Pioneer DVR-533H-S Slim Design DVD Recorder with 80 GB Hard Disk Drive
Some good, some bad...
I got this for a gift at Christmas.  It's a very good DVR, but I have never had one before, so I have nothing to compare it to.  The menus are *fairly* easy to navigate, but can be confusing at times.  The quality of recordings is very good, although the one time that I've pushed a HDD recording to a DVD-RW, the volume was very low; so low that you needed to almost max your speakers to hear what was playing.  The remote control is very well laid out.   <br /> <br />Onto the big problems: <br /> <br />The unit is currently connected to the coaxial cable output of my digital cable box.  On the other end, it's connected to my Sony receiver, via S-video and an optical cable.  Everything is set to use fully Dolby Digital, but when I'm watching TV, I usually only get Dolby 2/0, and when it's a DVD, it's Dolby 3/1.  I'm still getting surround, but it's not full 5.1 (I don't have a sub connected, so negate the .1).  Additionally, when I'm watching TV, sometimes the sound output will be only from the right front speaker, even if the receiver says it's in Dolby 2/0.  I've tried adjusting all the codecs on all three pieces of equipment, but nothing has worked so far.  The cable box is also connected directly to the receiver via S-video and a digital coaxial cable.  When that is in use (no DVR) I get great audio, and I never encounter the problem of it output to only the right front speaker. <br /> <br />Second, the TV Guide won't work correctly with my cable box.  I've followed all the instructions and troubleshooting guides, but nothing works.  If I want to make a timer recording, I have to set the DVR as though it were a VCR, and set a VCR timer on my cable box.  It's annoying, though I can live with it. <br /> <br />I may sound as though I have a lot of problems with this box, but in reality, it's very good.  At SP recording, I can get something like 70 hours on the HDD.  Not too shabby!