13 out of 13 people found this review helpful.
Not the best of DVDR's with HD and QAM
Date of Review: Aug 19, 2007
The Bottom Line: Good but not the best DVD recorder available today
After deciding that Cox Cable was ripping me off by charging approx $300 a year for HDTV service and a box that would only record 6 hours of TV shows, I started a search for a less expensive and possibly better alternative.
Looked at several dozen models by all the major brands. Tried 4 Philips units (2 DVDR3575H/37 both defective tuners, 2 DVDR3505/37 one of which had a defective tuner), 1 Toshiba DVR650, Samsung AR-650, LG RC797T and finally the LG DR787T.
Here's what I found & learned:
1. To receive unscrambled Hi Def TV channels, you need a digital tuner with QAM.
2. Some of the manufacturers use the term "S" in place of QAM and some with QAM don't make it clear at all.
3. If the unit says Analog tuner only, it definitely won't be able to show HD channels.
4. By default, most DVDRs go to the analog channel, such as 3 vs. the HD 3.1 or 3.2 channels.
5. Most DVDR's take several seconds to display an HD channel.
6. Some units contain TV tuners that are simply garbage, meaning they only pick-up some of the HD channels, randomly lose some HD channels, generate "less than" HD quality pictures or poor audio quality.
7. Samsung AR-650 detected more HD channels than any of the others but seems to take forever to scan for channels.
These are the reasons why I went through 6 DVDR units before I arrived at the LG DR787T. I rate it the BEST because:
A. When you select any channel number, it instantly goes to the HD version of that channel.
B. It displays the network name (such as CBS-HD).
C. The HD TV show appears almost instantly.
D. Every HD channel is crystal clear.
E. Audio is crystal clear.
F. Recorder functions are easy to navigate.
G. Playback features include commercial skip functions.
H. Can record up to 11 hours of TV shows on 1 blank disk(in HD mode it will record 2 hours on a standard 4GIG DVD).
I. Receives more HD channels than what I had going through the Cox HD box
So far, my biggest complaints are the following:
1. Doesn't detect all available HD channels. I wouldn't have known this if i hadn't tried the Samsung AR-650.
2. Setting the timer to record a show takes a frustratingly long time because you must click through every hour, then every minute to set the start times and stop times.
3. It sometimes refuses to read blank DVD-RW disks, at which point the unit stops responding to any/all commands. I had to unplug it once after a few minutes of waiting.
4. The LG DR-787T is not 100% compatible with some Samsung TVs and possibly others. Between my home and my mom's home, we have 3 different models of Samsung DLP sets and the HDMI would only work with one of them. I spoke with a rep for LG and he blamed Samsung for this issue. This means you are forced to use the Component connections to watch HDTV which means 5 cable connections vs. 1 if the HDMI worked. On my one Samsung where both worked I compared the picture quality several times (back and forth. At times they semmed to be almost identical but other times the HDMI appeared noticeably better.
LG RC797T which appeared to be the same unit with a VHS deck added. Same results when I tried to use the HDMI connection. Just wouldn't work with 2 of my Samsung TVs.
If I could have gotten a refund for the LG DR787T I purchased on Ebay, I'd have gone with the Samsung AR-650 for the better tuner and 100% HDMI compatibility.
