Pioneer DVR-633H-S DVD Recorder With 160 GB Hard Drive
Great Unit for copying tapes to DVD
I have had this unit for a week. I don't really use it to record tv, but the tv guide shows \\"no data\\" even though I have Time Warner cable hooked to it.<br /><br />I'm using the unit to copy home video tapes to the hard drive, then edit the video on the hard drive. You can delete footage, set chapter markers, divide titles, name titles, etc. Then copy the video to DVD complete with menus. I'm very pleased with these features.<br /><br />Note that only each \\"title\\" will appear on the DVD menu. So you must \\"divide title\\" which divides it into 2 titles where you specify. You can divide as many times as you want. Each division creates a new menu item on the final DVD.<br /><br />Also it can write to DVD at high speed. Using 8x dvd-r it takes me about 15 minutes to write an hour of video. 16x would be faster, but I have yet to purchase 16x media.<br /><br />It took me about an hour to really get hang of it. The manual takes you step by step and is very clear. If you are good with computers and technical things, it will be a breeze to learn.<br /><br />Gripes:<br />TV Guide system is not working. But I have not spent any time trouble shooting it. I run my cable from wall, to digital cable box, then to the Pioneer recorder. If I ran it from wall to recorder it might work but then you only get up to channel 125 from the Pioneer built in tuner. Even without TV guide you can set the cable box to on the channel you want to record, and set the timer, or record right away.<br /><br />There is only one digital output (needed to pipe surround sound to your AV receiver) and it is optical, no coax.<br /><br />Also I have had about 4 out of 12 blank DVD-Rs fail to record. I'm using 8x dvd-r, I think I need to use 16x dvd-r, which I have not tried yet. The manual list tested media from Sony, TDK and Maxell. I bought Fuji. I will try the TDK 16x media next time.<br /><br />I paid $450 at a local Tweeter store. I could have got it cheaper on the web, but because this is a complex pieceof equipment I wanted to by an extended waranty and have a place to return to without shipping.<br /><br />\\"UPDATE\\" 1-10-2006<br /><br />Here is an update to my first review. I have had the unit for about 5 months now. The TV Guide system does work but it takes the unit about a week to load the guide to the point that it is usable. But it is clumsy to use. I have a HD DVR I rent from Time Warner for an extra $5 a month, and it is so easy to use and works great. The TV Guide system pales in comparison. Also I can copy video from the Time Warner DVR to the Pioneer DVR and then burn to DVD if I want.<br /><br />After trying several blank DVD types I found that TDK 16X DVD-R work the best. You can copy at 16X and I have never had a bad copy with these disk. Search for item number DVD-R47CB50. I bought a 50 pack at Comp USA for about $25. I also saw them on PriceGrabber.com.<br /><br />I read one review at Sound & Vision that said this units resolution is a little less than standard DVD quality.<br />This is a good review, you should read it if you plan to buy this unit. Google \\"DVR-633H review\\" and look for Sound & Vision.<br /><br />I'm satisfied with the picture quality.<br /><br />I still love the unit. The only complaint (I hope you are reading this Pioneer) is that when you hit the record button say to record a TV show you are currently watching with out setting the timer, there should be an option to set that tells the recorder to \\"stop recording\\" after a time interval of 1/2 hour 1 hour, 1.5 hours, 2 hours etc. As is the unit just keeps recording until you hit the stop button. A few times I forgot to to stop it and ended up with a 5 hour recording.<br /><br />Also I have a new wide screen capable Sony camcorder with DV (i.Link) output. This works great, you just plug the DV cable from the camcorder into the front of the Pioneer DVR to copy your home video to the hard drive. And when you copy this from the hard drive to the DVD you end up with a widescreen formatDVD. I think I read that to have the DVD end up as wide screen, you cannot mix full screen format 4:3 and wide screen 16:9 on the same DVD.<br /><br />Yes this unit does have a DV (i.Link) input on the front panel, even though I do not see that listed here on the Amazon description.<br /><br />Happy Recording,<br />TechGuy \\"Jack\\"