Sony RDR GX210S

The Sony RDR GX210S could be the worst dvd machine in the market. DO NOT BUY IT!!! After less than a year normal use, the recorder stop reading the disc showing the usual for this machine message "cannot read the disc". Even after a repair by Sony the problem came back.

Typically just after the guarantee ran out it packed up completely. It's always had issues with freezing. Switching off and back on would solve it but not this time. It died with the drawer half open.It's really put me off the brand name thing as the Phillips I got to replace it was half the price and I've instantly warmed to it. Me and the Sony just never got on...

I have the following Sony equipment in my house: video recorder, DVD camcorder, DVD player and TV. All these have lived up to what I would expect from Sony. However I am going out today to purchase a new DVD recorder and it will not be a Sony - what more can I say!

(message to Sony: the Sony RDR GX210S machines have been of such poor quality you could have recalled and replaced them and gained some good publicity)

I wish I'd seen these reviews before the warranty ran out 8 months ago on my Sony DVD Recorder RDR-GX210s! It was working find when I was using +R/RW discs, but shortly after using -R discs it decided that it "Cannot play this disc" or any disc. I'm so disappointed with Sony that I've even cancelled the order on my Sony laptop and will definitely be replacing this DVD recorder with a non Sony one!

My Sony RDR GX210S has broken down after less than two years with a repair bill of 165. Sony are not interested in contributing to this cost. I feel a DVD recorder should work for more than the 23 months mine did.

I just wish I had seen these reviews of this Sony DVD Recorder RDR-GX210 unit sooner because its been a total dog. In the past the unit has frozen when watching discs which I put down to a dodgy disc though it would seem that this is not an isolated case. Now the unit refuses to play or record discs with the words "Cannot play Disc", it locks up completely and the only way to restart it is to pull the plug out of the mains. The build quality is what I would expect from a bottom end unbranded company, not SONY. Having purchased Sony products for many years including numerous Betamax and VHS recorders without any problems whatsoever I am bitterly disappointed with this flimsy piece of rubbish. I'm looking to replace this unit sometime soon, and I can say that it will be from a rival manufacturer.

SONY, you need to kick your development team up their backsides for producing such a awful piece of technology :(

Ok, where do I start with this drive. If you bought one, you are very unlucky, if you're thinking of buying one DON'T. I'm sorry Sony but thanks to this drive it certainly lost you at least one PS3 sale in the UK (after seeing the quality of this drive I went for an X-Box 360 instead - made worse by the delay of the PS3 in Europe by Sony's incompetent planning).

When I got the drive home at first it worked pretty well and I was quite happy I'd got a Sony drive. When deciding on the DVD writer I had a hard decision between Sony, Philips & Panasonic. I'd heard some bad things about the Philips DVD writers and the Panasonic ones mainly only supported DVD-RAM's which are very expensive, so I decided to go for the Sony as it had multi-burning and didn't have the bad reviews like the Philips.

It went quite well for 6 months a bit temperamental with a few of the brands of discs, the best discs I found to use in it were over-prints (it was even temperamental with Sony's own brand of disc!). After about 6 months of having the drive I ejected a disc and this circular piece of rubber came out of the drive stuck to the DVD. I thought that really shouldn't come out but let's see whether it's ok without it.

For a few more plays and records it was fine, then it started to be very tempremental with anything, most of the time coming up with an error "Cannot Play This Disc". I thought at first it was probably just scratches on the disc, but it gradually got worse and worse, until eventually it wouldn't read anything. This was in the 9th month of having the drive, I then tried to get in touch with the place that sold me the recorder, they didn't have anyway of contacting them, just to contact the company that made the item.

I then contacted Sony, thinking Sony tech support would be able to help me. I was told that LG had made the writer and that I'd need to get in touch with them. I was quite annoyed about this revelation, this drive had cost me over £100 more than an LG, so I expected to get a little bit more better quality rather than be ripped off in this manner. Trying to contact LG about it was even worse, they weren't interested either as it was a Sony drive. In the end I decided I wasn't getting anywhere with either Sony or LG and by that time Panasonic had released a drive that was capable of writing to all formats (not just it's DVD-RAM format), and so I went and bought a Panasonic DVD writer and offered the Sony one on Freecycle for spares or repair. After that I've decided to be very wary about buying anything with a Sony label on, by letting a third party like LG make your DVD drives Sony you have really let me down, usually that's a trick done only by the cheap and tacky electronics firms not by some massive electrical conglomerate.

I'm glad to note now that the Panasonic that we replaced it with really looks and feels like it was well built.

The good thing was when I returned the Sony RDR GX210S to Argos, I was given the full refund no quibble.

I looked-up net for any solutions and was horrified to find this a known and very common fault with this Sony machine. There is no quick fix so should you be met with 'CANNOT PLAY THIS DISC' over and over, simply curse your bad luck, bucket the thing and go look for another one. I have contacted Sony UK but let's face it,look at reviews elsewhere and you'll get the picture...or not!(pardon the pun)

Digital Direct supplied the unit, and they were very unhelpful. They have no customer care and just want to sell the units and not deal with any problems. They actually threatened to charge me if I sent the Sony RDR GX210S DVD recorder back to them again, even though it was still faulty, which did what it was intended to - made me give up.