Hitachi DV-DS253A

Good – Bing Lee is selling the Hitachi 250GB for $449.00 + $79 for extended warranty. As I was not near a Bing Lee I bought it from JB HiFi Macq Centre Sydney at same price. Previously, I have owned a Panasonic 80GB, Pioneer 160GB & my son has a Pioneer 250GB, which I am familiar with and would like to comment & compare – For its price the Hitachi is a… Read more

real bargain, as it has 250GB HDD & the recording quality on EP (338 hours) is very good & no different from the more expensive Panasonic or Pioneer models. In addition to the normal facilities it has DIVX playback & recording onto the HD (the Pioneer can only playback DIVX recordings & can't copy onto HD – The latest Panasonic 250GB specifications do not list DIVX playback - http://panasonic.com.au/products/specifications.cfm?objectID=3573 ), it can record on +R or –R, +RW & -RW. It has HDMI High Definition output 1080i which is very useful if you have a new LCD or Plasma TV. It also has Chapter Mark on the remote, where you can mark a point on a HD recording to come back to (The Pioneer used to have this, but latest models do not have this – The Panasonic has this) – The recorder memorises where you left off on a DVD disc, even if you re-insert it months later. Its editing facility is very good – It allows partial erase of a movie, so that you can cut out the 4 min Ads in one continual operation. It has time shift, so you can pause live TV up to 6 hours (The Pioneer & Panasonic does not have this) – It has G Code, DV and multiple Memory Disc input slots from still cameras (the Pioneer does not have Memory Disc input slots & the Panasonic has SD only) The cons are – It is not as user friendly as the Pioneer – It allows 8 pre-set Title genres which you can't change – you can change this on the Pioneer/Panasonic – The disc menu allows 6 titles to be displayed at once & only a limited title name compared to Pioneer/Panasonic with much more. When setting a time recording, one has to put the recorder on standby in order to activate, so one can't watch something on DVD or HDD while waiting for a time record to start – The Pioneer does not need to be on standby for the time recording to start. There is only one AV output on the Hitachi (excluding Component output, which needs audio output thus taking up the audio of the AV output) – The Pioneer & Panasonic has two or more AV outputs. The Pioneer 250GB has a USB input which is very useful in putting in title names using a USB keyboard and the Hitachi has a basic title name facility. All in all taking into consideration that the Hitachi is about half the price of the Pioneer or Panasonic, the cons are relatively minor and the Hitachi will do everything that one needs from a HDD DVD recorder. Tremendous value can do everything one wants from a HDD recorder Not very user friendly, but adaquete

OK – I can't add much more that what has been written here already except that, for a recorder to only have RCA in is just pox. The picture quality recorded from my Foxtel box is just crap. Maybe I'm missing something. Maybe they all only have low quality input, but I would have thought that something better than RCA would be provided. Also,… Read more

audio output must either be bitstream or analogue - both formats can't be selected at the same time. This means if you either run it through your hifi all the time or, like I am forced to, hear it through the tv then muck around with the settings to change it to bitstream when I want to here it in 5.1. Which means if I forget to set it back you don't get any audio when only the tv is on. This is pretty annoying when the kids get up early on a Sunday morning and all you want to do is sleep and not frig around with dvd player settings.

If it weren’t for the myriad of formats this baby can read I would give it only a rating of 2. Handles a whole heap of disk formats including AVI. This thing is a "Recorder" yet only has RCA in????!!!!

Slow to spin up disks.

OK – Otherwise generally OK. For my 1st HDD/DVD recorder I was able to set up moderately easily. HDMI output makes for a clean/easy interface to the TV. However I do not recommend this device. Buy one with an inbuilt digital tuner. OK for my 1st HDD/DVD recorder at a good price. Movie editing (cutting out ads or splitting out 2 separate progs) is easy.… Read more

Dubbing (HDD to DVD) is pretty straight fwd. A digital recorder but only equipped with an analog tuner? Never again for me! I live in an area with poor analog reception. Hence only having an inbuilt analog tuner in the Hitachi means I also need an external set top box with its own controls. So now I need to set the record time on the Hitachi but the record channel on the set-top box. Imagine trying to synchronise even 2 record times on 2 channels on 2 separate devices. No thanks.

Forcing you to put the recorder on standby in order to "arm" it to record is old-time thinking. Hence you can't simply watch something on DVD or HDD or other input while waiting for a time record to start. It even warns you that the start time is approaching but it doesn't actually start recording! Very poor design.