You see, whilst I had it, I also had the Sharp GD1 LCD TV as well, and the difference between the two units was frightening. The DVD recorder looked, in comparison, as if it had been designed late on a Friday afternoon, after a liquid lunch, or first thing on a Monday morning. Either that, or the engineers responsible were having a bad design day, or had never used a video recorder before.

Bottom line, it worked fine – no trouble with actually turning on or off, but the way in which it worked, was utterly frustrating.

Here are a few points that bugged me, and there may be one or two more that I’ve not made a note of:

·      Defaults to channel 1 on powering up

·      No HDD playback/record operation whilst DVD drive spins up on powering up

·      Mutes audio in set up mode for recording deleting, etc.

·      Programming done via Guide – needs Guide button to get out, not Return or Exit

·      Guide only does channels BBC1-Ch 5

·      No time of day display option on playback

·      Time display button hidden under flap of remote control

·      No backlight option on Standby/Off mode – turns off after 10 or 15 secs.

·      Graphics could look nicer – less cartoony compared to those on the GD1 TV

·      RGB output off, but not on via button under flap of remote control

·      Programming for timer recording is awkward and poorly executed

·      Button layout poorly designed – too much spacing between Ok and up/down/left/right buttons on remote control

·      EPG – couldn’t get it to work with NTL digital. Also took to rendering the recorder inoperable whilst it automatically tried to download the info, even after I’d not managed to set it up fully. Happened only whilst the unit was in standby/off mode, but at times when I wanted to turn it on to record a programme. So, flawed to say the least, since it didn’t do this process until 3, 4, or 5 am, when it would make most sense.

In reference to the above points – the defaulting of the unit to channel 1 at power on, was a pain since the Sharp HR400H wasn’t the fastest or most responsive device I’ve ever laid hands on for changing channels. With no DVD in the drive, I was forced to wait until that process check had been done before it could start recording to the HDD, even though it had been set to use the HDD by default.

Audio muting – not necessarily a reason to reject the HR400H on its own, but when deciding to remove a recording I’d already watched, it’d have been nice to hear the audio of the channel I was watching. The Electronic Programme Guide system is not intuitive in the least, and the least said about it the better.

I could only see BBC1 – Five with the guide, but deactivated them, which didn’t seem to deter the EPG from trying to download every day, a number of times per day.

The lack of backlight on the display is another indication of the through other nature of the Sharp HR400H DVD recorder’s design, when sitting in darkness and the unit on standby. As a VCR replacement for the 21^st century, it feels as though the designers have gone back a step rather than forward 3 steps. Surely with the years of experience designing VCRs, substituting a HDD for the tape mechanism should not cause fundamental changes features we already have and take for granted?

The display is different – white backlight instead of blue or orange digits – but it’s a little on the small side, with limited information. On playback, it’s either the time elapsed or the channel being recorded as the two options.

Lastly, the remote control itself is one of poorly thought out design – with more buttons than there really needs to be and useful ones hidden. Equally, the RGB output was controllable via the remote control for off only. If you happened to press it by mistake, then you needed to change the TV input to Composite, then redo the RGB out via the HR400H’s setup menu, then redo the TV input to accept RGB again.

Talk about convoluted! Needless to say, I never did get the RGB output to work with the GD1 – either it or the HR400H was faulty, and I know which one I suspect being the culprit.

There are a number of things I could mention specs-wise, that would be seen as trying to redress the balance of this review – but frankly, I couldn’t be bothered to since the info is easily found on Sharp’s own site, and it wouldn’t gloss over the fact that the HR400H is a seriously flawed DVD recorder that should have had more time spent on sorting out its shortcomings before being considered a finished article.

Bear in mind, this is done some time after receiving the unit, and a couple of other DVD recorders been used since and mentally compared to. Even so, in isolation at the time, I was still frustrated by it. Equally, when you have the GD1 LCD TV from Sharp painfully reminding you what excellent designs and executions can come from them, it makes the HR400H stand out like a sore thumb. If I’m being considered too harsh, trust me I could’ve been a lot more so.

So, does there need to be a conclusion, or is it fairly self evident that the Sharp HR400H DVD recorder is a poor contender for the “VCR replacement of the year” title, especially as it’s not one of the cheaper HDD based DVD recorders on the market?

If Sharp ever decide to get serious about releasing a proper consumer friendly DVD recorder, I’ll be more than happy to cast my eye over it and give it the fair dues it deserves. If it were me, I’d let loose the LCD TV designers on the DVD recorders, and bet they’d produce a design and function worthy of the name, as their efforts on the LCD TVs prove.

It’s all the more disappointing since I’m currently looking for a DVD recorder with HDD, and based on the GD1 TV alone, I’d have sprung for the DVHR400H – but now that I’ve had it and another (review soon), I know the Sharp definitely isn’t the one I’d be happy using for the next lot of years. In fact, it doesn’t even get a look in – which is a shame really, given Sharp’s reputation. I hope the next revision of this DVD recorder fixes the issues I found fault with, and if so, then I would happily endorse it.

Specs:

·       80Gb HDD / DVD Recorder, Record up to 100 hours on the Hard Disc (EP mode)

·       -R / -RW Recording, Guideplus+ Easy One-Week Recording Setting with On-Screen Programme Guidance (EPG)

·       Progressive Scan Component Video Output for Flickerless Playback,

·       Multi Format Playback -R/RW, +R/W & RAM, Hi-Speed Dubbing 48x

·       Simultaneous Recording and Playback (HDD). Even while recording a TV programme onto the hard disc drive, playback is possible without waiting to finish recording. MP3, WMA and Video CD Playback

·       SHOWVIEW / VIDEO Plus+ / Virtual Surround, High Speed Access' Thumbnail & Quick Search

·       Digital Noise Reduction for Crisp and Clear Movies, Speed Viewing and Listening (Rapid Play)

Review by - PJ Skelton

Published - 30/11/2005

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