Sony RDR-GX255 Single Tray HDMI DVD Recorder

• Line Input Recording (No Tuner)
• HDMI Output with 720p/1080i Upscaling
• Set Top Box Pass Through
• One Touch Dubbing from DV/D8 via i.LINK® port
• Multi-Format DVD Disc Compatible

I thought I would be getting a Sony DVD recorder similar to the ones I have purchased in the past. First, you cannot record from a premium movie channel because these are blocked---hackers can easily bypass this feature. Ridiculous. Also, there is no record equalizer on this unit. This is a feature I liked on Sony's older models. I would not recommend this unit and will probably return it. I have four other Sony recorders that are wonderful. This one is a total lemon.

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We bought this thinking we could finally get our video camera tapes recorded. Well, this is a nightmare to use, slow, un user friendly and a waste of money! We have not been able to record anything. Also, just the basic playing of a DVD is horrible. I can watch a movie in the morning, and have the DVD player tell me in the afternoon that the movie is not playable or recordable. Then 2 days later...works again???? Of course we lost the receipt so we are stuck with something we can't even give away! Save your money!!!!

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Sony's copy protection is so paranoid that my GX255 apparently thinks every blessed video signal in the world is copyrighted. It refuses to record from VHS tapes of vacations, parties, etc.; recording for about 20 seconds then stopping and displaying the message "You cannot record copy protected material". These tapes were recorded on a camcorder twenty years ago! This is my second GX255, I returned the first one with these same complaints.

I will say IF you get it to record, the video and audio quality is excellent, the menus are nice, and it's otherwise easy to use. If it weren't for these problems I would give this a very good rating. Oh, and you should protect the remote control at all costs; a replacement is $75 (!!) and universal remotes will not work.

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I've read a lot of reviews for this product as well as it's successor, the GX-257. With that said, I'd like to clarify some things for potential future customers :

1.) There is no tuner. How someone would buy this and then complain there is no tuner, I don't know, as it states there is no tuner very clearly all over the box as well as in technical specifications on the web.

2.) It can and will record copy protected materials. Albiet, not natively as it's against the law for them to allow the product to accept copy protected signals. They've merely left you ( the consumer ) to take care of the copy protection on your end.

Overall, this is a killer machine for the money. I bought mine new for $140.00 a couple years ago, and it finally died due to excessive usage (I wore it out). I actually like the firmware better in this machine than on the GX-257. This unit actually has some other features (S-Video) that the GX-257 doesn't have. Performance-wise, it out-performs other DVD recorders (Samsung, Toshiba) as far as, "drop outs" are concerned. This unit never produced a drop-out where as drop-outs are fairly common among other brands.

I would buy this unit again in a heartbeat.

I'm so sorry that I bought this piece of C**p,.Had nothing but problems.Wouldn't load brand New DVD's than had no problem with it 5 minutes later.Constantly had to clean the heads to get it to Work.Now ,all of a sudden it won't record Tv shows,I guess it thinks they are copywrited.I think Bob Newhart shows might have lost copywrite after30 years,but who knows