I'm wondering about getting an HXD995, given that the hard disk is bigger than the 890 I did have in mind. Is it much the same machine but just with a bigger disk? And anyone here had any good/bad experiences with the 995?

It has a CAM slot,which the 890 dos not have:http://www.sony.co.uk/product/dvd-re...TechnicalSpecs

Sorry, I don't know what that is, and those specs don't tell me either.

CAM slot is for Conditional Access Module - basically an interface for a decoder - like for Setanta or TUTV for Pay-DTT.

If you don't require Pay-DTT, then it's irrelevant.

Ah ha, thanks for the, er, decoding of that one. But no, I don't need that. So, what does anyone think of the 995 in general?

Just picked one of these up from John Lewis and it seems very good.

It has a fan but is very quiet. Its quick to move around the menu's, and the guide is straight forward. Its also built by Pioner, so good quality.

If I had one complaint it would be that in the guide you cant highlight a program and press record like you would on a PVR. You need to select red, timer, and then edit any times, series link, and then OK. But its not exactly a task, just different.

The best thing is the picture quality via HDMI, its great. I know many people still argue that there's no benifit but for me there's an improvement, and on top I can record Setanta.

Got mine from John Lewis too. The fan is extremely quiet. My 995 is setup in the bedroom about 2 feet away from my pillow. I've noticed that it gives a slight whir once (lasting about 2 seconds) in the very early morning where it updates the EPG but this is no real problem sleep wise. The menu system is very crude but it does the job.

If it helps, I found that pressing OK on a highlighted programme gets to the screen with the times, series link etc screen so it saves a couple of steps (I'm used to the Humax 9200T which works that way which is what led me to try it). I only wish that the "series link" default could be set to "on" in a configuration option somewhere so I don't have to keep setting it to "on" each time I set a recording.

I've had the 995 a week or so now and haven't had any freezes, lockups etc. I'm very impressed with it. I'm particularly pleased that when the (Freeview) broadcaster sends the signal that the programme has started, the machine starts recording immediately. So I am seeing complete programmes now, unlike on the Humax 9200T which often doesn't seem to wake up until the programme is part way through - ranging from a couple of minutes to sometimes 15 minutes.

Noise wise, the unit is in a compartment with a door on the front, but even with the door open it is not obtrusive. The fan is fairly quiet, so is the disk drive. The most noise the machine makes is when dubbing from HDD to DVD. It sounds like a small desk fan then. Otherwise it is okay. It also helps that the fan isn't on when the unit is in standby.

I subsequently realised that the slight whir was down to me leaving a disk in the drive overnight. Now I always ensue that I don't leave disks in overnight I get a perfectly silent nightly update. No problems to date so I'd be happy to recommend this piece of kit.

i'm probably being thick, but how do you get series link to work on this machine - i'm used to a humax 9200 and its so easy, but on this i can't figure it out. Its only been set up 20 hours or so, so do i need to wait longer for guide plus to set up - 24 hours or so is a bit odd to populate an EPG, what is the digital EPG as opposed to guide plus.

so far i am finding it all a bit complicated...

many thanks in advance!

No I don't think that you are being thick, it is a complicated process; combining HDD recording with DVD recording and also the option to control an external set-top-box and then giving two different options for the EPG.

I started with the digital EPG and then switched to the GuidePlus one but I have now reverted back. I found the GuidePlus "Guide" screen annoying with its little adverts on the left and frustrating because it didn't have the schedule details for the radio channels.
I can't remember now how you get to the series link info from GuidePlus, I do recall you simply pressed "red" to set a program to record. Maybe you have to go back into the timer list to update it.

With the digital EPG, as stated earlier in the thread, you get a second screen where you can set the record options (including series link) before confirming the timer to be set.

I hope this helps you a bit.

Haven't used Series Link yet on my HXD995 but I lifted the following instructions for the HXD870 from AVForums:


"this only works if the epg has been set up by those who send it and they mark it as a series , and I am using the digital epg , not guideplus for this

so say you were doing doctors monday to friday ( mine is set for it for er indoors )

get the epg up and press the red button , go to the option set details or whatever its called , use the down arrow to go to where it has the series option which will say off , set it to on , then back to the top right to enter it

now it will be set to record doctors , and the series link is on so when its done tomorrows , it will then find and set tuesdays , ad infinitum

make sure you have the latest firmware v1.65 in the sony recorders or you may have missing programmes using this feature , and I dont think its actually perfect as yet

nb:- if they havent set it as a series in the epg , you wont get the option to flag it to ON"

thanks - the main clue in this is don't use guide plus!!! many thanks for the help, it is now really easy!

I got the HXD995 from Amazon about 5 days ago and so far I'm very pleased but...if I copy one or more programs/films from Sky+ to HDD I can't find how to get the 995 to stop recording when the copy has finished. This means I get everything being transmitted on my L1 setting being recorded as well. depending on when I check the recording.
I have had a lot ot trouble cabling it up as I'm confused by the terms digital & analog. Are they talking about Freeview digital or Sky digital? Consequently, I've connected it like this:

Sky+ TV Scart-->HXD995 Line1 Decoder
HXD995 Line 3 TV-->Philips TV EXT1 Scart
Coax from wall-->HXD995 Digital in coax
coax HXD995 Digital out-->coax HXD995 Analog in
Coax HXD995 Analog in-->TV 75ohm.
I was having trouble getting the Guide+ to update the EPG but I'm now getting it with this setup.
Have I got it correct?
My unit is very quiet, I can barely hear any fan noise at all and the picture quality is excellent here.

Why don't you PM the guys who helped me out!

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...d.php?t=915319

I was hoping they would see this thread and respond on the basis that any response would be public and thus help others!

i couldn't get series link to work with guide plus so now use the digital EPG. The guide plus apparently takes over 24 hours to populate, and for some channels never seemed to populate and the machine needs to be off to update. Not sure how digital EPG populates but yesterday it seemed almost instant having changed from guide plus to digital EPG.

i agree, if people can post publically it helps everyone! Thanks!

I didn't realise there was another EPG on this unit! I've now selected digital and got digital EPG, but how do I sort the channels into the usual order?

It took me some while to get the analog Guide+ to work, it needed another co-ax cable (I think!). Until then, it kept saying it could not connect to host channel. It did take just over 24 hours to get all the listings but now OK.

Can you not stop it via the REC stop button?
Page 60 of the manual
Also you can record using the quick timer feature,i.e every press of the REC button will record half an hour of recording from 30 minutes up to 6 hours,and then will switch of the recorder,when it has stopped recording.

??? mine is in what i consider to be the usual order - bbc1, 2, itv, ch4, 5, itv2 bbc3 etc???

what order is yours in?

what is a pain is looking at guide stops the tv - the humax 9200 is better in this situation

Panic over! When the list was built/downloaded, the channels were all over the place, completely random instead of 1,2,3,4 etc. But, while I was thumbing through the manual it seems they 'auto sorted' as when I next looked they were lined up correctly. Did anyone else get this? There is nothing about sorting channels in the book anyway.

That's it! Quick timer, set the approx duration, quick dabs of the button and off it goes. I can't use the Rec stop button unless I'm on hand. I've been trying to record from Sky+ overnight.
My thanks to you for nailing it!

Just a quick update. I have been in touch with Sony Support (email) and I have to say they have been briiliant. They answered all my queries with detailed advice and instructions with appropriate links etc.
Of course, the same advice is available here too! But I have to say I am very impressed with the Sony response.

Having now fitted an HDMI cable to the Sony HXD995, I find that without a scart cable from Sony Line 3 TV to my Philips TV, when I turn off the Sony recorder my TV loses the Sky+ picture and the TV says 'no signal'.
In the Sony manual it says that I don't need to use the scart and HDMi cable at the same time. So how does the Sky+ signal get switched when the Sony recorder is turned off? I'm waiting for a response from Sony on this.
I've also noticed some sort of interference on audio that wasn't there before. A sort of 'rustling' noise that increases and decreases in volume. It is particularly noticeable during a conversation in a room with no apparent extraneous noises apart from this rustling noise.
Anyone any idea what might cause that?

I am Thinking About Gitting Dvd rec with Hdd later in the Summer is this one the Best one 4 A low price Sony is one of my Farvert Maks ?