Pioneer DVR-640H (160 GB) DVD Recorder / HDD Recorder

I bought the Pioneer 640H after much research and deliberation. This unit is a fantastic piece of work. With that said, you should be aware of its limitations, they may or may not be a problem for you, depending on your needs/expectations.

1) No HDMI output. It does have component output, but if you have or want modern Hi-Def output, this unit doesn't have it. I don't have any HD equipment, don't have HD TV, and won't for a long while, so it was a non-issue for me. 2) Doesn't use the over-the-wire TV Guide feature, uses VCR+ instead. This basically means to do timer recording, it's very similar to a VCR: you set the time, date, channel, quality (and a host of other options if you want). In this sense, it doesn't do the "Tivo" thing. Again, a non-issue for me since I'm not looking for that feature. 3) It doesn't remember the titles you assign timer-programs (recorded shows are listed by date, time, channel). I thought this would be a deal-breaker, especially for my wife, trying to navigate through all your recorded programs - but not so. The menu system and thumbnails (full motion and sound) are so clear and intuitive that not having the common-name titles doesn't hinder us at all.

Beyond those 3 things, it's all good from here. The menu system/disc navigation is fantastic, and blows some of its competition away for ease of use. Every feature has "easy ways" and "detailed ways" for you to setup or use the unit's features. Recording is quick, simple, and the quality is excellent. Several quality control options are available, and you can achieve broadcast quality recording (far superior to tape) by using the mid-range quality settings, which give you over 120 hours of recording (up to 200 hours at lower levels).

It will play all the media it advertises flawlessly. I have thrown all sorts of media at it (CDR, DVD-/+R and RW, Dual Layer, etc) and it played both DVD content and DivX. The previous review that stated this player will only play DivX content off of CD media is FALSE. Maybe they had a bad unit, or didn't finalize their DVD discs, but the first thing I did was throw in a DVD+R disc full of DivX 6 content and it played perfectly, with the same intuitive menu system as when you play programs off of the hard drive.

It has several inputs and outputs, giving you lots of flexibility to daisy-chain it with other equipment. Front inputs and a USB input are a huge bonus you can play content off of a USB stick. Added to the various input and media options is the MP3-playback/jukebox ability and JPEG slide show features, making it a very versatile device. It is extremely quiet and the manual is clear and easy to reference. And it has all the good stuff a DVR should have: Commercial skip, advance in variable increments, from 15 seconds to 3 minutes, and reverse in 5 to 15 second increments in case you overshoot the return of the program; chase-play which lets you effectively "pause" live TV, recording the remainder of the program while you watch from an earlier point; copy/backup programs between the hard drive and DVD recordable media; capture and recording from a video camera or other video input source (like a VCR). All in all, this is a very versatile and robust recording unit with a ton of bang for the buck. Highly recommended.