Sony RDRGX315 DVD Recorder
nice try, but
Setup was quick and easy once I used the audio/video cables.  A prior attempt to connect to an old TV using the vhf/uhf connectors was a failure -- the unit would pass thru signals from the wall jack, but no combination I tried would make menus or anything else from the recorder show on the screen.  <br /> <br />Picture quality was good.  There are 8 speeds in all.  At each step, the difference in quality is hard to notice, but the difference between the 1-hour and 8-hour speeds is impossible to miss. <br /> <br />There is a noticeable delay when you turn the unit on while it tries to read the disc, before you can watch TV.  Irritating.  There is no power-saving or \\"sleep\\" mode either, so you are stuck. <br /> <br />Whenever I tried to record a premium channel from my cable company, the unit functioned a few seconds, then said it couldn't record that channel, and stopped, leaving me with good-quality 9-second recordings. <br /> <br />The unit can record to +/- R/RW, and to +R double-layer, but not to DVD-RAM or -R double-layer.  With -RWs you have a choice of two ways to format a disc.  New +RWs are automatically formatted when you first insert them. <br /> <br />Manual was clear and well-indexed, but not completely accurate.  For example, page 67 says of +RW disks \\"Discs are automatically finalized when removed from the recorder.  If you want to record on it again, reformat the disc (page 66).  Note however, that reformatting a disc erases all its contents\\".  Sound dire, but in fact you can just insert an old +rw and add more to it.  Perhaps the engineers made a last-minute improvement, and the manual-writers didn't get the memo. <br /> <br />There are interesting options to edit after recording, but different options for each type of disc.  Check the manual before you stock up.  With +RWs (the only kind I have tested), choices include: <br />-  Rename a title <br />-  Separate a title into two <br />-  Delete a title (which recovers recordable space only if it wasthe last title on the disk) <br />-  Add chapter marks <br />-  Bookmarks favorites (but they don't stay marked if you turn it off or even press the stop button, so this is pretty useless). <br />The title separate & delete can be used together to recover space if you let the unit record longer than you needed. <br />There is no official \\"commercial skip\\" feature, but you can roll your own.  First time you play back, add chapter marks near the end of each commercial, and thereafter just press \\"next\\" when a commercial starts. <br /> <br />Recording old VHS tapes was easy and worked well, but I got less than half way thru my collection...   <br /> <br />After I had the unit about 10 days, I inserted a new +RW disc and it started its obligatory automatic format routine, but never finished.  It would ignore the \\"eject\\" button, and if I turned it off, it would start trying to format the disc again when I powered it back up.  I wasn't able to eject the disc or find any other way out of this cycle.  I don't know if the unit just broke, or if the disc was defective.  The latter possibility is more serious -- bad discs happen, inability to handle them would be a fatal design flaw, and I'm not going to risk going thru this again after the free return period is over.  Returned it with my disc still inside. <br /> <br />Except for that, this could be a good machine for those who want to archive old tapes or record un-scrambled channels, but inability to record premium channels, I suspect most people would be better off with a VCR and a DVD player.