Pioneer DVR-633H-S DVD Recorder/DVR (Progressive Scan, 160GB Hard Drive)

Pioneer DVR-633H-S

DVR-633H-S DVD Recorder/DVR (Progressive Scan, 160GB Hard Drive) Review, by Melissa Perenson November 30, 2005

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• Reviewed by: brdvideo

  Weaknesses: 1394 Firewire Port

  Overall: The Pioneer 633 seemed to be a good product at first glance and reading the reviews. However they claim it has Bi directional 1394 and it is not. It works only one way in! After going round and round with Pioneer they said sorry we mean bi directional as in controlling a camcorder... DA! That is not what their ads all say Bi Direction 1394 in/out to me that means video not controls... However the previous model 520H was true Bi directional in/out video.

• Reviewed by: pabz2k13

  Strengths: Top-of-the-line DVD player. 160GB Hard Drive. Good DVR. Sleek and modern design. Dual-layer DVD burning capabilities.

  Weaknesses: TV Guide on-screen hasn't worked since installation. Powering off the unit. Reset of the system's clock.

  Overall: This is my first DVR. The Pioneer DVR-633H-S has almost an equal amount of advantages to disadvantages. The advantages consists of an excellent DVD player. Second, the 160 GB hard drive allows for several hours of program recording without having take up too much space on the hard disk drive. Third, the DVR itself provides several options for modifying the recorded programs from the quality of the programming to removal of commercials (manually done). Fourth, the unit has a slender wide look that is quite modern, but the remote is typical of stock remotes - nothing out of this world. Finally, the unit supports DVD-R DL (dual layer), DVD-R (single layer), DVD-RW. The advantage of having dual layer is that it can record more on a single disc, but the downside is the dual layer blank DVDs cost much more per disc than just purchasing multiple single layer DVD-Rs. This leads me to the disadvantages of the unit. I haven't figured out how to get the TV Guide On-Screen to display the programming in my area. Fortunately, my TV was already equipped with Guide plus, which displays what programs are shown for a week in advance. Because I can't use the TV Guide On-Screen, I have to manually add in the time frame I want to record, the channel, the quality, and the date. Second, the unit does not have a "power off" button. Instead, it has a "stand by/on" button. By pressing the button it turns on, but if I press it to turn it off/standby it usually goes to the standby mode. Sometimes it randomly turns itself off, then by itself turns on later. Which leads me to my final, yet big disadvantage of the unit. If the unit turns off, then the time on the system changes for some reason. The only way to change the time is to undergo the process to set all the channels onto the DVR. If you don't change the time, then the timed recordings won't record the correct program. This can be annoying. In conclusion, because this is my first DVR, it has changed my viewing experience. Also, as time goes by I am learning how to tame this DVR. If you are looking to buy a DVR/DVD recorder there aren't to many choices.

• Reviewed by: eechip

  Strengths: 160GB HD, Slim Case, Free Guide, DVD DL capability

  Weaknesses: Only one tv tuner, TV Guide ease of use, CPRM

  Overall: Overall this unit is worth the purchase. Very nice case with good looks. TV Guide EPG is free but ease of use needs improvement. CPRM stinks, if I record a show, I should be able to copy multiple times, not once. I tried using my cable straight into the RF connection and the cable box in L1 for specialty channels, but setup does not support this. That stinks!

• Reviewed by: pioneerboy

  Strengths: DVDR-DL160GB HDDDV Input

  Weaknesses: 2 step recordingpicture qualityTV guide

  Overall: I have the 520 and I upgraded to the 633 because of the Dual Layer and XP+ features. Everything is pretty much the same as the older models. I really don't like the picture quality of this systems 2 step process. You can record at XP+ for 15mbps to the hard drive and then encode to the appropriate recording mode for the program you want to put on DVD. I find the picture quality degrades a lot from going from XP+ to XP. If you record XP in the first place, it produces a near identical picture of the source video. But if you record it at XP+ then re-encode to XP, I see a significant loss in quality. The TV Guide feature is very annoying. It's very big and block, does not work with Satelitte systems. It makes weird noises when the system is turned off, and the Tv guide's EPG is snooping with the hard drive. If not for it's dual layer capability, I'd have returned this. The User Interface is also a bit crappy. It's so much smaller and blurrier. More steps than the older models.