Sony RDRHDC100 / RDRHDC300 / RDRHDC500

disappointed – I purchased this recorder back in 2011, and yes it records what I wanted it to, and stored on the HDD many hours of old home movies, in the hope of being able to digitise them however dubbing from HDD to a DVD is a pain in the preverbial back talk about fussy with the dvd's to use brand new good quality dvd-r and dvd-rw are not accepting of the… Read more

files I have recorded onto the HDD. Then don't get me started on the TV function of the machine it is confusing. I paid a LOT of money for this machine SONY have always been reliable to me. but this machine is temperamental at the best of times. I am taking the time to go through with another lot of DVDs so I can format the thing and use it for its intended purpose that is to record tv shows when I am working, I have tried to be as diplomatic on this review as I always am but really fed up to my hind teeth with it. I wouldn't even offload it to someone as a secondhand machine. Oh it is still in pristine condition as it hasn't been used that often in the time I have had it. due to it being too much of a headache to use.

Refuses to play DVD's – Have had this device for about 4-5 years (?) and have used it mainly to store and replay movies using the hard drive. Pretty 'clunky' to edit, re-name, etc. but overall the HDD does what it is designed to do. However, the DVD player will now only play about one in every 10 or 20 I try, and the ones which it does decide to play will occur after… Read more

many minutes of watching "Loading...." on screen. All these DVD's play on our PC and Laptop. Very disappointed with this device in particular, and Sony in general.

Good for a bit, then total collapse – I bought this recorder for my father-in-law based on the brand name Sony. I thought a Sony was a sure thing. I was wrong. About 18 months after buying it, it simply died. Manual reset didn't work. Hard reset didn't work. Impossible to update firmware due to short sighted procedures that made it impossible with the current problem. Disaster and model currently resides in local landfill

Diappointed – I've had this unit for a few years now and now I only use it to record TV. Now it will play only 1 in 10 DVDs, this has be ome gradually worse over the years. I've tried disc cleaning products and cleaning discs before I load but nothing has worked. I then play the same disc on my laptop and it works! Very frustrating. Disappointed.

Welcome without progression – The unit reads "Welcome" and provides a flicker but does not progress any further. Earlier in the day the Loading was coming up followed by the unit stopping immediately when loading was complete. I believe this part is Firmware related but as the Welcome is now displayed can't actually do anything about this. Tried holding stop to unlocked the… Read more

DVD. Haven't yet done the full reset yet as I have tried to avoid losing all my recorded programs.

This unit allows viewing of the EPG whilst recording but nothing else.

My older HDX970 still works, is so much more reliable than my HDC300 and does a lot more than the HDC series that I want. The one improvement with the HDC300 was the ability to record HD channels, nothing else in my view. Standard Def'n is OK for recording on the HDX series.

Memory on the HDX is better used than the HCD300. I run out of space so much faster than with the HDC and have the same storage memory. I believe the storage area is used far better in HDX than in HDC. strangely I NOTED THAT Panasonic was similar to the HDC in this regard. ie far more programs recorded due to better space usage.

No fast speed dubbing on HDC but this available on HDX. All the complaints on slow speed dubbing elsewhere is true. HDX series dubbed from HDD to DVD within 10-15 minutes.

Editing of programs is not precise and although better than Panasonic, is really poor compared to the HDX series. The HDX software seems near identical to my sister's old Pioneer recorder.

Chapters in HDX were great. Not shown on the editing page on HDC but clearly visible on HDX series. HDX auto chapter was great if you wanted to blip ads. No such luck with the HDC series. Editing takes more time with the HCD series.

Lose power to the HDC series and I lose all the record list. Doesn't happen with HDX.

Sony if you had HD channel recording ability in HDX I wouldn't hesitate to purchase another unit but now I have had enough of the many little issues described elsewhere here. Valued for price was very poor compared to the HDX series. I provided a list of deficiencies seen between the HDC from what we had with HDX only within a month of purchasing this. I still have this if anyone is interested now. I'm still disappointed with all the little HDC issues noted elsewhere in reviews and this suggests the program are not just mine, therefore, won't buy another Sony recording unit.

What a piece of crap !! – Won't even play my Sony music DVDs. How can they make a machine that won't play their own stuff. Had same run around from Customer service as others have had. Purchased from Dick Smith but they don't want to know !! NICE service from them refused refund even though they know of all the problems with this model. Recorded DVDs won't play on my other… Read more

Sony DVD player so what bloody format does it record in. Stuck with it for 2 yrs but now HD is corrupted and won't record from HDD to DVD so is in the rubbish. This is the last time I buy Sony and I have older stereo and Bravia TV that are fine but their service over this Model has put me right of them for life.

High Price El Cheapo quality avoid! – I to was impressed by the listed features of the SONY RDR-HDC300 and was assured it was a relatively top of the line model, could play ANY region DVDs, could record on HDD etc etc etc. I even took out an extra 2 years store warranty on it being the cautious approach and then went ahead and handed over my hard earned money. A week before the… Read more

extended warranty ended, the player started to refuse playing dvds saying "No Disc" Contacted store and suggested a cleaning disc. Bought top line one. 10 cleans later that over a week and discs still not played, even new DVDs straight out of the packet it wont play. Now other functions progressively not working as previous reviewers have described. PLUS it does NOT play DVDs from other regions.

For an expensive player with supposed high quality and multiple functions it has been a HUGE disappointment and a sad reflection on the current quality of SONY product.

Will never purchase a SONY item again.

Had SONY done the right thing eg Product Recall and replaced the player with a less fancy but far more reliable player, Id still be a SONY fan.

Wake up SONY you have not only lost this current customer base in Product Review (which is probably the tip of the iceberg) but also anyone else who reads these product reviews and anyone who is related to, friends with or knows about an owner of this product.

Does not play all regions, Progressive and rapid decline in functionality, Expensive peice of trash

For the price tag there should be more - but even basic functions are ridiculous – I purchased this item about 4 years ago. And while the unit is still working, it fails in comparison to what was on the market at the same time (and for less money). I went to purchase a new PVR as the last sony HX710 I had (full analogue) HDD died. However I did like the unit, so wanted to get something to complete finalisation of DVDs I'd not… Read more

finalised. I did purchase a Panasonic before the sony, however because of the panasonic couldn't finalise the disc I took it back (silly me) and swapped for a more expensive HDC500 - thinking that it would finalise the old discs + had HD tuner it it.

It's nothing like the old Sony, won't burn DVDs fast unless the sun/moon and stars align, the winds blowing in the correct direction. Then if it does start burning, it locks up at 0% for no reason. Sometimes the DVDs ok the burn again, sometimes not. But you have to unplug the unit.

TV record times randomly change however the unit doesn't update and misses recording.

The most frustrating is when you try and burn a DVD, it burns a 16:9 into 4:3 for no reason. And it doesn't unpack as 16:9 when you play it on another DVD player.

As because it doesn't burn at a fast speed you cannot watch anything except a blank screen for 90min while the DVDs burning. Even the old Sony you could do this.

What do the say about a 10 foot pole??? Relatively easy menu for DVD titles (extra spaces all over) Single HD tuner (should have been double for price), doesn't burn at high speed, can't watch TV while burning, burns to incorrect aspect ratio, locks up

Trouble with a capital "T" – You switch it on, The damned thing won't do anything, no matter what you push then after a minute or so it shuts down! I had an issue with the disc drive the disc draw sometimes needs to be jiggled before you close it or it won't play properly. I cracked it open and removed the hard drive to test it and although it spins up, it's not… Read more

recognised by my data recovery program. So now the hard drive has died!

My recent experiences with the Sony brand aren't good, I've got a video cam that's nothing but trouble too!

It looks like the bean counters at Sony don't seem to care if they trash ant goodwill of what was a brand with a name for quality.

Well done! You've lost me as a future customer! To me Sony now = shonky At least it doesn't take up too much space in the recycle bin! It's very disappointing

Is this really a Sony? – This model didn't scale up to the reputation of a Sony product. Dubbing to a dvd is a lottery - sometimes it does it sometimes, for no obvious reason it does not (on the same type of dvd). Terrible indication of what actually it is doing - sometimes it indicates percentage of completed job on the screen sometimes it does not. Nothing changed after being serviced by an authorised Sony service. This has been a disappointing experience.

Worst product EVER – This machine has been returned to Sony 6, yes 6 times. For no reason and at completely random times it will just turn off and try as you may it will not turn on again for a couple of days. I have tried to be nice but this is ridiculous. Every time it is returned it does the same thing again, sometimes it takes days, sometimes weeks. But sure… Read more

enough it will stuff up again. Surely this is not fit for,the purpose it was made and everyone who owns one should,get their money returned with interest! Colour Everything

works like a cheapie, not what I'd expect from Sony – Very disappointing. Various small problems. Now after 2 years and reading other reviews, probably not worth fixing. Freezes, has a recorded show with an error message that I can't delete, skips when playing back recorded shows, cuts recording times sometimes so shows end up 7 minutes instead of 30. Scrap heap and read reviews before buying next one. Nothing special Numerous problems

I Asked for quality ad got rubbish – A month before the warranty ran out it seized up. It was returned to the good guys and took 5 weeks to get back with a new hard drive. Three months later same again. It's now cutting out every 5 mins for 3 seconds. DVD player doesn't like most disks. I got to read some books in the down time Sony did not help, good guys were great

Only lasted 18 months – I expected a brand like Sony to produce good quality, reliable products: I was wrong! It took ages to switch on and ages to switch off. There was also only one tuner, so I could not watch one show whilst recording another. I could cope with this and other problems, but it stopped working altogether a couple of weeks ago, only 18 months after… Read more

purchase - very disappointing.

I will avoid Sony in future, clearly the brand is not what it was. The hard disc recording Died after 18 months

Contact Your Supplier Get A Refund Even Out Of Warranty! – Read the [url removed]. Mine was nothing but trouble my store told me to ring Sony after it was *fixed* under warranty then died 1 month out of warranty again...same issue!!! Sony were Rude wouldn't even listen to my complaint so I gave up until my dad told me I had Statutory rights I'd paid $500 new and it didn't even last 13months... Taking… Read more

it back to our local country dealership and hoping they follow the ACCC and fix the problem as they have the right to demand their money back from Sony for on selling a faulty product! Will update on how I get on with Clewers Electrical Clare.. was great when it worked freezing shutting off eventually would not even boot past loading

No more sony for me – I bought this unit in June 2011 but it would stop recording at the first ad break and freeze up at times then needing to be switched off at the mains and reset. Contacted Sony and they said it needed a firmware update but it already had the latest firmware version?? After a few months getting stuffed around and sending a photo of the screen… Read more

showing the firmware version they had me take it to Digital Domain. A new mainboard was fitted but still it would freeze up and lose all the channels, a factory reset and running setup again would fix it for a while.

The above problem was happening more often so I contacted Sony again! They sent me to image electronic services to get it sorted.

A mainboard connector was supposedly reconnected but it started stuffing around yet again. Back to image electronic services.

Rang Sony again and was told to contact image electronic services the last repairer but discovered his number was disconnected so drove there with the unit only to find out he had shot through.

Rang Sony again but they put a company in touch that said it was now out of warranty so it would cost me money!!!

I rang Consumer Affairs and was told factory repairs/part replacements extend the warranty but I should contact the retailer it was purchased from.

I contacted JB HI-FI and received excellent service from the manager who would make a call and then asked me to bring the unit in and they would change it over.

Sony don't make the same type of unit anymore but I came away with a nice similar spec. Panasonic item that is going very well.

Many thanks to JB Hi-Fi. whom I have bought several items off and had good advice, service and competitive prices. The capabilities and specifications The capabilities didn't work most of the time

The worst – An ethical OEM would recall these units. Manufacturing Faults. This machine has a weekly period!!! The machine starts up and freezes, it takes 20-30seconds to wake up and if you accidently think you've not turned it on and hit the on button, go away and make a cup of coffee. Worst machine I've ever bought. Nothing, hang-on, actually it was black and matched my stereo. When off it works perfectly!!!!!!!! Refer to review

Not so trouble free Sony – Purchased 18 months ago, and randomly will freeze up, have to unplug it. Half the remote control buttons stopped working after a few months. But the most painful problem was, it would pick and choose which discs it wanted to play. Some discs were fine and play ok but (even brand new discs) it would say "loading" continually and they wouldn't… Read more

play. Really frustrating! Luckily I purchased an extended warranty with this and it's being replaced with a Panasonic this week. I hope the Panasonic performs better. weekly program tv guide, easy to use/ understand failed to recognise & play dvds, freezes up, some buttons on remote failed soon after purchase

Do not buy this junk – Only had this a few months. Most times when you turn it on it freezes and needs to be reset by pulling out the power cord. Timer recording has just stopped functioning - it says the disc is full when it is completely empty. Do not buy this junk. Terrible quality

A piece of junk – If it was possible to give a zero star rating I would. This was an impulse purchase with a new TV which I sadly regret. The player frequently freezes and has to be disconnected from the power to reset it. The open/close button doesn't work and I have to push the tray to get it to close. It is SOOOO noisy. I always know when it's on from the… Read more

noise. The programme guide is reminiscent of a Commodore 64. It takes forever to turn off once you hit the power button

Freezes up, noisy, small hard drive

Don't touch this with a 40 foot pole! – In just 12 months this product has been replaced once, had new software installed and been in for repair twice... and still doesn't work properly. The main problem is the system will completely freeze up on both the DVD and Hard drive menu and the problem can only be fixed by switching the unit off at the power point and restarting. And to… Read more

make matters worse, Sony Customer Relations Group were disgusting to deal with. Never have I experienced such poor service with repeatedly failing to call me back when they promised, failing to respond to messages left and giving incorrect information.

I will not purchase another Sony product again.

Product is unreliable and customer service is completely non existent.

Don't touch – Wish I knew about this product review before we bought this as I wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole. Ours started freezing the day after the warranty ran out then within the next two weeks the dvd part stop working and then two months later the think doesn't work at all.

Terrible – Exactly the same "loading" message, then turning off occurred with mine. Sadly its out of warranty and in the bin. Was a great, albeit noisey device until then. Would I buy another, no way! Good picture, easy to use Fan noise and machine failure

OK but could be better – It gets the job done but compared to our existing RDRHXD890, it lacks some excellent features. We really miss: the ability to skip commericals during playback; the ability to skip a single recording of a repeating timer; the ability to maintain the recorded programs during recording; and the ability to see how long a program is during playback.… Read more

However, it does have access to HD channels and a better renaming process. If we hadn't had the other player first, we may have been satisfied but we really just feel like we have made a backward step. Like other reviewers I find it very noisy. Also, the timer conflict reporting is very hit and miss. Easy to set up and use. HD channel access. Some more features would help especially skipping a single recording. Noisy.

Will never buy Sony again – There seems to be serious problems with this model. The most irritating feature is a lack of reliability with the digital tuner. Whilst my samsung TV (connected to external new antenna) has no difficulty receiving digital channels - this Sony cannot connect to any of the ABC digital channels and there are days where it cannot connect to a whole… Read more

range of other channels. The service centre advised that it was the quality of the tuner not a fault of the machine, so not covered under warrantly. There is also a software problem with the recording of programs for which there is a download patch available on their web site but not always convenient to undertake oneself.

unreliability

Did Sony really make this? – I have had nothing but problems with this unit and it has already been serviced and refurbished. It sometimes freezes. I've even gone days where it won't turn on and then for no apparent reason, it then works again. Electronic guide is the worst i have ever seen and the recording features that go with it are bad usb socket Very troublesome. It's crap

A rare disappointment from Sony – Bought this for its Bravia synch to our excellent new Sony LCD television, but it doesn't synch very well (particularly compared to a similar Samsung Anynet+ setup that works seamlessly between our Samsung Plasma and the excellent BD-C8900A Blue Ray hard disk recorder). The Sony unit's TV recording performance is poor, for example recording a… Read more

program on the RDR-HDC100 and watching another channel on the TV can cause interference to the TV signal. Single HD tuner is a pain. Remote does not seperate the controls for the TV and video well enough and they often get confused. It pauses live TV, but does not rewind live TV (better recorders buffer at least the last 30 mins of TV so that you can rewind at any time.

Look its better than nothing, but there are much better BD-DVD recorders from Panasonic, LG and Samsung and much better PVRs from Topfield, Tivo etc. Simple clean styling, good HD tuner, cheapish Poor features, poor quality, poor value, poor remote, single HD tuner

Terrible – Expensive, poor reliability, unclear/incomplete manual and many basic poorly designed functions, which you would not expect from Sony. Maybe Sony should go back to making in Japan, give the locals their jobs back and we might get the quality back as well. Made in Japan, by Sony, was always a marketing attibute that consumers could rely upon, so it… Read more

looks like we have to go back to the Chinese made Japanese/Korean/Tiawans brands that actaully do work. SONY brand name & looks slick .

Model RDR-HDC100 acting as digital receiver qand recorder from analog TV Most expensive in this low end capacity range,and thinking we were buying quality, but not.

First problem, the manual, seems to not effcetively explain simple functions. Other brands we have appear are more user friendly and logical.

Some features not explained. There is some sort of "update" that occurrs in the early hours of the morning, everyday, without any reference to it in the manual. The reason we found out was that when it starts, it turns the machine on and the fan is noisy (in the quite of the night) it woke me up...and it displays that it is "undating" what who knows, software, EPG programmes who knows. It eventually finishes and turns it self off. We have ours in our bedroom.

Now the fan, very noisy, the manual does say that it does emit sounds(Page 87) but who was to know before you buy, until you get woken up by it. If you turn on then the fan starts but the sounds tends to drown out but you can still hear in silent moments when viewing programme recording etc. Then it you have a delayed recording, on it comes at 1am in the morning for the duration of the recoding.

Maybe there should be a warning, as to the high noise level, use in a sound proof location and not in your bedroom it you are light sleeper.

Copying from HDD to disc is very unclear as to teh spead rating, imploes 1:1 and file size compared to available does not seem right and it's can't read the available space left on your DVD disc. It says it can under disc setting(P66) but when you select , it says not available...maybe on the 300 or 500 being twic the price. Also you can't view whilst copying teh screen greys out(which is stated in the manual. Maybe digital HDD but DVD's never a problem viewing whist copying.

Today, turned it on then after a few minutes , it turns it self off. Try again, we notice it says "loading" on the bottom of screen, what who knows. Nver seen before. The manual again is useless, so it's time and inconenvience to send off to a service centre and we have just had it 6 weeks.

Buy Sony based on name.... No way...I should have stuck to a the Chinese made Samsungs DVD and HD TV's we have been using to date with not one single problem.

By the way we are using the Sony HDD recorder through an older analog TV. We were told no problem in doing so and believe the ads for digital TV, maybe it's just a dudd of the Malaysian production line.

Sony RDRHDC100 - Lasted just over 4 months – I bought this as a refurbished unit from Grays Online with only a 3 month warranty. I have an older SD model also purchased as a refurbished unit which still works perfectly. The usability on the old model far outweighs this model. Now I turn it the RDRHDC100 on - it says Loading.... and then switches off. This refurbished model lasted just on 4… Read more

months since purchase.

Sony - your older products are good. Your newer products are not much chop. No more "Refurbished" Sony Models for me and possibly no more Sony products at all.

I wish I read these reviews before I bought this lemon – I fully agree with all the other bad reviews.Unfortunately I didn't know about this site before I bought a Sony RDRHDC100.After only 3 weeks mine broke down.I would switch it on and it would shut down straight away.It wouldn't stay on.It took 3weeks to fix but it has since played up.I won't buy Sony again.I thought maybe I was unlucky and just got… Read more

a dud but from reading the other reviews it doesn't seem that way.

unreliable and very slow warranty repairs