Info” button to access. This is unlike most standalone (non-TiVo) DVD players and recorders, where there are separate buttons for many functions (e.g. subtitle, repeat, search).
Remote
The remote is your typical TiVo peanut-shaped device. It is intuitive and easy to use, even in the darkness (aside from some smaller buttons). As I mentioned above, some DVD playback functions don’t have separate dedicated buttons and are accessed by pressing the “Info” button on the remote.
Noise
The device has a fan in the rear panel, which makes constant slight noise. The noise is very quiet and does not distract from watching programs, even at the low volumes.
Bottom Line
The Pioneer DVR-810H is a very good choice for somebody who mainly wants to time-shift record off the air programs and occasionally archive them on DVD. If you want more advanced editing capabilities or a FireWire input for your digital camcorder, look elsewhere.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 750
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Epinions.com ID:
dkozin
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Location: California
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I love to push buttons on electronic (audio and video) equipment. It makes me happy.
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