Sony’s DHG-HDD500 is a standalone digital video recorder that’s also digital cable ready. On the surface, that sounds strange (and a tad wordy), but in theory this one component promises an elegant solution to the run-of-the-mill digital cable box.

The DHG-HDD500 offers most of the cable connections you need to connect it with your TV and surround system. This includes analog component (Y, Pr, and Pb) and a digital video HDMI for transmitting high-definition video signals. An optical digital audio output sends the 5.1 audio soundtrack available on some cable and HD channels to your receiver or separate surround processor.
 
Conspicuously absent from the unit is a FireWire, or IEEE-1394 connection, which is included on a number of Sony’s high-definition televisions (called iLink). If you want to off-load HD content onto, say, a digital-VHS recorder, or the forthcoming Blu-ray HD recorders—which are likely to have a FireWire connection—you’re out of luck. For a box that should include every cool feature imaginable, this is disappointing (even if few people might use the feature today).

The remote control offers a handy jog shuttle wheel that helps you zip through the hundreds of channels in the program guide. This is a good thing since finding channels you want in the guide is nearly impossible, otherwise.

 
Fortunately, setting up the box to work with your system is pretty easy. Time Warner handled our CableCard installation, though an on-screen installation guide made it simple for the technician to do. You can then configure the video outputs for essentially any type of TV and subsequently get an appropriate number of aspect ratio adjustments for each configuration.

Up to this point, I’ve mostly dealt with what I consider Sony’s side of the box, which is well constructed and intelligently thought out. Much of what follows I consider to be part of TV Guide’s domain, as it relates, in one way or another, to the TV Guide on-screen menu. Using the box without the program guide is as intuitive and simple as any system. It’s when you add the guide that things get difficult.
 
For example, scheduling the DVR to record your favorite programs is workable, and all the tools you need to do it are there, but the search function is slow and static. It will search for keywords, which is nice, but you have to type in some or all of the word and hit enter before the guide will search for likely candidates. With other DVRs, the system starts searching the guide and narrowing the prospects with each letter you type. I seldom have to type a whole show name into my Tivo before it shows up on the list.

On the positive side, I was able to find a half dozen shows  I wanted to record, and had all the capabilities to play them back that I would expect, plus more. One handy feature is the ability to mark different parts of the recording for future reference, instead of TiVo’s useless quarter-hour hash marks. I also like the fact that you can adjust the timing for the “replay” (back skip) or “advance” (forward skip) functions, but was dismayed that the extremely short out-of-the-box settings are not, like many other default settings, more useful.
 
The on-screen channel guide is in itself a bonus though its execution is similarly frustrating. For one, instead of a sequential channel list, or even one that’s organized alphabetically by network, the guide scrambles the channel order based on popularity so that favorite channels appear on the first page, with local channels at the top. It’s apparently based on regional ratings, which means that unless you’re incredibly average, you’ll have a hard time finding what you want. You’ll also have to add or delete channels from both the Sony and TV Guide menus in order for the on-screen guide to coincide with the channels you get when you just surf without it. In addition, as you highlight different programs in the guide, an otherwise useful information box appears, but it displaces adjacent channels as you scroll up or down so that a channel that was listed at the bottom of the screen hops to the top, even though you’re still on the same page. It’s disorienting.
 
Having used both TiVo and ReplayTV, I may be harder on the Sony DHG-HDD500 than I should be. The former two systems are much easier to use than TV Guide, but neither one offers a digital cable ready product. If your experience with your cable company’s DVR has been less than stellar, the Sony box might at least be a step up. If so, it’s certainly easy enough for you to test the system at your local retailer. Otherwise, at this price, it’s hard not to expect more.