LG - DRT389H Digital TV DVD Recorder with USB 2.0 Interface

I bought the DRT389H to replace my faulty Hitachi DVD/HDD recorder. The specification for the LG was good without being spectacular. I bought it primarily for making DVD's from a Freesat PVR (WHEN they decide to launch one!), so all I needed was a good, basic unit that was comfortable with a wide range of discs.

The LG comes with Freeview as standard, which is a great feature on such a low-cost unit. It's quite easy to programme, & the remote is fairly user-friendly. The upscaling output gives good definition & is a useful feature. It comes programmed at the lowest setting, so you need to set it up for 1080i. As it's a simple one-button operation, it shouldn't catch you out.

Single-layer discs can be set to give 14 hours playback, & dual layer discs can give 22 hours. Why, oh why doesn't someone make a dual-layer re-recordable disc? This would be a great step forward in data storage. Using the discs on the 14 hour setting gives a very low picture quality & should only be used as a last option. The high resolution settings are excellent.

The LG plays DivX & AVI files too, & plays them extremely well. The menu is a big help & points the user to the correct options every time. I haven't found the limit for USB sticks, but I have tried an 8Gb stick without any problems. Recognition times are good, too.

In these days of PVR's with dual tuners, we are becoming blase about recording one (or two) programmes, whilst simultaneously watching another. The LG has only one tuner, & if you set it to record a programme, you lose the option of watching another. Be aware of this!!

In the greater scheme of things, the LG has performance equal to many more expensive units. In fact, the Amazon price was some £38.00 cheaper than Curry's, & has just been reduced even further. I hope this review helps you to make an informed choice.

I purchased this DVD recorder purely to download programmes I want to keep from my Sky+ box and it's doing a fantastic job. It accepts any disc format I throw at it and with the DVD+RW discs I've been using so far, I am able to fit 6.5 hours of programmes on a single disc with no sacrifice in picture quality. On standard speed the discs will play on other DVD players (although I haven't yet tried the long play programmes on another unit). The only problem so far is copyright protection signals which are preventing me from recording programmes from Sky 1. I plan to also use it to transfer old VHS films on to DVD and the up-scaling feature promises a good result. In short, a good quailty machine with a lot of useful features.

After a nightmare with Comet I turned to Amazon for something in my price range and I ended up with this. Apart from the instruction book, which is pants, it's not a bad recorder. It does the job, it's not as slow as the Samsung I had before and I would recomend it to those on a budget looking for simplicity.