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4.5 stars
"The Swiff Army Knife of recorders: terrific...but not perfect."
Pros: Fast, quiet, reliable PC-use, Nero Suite 6, intuitive design, simple but packed with functions
Cons: In the stand-alone mode: unchangeable dvd menus, end product has erratic play in older dvd players
Summary: Acknowledging that it's a bit excessively pricey, I?ll say I am pleased with this burner and feel no remorse in shelling out the bucks. When it comes to electronics, I really do believe the adage ?you get what you pay for.? But to be fair to it, I need to review it in two parts. The concept of a burner that works with a PC and as a stand-alone recorder is pretty novel still, and admittedly, not perfected. This is the Swiss Army knife of burners, and while it is a lady of high-class and quality, like anything designed for a multi-use function, it isn?t able to do everything perfectly with all the bells and whistles. It?s important to really examine the technical specs on this product, make sure it does what you are buying it for?don?t buy it blind and risk disappointment because it doesn?t do exactly what you expected. I wanted this to use as a standard dvd recorder drive with my computer and to archive old VHS tapes and record television shows. I knew it wouldn?t be perfect, but I wanted something all in one.
DRIVE MODE: [10 out of 10 stars] Attached to a computer, it?s fabulous. It recognizes all the recordable medias out there right now (DVD-R/RW/DL,DVD+R/RW/DL), and it burns 16x discs flawlessly and without error, lightning fast. I?ve been using it to back up my old movies and so I?ve been giving it a good workout, and it performs wonderfully?and quietly. It comes with Nero 6 and the software is jam-packed with great features. You can pretty much convert most any of your video files/pictures to DVD Video with Nero. The Dvdirect is a top-of-the line dvd drive when attached to your PC. I?ve been using Verbatim and Taiyo Yuden DVD-R?s for everything and haven?t had a single coaster yet?but I think quality media is as important as the recorder itself.
STANDALONE: [8 out of 10 stars] I wanted this to archive my old, rotting VHS tapes. Not perfect, let?s get that out of the way. It's simple, as the process of recording is just a matter of playing your VCR and hitting record on DVDirect. You can even record directly from the TV if you have your cable hooked into your VCR, which is a nice plus if you want to record your favorite shows without the hassle of dubbing from a VHS tape later on. Also nice is you can keep recording on the same disc in multiple sessions without finalizing (you won?t be able to play in a dvd player until finalizing). The LCD screen is a nice feature, but it has no sound. There are a few drawbacks, but none of them crippling, and this concept is relatively new so I?m willing to grade Sony on a curve. First, depending on the quality of the original VHS recording, your end product might not be as nice as expected, even pixelated. I can only burn it at ?HQ? to get a decent quality copy, which allows me only about an hour of record time on a standard 4.7GB disc. But then again, I am copying old VHS tapes, so what could I expect? Secondly, the dvd menu created for your standalone DVD Video recordings are a set template and you are not able to make changes to them, which is unfortunate because they are functional, but not attractively designed. Also, I have several dvd players and these discs burned during the standalone operation behaved erratically in my older dvd player and would not load on my PC?s DVD-Video drive (but it did load with DVDirect, of course; I?m still trying to ferret out the why). My solution for all of the above has been to burn my VHS recordings onto a disc with DVDirect then import it into the dvd-video creating/editing program on Nero, making my own menus, titles, and chapters, then re-burning it. I found that this ?edited? end product behaves more reliably in the dvd player (less freezing and sneezing of images) and has better compatibility with all my sets. And this way I get a really niftly looking DVD-Video too, with all the bells and whistles. Granted this means you pretty much waste a dvd, but I buy a bunch from for about 27 cents a disc and it doesn?t seem too bad a sacrifice. Third, recording in standalone mode can be a bit tedious?and I wouldn?t feel totally comfortable letting it go by itself for hours. It detects signals automatically and when it doesn?t ?detect? one, it pauses recording. You could call this rather erratic recording but it hasn?t really been a problem yet, just a mild nuissance, sometimes even an advantage.
Despite the quirks, this is a great buy. If it was cheaper, it would be a phenominal buy. It?s cool, reliable, and easy to use.
