Humax DMR-E55 Price £500 £400 £200 £279 Recording formats, Tel 08705 01732 01628 Web Media.com

039 EHC 08 DVD REC G.Test 21/9/04 5:34 PM Page 60

DVD Recorders

MAKE	SONY	SONY	THOMSON	TOSHIBA	YAMADA	HITACHI
MODEL	RDR-GXD500	RDR-GX700	DTH 8005	DR-1	DVR-8000	DV-RX7000
SPECIFICATIONS
Price	£500	£500	£400	£400	£200	£279
Recording formats	DVD+R/+RW, DVD-R/-RW	DVD+R/+RW, DVD-R/RW	DVD+R, DVD+RW	DVD-R/-RW, DVD-RAM	DVD+R, DVD+RW	DVD-RAM. DVD-R,
						DVD-RW
RGB recording	YES	YES	YES	NO		YES
DVD-Audio playback	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO
Video CD/Super Video CD	YES/YES	YES/YES	NO/NO	YES/NO	YES/YES	YES/YES
CD-R/CD-RW playback	YES/YES	YES/YES	YES/YES	YES/YES	YES/YES	YES/YES
MP3/JPEG playback	YES/NO	YES/NO	YES/YES		YES/NO	YES/YES
Tel	08705 111999	08705 111999	01732 520920	0870 4424424	0870 9063304	01628 643000
Web	www.sony.co.uk	www.sony.co.uk	www.thomson-europe.com	www.toshiba.co.uk	www.umax.co.uk	www.hitachidigital.com
						media.com
FEATURES
VideoPlus/PDC	NO/YES	YES/YES	NO/YES	YES/	NO/NO	YES
GuidePlus	SOMETHING SIMILAR	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO
Variable bit-rate recording	YES	YES	NO	YES	NO	NO
Non-linear editing	YES	YES	NO	YES	NO	YES
Playlist editing	YES	YES	NO	YES	YES	YES
Timer	YES	YES	16-event		YES	YES
No of recording modes	6	6	6	3	4	4
Trick-play functions	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	NO
Zoom	NO	NO	YES	YES	NO	NO
Progressive scan playback	YES	YES	NO	YES	YES	NO
	We say: The only UK DVD	We say: Similar to the	We say: The high price tag	We say: Use of DVD-RAM	We say: Navigation display is	We say: Not yet reviewed
	recorder with a built-in	GXD500 but with no	does not include the picture-	opens-up editing	long-winded and of all the
	Freeview digital terrestrial TV	Freeview tuner - has DV	enhancing progressive scan	possibilities, but watch	recording modes, only HQ is of
	tuner	camcorder inputs instead	function	cross-compatibility with	any notable quality
				other DVD players
CONNECTIONS
RGB Scart in/out	YES/YES	YES/YES	YES/YES	YES/	YES/	YES
Component video out	YES	YES		YES	YES	NO
DVI or HDMI out	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO
S-video in/out	YES/YES	YES/YES	YES/YES	YES/YES	YES/YES	YES/YES
Composite video in/out	YES/YES	YES/YES	YES/YES	YES/YES	YES/YES	YES/YES
Stereo audio out	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES
Optical digital audio out	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES
Electrical digital audio out	YES	YES	YES		YES	YES
i.Link in/out	NO/NO	YES/NO	NO/NO	YES/NO	NO	YES/NO
Photo card slot	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO
	We say: Sports a built-in	We say: A pity the i.Link is an	We say: Included on	We say: Neither of the two	We say: Lacks a DV input	We say: Not yet reviewed
	Freeview digital terrestrial TV	input only as you can’t output	Thomson’s earlier media	Scart inputs will accept an	but generally well-endowed
	tuner	edited DV footage to a	recorders, USB memory card	RGB video signal	with connections
		camcorder	readers for MP3s or digital
			pictures have been left out
VERDICT			from this model
Ease of Use			★★★	★★★★	★★
Features			★★★★	★★★★	★★★★
Looks			★★★	★★★	★★★
Picture			★★★	★★★★	★★★
Sound			★★★	★★★	★★★
Value			★★	★★★★	★★★★
	We say: Not yet reviewed	We say: Not yet reviewed	We say: With a very muted	We say: With hard disk	We say: It looks chunky and	We say: Not yet reviewed
			playback of commercial	recorders DVD still relatively	the remote is clunky, but it
			DVDs, this is an average deck,	expensive, this deck makes a	boasts excellent connectivity
			although, even coupled with	good substitute. Thanks to	if not editing options, being
			its underwhelming audio, it	DVD-RAM compatibility, its	DVD+RW compatible. The one-
			would serve a basic surround	editing features are many	hour HQ recording mode is
			sound system adequately.	and extras like ‘pause live TV	great, so this deck is for people
			Lack of digibox control and	are possible. DVD playback	who need to archive and is not
			memory card or DV-input for	is good and much better	the best for daily use
			camcorders ensures a	than most entry level decks
			conclusion that this is a no-
			frills unit aimed squarely at
			the gadget-unconscious
OVERALL			★★★	★★★★	★★★

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