Granted,
Sony's RDR-HXD870 will attract the most attention in
Freeview-capable territories, but this fairly well-spec'd digital recorder managed to lure the reviewers at
TrustedReviews over to give it a whirl. Packing a 160GB HDD,
HDMI output, 1080p
upscaling capability, a digital TV tuner, Electronic Program Guide, FireWire, and the ability to burn content to just about every standard DVD format known to man (save for DVD-RAM), this stylish machine managed to impress with its Series Recording function, vast amount of connections, "staggering array of recording and editing features," and the "intelligently designed user interface and remote." Potentially more important, onlookers were "blown away" by the image quality when hooked up to a 1080p-capable
Hitachi plasma, and while we're always a bit skeptical when there's literally no major quibbles, it sounds like Sony has a real winner on its hands with the reasonably priced HXD870.
posted Aug 7th 2007 4:22PM
SD recorders don't belong in an HD blog.
Oops, I guess upscaling to 1080 isn't HD...Oh wait I guess it is...
Recorded at 540i and upscaled to 1080p is hardly the same as recorded at 720p or 1080i and upscaled to 1080p. That's why this is nothing new.
If this can record HD content to the hard drive, it belongs...but I didn't read enough to find out if this is true or not. If this is just another DVD recorder with Digital tuner, I'll pass. Philips already makes one for the US market with an ATSC tuner.
The models @ sony style have ATSC/QAM tuners so it gives you access to those channells although it just records SD upscaled to 1080i.
Then I don't see how this is news....it is, but old news, these have been around for about 5 months.
Now if it recorded HD to the HDD and played back HD when viewing material on the hard drive or watching live TV then it would be noteworthy...wake me when that happens :)
I can't believe there hasn't been anything to top the DHG-HDD250.