Sony SVRHDT1000

Long lasting - No : Sony Proudly Standing Behind Their Product - No – This unit worked well for 4.5 years. Was not perfect but did most things it was meant to do, plus had a big storage capacity. Suited our family very well. Product failed after 4.5 years and was not able to access the hard drive. App 100 plus unwatched Tv shows lost with no recovery available. This was very disappointing. If we had known the… Read more

lifespan of this product was so short, we would not have purchased the Sony product.

Upon searching the net, found this model to be notorious for failures ands saw many unhappy customers expressing their frustration at this low quality Sony product. I thought they were a quality brand? Sony also recognised this and discontinued the product. The question then was, how would they support their customers who had purchased this product.

After this disappointment, I thought I would give Sony the chance to redeem themselves and look after their customer, who had invested in their brand and reputation. After all, they had my $400 and I had a black metal box that now did nothing. Lets see how much ownership they take of their product, and more importantly their reputation.

An email was sent asking for help. They replied that the product was well outside its warranty and the best they could do was offer a tiny 10% off a new blue ray player. Based on this weak response, I got the feeling then that I was unimportant to them, and they were happy to offer the smallest of support in an effort to placate me. No we are sorry. No how about we send you a free or half price unit. No here's a gift card, etc to make it up to you for investing in our product and being let down. The discount offered was minimal and sent a strong message to me about how they want to treat their customers who are have been let down.

I have had some wonderful customer service experiences (Greeting to Ford + Dyson + Eveready) over the years, but Sony's actions have ensured they cannot be added to the list. I did try to give them a chance though.

Cheap and nasty. Discontinued for good reason – Worked ok for 3 years. Epg often wouldn't match with actual show timings so missing the end of a program was common. I can't even get my Bravia tv to recognise the pvr through hdmi. I've tried reset through front panel. No luck. Cheap seagate hard drive. Overall a cheaply made product that has been pulled from the market to save Sony ongoing customer dissatisfaction and complaints.

Only because there is not a '0' rating – First & last time I purchase a Sony product. I have 214 GB of memory available but message tells me differently. I receive message "Data Error Occurred , Try Repair Disk or Format Disk". Ran Repair Disk on numerous occasions .... did nothing to rectify the problems. Not happy SONY!

My Best Buy Ever – This is one of my best buys. Had it for two years now and it's still going strong. I tried two Topfields - One died after 6 months, and for the other its functionality was limited, so returned it. I tried Tivo for one day - the product is not supported in Aus, the movie library is sparse, and set-up is not as simple as plug and play. It has… Read more

every key functionality Updates at 1am in the morning, so dont keep it in your room if you are a light sleeper

Sony SVRHDT1000 – Guide search is great, it searches different categories to set more than a week ahead. An excellent feature is that the hdd will copy or move files between 2 separate ext hdd,s, a great feature when you want to shuffle your contents around. The hdd can take a while to fire up and it crashes sometimes but can be reset at the front with a pen. Set… Read more

up of folders is excellent, operates as if a laptop. The remote scroll arrows and ok button are failing after 2 years. No cropping which is annoying.

Huge Backward Step for Sony – My wife and I have both owned Sony HDDRecorders/DVD Players in the past, and they have been fantastic. That is why we were so disappointed with the SVRHDT1000. So many great features lost. We are constantly frustrated with the menu system, the way the system lists recorded titles, the poor options for pre-programming and lack of any ability… Read more

to edit your programs.

Lack of ability to edit your recordings (splice/cut). The loss of the x1.3 speed (which was fantastic on the old Sony. The incredibly slow start up process. The inability to copy your recordings to watch on other devices in your house.

And the list just goes on and on. I feel that Sony must have sacked all its old development staff and started again from scratch with new graduates (high school ones)!

We can't understand their logic of going backwards - it's just so frustrating. If we didn't have a Sony Home Theatre System and Bravia TV (which makes it all integrated) we would dump the SVRHDT1000 in a minute. Naughty Sony. Naughty. Dual Hi-Def Digital Tuners, Integrates well the other Sony elements of our Home Theatre System Frustratingly difficult menus system; Inabiity to change the details of your programmed recordings after intial details; Lack of ability to edit your recordings; Loss of x1.3 fwd setting; Title lists use 'alphabetic' listing of dates.

Sold it on 1 week later – Not good could not tune in SBS despite 5 other PVR brands picking it up no problem. Remote does not have volume control - PVR has to tune into TV and if codes don't match Sony's list then volume has to be controlled by TV remote! Terrible remote layout. Does not seem to be able to record Weekdays only? One of the worst PVR's I have ever had, sold… Read more

it on within the week also expensive. Definitely would not recommend.

Expensive, Poor functionality, Difficult to use

A little disappointed – After owning many Sony products, I was looking forward to the release of this unit. My Sony SVRHD900 was getting old and my Sony RDRHXD990 was a single SD tuner and althoughI was happy with my Beyonwiz DP-P2 i found it a little complicated Unfortunately my enthusiasm turned to disappointment when I discovered it doesn’t match the functionality… Read more

of previous models.

It is better than the SVR HD900 in that you can add a title prior to recording but falls far short of the RDR HXD990 DVD Recorder.

The RDR allows you far more programming functions than the HDT1000

- You can’t programme from the guide and then modify the settings

- You can’t skip a weekly timing if you want to record something else.

- You can’t change the recording mode to get more programs on the Disc.

- You can’t erase parts of a program as you can with the RDR or tDP-P2

- You can’t ad skip , you can only fast forward

- .

If i want to keep any HD programs I have recorded I copy it to the RDR, using input 2 and do all the editing there.

The remote is very similar to other Sony remotes and it will control other brand TV’s. Mine is hooked up to a Sanyo and controls on/off volume control, channel changing and TV input.

Overall I think Sony have gone backwards with this unit. if it didn't have a Sony Label I would not have bought it.

What they need is a twin HD tuner with 1Tb unit based on the RDRHXD990 and they would sell a storm 1TB recording for the same price as 500Gb Competitors. Paid $400 Recording not as easy as other Sony products. Inflexible program controls.

Don't bother – Have an LG Twin HD PVR, now 5 years old. Still way better than this Sony effort. I thought in 2012 I'd be getting a product that was slick, easy to use, responsive and fully integrated with my Bravia. The software is basic, yet not very user friendly and feels like it was thrown together. The picture in picture does not work for all channel,… Read more

seems to drop them and shows "Chanel not available". Went to the website they refer you to, no longer exists. I have also gone to download the software update, but once the USB is connected to the unit I am told "invalid updates, check your files".

I have never returned a product. This is being returned.

I believe Sony's days are numbered. Apple are around corner and will no doubt offer a tv that does work with all the extras such as HDD built in. They will have an intuitive interface and support pages that work.

All in all. Do not waste your money on this product. It's just embarrassing. Small. Lightweight. Minimal look. It's basic. Limited. And just feels cheap...and way over priced.

Disappointed – The epg is very challenged. Hard to read and only in black and white. Rang Sony on the 1800 number and they advised that is what the buyers have requested. Did not believe him for one minute. The epg sometimes misses out on the beginning and/or end of shows. Woul NOT buy this product again. The epg is very challenging