DVD-Hard Disk Combos Test

Reviews on DVD-Hard Disk Combos

"Tosh strikes gold with recorder"

Issue: 3/2008

On test: Toshiba RD-97DT

Just months ago, we heralded a £250 160GB Daewoo DVD recorder as great value, and praised a £380 250GB Panasonic offering for its 'large hard disk'. This Toshiba officially sells at £300, if you shop around you'll find it for a good chunk less. It has a 250GB hard disk and an HDMI output; it can upscale video to 1080p, and supports DTS decoding as well as playback of DivX and MP3 discs. That's some value right there. → More

"All-rounder lacks final polish"

Issue: 3/2008

On test: Samsung DVD-SH855M

Like the proverbial London bus, we have a run on DVD/HDD recorders that offer impressive specifications at competitive prices. While this Samsung doesn't offer the 1080p performance of the new Toshiba reviewed earlier, it does offer the equally roomy 250B hard disk drive and HDMI out, for £300. → More

"Samsung DVD-SH855M"

Published on: 2/2008

On test: Samsung DVD-SH855M

Watching broadcast TV is a pain for many reasons. You have to be there at the right time. Your bladder needs to be suitably empty and you might want refreshments prepared. Crucially, you have to be able to pay at least a smattering of attention. It's basically hard to actually give something quality time, and even if you do, you'll more than likely to be rewarded by advert breaks every four minutes. We say, ditch broadcast TV and record everything on to a PVR. The problem is that it's hard to know which one to pick, as there are as many recorders on the market as bad tattoos on Amy Winehouse. However, the Samsung DVD-SH855M offers a couple of interesting features that might be tempting. → More

"Philips DVDR5500 DVD Recorder"

Published on: 1/2008

On test: Philips DVDR 5500

This ultra slim DVD recorder from Philips is the only one in the company's current range to feature a built-in Freeview tuner, which is surprising given the amount of people who will be upgrading their recorders in time for digital switchover. But there's much more to the DVDR5500 than a Freeview tuner; it also comes equipped with video upscaling to 1080i and 720p, which lets you upscale those digital TV pictures and watch them on a hi-def ready plasma or LCD TV. It'll also handle your library of digital media files, with a compatibility list that includes DivX, MP3, WMA and JPEG. → More

DVD-Hard Disk Combos

A DVD recorder is fine, but it still acts like the standard video recorder it replaced. Content is recorded onto removable media which must be swapped when full and then takes up space on a shelf. They can usually play DVDs, VCDs, MP3s, PictureCDs and audio CD and DVDs. However, to change to something else you must take out the disc, put this away, find the next one, realise you no longer remember where you put the original disc and then find it in the claws of the cat or used as a plate by the child. A DVD recorder with built in hard disk is the best way to record programmes digitally and transfer these to disc for archiving or sharing without having to resort to a computer and various complicated software packages. According to price and manufacturer, integrated hard disks come in sizes from 60GB to 250GB but it is usually possible to change the included disk for another compatible model with a higher capacity. Recording to hard disk retains the quality of a DVD recording and allows for rapid transfer to this medium. Some higher end DVD / hard disk recorders can also be used as media servers or poll content from networked computers. DVD recorders can be generally just as small as a DVD player and this is the same for recorders with an integrated hard drive. Design and build quality is also usually very high as as the market becomes more saturated and digital technology makes differences in quality imperceptible, manufacturers are paying more attention to the aesthetics of both the devices and their on screen menus. This means that most new DVD players lack the staid grey or black breeze block aesthetic of a normal video recorder.