On paper, this recorder seemed to be perfect for my needs - primarily scheduled recordings of TV programs. In addition to the normal specs for these devices, I particularly liked the commercial skip, its low standby power level, and its 5-year battery backup.

But the TV Guide is truly a deal-breaker. In the week I had my unit, it literally chattered continuously as it tried (with only partial success) to download the guide. It was very irritating in an otherwise quiet room, and quiet passages in music or TV programs are a thing of the past with this in the same room.

I emailed Pioneer; they said it is normal for the unit "to make some sound" when it is on, and the TV Guide cannot be disabled.

If it worked well, the TV guide would be nice, but it isn't worth the racket. If I could have disabled the TV Guide, I would have kept the unit and programmed it manually.

I reluctantly returned the recorder.

On the surface the Pioneer DVR-633-HS seems to be the one to get. After review I'll give it 4 stars without the TV Guide. It's a very good unit and perhaps the best in its class right now.

The Good: It's nice looking. It has many inputs although no component inputs. The remote and menu system is clean. Recording/picture quality is very good, 16:9 is automatically recorded and preserved. Can set many video levels (not audio though) to compensate for bad external signals. Flexible recording is fantastic. Hard drive is quiet although some complain. It does DVD copying. It does burning and finalizing DVDs in one shot. It has an amazing number of video controls for INPUT for recording from a VHS. Recording VHS tapes is *superb* and best I have seen and this is a great unit to buy if you are archiving. The dual layer is a great idea but it is only DL- which is not popular at all. I wonder if it will become popular eventually.

The Bad. TVGOS sucks. I feel like trashing... Read more

This would be a great machine if it didn't have that TV guide system on it. I've used a simpler TV Guide system on our RCA TV without problems. However with Pioneer, the TV Guide causes the hard drive to run virtually all the time. Even while watching a movie on DVD the hard drive is running and is noticeable. When the room is silent, the hard drive noise is irritating. I think that there must be something wrong where it is just not able to properly download the data that is causing this problem. We've had it plugged in for over two weeks now and it still does not give a full week (there is always one day missing and it constantly changes) of programs. The result is that it does not shut down. I've found that if I turn the machine off, and on again and then off, and wait about two minutes it will sometimes power down. There must be a trick to it. This is otherwise a wonderful machine that is easy to use and operate but that TV Guide system is going to cause a lot of... Read more