A great product -- and at a great price too
Written: Aug 14 '04
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Pros: Its a TiVO. Best remote to control ever.
Reasonable connections (component video, digital audio).
Cons: No digital coax rca output jack -- just optical.
Initial setup over phone jack slow.
The Bottom Line: Price is now reasonable. Built in DVD Burner to boot.
Best remote control to use hands down. It's a killer TiVO box.
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| macfaden's Full Review: Pioneer Elite DVR-57H (120 GB) DVD Recorder |
This was my first TiVO box ever. I had been pushing off till HD TiVO/OTA model would be available as I don't want Sat a connection. So I finally decided to go for an existing unit that had OTA/Coax when the price came down. Boy howdy has it ever.
The current rebate ($50/$100) from TiVO was icing on the cake.
Unpacked the unit which I bought for $750 new. That is not a typo: I paid $750. and a $50 rebate back from TiVO. I missed the $100 rebate by nine days. Yep TiVO's rebate is now $100.
My setup:
I connected the Pioneer Elite DVR-57H (TiVO Series2) to an
existing home theater A/V receiver: Pioneer Elite VSX-45TX via component cables which then route to a Sony Display and TOSlink cable for audio. I had hoped it had a digital coaxial so this unit would be a simple replacement for my DVD (Elite DV-37) player but no, this box has only has a TOSlink digital audio connection. I then plugged in the power. The unit came alive -- no pressing any power buttons.
It takes quite a long time to startup. Used my laptop to go to www.tivo.com and register a lifetime subscription for this unit and register with pioneer warranty.
The setup question and answer is well done but there is sure is alot of screens you have to press buttons to put info into (Zip code, cable service type, phone number to dial output, and so on) Not fun for your home electronics neophyte.
Next I connected a Hawking brand USB/Ethernet adapter to the USB port and set the network connection to DHCP. The system was in the middle of a connection over the phone so I just pulled the phone jack out and waited for it to notice the link was gone.
I then manually told the unit to re-establish a network connection (as opposed to the phone connection) and after three tries it connected and completed transferring my lifetime subscription in 3 minutes.
Next I programmed the remote control to manage the receiver volume and mute. I then programmed the Sony TV. Then had to preprogram the audio again since now the volume was controlling the tv instead of the a/v volume. Hunting for th e keys to program the remote wasn't fun. But now I can turn on/off the tv and control audio on the A/V with the ergonomically superior Tivo controller than the monster remote that came with the A/V system.
Finally my 2 cents on some issues other reviewers have mentioned:
1) Noise (Fan) level -- not bad. Actually quieter than most Plasma's I've heard.
2) Picture quality -- I'm used to 1080i/OTA High Definition.
OTA/Cable NTSC feeds show a bit on the grainy side. I would expect the computer hardware/software to enhance the image better but at Fine setting I find the picture still reasonable.
OTA == Over the Air (as in UHF band channel 13-65)
HD == ATSC signal digital TV (HD/SD)
COAX == analog cable feed.
Plasma TV == (Sony KT)
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 750
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Epinions.com ID:
macfaden
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Reviews written: 3
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