Pioneer DVR-633H-S DVD Recorder With 160 GB Hard Drive Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)On paper, this recorder seemed to be perfect for my needs - primarily scheduled recordings of TV programs. In addition to the normal specs for these devices, I particularly liked the commercial skip, its low standby power level, and its 5-year battery backup.
But the TV Guide is truly a deal-breaker. In the week I had my unit, it literally chattered continuously as it tried (with only partial success) to download the guide. It was very irritating in an otherwise quiet room, and quiet passages in music or TV programs are a thing of the past with this in the same room.
I emailed Pioneer; they said it is normal for the unit "to make some sound" when it is on, and the TV Guide cannot be disabled.
If it worked well, the TV guide would be nice, but it isn't worth the racket. If I could have disabled the TV Guide, I would have kept the unit and programmed it manually.
I reluctantly returned the recorder.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Pioneer DVR-633H-S DVD Recorder With 160 GB Hard Drive

Replace your VCR and step into the 21st century with the easy-to-use Pioneer DVR-633S DVD recorder--which also includes a 160 GB hard drive for storing programming (both TV shows and your home movies). It's the perfect way to create your own movies on DVD, or to record your favorite TV programs. It records up to 10 hours of video, enough for your vacation movies or an all-day marathon of your favorite TV show. Record your favorite video content onto DVD-R/RW discs.
The built-in 160GB hard drive lets you record tons of home movies and TV shows for temporary storage--up to 340 hours of content (at lowest video quality). Once theyÕre recorded you can watch them whenever you want, edit them, delete them, or burn them to DVD. When your recorded content to DVD from the hard drive, an hour-long program recorded in SEP mode (lowest video quality) can take less than 30 seconds to burn--approximately 120x (max) speed. The Smart VBR (Variable Bit Recording) recording mode lets you choose the quality level/recording time that best suits you. Choose fromÊFine, SP, LP, EP, and Auto; Auto automatically sets the optimal recording quality for the time remaining on the hard drive.
With Disc Backup, a Pioneer exclusive, you can make a direct file transfer of your home-movie DVD back to the Hard Disk Drive, and from that make as many copies of your home movie as you want, all at blazing speed. The i-LINK (a.k.a. "DV" and "IEEE 1394") interface allows you to transfer your DV (Digital Video) home movies smoothly to the Hard Disk Drive.ÊJust connect the DV input on the unitÕs front panel to your camcorderÕs DV input, and begin. And if your movies were shot in analog format, inputs forÊcomposite video/S-video and Left-Right audio are provided for dubbing them to DVD.
Program the DVR-633S to record a program up to eight days in advance using the built-in TV Guide On Screen interactive programming guide. Or manually set up programming with the VCR Plus function, a simplified programming feature to record programs where each program has a corresponding code (PlusCode) number (typically found in newspaper and magazine TV guides). The Chase Play function lets you watch, stop, or pause a show--while youÕre recording it.
You can connect the component video output of this DVD recorder to a progressive scan television for stable and flicker-free images. With the 3D Y/C Filter you get minimized noise and cross color in your picture, providing you with a top quality picture, and the all-important quality you require from a large screen television set. Also, Purecinema 2:3 playback provides smoother, clearer picture from discs encoded at 24 frames per second. Other features include a 10-bit /54MHz Video DAC, 24-bit /192kHz Audio DAC, block noise reduction, and mosquito noise reduction.
The DVR-633S provides a digital coaxial audio output for connecting to surround sound home theater receivers, as well as Dolby Digital and DTS decoding. It offers the following connection options:
Composite AV In/Out: 3 in (1 front)/2 out
S-Video In/Out: 3 in (1 front)/2 out
Component video (YPbPr) In/Out: 0 in/1 out
RF In/Out: 1 in/1 out
Digital optical audio In/Out: 0 in/1 out

What's in the Box DVD recorder/player, remote control (with batteries), DVD-RW disc, printed operating instructions

Click here for more information about Pioneer DVR-633H-S DVD Recorder With 160 GB Hard Drive