Pioneer DVR-633H-S (160 GB) DVD Recorder

Pros: NO MONTHLY FEES!!!, Skips commercials easily, plays video from beginning while still recording
Cons: Expensive, DVD recording severely limited, remote control crowded with tiny buttons

On DVD Recording Well, as the box claims this thing is a “DVD RECORDER”, I guess I should start reviewing this beast as a “DVD RECORDER”. To put it bluntly, I hate it, as a dvd recorder. I find my wife’s computer (with a DVD R/W ...

Pros: Lots of hard disk space, flexible programming options, easy to create DVD's
Cons: TV Guide feature doesn't work; strange audio drop-outs ruin recordings

I have "taped" a number of shows with the DVR-633H-S to the HD and for the most part I'm happy. But the TV Guide thing is for crap. It is suppose to pick up all the information from your cable box so that recording is simply "click on the program." ...

Pros: Can watch a recorded program while it records something else
Cons: THE TV GUIDE FEATURE

When first plugged in and for the 1st week the device worked as billed... Then things started going awry. More on that below. What I really like about this DVR is that I can watch something I recorded to the hard drive while it’s recording ...

Pros: Very strong editing capabilities. Large hard drive.
Cons: Almost unbelievable difficult and unintuitive to use.

I primarily purchased this unit to copy old VCR tapes, and possibly edit the commercials, and to record special events, and then go back and record them to disk WITHOUT the commercials (e.g Olympic Games, Super Bowl-although you may WANT those ...

Pros: 160GB Hard Drive Ten minute transfer to DVD
Cons: No TVGOS (but never had it) Need Too many screen selections

I tried several DVRs without hard drives and then bought this one, which has a 160GB. It is a dream to use, but the learning curve is steep. It took me a long time to discover that I could edit and erase portions of whatever I had on the drive, so that I could be commercial free on DVD, but after I learned, this thing is great. I don't have TVGOS in my area, but manual recording is pretty simple. If i were the whining type, then the only complaint I would have, would be how many buttons you have to press to get things done. Setting up for recording takes a little time without the automatic guide, but where I live that's the breaks. No other unit would be better. Transferring to DVD takes takes nine or ten button pushes, but they are pretty much idiot proof. After I found out how to edit the programs to erase unwanted material, I was a lot happier. Over all I would definitely recommend this or any update of this unit.

Pros: Huge 160 GB hard drive Fantastic picture quality
Cons: If TVGOS isn't available manual recording can be a pain

I took the plunge and bought the 633H-S 6 months ago. I love the 160 gb hard drive. When I make recording's of TV shows in the XP or SP mode you can't tell they're not live. The TVGOS (TV guide on screen) was a bit of a problem as it wasn't available in my area (NYC) till last Fri. It's made recording much easier. I made manual recordings before that which were fairly easy to do. People don't seem to like the remote but again no problem for me. Editing is very straight forward. I did alot of research before buying this model and I'm glad I did, no regrets.

Pros: Excellent manual DVR capabilities.
Cons: Bad TV-guide feature. Frequently fails to make high speed DVD copies.

The manual Digital Video Recorder (DVR) features of the Pioneer 633 are excellent.

There are some problems with the unit that the average person might consider minor, such as audio drop-out at the end of a deleted segment. The TV-Guide feature is somewhat convoluted. And finally, the unit is picky about the brand of DVDs used in high speed duplication, which can be a frustrating time waster.