Pioneer DVR 220-S (DVR-225-S) Progressive Scan DVD Recorder - silver

• Dolby Digital
• DTS
• Progressive scan
• 4 recording speeds

This review is actually of the DVR-225s, which I believe is identical to the 220. I recently purchased the new Panasonic DMR-ES10S & returned it because of the flimsy jack panel. I replaced it with the Pioneer DVR-225s.

Every dvd I've seen made on a standalone player has had problems with motion jitter (motion occasionally slowing down & speeding up). I've never run into this with pc authored dvd's; to this day I don't know what causes it on set top players. I was told that Panasonic & Pioneer have less problems with this issue then any other brand. That's 1 of the 2 criticisms I have of this machine; it does have the motion issue. I have ordered a Sima stabilizer from Amazon; I'm curious to see if that helps when it arrives.

The other issue I've experienced with the 225s is that it isn't real happy with cheap media (Specifically ESA/CMC). Media that plays back fine after burning on my PC tends to occasionally freeze during play back on my Philips 727 when burned on the Pioneer. It seems fine with Taiyo Yuden though.

Now for the good really excellent picture other then the motion jitter. Easy to use; much easier then the Panasonic DMR-ES10S. Also feels more solidly built. I paid $195, I'm reasonably happy although I'd love to find a standalone without motion problems. I might have been happier with a capture card, but that seems like a lot of work!

Added 1/06: I've now owned this unit for 9 months. It's extremely reliable. The motion issue turned out to be a problem with my otherwise excellent Phillips 727 playback machine, not this unit. My only criticism at this time is that both of my inexpensive Pioneer units tend to have some problems with dark blacks & dark black & white scenes in general being a bit grainy.

Edit 8/23/11: I've now owned this unit for over 6 years & put heavy use on it. Other then having to replace 1 capacitor (which would have been a big deal if i didn't have a tech friend), the unit performs flawlessly to this day.

Buy Pioneer DVR 220-S (DVR-225-S) Progressive Scan DVD Recorder - silver Now

I finally bit the bullet and bought a DVD recorder. Everyone is a DVD recorder expert and with competing formats, +R and -R, everyone has an opinion. My opinion is that if it's -R, it works on every DVD player in the house and the new portable in the car (the old audiovox portable barely played regular DVD so it naturally choked on DVD-R (which is the pioneer uses to burn.) So the first task has been to copy our ancient VCR collection to DVD. Easy enough, but certain titles (Sixteen Candles and Field of Dreams for example) are copy protected and unable to burn. As far as good news, it's got several rca (red/white/yellow) inputs, so I have my Directv DVR in one and my old panasonic VCR in the other. Copying from DVR is a breeze as well. Complaints are it took me a while to figure out how to wire it up and the remote seems overly complicated.

Read Best Reviews of Pioneer DVR 220-S (DVR-225-S) Progressive Scan DVD Recorder - silver Here

Do you want bulletproof DVD recordings EVERY time? Are you tired of your finicky, $90 clock-radio-corder that routinely generates a trashcan full of failed DVDs on a monthly basis? Do you cling to the false hope that your cheap-corder company will issue a firmware upgrade to cure your woes? Isn't your time more valuable than that? Spend an extra $50 and go with Pioneer. I've owned several Pioneer products including the classic DV-525 DVD player that's now six years old. My 220S has the same brilliant DVD playback quality that I've come to admire with my older Pioneer DVD player. Many people are disappointed when they buy the cheap DVD recorders because those units have only mediocre playback picture quality, too few inputs (for recording from multiple sources), and flakey DVD recordings. Pioneer builds their recorders right the FIRST time and you won't be working out their bugs and wondering if your next recording will fail. I chose the 220S after I found it to be one of the highest user-rated recorders in many forums including videohelp.com. Multiple video inputs/outputs on 220S put other recorders to shame. Take the cover off this unit and you'll see the beefy power supply board and quiet fan that means this one's built to last. No cheapy clock radio power supplies like in the sub-$100 recorders. When I hit "record" on the 220S I always get a perfect burn, no questions asked. Just read the owner's manual, feed it a decent blank disc, and be done!

PROS:

100% reliable burns, 3 s-video/composite inputs, 2 s-video/composite outputs, high-grade Pioneer Pure Cinema DVD playback quality, impeccable recording quality, super quiet and cool running, amazing variety of controls for adjusting picture quality on all inputs, user-selectable remote control frequencies to eliminate conflicts with your other remote controlled equipment.

CONS:

No iLINK DV input but it makes up for this with a dedicated s-video/composite input for your camcorder on the front panel.

Want Pioneer DVR 220-S (DVR-225-S) Progressive Scan DVD Recorder - silver Discount?

I've been trying to replace my dvd recorder with a compatible one so I didn't have to change up my whole wiring system with my tv, receiver, vcr and game system. Amazon was the only place I could find one.Thanks

Of all the DVD recording units I've tried, I have had the best results with this model, and it's the easiest to use. The interface is intuitive and thus far, its performance is very reliable. Highly recommended if you can get your hands on one.