The Future is NOW!
Written: Oct 10 '04 (Updated Oct 12 '04)
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Pros: So easy to use...You'll wonder why you didn't have one before!
Cons: You can only record one channel at a time...it needs a dual tuner.
The Bottom Line: This is the future of recording from broadcast/cable/satellite. VCR's can't compete with the funtionality.
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| skipcar's Full Review: Pioneer DVR-810H (80 GB) DVD Recorder |
I wanted a DVD recorder for quite some time and when I first heard about Pioneer joining a DVD recorder with TiVo, I knew this was what I wanted. But, then I saw the price! When it was released to the consumer market, the 810H was north of $1100! Too rich for my wallet...
Ah, but the difference time makes. Currently, the 810H is selling for about $600 (before TiVo service fee and any applicable rebates). You can then opt for either monthly TiVo service ($12.95/month) or lifetime service for $299. I decided that with a 3-year extended warranty, it made sense to choose the lifetime option. Over those three years, I'd save $167 on TiVo service costs...more than twice what I'd paid for the extended warranty.
I ordered my 810H from Crutchfield.com after I found out that it wasn't available from any of the local outlets (Best Buy, Circuit City, etc.). This turned out to be a great thing, though. I'll cover Crutchfield in another review.
Anyway, back to the 810H. Once I received the unit, I was quite eager to get it up and running. Well...not so fast, my friend! It isn't as easy as you might think.
Setting up the unit
First of all, our family recently switched to VoIP phone technology. This is important because evidently the unit has "issues" with transmitting over VoIP lines. After several hours of hair-pulling, I ended up at a friend's house using their BellSouth line. Once I got it connected to a normal phone line, the unit dialed out and worked through the setup flawlessly. I did have to leave it at the friend's house overnight since you cannot disconnect it from a power source until the unit processes the information it just downloaded (up to 8 hours). However, you only "need" a phone line for the initial setup if you have a home broadband network (as I have).
I did purchase a wireless-B USB adapter for the 810H to use to access our wireless home network. This was a simple and painless setup.
TiVo Plus Service
After the initial setup and once I had the 810H connected to our wireless network, I opted for a free 14 day trial of the TiVo Plus Service. This gave me the perfect opportunity to try all the features without having to drop a dime on it. You are NOT required to get the TiVo Plus service to use your TiVo, but it adds very many extra functions that we love:
Season Pass--search for a show that you love to watch and select a "Season Pass" for it. You never have to worry about forgetting to set a tape.
Home Media--download the free TiVo Server software from www.tivo.com and run it on your computer. Then share music and photo folders through the software and play or view the songs and images on your TV...VERY nice feature! Additionally, if you have another Series 2 TiVo, you can pass recordings across your home network and watch the show on whichever TiVo is more convenient! I don't have a second TiVo, but this feature makes a second TiVo more appealing to me.
Remote Programming--away from home and want to record something. No problem...just log into your account at www.tivo.com and search for the show. Then, schedule the recording. If your TiVo has broadband access, it will check to see if there are messages waiting for it at TiVo.com and then schedule the show. It will even let you know if you have something else scheduled at the same time, so you can decide which one to keep.
TiVo Suggestions--The unit will monitor your viewing tastes and automatically record certain shows that you may be interested in. However, it will not record over anything you requested, unless you allow it to. It will also choose to record over older "Suggestions" before recording over anything you chose.
Another feature that I like is that sometimes when your watching live TV, a commercial will come on for another show you want to see. TiVo may put a green "thumbs up" in the top corner of the screen at this time. If you click the "thumbs up" button on the remote while the commercial is on, the unit will automatically add that show to your list of shows to record...the "To Do List".
Image Quality
Pioneer offers four levels of image quality: low, medium, high and fine quality. You can choose any of them as your default, although from the factory, high is the default. You can put more shows at lower quality on the hard drive than at fine quality. Keep this in mind if you want to keep the shows for a while. But, the payoff for choosing fine is that you get a wonderful image. There is some occasional "digitalization" of the image at even "high" quality, but if you don't plan to keep the show or burn it to DVD, this is something you probably won't care about.
DVD Recorder
(note: I inadvertently left out some information about the DVD recorder feature when I first wrote this review...my apologies)
The actual main reason for my purchase of this unit was because of the DVD recorder feature. The unit can record to both DVD-R and DVD-RW discs that can then be played in most any other DVD player that is compatible with DVD-R/RW technology.
The menus make it very easy to choose programs you have on the hard drive to put onto a blank DVD. So far, all I have done is record shows to a RW disc to play in another DVD player in another room and to loan to a friend to watch a program that I've recorded. It is pretty much a no-brainer to record shows to a DVD...just insert a blank DVD-R or DVD-RW. Then, select a program in your list of recorded programs. Select, "record to DVD or VCR". You can then choose other shows to add or just keep the one show. You will be prompted to let you know when you run out of space on the disc.
The unit will automatically create menus for the shows and you will have a summary of the show to read. Very cool...
You can also record from a VCR or camcorder connected to the inputs on the unit, but I haven't had a chance to do that yet. I am disappointed that there is not a firewire connection for the camcorder, too. But since I have a DVD+/-R/RW drive in my computer and a firewire card, I will be using that drive for making home movies of the kids. The Pioneer is mainly to archive things that I record from TV...football games, etc.
Bottom Line
This may be the best home entertainment piece we've ever bought. Recording shows is effortless. We can set it and forget about it!
I recommend buying a top-quality surge protector. I bought one from Monster that cost $50, but it is better than any cheap one you might find. Another item you may want is an uninterrupted power supply. I haven't added one yet, but I plan to very soon. Any power loss requires a reboot of the TiVo...taking up to 7-8 minutes.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 599
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Epinions.com ID:
skipcar
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Location: South Louisiana
Reviews written: 85
Trusted by: 9 members
About Me:
I am a husband and father who enjoys LSU sports and Christian music.
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