Sony RDR GX7 Review

Overall Rating

Build Quality
DV input support
Edit functions
Timeslip
Ease of use

On the expensive side
Brings nothing new to the market

Sony has one of those names attached to it, much like mercedes and bmw. It's the name which means quality and while this is true, you're soon find that there are other players on the market which do the same thing but for a fraction of the cost.

However what the Sony RDR-GX7 does it does well, it has the looks that show a elegant but classy product. Most DVD recorders are slightly confusing to get to grips with, those who say it's a doodle lie, you have to choose the quality, the right disc's it's all quite an experience. But the GX7 along with the GX3 seems to make sense out of it all. This is the major winning factor for the sony unit, it is easy to use. Slap any DVD disc in not RAM though and it records it's that simple....

However are you willing to pay over the odds for a DVD recorder that is more easy to use. The answer in this case would be no, while your be up and running in 10 minutes with this unit, after 30 minutes on another unit you will be at the same place, but with a slightly heavier pocket thanks to the money saved.

This Sony unit is roughly over £600.00. Which doesn't sound to much....

However the Panasonic DMRE60EBS is a fraction of the price, supports DVD-RAM this enables you to get 12 Hours onto 1 disc, it also has an SD card slot and PC card slot.... whats the point in that? Well ig you have a digital camera and you want to make a family video with pictures, video footage, it is a complete basic editing suite, allowing you to take pictures add them into the film, or take pictures from the film and send them to the card as a photo. I did mention this recorder is £399! Less than £200

Or Maybe you want something extra special and for £600 you can fork out on the Pioneer DVR5100HS. You want something to impress your mates... This is it, yes it's not a Sony, but Pioneer are known for there high quality products! This is no exception... This recorder has a built in 80GB hard drive allowing over 100 Hours of Recording to the Hard disc alone. You can record off the telly straight to the hard disc while watching a DVD now to me that is smart. You can do high speed copies 24x faster than normal and if that doesn't sound like enough it too is easy to use.. Phew

If this recorder sat around the £450 mark i'd say buy it, slap down that cash and start rubbing your hands together, but in truth it is over priced, it does lack some features that other recorders have, but it does look the dogs sitting under your telly