I saw a post by a U.S. person on a recording problem with his Sony recorder and looked it up... couldn't believe my eyes, and still don't.

Two of their units HAVE HD TUNERS... RDR-VXD655 and RDR-GXD455! Specs say:

"Built-in HDTV Tuner (ATSC/NTSC/QAM Tuner)
Allows recording of standard definition or high definition programming."

Check out this page... the first two units have the HD tuners, one a combo, other a single-disc recorder. (http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&categoryId=27913)

Am I seeing things not there, or is there a North American recorder that has a HD tuner!?

I don't see anything about downconverting and the other units says they upconvert, etc. But they must downconvert to SD to get anything on the disc!?

Has to downcovert to record to tape or DVD - no way around that. I suspect that these are the same as any of the other DVD recorders out there that downconvert digital programming before recording or passing through to the outputs and Sony is using the latitude of market language and the gullibility/lack of savvy of the typical consumer to "sell" an ambiguous feature. Other manufacturers have done it. They all downplay downconversion either to "sell" HD recording or to avoid confusion with consumers. IOW - this appears to be business as usual here, no obvious special breakthrough (i.e., ability to use this product as an outboard HD tuner). Wouldn't mind being proven wrong.

I saw a post by a U.S. person on a recording problem with his Sony recorder and looked it up... couldn't believe my eyes, and still don't.

Two of their units HAVE HD TUNERS... RDR-VXD655 and RDR-GXD455! Specs say:

"Built-in HDTV Tuner (ATSC/NTSC/QAM Tuner)
Allows recording of standard definition or high definition programming."

Check out this page... the first two units have the HD tuners, one a combo, other a single-disc recorder. (http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&categoryId=27913)

Am I seeing things not there, or is there a North American recorder that has a HD tuner!?

I don't see anything about downconverting and the other units says they upconvert, etc. But they must downconvert to SD to get anything on the disc!?
Page 22 of the owners manual states "Hd (High Definition) signal through this recorder is converted to SD (Standard Definition) signal, even if the HDMI OUT connection is used.

Has to downcovert to record to tape or DVD - no way around that.

Although in this case it is just a SD DVD Recorder, I wonder why everyone just assumes that a DVD Recorder can only record SD. Isn't there camcorders out there that records to mini-DVDs in 1080i/720p? Just because it is a DVD recorder does not mean that it has to record in SD.

Although in this case it is just a SD DVD Recorder, I wonder why everyone just assumes that a DVD Recorder can only record SD. Isn't there camcorders out there that records to mini-DVDs in 1080i/720p? Just because it is a DVD recorder does not mean that it has to record in SD.

I don't believe HD camcorders are recording DVD-compliant discs: AFAIK they are using DVD media to store raw HD *files*?

Regarding Sony, they are probably the LAST mfr that would offer "full HD recording on standard DVD media". For one thing, they are embedded in the Hollywood copy-protection frenzy via Columbia Pictures. For another, they have bet the entire company on Blu Ray and can ill afford *any* product that would take the spotlight away from that.

There were a couple of Toshiba HD-DVD recorders for the Japanese market that could record a short amount (45 minutes) of full-HD content to a standard DVD-R. However the DVD-R was likely formatted as a variation of HD-DVD and would only play on the machine that recorded it (or perhaps a Toshiba-brand HD-DVD player).

This news is almost a year old. Last August if I remember correctly. I remember posting about how Sony was stretching the truth a bit with its marketing materials and that its SD DVD digital tuners were essentially the same as all other DVD recorder's tuners.

I really feel more secure about machines that will record to a hard drive along with some other media.

Too bad one like that wasn't listed at the linked webpage.

False advertising.

Very typical of Sony - they think Americans are fools.

Anyone know if it is "Possible" to remove the HD tuner chip(actually SD Tuner chip) from one of these Sony's, and insert it/replace the analog tuner chip in my RDR-HX900?

It would be nice to be able to do that, and have another 160GB HDD with a SDTV tuner in it.

Sure, i would lose the TVGUIDE capability most likely(big deal), but too have another SDTV recorder would be nice.

I wonder if that is even possible?

I don't know.

Might be WAY TOO MUCH TO DO in order to accomplish that.

Interesting.

But all I want to do is start recording Over the Air on to DVD (and don't mind the downgrade), won't that work?

I guess I could accomplish the same thing via a HTPC. There is stuff I'd want on DVD to move to another room or view on the patio via a notebook, thought about this way.

I know there are other ways -- networked Tivo, Slingbox, etc, but haven't gone that route yet.



bashton

But all I want to do is start recording Over the Air on to DVD (and don't mind the downgrade), won't that work?Any recorder with an ATSC tuner will do what you want.

Anyone know if it is "Possible" to remove the HD tuner chip(actually SD Tuner chip) from one of these Sony's, and insert it/replace the analog tuner chip in my RDR-HX900?

It would be nice to be able to do that, and have another 160GB HDD with a SDTV tuner in it.

Sure, i would lose the TVGUIDE capability most likely(big deal), but too have another SDTV recorder would be nice.

I wonder if that is even possible?

I don't know.

Might be WAY TOO MUCH TO DO in order to accomplish that.You could just buy the Philips 3576H from Sam's Club stores (cheapest price), that or the older 3575H from Walmart or Circuit City.com, or the brand new Magnavox model from Walmart.com for that. They're all under $250.00.

SD ATSC (NTSC & QAM) tuners, 160 GB hard drives, but no TVGOS or other guide, so all timers need to be set manually (the slightly older Maggie only has an 80 GB HDD, if you'd be interested in that model).

Otherwise, the HX900's IR blaster does control both the DTVPal and CM-7000 ATSC SD CECB boxes, so you could just use one of those with the old warhorse Sony. Use a $40.00 off govt. coupon and that's a very cheap solution. (The CM-7000 has s-video out and noticably better PQ than the DTVPal, just so you know. But on a smaller, analog set it won't make that much of a difference. Better reception quality, too, though. But the DTVPal has RF pass-thru, an event timer, and a very, very nice full screen guide.)