FIT TO BE UNTIED
Cable television gets a bad rap. Before cable, we had TVs with dials and a dozen
stations. Now, digital cable offers hundreds of channels, including some
high-definition signals. But with digital cable, you’re tethered to the local
cable company’s box, which has a monthly fee and often lacks high-end features.
If you move, you have to give back the box and get a new one from your new
service provider, which means you’ll have to reprogram your universal remote.
And if you want to add digital video recording, or DVR, you have to rent a more
expensive box from the cable company. You can add a TiVo or ReplayTV unit, but
setting this up and using it with a digital cable box can be a logistical
nightmare.
Sony’s DHG-HDD500 is the first digital cable ready stand-alone
DVR, which means it will replace your existing digital cable box and will add
recording functions in one simple unit. It’s like a stand-alone TiVo or ReplayTV
unit, except that the on-screen programming schedule, courtesy of TV Guide, and
the hard drive recording functions are free. The digital-cable-ready
specifications require that you obtain an access card from your cable company,
which may have a modest monthly cost, and since the system is unidirectional,
you can’t access the cable company’s on-screen guide or video- on-demand
services. Given that, you may wonder why you’d want to replace the box that you
already lease from your cable company with one that you have to purchase
outright. After all, you lease the box for $10-12 a month. Sony’s DHG-HDD500
costs about $1,000 ($800 for half as much storage with the DHG-HDD250), not
counting the CableCard fee. At that rate, it would take several years for the
DVR to save you money.
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| 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. |
This is, however, a high-end box with high-end
features (mostly) like a built-in off-air digital TV tuner, so you can receive
local channels in addition to the digital cable channels. Augment what your
cable company offers in HD with a rooftop antenna signal. Unfortunately, there’s
only one tuner, another limitation of the CableCard system. The box we reviewed
comes with a 500 GB hard drive, though, which is absolutely mammoth. And while
HD shows take up a good chunk of space, this drive can store 60 hours of them,
or some obscene amount of standard-definition signals. It records the digital
signals exactly as they are received, thus performance is as good as it can be
given the quality of the original signal. You can also take the box if you move,
so you won’t have to reprogram your automation remote. And let’s face it, this
is one sexy-looking, full-sized component. The mid-sized, ugly gray cable box I
have from Time Warner looks just pathetic in comparison.
