I want to buy a Sony DVD recorder and I'm looking for recommendations of which model to get.

I've never owned a DVD recorder before so I'm not sure what I need.

I've got sky+ and it's hard drive is large enough for me so I don't need the DVD recorder to have a hard drive as well. I want to be able to at least play (if not also record) as many formats as possible/useful. I would rather not spend more than £200-250, so I think that rules out getting one with HD. If I can get what i'm looking for, for only around £150 then that would be great.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Hi, the latest Sony range comprising the RDR-HXD 770, 870 and 970 are very good and well priced.

They include good upscaling via HDMI, cover all the formats you'll need, dual layer recording, a Freeview tuner, series record, DIVX playback so you can play movies you download from the net straight away, rather than having to convert them. They also have an i-Link socket so you can transfer in footage from your DV camcorder.

They can also play MP3s and JPGs from a USB pen drive.

They all have the same spec apart from the size of the hard drive. The entry level model, the HXD 770, has a hard drive capacity of 120 gigs, which will give you around 60 hours of storage at SP quality, which is fine.

Up to now most people go for the HXD 870 which has 160 gigs, especially as the 770 is pretty rare.

However, Argos have just reduced the price of the 770 and are currently selling it for 149.00 -just within your budget! So you can get a machine with a hard drive which I think you'll appreciate - it's much easier to record to and you can edit the recordings before transferring them to DVD.

Th 870 sells for around 208.00.

If you really don't want a hard drive then the Sony GX350 is available for around 89.00. This machine also has a good spec but no i-Link and no Freeview tuner.

If you can afford it I'd recommend going for the 770, even though you already have Sky+. You can then transfer footage from the Sky+ to the Sony's hard drive, trim out the adverts, clean up the beginning and end of the programme and then transfer at speed to DVD.

Argos HXD770:
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produc...DSony.Sony.htm
GX350:
http://www.pricerunner.co.uk/pl/4-97...Compare-Prices