The Best of Both Phone, and Tablet
Entered CNET Catalog: 10/02/2004
SKU: 0884052000047
Manufacturer: HUMAX Co., Ltd.
Manufacturer description
Discover the amazing evolution of the TiVo service in HUMAX's DRT800 DVD Recorder. This full-feature, 3-in-1 product incorporates the easy-to-use TiVo service, giving you the power to control television and create DVDs. Go anywhere with your favorite shows on DVD or archive programs to free up valuable hard drive space. By using the same great TiVo service to burn DVDs, the process is straight-forward and uncomplicated. Discover the "Easy Digital" difference and feel the burn with the HUMAX DVD Recorder with TiVo service. Built for effortless operation, and incorporating the latest technology, the DRT800 employs TiVo service for simple recording and burning. HUMAX, the creator of the "Easy Digital" revolution, has designed a DVD Recorder with TiVo service as three components in one: an 80-hour TiVo Series2 DVR, an advanced DVD player, and an easy-to-use DVD Recorder. Users can search for their favorite shows and store them directly onto the hard drive - which means never having to struggle with videotape again. And when they're ready to get mobile, or create an archive, they can burn DVDs with the same smart and easy-to-use TiVo service. The HUMAX DRT800 - take the best of television with you - wherever you go. PRODUCT FEATURES: EASY-TO-USE - TiVo service makes burning DVDs as easy as recording a program; ARCHIVE PREVIOUSLY RECORDED SHOWS AND MOVIES - on DVDs and free up valuable hard drive space; TAKE YOUR SHOWS WITH YOU - create DVDs that can be played back in most car, PC, or home theater DVD players; MULTIPLE PLAYBACK FORMAT COMPATIBLE - including DVD Video, DVD-R/RW, CD-R/RW, A/V CD and your favorite media; RECORD - up to 80 hours of television entertainment without the hassles of videotape; CONTROL LIVE TV - pause, rewind, slo-motion instant replay any channel, anytime; ELECTRONIC PROGRAM GUIDE (EPG) - provides the TiVo Series2 DVR with up to 14 days of program guide data; SEASON PASS RECORDINGS - automatically record every episode of a favorite program all season long; WISHLIST SEARCHES - find and record all programs that feature a favorite actor, director, team, or topic; TIVO SUGGESTIONS - automatically records shows based on user's recording preferences; SMART RECORDING - detects line-up changes adjusts recording times automatically, and even skips reruns; TIVO ONLINE SCHEDULING - schedule recordings online.User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35out of 35 user reviews
Cannot live without it
Pros: Speed through commericals, season pass feature, save to DVD
Cons: nothing in the 18 months I have owned it
out of 35 user reviews
Sad but true - Humax has a no repair policy
Pros: wonderful while it works
Cons: if it's out of warranty, you're SOL
My DRT 800 went dead after 1.5 years and the Humax service department said they'd gladly send me a replacement for $240 but wouldn't repair my unit. The folks at Tivo hestitantly said they'd transfer my subscription, but I get the feeling when it comes time to pull the trigger, they'll suddenly review the fine print and say no dice.
Write this down for reference after your Humax goes dead, and it will go dead - it's just a computer running a small software program on Linux, a computer with no backup system, no IT department to help troubleshoot and absolutely no service from the manufacturer.
Go to www.weakness.com - their troubleshooting guides and forums are a good place to look for help.
Don't waste your time with Humax. They're just there to sell units.
out of 35 user reviews
Nice while they last but machines fail in a short time
Pros: Excellent features and DVD burning
Cons: DVD burner fails after a couple of months, poor remote design,
out of 35 user reviews
Bought in Jan. 05, broke in June 05
Pros: Great integration of Tivo and DVD Recorder, easy to use
Cons: It wasted many blank DVDs and broke within 6 months
Second, I bought this in January 05. In June 05, it quit buring DVDs. Of course, it would still ruin blanks in an effort to burn, but they never completed correctly.
Third, in January of 06, it quit working altogether. It got into a loop of restarting and would not even display TV. I didn't even bother with customer service, as I am totally fed up with this product (I have had many smaller problems that I won't go into).
Bottom line: Do NOT buy this product. There are better options out there. They may be more expensive, but you will make up the difference in saved time, shipping costs, and unruined DVDs.
out of 35 user reviews
Computer Geeks - Welcome to TIVO Heaven
Pros: Burning TIVO recording to DVD, burning VCR recording to DVD, sharing information between TIVO and computer.
Cons: 12.95 Subscription to TIVO. If you don't have a wireless network and/or broadband connection, you will not get the full benifits of this Series 2 TIVO.
- The DVD burner is very easy to use, and has allowed me to archive shows for our family, as well as share shows with friends. The muti-tasking unit can be burning a DVD, recording a show, while you are watching a recorded show - all at the same time.
- What really makes this unit stand out is it's wireless network capability. Be carefull to by a TIVO compatibile network adapter. You also need broadband and/or dial-up Internet connection to upgrade to the latest TIVO OS with network adapter integration. Once connected to your wireless network, you can access streaming MP3's and pictures located on desktop's and/or laptops. This requires you to run the TIVO Desktop software, of which you can download for free from TIVO's website. If you request for the latest TIVO OS through TIVO's website, it comes with cool Internet application such Yahoo Pictures, Yahoo Weather, Browse/Buy Movie Tickes, 365 Internet Radio, Podcaster, and some games - all free (or included in the price of the TIVO subscription). You can also download recordings from the TIVO to your PC and or Laptop using TivoToGo and Tivo Desktop. This will be very usefull for when iPod video and Windows Portable Media Players become more prevalent and cheap.
- If your a real geek, the TIVO developers have made the JAVA HME SDK available through SourceForge, allow you to develop your own custom applications for the Series 2 TIVO's.
Even if you don't take advantange of all the geek benefits, the TIVO and DVD burner alone are awesome. With the $150 dollar rebate, this made the unit a very affordable and worthy digital entertainment device for our family.
out of 35 user reviews
Poor reliability and virtually non-existent product support
Pros: The concept of DVD recorder connected to Tivo is excellent. But, it remains just a concept if the product is unreliable.
Cons: Product reliability is terrible!
out of 35 user reviews
Good product
Pros: lets you record your shows whenever you want and burn them to dvd
Cons: doesn't record in hd, doesn't let you edit commericals out either.
out of 35 user reviews
Humax having major problems with channel changing on this system!
Pros: Integration of DVD/DVR
Cons: Channel changing.
out of 35 user reviews
Humax thinks of us every step of the way.
Pros: Great Burner (DVD-RW), Easy to work with, Great Overall Function
Cons: It stoped responding once during setup, but it fixed itself in about 5 minutes. No VOIP support for initial set-up.
One little problem, No VOIP (Vonage) support for setting the box up. (They tell you to go to a friends house to set it up)
Thats it, Buy it Its great!
out of 35 user reviews
Product Support is abysmal!
Pros: When it works it is great! Wonderful quality picture and easy to use.
Cons: But ... and a big but ... After our first one broke down, It took four replacements to get one that was right.
out of 35 user reviews
Warning! Does not work with DirecWay
Pros: Great as long as you have DSL or Cable or Dedicated Phone Line
Cons: If you have DirecWay you will need a phone line to connect to TiVo for their guide
out of 35 user reviews
In Tivo Heaven!
Pros: Full Tivo functionality plus DVD Archival, Incredible price
Cons: Slightly degraded video quality (when compared to regular Tivo Series2)
Let's talk value here. With the current Tivo rebate ($150), even the laziest shopper should be able to purchase this baby for $150 net. With a little shopping I actually landed it for $90 after rebate. Not to shabby when you consider that these days that's what we spend taking our daughter to the movies and then for a quick dinner afterwards. The $12.95/month subscription fee? C'mon, get a grip! For all the features of the Tivo service, it's a steal. I pay that much each month just to get satellite radio!
And, I really appreciated it that the unit came with every cable I needed to install it into my home system. No emerency runs to Radio Shack were needed. About 45 minutes is all it took to get it online.
Hooking up a VCR ot my camcorder to the unit so that I can transfer years of VHS to DVD was a snap. Would it have been nice to have the ability to edit the tape? Yup, it sure would have been. But again, let's remember how much we're spending on this unit.
In summary, the price performance of this unit is nothing short of incredible. But that's just my opinion.....I could be wrong
out of 35 user reviews
Died after 10 days
Pros: Worked like a dream
Cons: Worked for only 10 days before it died
out of 35 user reviews
Great for its intended use.
Pros: Easy to use.
Cons: Picture is not very good either through the TIVO for real time cable or watching a show recorded by the machine.
out of 35 user reviews
Dolby Digital and DTS -- I found the settings
Pros: its a good product i found the audio setings to change to dolby digital and dts
Cons: less than great video quality when compared to straight cable vs. tivo...also changes HD shows to 16:9 when i could watch it in fullscreen and then the quaility is definately not HD
out of 35 user reviews
Love my TiVo!!
Pros: Easy hookup, had just one problem with the cable line. Love the picture quality. Love the Tivo with the easy recording of programs. It's "Great"! Tech support was the bomb!
Cons: None so far. TiVo service could be cheaper.
out of 35 user reviews
Great Features, Easy to Use, Horrible Video Quality
Pros: This is the unit I had been waiting years for! Love the fact that you can record to tivo then setup a "playlist" to burn to DVD. And still continue to watch Tivo or TV. It works great!!
Cons: Alas, I had to return this unit. The video quality was simply subpar on all but the very highest setting. The quality setting just don't measure up to other DVD recorders or even compared to my standalone TiVo. Dang!
out of 35 user reviews
Living large with 300gigs
Pros: Purchased the day before yesterday for $349 after rebate, purchased 300gb HD $159 after rebate, purchased Instantbake $19 (dload over internet). Upgraded today (piece of cake) now I have a 300gb Tivo with DVD Burn capabilities. Used the old 80gb HD for
Cons: Spoiled by DVD's and HDTV but with the extra space I record only at the highest resolution.
out of 35 user reviews
Wish I had bought this sooner.
Pros: Now there is always something great to watch on TV. The Season pass remembers what I've seen and only records new episodes (unless I tell it to get the old ones). Setup via phone line was so easy, but I didn't like having a phone line across the room. So
Cons: None.
out of 35 user reviews
Watch out for the scam
Pros: DVD-R.
Cons: Will require both your DirecTV receiver AND the Humax box, negating the $4/mo. charge w/ DirecTV for the $12.99/mo. charge w/ Tivo. It's a scam.
out of 35 user reviews
This thing is Great
Pros: The DVD recording function is great. Some reviewers comlplain about video quality. I record important shows at the highest quality, record to DVD, then erase from Hard Drive for more space. The unit is networked to my PC and I have access to all my musi
Cons: My wife records Oprah every day and now it is hard to avoid that media mogul. Other then that a larger hard drive would be nice but at $399 (what I paid at SAM's Club) I can't complain to much.
out of 35 user reviews
Dont try to replace existing DVD with this
Pros: I am not even bothering to finish hooking up to find any.
Cons: No 5.1 channel sound outputs on the unit. This is very unhelpful if you expect to replace a current DVD player with this unit. No more surround sound movies. No guidelines for installing unit into a home theater system. Guides, phone and web support only
out of 35 user reviews
Great for Recording and Converting TV Shows to DVD
Pros: VERY simple to use. Tivo menus are very cool and save time. Great video and sound quality (on my 42" Sony). Quick and simple burning of TV shows to DVD. Love it so much I bought a second one for the bedroom. ($100 rebate from Circuit City a nice surpr
Cons: Can't edit or edit out commercials, can't record a show and watch a LIVE second show at the same time (although you can get around this with a two tuner TV); a bit noisy for bedroom - occasional whirring sound while it's defragging, or whatever its doing.
out of 35 user reviews
Easy to use, convenient. A winner.
Pros: TiVo's easy to use interface; superior picture quality. Greatly reduces the need for more storage on TiVo's hard disc.
Cons: Too bad it can't record material imported to it over Wi-Fi from other TiVos in the house. Editing our commercials would have been nice, too.
out of 35 user reviews
Hooked from the start!
Pros: Ease of use couldn't be beat. (unless Apple made one)
Cons: Can't think of any, except price of TiVo service. (but still worth it)
out of 35 user reviews
DvD recorder and Tivo. That's all I have to say.
Pros: Big Harddrive,Tivo service
Cons: Support was not that good for Humax.Tivo was better.Remember Tivo is on the program side and Humax is the hardware side.And they will tell you that.
out of 35 user reviews
It does what I bought it for
Pros: Does a very good job of burning my daughter's favorite shows to DVD (Magic School Bus). This may not seem like a great feature, however, spending 4 hours in the minivan while she watches her shows is priceless. Are we there yet, is a thing of the past!
Cons:
out of 35 user reviews
After a week.. This WOULD BE the BOMB!! if it were integrated w/dual tuner reciever and 4.95 TIVO...
Pros: Accessing the TIVO style menus is childs play with the familiar and easy to use TIVO remote. Record your shows from the guide, record the show you are watching or select a time to record. Saved shows can later be selected from the now playing list for th
Cons: Expensive Tivo service is required for product functionality. Even recording a show is disabled without a subscrition. DVD recording quality is limited to the show's recorded quality level. Thus no flexibility if you happened to record 'Dora' in high qual
out of 35 user reviews
Greater than the sum of its parts!
Pros: All the goodness of a regular TiVo, plus the ability to burn DVDs. The interface is consistent and easy to use throughout. You can even do three things at once; burn a DVD, watch a previously recorded program, and record a new program.
Cons: (Very minor) Can't remove commercials before saving to DVD.
out of 35 user reviews
A real joy for Tivo users!
Pros: So easy to burn dvds with the tivo menu. Picture quality seems about the same as my old series one tivo. Burns pretty fast compared to my computer's dvd burner. Simple to record home movies from digital camcorder with its firewire port right on front, an
Cons: Not being able to edit may be a disadvantage to some, but not to me. I don't have time to edit...just want to burn and save in a fast simple way. Must use high or best quality at all times, which cuts down on storage space, but again, that's not a proble
out of 35 user reviews
So simple to use
Pros: The set up is really easy and the system is simple to use. Burning DVDs has never been easier and the online tool through a home network is amazing. The menu on the burnt DVD is great also.
Cons: None so far... maybe not being able to edit stuff before recording.
out of 35 user reviews
Has some great features but one big drawback
Pros: All the convenience you've come to expect from a TiVo with an integrated DVD burner. The TiVo-style menus on the burned DVDs are great.
Cons: Inability to edit video before writing it to DVD. Only half the storage compared with other TiVos. I bought this unit because my TiVo series 2 was full and I wanted to use the Home Media Option to trasfer programs to the Humax and write them to DVD. Th
out of 35 user reviews
Awesome Player and Recorder!! Better than regular Tivo
Pros: I spent several months pondering whether to purchase a DVD recorder and since I already had one Tivo 40 hour box I didnt know if this was a wise purchase. Was I ever wrong. This player blows away standard Tivo boxes with all the bells and whistles. IT has
Cons: Price!
out of 35 user reviews
Great value and easy to use!
Pros: TiVo and a DVD Recorder go great together. I've finally tranferred all my VRS's to DVD (used Sony analog to digital converter to avoid macrovision issue), archived good shows for viewing later, and love the TiVo interface.
Cons: Would like to be able to edit commericals.
out of 35 user reviews
Totally Awesome and Out of this world!
Pros: Fast, easy to use, produces great DVD's with Tivo Menu's! I love it!
Cons: Not even...well ok the RF Output creates some problems for feeding the signal via a 75 ohm plug to the rest of the house, but a RF converter fixed it.
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