Cambridge Audio DVD55-RWI Review

Overall Rating

Great looking machine, quiet, very compatible.

Remote could be better. (Had to find something bad about it!)
Bright light.

Richer Sounds have found a great little number here. As a not excessively expensive machine, the Cambridge Audio DVD55-RWI cannot be beaten. Everything about it shows an attention to detail which is often lacking from other manufacturers. It looks a LOT more classy than most others, and feels rock solid. There is no annoying fan to cool down the insides and the drawer slides out in a very steady and reassuring manner. Exactly the opposite of certain others I will not mention!
The menu system, exactly the same as the Yamada DVR8000, is easy to navigate, and takes only a few minutes to master. Playback of DVDs is great, and can accommodate RCE multi-region disks without fuss after the small tweak listed on the box.
Recording is also very good. The six-hour setting does produce quite a lot of compression artifacts but the four hour setting is very clean and precise. Two hours is almost indistinguishable from the source, and the 1 hour setting is perfect.
The only quibbles I could find are that the remote has a slightly odd layout and the buttons are a little on the small side, and also that the standby light is alarmingly bright, but other than this, I cannot recommend this enough. Its a joy to use.