LG RH397D / RH399D

My five LG Machines – I rated theses machines as excellent as I bought 5 of them from Amazon UK over the last 15 Years. I now have the 5 machines rotting in the press as they all have the same problem scrolling "Hello" I had one working and was able to switch the hard drives so I could retrieve my family videos and albums. But it is a shame there are no parts available and no one in Ireland can fix them if no parts available. Terry 29th May 2018  Show details

Excellent unit, certainly for the modest purchase price – I have had this unit for five years and can only say that it has performed very well. However, just recently found recordings made from TV programs, when replayed on the TV monitor, have become fuzzy, lost their sharpness. Any suggestions? Old age? Capable of repair? Any suggestions? Thanks. woldring@zipworld.com.au.

5 years of quality service now over – Got this product in late 09 and it lasted to early 2015 - until the burner decided it had had enough. The problem with not picking up HD channels was a pain, but I circumnavigated it by plugging in a set top box and recording from that, but it wasn't ideal. The SD channel recording quality was excellent. The only pity was that discs wouldn't copy… Read more

occasionally and I lost probably 60-70 discs in 5 years - not bad. Pity that LG couldn't use the firmware on this device on newer devices, it was amazing! Cutting and editing video for burning was a breeze and could be done all from the TV.

Useless pile of junk – I have taken turds that are more useful then this sad pile of junk... Doesn't even pick up hd channels.

Worst set top you could possibly buy – Nightmare set top. Will never purchase another LG product ever again and advised all family members and friends against LG Life's gross with this set top as it does its own thing, even displaying words from the program that is being recorded instead of words to program that we are watching Be warned, buy at your own risk

Rubbish! – My wife got me the LG for xmas a few years back at Big W and was told of all the great things it could do by the salesman, 2 years down the track half a dozen hdm 1cables only to find out that it does not tape hi deffinition chanels, which it was bought for for the moto GP races on 1 definition

Two years of use – Brought the recorder just over two tears ago. Like most found out very soon after the purchase it was Not High Definition. Very sneaky how they its advertise it as HDD (Hard Disk Drive). We did not have much of a choice at the time when our 6 year old Pioneer went U/S as we were in a small WA town working . The good points 1. Its had a… Read more

flogging and used nearly every day.

2. Its fitted in a caravan and we are on the road permantly,and the rough roads hasn't affected it.

3. Can record to the Hard Drive or to a DVD disk (I use DVD-RW)

The bad points

1. Only Standard Definition

2. When recording occasionally locks up with the message"Scrambled signal') So have missed out on recording some programs. Fixed by Shutting off the power and then turning back on.

3. Have not been able to add extra time when recording (Chanel 7 notorious for incorrect scheduling)

Just about to change over the TV and the DVD recorder to High Definition.

Would I purchase another LG DVD recorder, most probaly not, as the lack of honesty in regards to HDD (very clever but unethical) at the time of purchase leaves a bad taste.

Avoid this product – I have a full HDD of recorded programs which I cannot watch because the unit won't function, the display says 'HELLO' but that's it. It is a problem which must be so common that I can google "lg rh397d won't turn on" and see there are forums about it. I tried to report the problem and get support on their website, only to be advised when I… Read more

submitted the query that "We're sorry. The submission form is temporarily unavailableWe regret to inform you that this function is temporarily unavailable, due to scheduled site maintenance. Thank you for your understanding." - Well, how are customers supposed to know that, and that they are wasting their time attempting to resolve or report a problem? Don't your I.T. people think it would be better to have that information displayed BEFORE the people who make your company, we customers, try to get help from you? Do you really care that little about us, or are we insignificant to you LG?

I tried again the next morning and got an email reply from LG_care_center@lge.com (can't even spell 'centre' properly) that they needed the Model Number:Serial Number:Date of Purchase:Full Address Details: and this is despite the fact that I registered the product on their website when I purchased the unit - Heaven only knows where that information went if they don't have it on their data-base - I rang their Customer Service (twice, because the first time I couldn't hear the woman on the phone) and spoke to Ben, who said it was fine to reply to the email they had sent, in spite of the fact that it clearly states on the email "Please do not reply back to this e-mail message as this address is used for outbound messaged only", so I replied as per Ben's direction with a detailed email, and attachment, only to have it bounce back as 'undeliverable' - thanks eversomuch for allowing me to experience that inconvenience Ben, anyway, so I rang again, and again got the same woman with the dodgy phone. This issue is still not resolved, all I am left with is the thought that while life may be good for the staff at LG, mine would be better if I had not had to endure this unpleasant experience.

By the way, this unit was purchased to replace a LG DR386D dvd recorder which died just after a year of use. My advice would be to be very wary when considering to any product from LG, buyer beware. Question below, would you recommend this to a friend, I wouldn't even recommend it to an enemy, although I might recommend it as an enema, it certainly gave me the sh...

I am starting to consider whether or not planned obsolescence is part of LG's manufacturing standard and strategy, given mine and the experience of other users of their products.

Amazing – I've had this product for three years and have never had a problem with it. The remote is user friendly and it is easy to move around the screen. I would highly recommend it to anyone and can't understand why people are having problems. My Mum also has the same machine and has never had any problems. It records and plays back what I want and has heaps of memory to store multiple shows. Very easy to navigate the menu.  Show reply

Misled on LG HD recording – Bought the lg rh397d recorder to record hd channels as per the sales pitch. Found out that hd upscaling means stuff all and only sd is available. Note that nowhere on the box or manual is sd mentioned. Deliberately misleading!!! Feel ripped off by lg and the good guys. Expensive lesson. size is compact misleading HD advertising.

Not Digital TV Ready - buyer beware! – I've owned this heap of junk since 2009 and even to this day I wonder why I made such a ill informed purchase with my Samnsung 100Hz 42 LCD TV... This LG recorder writes to a Hard drive which has had to be replaced already (about 6 months into ownership some issues started to show up), then when the player wouldnt start up one night that I… Read more

wanted to record a movie - which I missed out on to tape it! It is extremely hard to tune and set recording times due to the inability to tune into HD channels and it is very tempermental.

Mind you, some HD channels do show on the EPG, but this is useless as the recorder will record nothing at all, which will lead to hours of blank TV recordings.

The menu and its navigation is terribly confusing and the use of the record and channel functions is poorly set up and makes for a pretty ordinary experience! Just a typical format from LG - hopeless!

Anyhow, like everyone else with this machine it's a complete waste of time and soon to be made completely obsolete as it runs from the aerial and not from the Tv within regards to reception - so regardless if your Tv has a digital receiver this wont record from your Tv - it'll need it's own separate digital set top box... Sorry not going to do that!

When the digital switch over comes - I'll throw it out!! Thanks LG for such a poor product and misleading us with this purchase! Black colour. Everything, doesnt pick up HD Tv at all! Poor format of buttons and hopeless navigation at night!

Reliability issues – The unit was great at first then after about 3 months it started playing up if the hard drive was over half full. when trying to program it came up with errors sayinf not enough disc space. if i kept the hard drive usage under 50% everything seemed to work ok. Now its 18months old it wont even boot up anymore. It comes up with the hello message,… Read more

but wont display any channels, go to menu or even open the dvd drive. Outof warranty so nothing i can do except chuck it or pay high labour costs for a repair. Very disappointed. styling, reasonanbly simple to use. Early faiure at just 18 months.

Terrible – Don't bother buying it if you want to record HD channels. Seems kinda silly this thing wouldn't be equipped with a tuner considering how fast HD is taking off. I needed a recorder to record the NFL playoffs on One HD. Walked around JB HiFi (Westpoint Blacktown) for half an hour. No one seemed to eager to help me so I picked this up and hoped for… Read more

the best. Connected it all up and spent the better part of an hour trying to tune it into One HD. Not until I decided to look for help online did I realise (on here) that it won't pick up One HD. Taking the stupid thing back tomorrow to get my $300 back and get something else.

Terrible – While it was working, I was very happy with the equipment, but then it started crashing once in a while, then every few days, but now it crashes several times a day and it will no longer time shift. It's now a very expensive DVD player. Certainly won't bother with LG again. I liked the 6 hr time shift feature which meant I could watch programs I… Read more

had missed (provided I had it on the correct channel) earlier in the day or evening.

I also liked that if I had just enjoyed a program and decided to keep it, I just had to reverse, press Record, then FFwd until it reached the end and it would save the program to HDD to watch again when I wanted to. The new model LGs do not do this, but then nor do any of the other brands. They must not consider this a useful feature, but I used it often. It started developing glitches soon after the twelve months warranty period had expired.

I found it VERY difficult to record from HDD to DVD, but was successful once, (using a DVD+R disk), but then the programs I had marked for dubbing to the disk were not separated, and to watch a particular program I had to FF all the way through until I could find the beginning.

The instruction booklet was not easy to follow, and seemed to have been translated by someone whose first language is not English.

Also had trouble with the subtitles while watching/recording.

Buyer beware does not tune HD channels – Just got it today and it's going back tomorrow If it sounds too good to be true then it is not…buyer beware no HD tuner only SD useless piece of technology. Inexpensive junk It's a con who would be bothered wasting money on something that does not tune in HD channels.

OK – I just bought a Rh397D and it got all the chanels. but i can not see any of the hd ones is there a problem or is this unit unable to watch them. cheers? great picture how do you get hd channels?

Terrible – I have been loyal to LG products for years now, I purchased this Hard Disk Unit from Good Guys Bayswater and was happy with the unit until after 13 months the DVD tray wouldn't stay closed and I couldn't power off the unit. As per the manual, I have tried resetting the unit by holding the power button for more than five seconds and then turning… Read more

the power off for more than five seconds. This hasen't helped. I have it connected to a recent model LG 37LC7D TV via a HDMI cable. It has worked perfectly until just recently when the unit has displayed the above problem. I contacted LG who put me onto a service provider who want to charge me hundreds of dollars to fix the problem. It isn't good enough that a $500 piece of equipment fails after 13 months, it has left a sour taste in my mouth and will no longer consider LG for future purchases. Can play DIVX or AVI files from USB Stick Cheap Components, DVD Drive failed after 13 months (one month after warranty expired)

Terrible – OK for watching & recording SD channels, but no HD. This is pretty useless with all the HD channels starting eg One, gem, 7mate etc. OK for SD channels Packaging says "Full HD upscaling" - found out after we bought it that this does not mean HD tuner, so you cannot watch or record HD channels.

Bad – Good for what it does but limited in no HD capability so programs on channels such as ONEHD cannot be recorded. Records with good picture clarity and very easy to use. It doesn't have a HD Tuner so you can't watch or record programs on HD channels. Given the rapid growth of HD TV this seems archaic. Also, a smack on the head for Harvey Norman… Read more

Narre Warren for not mentioning this when we were looking....unprofessional conduct, I'm sure they knew that anyone told about this unit not recording HD would not have purchased it and their stock would gather dust.

Terrible – There must be something better than this. It has turned me off using a hdd device at all. Extremely disappointed! The user interface is very bad. The manual says that you can view while recording, but if you are viewing when the recording starts, it loses your place, and you have to fast forward to find it again. Then just when you get there, it… Read more

cuts in and loses your place again.

Subtitles cant be switched off sometimes.

The screen format is sometimes wrong.

The menu items are offscreen on the TV (which is also LG), and can't be fixed.

Terrible – Can I swear, no, no comment then, and no comment about the service provided from Harvey Norman ( Morayfield ) as well Not a thing Stalls while playing rental DVD's, sent back to Harvey Norman for repair and never heard from them for seven weeks, when I harrased them it was returned a week later with the problem intact, but for a bonus it now locks up every morning, and I have to reset it to get the software working again.

Terrible – I returned the RH397D for a refund as it didn't work properly. I replaced it with a Panasonic machine which is much better and well worth the extra $100 I paid. The LG machine is rubbish. On first appear this machine looks good and is easy to navigate around When recording and watching at the same time, subtitles appear on the screen which cannot… Read more

be turned off. The unit I HAD would not allow channels to be allocated as favourites. When recording in '4:3 letterbox' format when the filed is played back will only screen at '4:3 Pan Scan' and this cannot be adjusted. Won't allow files to be moved on HDD to DVD or vice versa as the 'copy' option does not appear on menu.

Excellent – Great overall unit. Had problems with over heating and bad vibrations but LG promptly sent a courier to collect it and we had it back in 4 days repaired. The Good Guys Bayswater did not want to know us when it failed under warranty but after contacting LG they took care of it. Easy to use, Fast record time, Good picture from SD digital tuner. only has SD digital tuner.

Good – Is there some answer to my problem can the set be unlocked, otherwise i am limited to what i can watch, other than that i am quiet happy with the set. Found the unit easy to set up works find recorder works great,nice digital picture. The only problem i have now is the set is i believe locked to region 4 unfortunaly i did not ask about regions as i was not aware of this problem.

all recorded programs have disappeared – Last night after I watched one recorded program on the PVR and was going back into the HDD menu of the pvr to watch another program it said 'no recorded programs on disc' I recorded a few second of a new program so that I would allow me to get in the recording menu, and see what was wrong. I found that aLL my recorded programs (about 50hrs) were… Read more

gone.

This morning I rang LG, the guy got me to re-set and re-tune but nothing could be done about the deleted/lost programs.

Now i'm searching the net for a possible solution, none found.

My biggest worry is, Will It Happen Again, can I depend on this PVR?

Also, about a year after I bought it the CD/DVD tray started to act up. I got it fixed under warranty, went ok for awhile but about a six months ago the tray started doing the same thing again, comes out half way and then it goes back, whenever you wish to use the CD/DVD you have to wait untill it comes out half way, grab and hold it while you take out or put in a CD/DVD -I don't use it much so I'm not worried enough to spend a lot of money to get it fixed. Easy to use, it has worked well for the last 2years I don't trust it with program recording, when will it decide to delete?

Good for what we wanted it to do for us – Having purchased our first unit in '99, we found it to run 'hot' like most electronics. So we placed the unit on some small mounts to allow air to circulate around it.. this eleviated the hassles of dropping out or stalling etc; We run our Austar box thru the unit so as to record our 'Fav' shows etc; We now have a second unit in the… Read more

lounge-room, set-up the same way so we get the HD TV channels thru Austar, & still run normal TV's saved some expense for us as well. Both units have not missed a beat since our first unit experienced some disc reading issues early in its life. LG's warranty was great & our repair agent had the unit back to us with a week.. (go Neilsens) does what we want it to do sales guys know stuff all about their products at Hervey Norman - Also the unit runs hot very hot.. keep it well ventilated to prevent component failure..