# New Sony DHGHDD500



## mroe (Oct 15, 2004)

Saw this at Best Buy. Stand alone Sony HD PVR Model DHGHDD500. For strikly using on cable or air. $799. Guess you don't need to pay a montly fee either. All you need is diginal HD cable. No set top box needed either. HMMMMMM? Sound good to me. Has anyone else see this or bought one yet?


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## TyroneShoes (Sep 6, 2004)

Isn't this an old model? Sony has had a couple of recorders out there for a while now, and I think there were some of these being blown out on the internet for like $299 a while back, maybe even this one. I remember hearing that they had a few quirks, were not as reliable as (ahem!) the more-reliable PVRs available, and that the UI was a little hostile. But if I could have picked one up as a second recorder at $299 I might have jumped (I missed the fire sale). $799 for moderate storage and 1 tuner (I think) is certainly an option, but not exactly a bargain.


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## videojanitor (Dec 21, 2001)

I had one, but I returned it. My main beef was the horrible (to me) "TV Guide On Screen" user interface, and a very loud fan. I already have an HD TiVo, and planned to use this for those times when there are more than two HD programs on at the same time. Ultimately, I found it wasn't worth the price. There was a least one blow-out sale where it was going for $249, and I tried to get one of those, but they went quick.

If you're not faint of heart, there's a HUGE thread on this machine over in the AVSFORUM:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=537711


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

strikly?

diginal?

Sounds about right for a non-TiVo unit.


And "no set top box needed" is pretty frickin silly when the unit itself is the set top box.


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## CCourtney (Mar 28, 2006)

As someone who has owned one for about 6months (bought the DHG HDD500 during the $249 Tweeter closeout) I'd have to say that it's been extremely reliable, has excellent image quality and has operated flawlessly for me.

That said the TVGoS guide is a bit slow and clunky but is sufficient for my needs with this unit. I purchased it mainly because for the 500GB of storage space the price could not be beat. The cable card operation has been flawless. I tend to watch a lot of racing and certain movies I'll record in HD and keep on there for a long time. I also recorded almost 60hrs of the Winter Olympics and watched almost all of the NBC coverage (most in FF) (recording the UHD coverage on my cable DVR.)

Of course the interface is not TiVo interface (i.e. it doesn't come close to reading your mind or preferences, but there isn't a cable version out there that I'd pay a dime for that does, yet.) 

I'm looking forward to the Series 3.

That said if I was asked if I'd switch to Sat. to have an HD TiVo, I'd have to say no way. The difference in quality level is way too significant for me to go away even if I do have to deal with clunky interfaces of my Scientific Atlantic DVR and my Sony DHG-HDD DVR. Would I pay $500 for a S3, in a second. Will I pay $500 for an S3 and then $12/mo in programming (probably not.)

CCourtney


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## AstroDad (Jan 21, 2003)

CCourtney said:


> That said if I was asked if I'd switch to Sat. to have an HD TiVo, I'd have to say no way. The difference in quality level is way too significant for me to go away even if I do have to deal with clunky interfaces of my Scientific Atlantic DVR and my Sony DHG-HDD DVR. Would I pay $500 for a S3, in a second. Will I pay $500 for an S3 and then $12/mo in programming (probably not.)
> 
> CCourtney


The difference in quality between what? Cable and Sat? I see you are in the land of sugar, you have TW right?


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## Bierboy (Jun 12, 2004)

I had three of these and returned each one...had problems with each unit. I thought it could tide me over until the S3. Bad assumption on my part. it is NOT a new unit. Sony discontined them in November....guess why. I will agree with one poster; the image quality was excellent...better than my current HD tuner, a Sammy SIR-T151.


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## jfh3 (Apr 15, 2004)

mroe said:


> Saw this at Best Buy. Stand alone Sony HD PVR Model DHGHDD500. For strikly using on cable or air. $799. Guess you don't need to pay a montly fee either. All you need is diginal HD cable. No set top box needed either. HMMMMMM? Sound good to me. Has anyone else see this or bought one yet?


$799 is a bit high (though down from the MSRP of $999) - you can find them online for significantly less.

The Sony DHG is a great box - though some have had both hardware problems and problems with getting reliable TVGOS data (if you don't have a OTA station that boradcasts the data or a cable station that reliably retransmits it, you get no guide data).

GREAT picture, though only one tuner. Downside - not user upgradable and the TVGOS interface is a bit clunky, though not as bad as some cable DVRs.

I've got a 250GB model and it's been rock solid for me, ever since I figured out the initial setup. But it's likely to be sold as soon as the Series 3 is out, unless the PQ of the S3 doesn't measure up.


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## jfh3 (Apr 15, 2004)

Bierboy said:


> Sony discontined them in November.


Never quite figured this out - weren't they released in September, generally available in October?

I always wondered how much more successful Sony would've been with these if they had gone with Tivo Basic/Tivo Plus on these instead of TVGOS. They do have some licensed Tivo-patented features that Tivo users will appreciate (most notably, the FF auto correction) and have produced Tivo units in the past.

From a hardware standpoint, the DHG units look to be a single tuner version of what the Series 3 will be.


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## fastep (May 22, 2004)

I bought 2 at tweeter for $249 ea and they work very well. PQ is awesome esp for sd programming (you can set the sony for a "side stretch" at 1080i). 

Positives - OTA HD, pq, 500gb hdd, fast UI with video window, folders and folder deletion if needed, customizable program guide (group channels any way you want) user customizable tick marks, skip ahead\back and buffer and FREE 8 day guide.

Negatives - ONLY ONE TUNER, current retail price, comcast moto cablecard v. 4.05 issue - sometimes (maybe 1%) does not allow a recording (bug was fixed with latest cablecard version), NO actor names in description of movies with TVGOS (tv guide on screen) guide and alphabetical search by first letter only (takes a little longer). 

Overall I am very happy with this dvr bur I am not sure I would have paid $800 for it. With a second tuner I definitely would have.


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## videojanitor (Dec 21, 2001)

fastep said:


> Overall I am very happy with this dvr bur I am not sure I would have paid $800 for it.


I agree with that. For $249, it was a steal (I tried to get one, but never could). Not worth $800 though, IMHO.


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## Bierboy (Jun 12, 2004)

jfh3 said:


> Never quite figured this out - weren't they released in September, generally available in October?
> 
> I always wondered how much more successful Sony would've been with these if they had gone with Tivo Basic/Tivo Plus on these instead of TVGOS. They do have some licensed Tivo-patented features that Tivo users will appreciate (most notably, the FF auto correction) and have produced Tivo units in the past.
> 
> From a hardware standpoint, the DHG units look to be a single tuner version of what the Series 3 will be.


They were released in June 2005, but it's not too difficult to understand why they discontinued it....it's a POS and a customer support nightmare for Sony.

But the TiVo S3 will be MUCH more than just a dual tuner version of the Sony unit. The TiVo guide makes it head and shoulders above just on that. One thing the Sony did/does have is user-adjustable live buffer (30-60-90 minutes). I hope TiVo does something like that. The Sony also had/has adjustable "jumpback" on FF stop.


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## jfh3 (Apr 15, 2004)

Bierboy said:


> They were released in June 2005, but it's not too difficult to understand why they discontinued it....it's a POS and a customer support nightmare for Sony.


A customer support nightmare perhaps because of the TVGOS implementation, but I wouldn't call it a POS - it's a pretty nice machine and pretty much was the only standalone DVR option for a while.


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## fastep (May 22, 2004)

jfh3 said:


> A customer support nightmare perhaps because of the TVGOS implementation, but I wouldn't call it a POS - it's a pretty nice machine and pretty much was the only standalone DVR option for a while.


I agree - both machines I purchased were open boxes and hardly used. The tweeter manager said he received many returns because customers could not figure out how to set it up.

I am not sure what the difficulty for some is. Both my units perform perfectly and set up was no problem.

I suggest that if you are using cablecard then you should download cable AND OTA channels with initial set up as an ANALOG PBS station is necessary for the TVGOS. Many cable cos have gone all digital and therefore an OTA analog pbs station will be needed.


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## bgtimber75 (Jun 2, 2002)

I paid $500 for mine on e-bay and I love it. It's very reliable and the PQ is the best I've seen. The interface took a while to get used to but it's fairly easy if a bit clunky. My one complaint is that you can't manually set the clock, if you lose power it's a pain waiting for it to reset itself and get the channels back.


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## CCourtney (Mar 28, 2006)

AstroDad said:


> The difference in quality between what? Cable and Sat? I see you are in the land of sugar, you have TW right?


Yes, I was referring to the difference between Cable and Sat. And yes I do have TWC.

CCourtney


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## Bierboy (Jun 12, 2004)

Well, I'm glad some of you had good experiences with yours. I went through three bad units....not TVGOS problems....just simply BAD...hardware, etc....you name it. One wouldn't even boot up. It was a waste of time and money (whether it was retail cost or Tweeter fire sale cost...still a big waste).


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## bgtimber75 (Jun 2, 2002)

fastep said:


> I agree - both machines I purchased were open boxes and hardly used. The tweeter manager said he received many returns because customers could not figure out how to set it up.
> 
> I am not sure what the difficulty for some is. Both my units perform perfectly and set up was no problem.
> 
> I suggest that if you are using cablecard then you should download cable AND OTA channels with initial set up as an ANALOG PBS station is necessary for the TVGOS. Many cable cos have gone all digital and therefore an OTA analog pbs station will be needed.


I guess I spoke too soon about my love of this unit. I recently switched to Fios and apperently there is no analog PBS. So I guess I have to hook up an antenna and see if I can pick up a local PBS?


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## fastep (May 22, 2004)

bgtimber75 said:


> I guess I spoke too soon about my love of this unit. I recently switched to Fios and apperently there is no analog PBS. So I guess I have to hook up an antenna and see if I can pick up a local PBS?


Let us know if it works. I too plan to try fios when it's available and want to use my sony with it.


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