Any opinion of the Accurian ADR-3223

gondey99,
In answer to your questions first off I don't think this unit has a stereo tuner. At least it does not sound like it does and the owners manual does not state whether it does or not.
No, this unit does not have chase playback during timer recordings. In fact you can't really do anything else while a timer recording is in progress.
The final question that you asked is can you replace the hard drive like the Polaroid? I tried putting in a 300gb HDD and it took it, but the unit partitioned it at 80gb. So I then hooked up the original HDD to my computer and used Norton Ghost 9.0 to make a backup of this drive. I then created a FAT32 drive on the 300gb and used Norton Ghost to restore the image on this drive. This allowed about 120gb to be used, but I think if I ran a Clean Drive through the units menu this would probably re-partition the drive back to 80gb.
The picture quality is on par with the Polaroid. Probably because this unit also has a LSI encoder chip. I don't notice too much of a difference between XP & SP, but LP is noticably less sharp. I didn't test any bitrates below this. In my experience anything below 4 hour mode on a single layer DVD is not even worth bothering with.
The remote operates a lot better than the Polaroid and does not have the range problem of the Polaroid. In fact the range of the remote is one of the best i've ever come across.
One quirk that I did come across is that if you edit the chapters on a non finalized disc this can cause the burned disc menu to operate weird. Usually it creates a menu with both a thumbnail mode & a text mode, but if you edit chapters on a disc you can't always go to the text mode or the DVD player locks up.
The picture quality of the tuner is a little better than the Polaroid, but my Sony & JVC still looks better (Less noisy).
My conclusion is that this is a better unit than the Polaroid. Especially since Radio Shacks recent price drop to below $200.00.

I forgot to mention several more things. First the fan noise on this unit is very minimal compared to the Polaroid DRM-2001G. This has been a deal breaker for several people. One feature that the Polaroid has but the Accurian does not is component video in. I don't know if this makes a difference to you or not though. Nero CD-DVD Speed says that the DVD was burned on a Sony DW-D22A B20H.

Sima Video Filters use both Composite (Yellow) & S-Video Inputs & Outputs with a switch that selects which one you want to use.

I Had the Accurian hdd recorder from radio shack & returned it . Its not compatable
with alot of dvd media. I bought a 50 pack JVC DVD+Rs & the Accurian didn't recognize it. It would say ivalid disc. So after trying other medias like TDK,SONY, it took it just fine. I put in a Memorex DVD+R 16X ,It gives me the same error. The Accurian's problem is that Liteon need to upgrade their firmware for this particular hdd recorder so it can be compatable with most dvd media. But guess what, though luck because their won't be any firmware release as the Accurian HDD recorder is discontinued. Plus Accurian don't even have a website for customer support like the ilo had . Ilo another Liteon dvd recorder also discontinued. My brother bought the Polaroid hdd recorder & it takes any media brand you throw at it +or-. He just put in a 200 gb HDD and he's happier than a kid in a candy store. But i'm not because my local Walmart store are out of the Polaroid. So I might have to settle with Phillips 160 gb dvd recorder & they have plenty of it.

Maybe I have a newer firmware version in mine. All the media I have tried so far has burned flawlessly. The following is what I have tried so far.

Taiyo Yuden (TYG02) DVD-R
Maxell (MXL RG03) DVD-R
CMC Magnetics (CMC MAG. AM3) DVD-R [Officemax Brand]
Prodisc (F01) DVD-R
Verbatim (MCC 03RG20) DVD-R
Verbatim (MCC 004) DVD+R
Moser Baer India Ltd. (MBIPG101) DVD+RW [Memorex Brand]

Maybe you just got a defective unit?

It was just a couple weeks ago. When they had it for $249.00. I might take another stab at it. If not ,then i'll be getting a Polaroid from Ebay. If everything goes well i might just own both of them.

Same here.

Darksoul if you're willing to possibly purchase both the Accurian & Polaroid at the same time why not pool the money and purchase a Pioneer DVR 640H-S instead. From all the reports that I read it looks like a very good reliable unit.

It is a good idea to purchase a dvd recorder made by a well known brand(Pioneer) but don't you need some type of service manual in order to upgrade the hdd from 160gb to 300gb? At least i know for sure that i can upgrade the hdd on the polaroid up to at least 250gb without a service manual. As far as the Accurian goes you can also upgrade the hdd too. I plan on picking up an Accurian this weekend & test it out again . Maybe I did have a defective unit. Plus at $199 you can't beat that.

Well I bought the Accurian again & slapped on the Memorex DVD+Rs & it recognizes the discs just fine along with all the others except fot the JVC Discs.
I'm not familiar with the makers of DVD discs,but the Accurian took Sony,TDK,Memorex,Verbatim,Fuji,CompUSA and Maxell. The JVC blanks label reads 8x but when i insert them into my pc the maximum burn is 2.4x so i guess the blanks are pretty much defective. Other than that the Accurian HDD recorder is well worth the price & its a keeper. I didn't hesitate on getting me another one the first time i returned it because i had problems years ago with the first lite on recorder which was the Liteon LVW 5001 (needs a fan & new dvd drive) and then problems with an Ilo dvdr04 (runs good now after the last firmware (WMEA1098.ES5) update). So go ahead give it a shot.

The Accurian is running great , no disc failures what so ever. I used the "Just fit" feature on timer recordings & the end results looks great. I don't plan on upgrading the hard drive until i feel the need to . Every movie i've recorded is already burnt on dvd discs. The one thing you can't do with this recorder is multi-task. Which is a bummer. You can only do 1 thing at time. Lets not forget that the recorder is discontinued. I'm getting the Polaroid by the of this week. Which will be my living room dvd recorder. I hope i get one without the loud fan.
The Accurian is easy to navigate & the editing features aren't the best in the world but at least i can take out commercials. You should try both and see which one you feel is right for you. By the way The Accurian will play mpeg files but it will not play DivX. Think about were are you gonna get your customer support when ever you need it. Polaroid (Which has been around for a long time since my Polaroid picture days) or if you wanna risk it and get the Accurian (a brand name with no website to it and have to deal with the idiots from Radio Shack).

yep......or what you can do is save up to another hundred or so & get the Phillips 160 GB or wait until the day after Thanksgiving sale. Rumor has it that dvd recorders will drop in prices....

I just picked this up and I'm using cheap GQ brand DVD-R's from Fry's and they work perfectly fine.

I also have an HD DVR from my cable company so I'm not too worried about recording to HD, I mainly got it so I can dump programs onto DVD-R.

Hi...I just bought the Accurian from radio shack and have a couple of questions for those who also have it.

Is the DVD player supposed to be so loud? When using the DVD source just playing a regular DVD, it's really loud. At first it's a kind of clicking scratchy noise then once it actually starts playing the movie, you can hear the running of the player over the movie. It plays with no problem, but I'm just concerened about the noise. Oh, also when I open the disc tray it just doesn't sound right...like something itsn't aligned right. Anyone have any insight on this?

No noise problems in the Hard drive mode, and it has worked perfectly.

I made it region free, but it there anyway to allow it to record protected DVD's on the HD?

Thanks guys.

(I'm writing this fast n' quick)I have the Accurian DVD HD Recorder & it plays my dvds quiet. But I'm planning on returning it again because for the same price i can buy another Polaroid HD recorder .
I've had my new polaroid recorder for about a week and let me tell you i can do more with the polaroid than the accurian. The menu structure of the accurian beats the the polaroid anytime but when it comes to multi tasking polaroid is the best. The fact that you can pause live tv is great & if you want to you can save your live recording & edit it & later burn it to dvd,accurian hd recorders don't have some of the options like that ,except for their crappy timeshift that you cant save crap. But don't get me wrong the accurian is a good recorder if you can handle doing 1 thing at a time. Like gondey99 said the only way i would purchase the accurian again is if they lowered it for $100 or less. So my money is going towards good use, a second polaroid hd recorder.

Mine is fairly quiet and I've noticed the p-scan output is better than my Philips DVP642 DVD player, but the Accurian will not play some Dual Layer burnt DVD's as I've found out like Verbatim if you burned em on a computer (with a Lite-on no less). Of course it's also missing the DivX compatibility.

I also did the region free but there's no way you can override CSS copy protect.

thanks. the menus (guider and browser) are so easy to use on this thing...the remote is great...and i love the HDD...so I don't know what to do.

That poloroid is SO ugly. That's what made me go with the accurian.
Why do cheap things always have that ugly mirror front? It's crazy.

Have you heard of the phrase "its what's in the inside that counts" lol
All jokes aside The Accurian is a great recorder if you can handle doing one thing at a time or return it and save up more money and go get a top of the line unit.
I just returned my Accurian again and decided not to get a second Polaroid. The remote really suck on this unit. I'm saving for a top of the line unit like A JVC or a Sony who knows what the future will bring. I can wait. I still have my ILO dvr04 & the Polaroid.

Have you looked into getting one of those cheap RCA remotes. I've gotten several of them...they used to go for $5, esp. around Xmas. They only control a TV, VCR, and one other component, but they have a very broad coverage (non-directional) and hold up really well...simple but effective.

They are usually grey/silver, have a slightly hourglass shape, and I think they have some versions at Wal-Mart.

i will have to check walmart for a universal remote or best buys because the polaroids remote is ridiculous.....i know for a fact that with a universal remote some funtions won't work with the polaroid ,but just as long as i can press play ,back, foward , stop, rec, pause & off i can deal with it...... thanks for the info. i will look into it.

Radio Shack usually has these also (that's where I got some for $5 near Xmas).

Hello,

I just saw the Accurian DVD Recorder w/ the 80 gb harddrive for $199.97 at Radio Shack. (model ADR-3223)
I've read over the posts here and looked at some other sites for info about this unit. Basically I am looking for a dependable unit that will allow me to edit the movies I record on the harddrive and then burn them to -R dvds. Stuff like cutting out commercials on tv programs and editing out scenes in home movies are my main objectives. How does the Accurian handle editing duties? I'm not expecting it to do miracles, just seamless transition on cutout sections.

My budget is about $200- $250. Is there anything else on the market that would do what I want to do? I like what I read about the Accurian, just wondering if it will work for me. Thanks for your advice!