Pioneer DVR-220 DVD Recorder

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Pioneer DVR-220

Write
~~CDR~~
~~CDRW~~
DVD-R
DVD-RW
~~DVD-R DL~~
~~DVD+R~~
~~DVD+RW~~
~~DVD+RDL~~
~~DVD-RAM~~

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CDR
CDRW
DVD-R
DVD-RW
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DVD+R
DVD+RW
~~DVD+R DL~~
~~DVD-RAM~~

*based on user reports.

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$400

8.6/10
22 votes
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DVD Player features:
Video formats:
~~DivX~~ JPG
Audio formats:
MP3 WMA
Other features:
Progressive Scanning

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Region code free hack

DVD Media comments for this DVD Recorder (click on the link to read the comments):
1 Dataware 8xDVD-R (TYG02.......) comments, 0 good, 0 mixed, 1 poor.
1 Fujifilm 2.4xDVD+R (RICOHJPNR00) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Panasonic 2xDVD-RW (MEI 02RW0002) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 TDK 4xDVD-RW (TDK601saku..) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
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Comments

27 comments, Showing 1 to 25 comments

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lindguini from United States reported January 19, 2006:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	DVD-R DVD-RW DVD-R DL?	DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3? CVD?	30 days	9 of 10
~~DVD-RAM~~
Comments:
Do you want bulletproof DVD recordings EVERY time? Are you tired of your finicky, $90 clock-radio-corder that routinely generates a trashcan full of failed DVDs on a monthly basis? Do you cling to the false hope that your cheap-corder company will issue a firmware upgrade to cure your woes? Isn't your time more valuable than that? Spend an extra $50 and go with Pioneer. I've owned several Pioneer products including the solid DV-525 DVD player that's now six years old. My 220S has the same brilliant DVD playback quality that I've come to admire with my older Pioneer DVD player. Many people are disappointed when they buy the cheap DVD recorders because those units have only mediocre playback picture quality, too few inputs (for recording from multiple sources), and flakey DVD recordings. Pioneer builds their recorders right the FIRST time and you won't be working out their bugs and wondering if your next recording will fail. I chose the 220S after I found it to be one of the highest user-rated recorders in many forums including videohelp.com. Multiple video inputs/outputs on 220S put other recorders to shame. Take the cover off this unit and you'll see the beefy power supply board and quiet fan that means this one's built to last. No cheapy clock radio power supplies like in the sub-$100 recorders. When I hit "record" on the 220S I always get a perfect burn, no questions asked. Just read the owner's manual, feed it a decent blank disc, and be done! PROS: 100% reliable burns, 3 s-video/composite inputs, 2 s-video/composite outputs, high-grade Pioneer Pure Cinema DVD playback quality, impeccable recording quality, super quiet and cool running, amazing variety of controls for adjusting picture quality on all inputs, user-selectable remote control frequencies to eliminate conflicts with your other remote controlled equipment. CONS: No iLINK DV input but it makes up for this with a dedicated s-video/composite input for your camcorder on the front panel.

bjorn turock from United States reported November 14, 2005:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL?	DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3? CVD?	over 1 year	No rating
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
this is a great dvd recorder. i wish it would play PAL disc's though. i'm not talking about out-of-region discs, it wont even play region-0 PAL discs. it will play them, but the dvd player will not convert on the fly to NTSC like many other pioneer dvd players. it will not play DVD+R DL discs. the manual is available online. the dvr-220 & dvr-225 are the same players, just different model #'s.. 220 is for wal-mart, 225 is for other retai outlets. the 320/325 is the same dvd recorder, it just has DVI. http://www.pioneerusa.com/pio/pe/images/portal/ci ... -320-S.pdf

Willy from United States reported August 11, 2005:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	DVD-R DVD-RW DVD-R DL?	DVD+R DVD+RW DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3? CVD?	150 days	8 of 10
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
The only complaint I have about this recorder is the way the video drops out when recording older VHS tapes recorded in 6hr. mode. I mainly use it to record from TV, to archive vhs, & backup DVD's (using a video stabilizer) that I can't do on my PC. I previously had a liteon 5101 and went through two ILO dvdr04's. They were crap. Compared to those, this recorder is excellent. If it didn't have the video dropout problem I would give it a 10. It does everything else I want it to.

BobT from United States reported July 27, 2005:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	DVD-R? DVD-RW DVD-R DL?	~~DVD+R~~ ~~DVD+RW~~ ~~DVD+R DL~~	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3 CVD?	14 days	8 of 10
~~DVD-RAM~~
Comments:
After using an ATI AIw 7500 for several years with good results I decided to add a DVD standalone recorder. The reviews on the DVR-220 were uniformly good so I ordered one from Walmart. There is a recent thread on this recorder where the individual suspected it was a used unit because of a "Round Blue Sticker" near the box Serial number. Don't know the reason for the sticker but Walmart has recalled all of these Recorders from the stores and is selling them Only via their internet site. The one I received was new and recently in a Walmart store in Pittsburgh. The DOM is April 2004 The recorded Video is very good and just a little better than from the ATI 7500. Undoubtedly due to the extra hardware processing. There is one problem this unit exhibits on playback of DVDs made with TMPgenc DVD Author. There is a diconcerting jump from chapter end to the beginning of the next chapter. The closed captions (if present) will automatically be captured with the video. I have not seen this mentioned in previous reviews. Closed Captions is not mentioned in the Manual. I process all of my caps with Womble Mpeg VCR, Tmpgenc DVD Author, and for multiple shows slightly to large for the DVD CloneDVD2 to get the right size. The closed captions are still present on the finished DVD. This recorder is being phased out and the newer Pioneer recorders don't have a lot of the features this one does (multiple inputs and record settings). All in all this is a very nice recorder for the money.

adorable from United States reported June 08, 2005:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL?	DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3? CVD?	180 days	No rating
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
I'd try a Pioneer 109 or Plextor 716A + Verbatim 2.4x DVD+R DL discs. Works fine on the DVR-220-S here.

lumis from United States reported May 08, 2005:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR CDRW	DVD-R DVD-RW DVD-R DL?	DVD+R DVD+RW ~~DVD+R DL~~	VCD XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3 VBR CVD?	over 1 year	7 of 10
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
okay. i've had quite a while to tinker and play with this dvd recorder/player. i'm pretty satisfied with it. i originally purchased it when it was $248 at walmart, it's currently $198.. a very good price. as a dvd recorder, its pretty damned good. i mainly record in dvd-vr mode, take the discs to my computer, extract to mpeg, edit, author & burn. you can do this on the dvd recorder itself, but your range is quite limited.. which is understandable.. there are 4 basic quality settings. FINE = 1 hour (8.0mbps video w/ LPCM audio) SP = 2 hour EP = 3 hour SP = 4 hour you can also go in 5 minute interverals, a total of 32 are available.. my favorite is MN31, 9.0mbps audio w/ 256kbps ac3 audio. very good quality, even better than FINE by the virtue that it uses the bitrate for video rather than ac3 audio. if you go above 2 hours, but below 4 hours in recording time in DVD-VR mode the mpeg it records is out of DVD SPEC.. i've heard that if you record in DVD-VIDEO mode it will use a compliant mpeg.. a few complaints.. i wish you could set the audio bitrate to 192kbps, its a small complaint, but 256kbps is a little bit of overkill. sometimes i'm recording from HD (16:9) sources and the player only supports 4:3 sources.. i have to patch the A/R on the computer.. but if i were an average user who recorded a television program from HD and then took it to a friends house to watch who didnt have an HD television the picture would be out of proportion.. i'd like to be able to record from PAL sources, understandable that you wouldnt be able to, but it would be a nice feature.. macrovision too, but its in the same boat. as a dvd player, i'm a bit dissapointed.. pioneer makes the pioneer dv-270, which is my favorite dvd player.. it just kicks ass.. i wish the 220s supported everything the dv-270 supported.. this player will not play PAL dvd's, and it will not play DVD+R DL.. which really REALLY dissapointed me.. yes, i've set the book type to dvd-rom.. the discs play in every other dvd player i've tried them in except this pioneer.. it just says "CAN'T USE".. but it does play every other dvd & s/vcd i've tried on a variety of different formats (dvd-r/w, dvd+r/w, s/vcd)... and it does an outstanding job recording from various sources.. i'd give it a 7 out of 10.. let me recap what pioneer should do to improve this dvd recorder/player. 1) support recording from 16:9 & maintaing the correct A/R 2) support recording at 192kbps ac3 (256kbps is just a waste, and so is LPCM). 3) multi-system (NTSC/PAL) dvd video playback support 4) support DVD+R DL for playback, i can understand not recording them.. you should especially when the book type is DVD-ROM those are the 4 big things that the dvd recorder/player should do.. here a few things i could only wish it would do. 1) hide a macrovision/region hack in the menu's 2) support recording from PAL & macrovision sources 3) divx/xvid/mpeg4 playback support (from cd-r, dvd-r/w, dvd+r/w & dvd+r DL) 4) HDMI/DVI output i'm a loyal pioneer customer.. i use their PC dvd recorders, tv's, speakers, recievers dvd players & dvd recorders.. the workmanship quality & usability of their products is outstanding, especially considering the price.. in my eyes they blow SONY out of the water. i hope they listen to their customers and make their products better.. because if they do they will keep their customers coming back for years, like me. i was at an out of town wal-mart and saw the pioner dv-231s.. i'm wondering if pioneer read my comments on the message board and saw some of the suggestions i had for them about this recorder.. some people have complained about the "blackout bug" with this recorder, but i've never experienced it. regards, lumis

ILO-GUY from United States reported March 23, 2005:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	DVD-R DVD-RW DVD-R DL?	DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3? CVD?	30 days	9 of 10
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
I think david pretty much summed up everything you would want to know about this machine. Great review david! I think anyone buying this recorder will be very happy. I also own an ILO DVDR04 so I can compare them directly and I must say that the Pioneer is certainly a more feature rich recorder. However, the ILO is a really good recorder. I'd like to make a direct comparison: For about $60 more than the ILO you are getting a stereo tuner, variable record modes, quiet/smooth overall operation, creates nice menu screens with 32 characters available for titles, video enhancement functions built into the recorder, ability to select the image used for the title. On the other hand, the ILO can be made macrovision-free (transfer those VHS that you already rightfully own!), can be made region-free, it uses "+" format for more friendly RW disks that don't need finalizing, and costs $60 less :) Also, the "GREEN" issue has been solved on the ILO. I have directly compared the picture quality of both of these systems by recording the same video on both systems and then playing it back at the same time on both units and switching between the sources. Image sharpness is suprisingly close. In fact I actually prefered the ILO recorded video over the pioneer in some instances. However, the pioneer does offer a more true color reproduction. Pioneer is sometimes "sharper" but this can sometimes cause more noise in the picture. Even with the GREEN issue solved the ILO still has a slight black level problem. I think that spending an extra $60 will get you a better recorder in most respects. But, I doubt you will ever use the "VR" mode on the Pioneer because the disks it creates are totally incompatible with almost every DVD player available. That also means that most of the nifty editing features are not avialable in the standard "compatible" mode. In my opinion -RW is a soon to be dead format because of the superior +RW. At any rate, if you take those CONS into consideration and stick to DVD compatible mode on the pioneer... you will get a very cool, very stable, feature rich system. But.. don't count the ILO out just yet. It really does deliver the goods for a very low price. Rumor has it that it could become Walmarts $99 recorder by the end of the year. ILO-GUY

David from United States reported March 22, 2005:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	DVD-R DVD-RW DVD-R DL?	DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL?	VCD XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3? CVD?	14 days	9 of 10
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
Bought the DVR-220-S from Walmart for the usual $200 or so it sells for today. Took it home, hooked it up - you'll have to feed the video output into a RF converter if you have an old TV that only has 300/75 ohm connectors. The DVR-220-S doesn't output video through the antenna hookups in the back. Also, noticed that while I have a roof antenna, it didn't pick up on the strong ch.2-6 broadcasts if the antenna feed first went through my VCR deck, then routed into the DVD recorder. I had to route it first into the DVD recorder, then through the VCR and finally into my TV. Believe the tuner in the DVR-220-S is a little picky with the lower channels if you have another device ahead of it in the antenna hookup path. However, that said, both units now have crystal clear channels from 2 through 68, so there you go. --- The unit will simply black out the screen and there will be no audio if the tuner signal strength isn't strong enough for it to display a signal -- here, I wish all of the latest devices simply displayed static and the audio -- you can usually still see something even though it will look really bad. --- Hook ups to another DVD player, Philips DVP642, another walmart purchase, with m.vision and region unlocked still reveals that the DVR-220-S is sensitive to whatever CP signal is still left, and refuses to dupe directly. --- The recorder sets up pretty quickly - you simply let it auto-tune the channels, then set the auto time to a local PBS channel, and in minutes, it'll have the correct time and channels setup. It is interesting to note that it won't auto-find a channel that has the time-broadcasts - you have to set it manually to one of the local PBS channels that broadcast this info. (here in Los Angeles, ch.28 for me) The rest of the settings can be ignored -- but you may want to turn the auto-fit function on. This automatically changes the compression ratio on a recording to fit a timed recording to the current disc if there isn't enough space for your original quality setting (eg. if it's on SP 2 hr mode and you're recording to a disc that is half full, it'll automatically drop down to LP 4 hr mode to fit a 2 hour TV show recording to the disc). Why this isn't on in the first place is beyond me! Other settings are pretty much the usual - if you have a 4:3 or 16:9 screen, progressive or not, audio output type, etc. --- The remote control is a bit crowded, with two stop buttons and a variety of buttons here and there. You will think it's a bit crowded, and you may want to consider other models if you're not the type to learn every button on the control. (They could have put quite a bit into a nice menu button on-screen.) But, once you do pick up where the record, play and basic buttons are, it's not that bad, and okay. Some buttons are very tiny - eg. channel up/down; tv channel and volume, and why they did that is beyond me once again. Fat, big, easy-to-find buttons are my thing. That said, it's not a remote that you'll easily pick up operating blind. You do have to look at it to find most things. --- The front panel on the DVD is far easier -- they should have made the remote like this. Simply press play, stop, record, or channel up/down and you get 90% of what you need everyday. At least it's pretty easy to use. --- Downside is that they have two stop buttons! Why? For chase play mode where you can play a live recording. But it does make you confused at first which one you press to stop a recording! (Just pick the red one!) --- Timed recordings made by the easy-recording mode is that easy - just visually scroll through a timeline to pick the start and stop times, channel, record speed mode and you're done! Can't be easier, will hardly ever make a mistake, and it's easy to use. Menus overall are colorful, iconic, and pretty - can't say much more than they look nice, and I prefer this vs. other recorders that have text only menus. They're easy to navigate for the most part, so it's easy to find what you want most of the time. Some of the descriptors can be confusing until you learn by memory where certain things are. eg. is Time Jump located in Disc History or Disc Navigator? Thankfully, like learning to get somewhere based on the sights, you can learn the DVR-220-S the same. --- Timed recordings do lock the machine two minutes before the recording starts to spin up the disc, make it ready for recording (if necessary). Thus, you won't be able to watch the last two minutes of another channel using the DVD tuner - it'll automatically switch over to the channel you'll be recording two minutes from now. Once the recording starts, it does a pretty good job starting close or on the dot (assuming you're local auto-time broadcast is accurate). --- What's nice about the recording is that it automatically picks up the TV show title from the antenna broadcasts, and it'll auto-title each recording with the show's name. eg. 24 will be titled 24, The Simpsons will be titled the same, etc. Makes it very easy to figure out what each icon on the recorded DVD menu is. also, very nice!, when you have the icon for a recorded show on your DVD selected, it'll autoplay the show live in that icon so you can preview what it is - no need to play it, FF, and see if you've got the right show selected for playback. --- Record modes are the usual - Fine 1hr, SP 2hr, LP 4 hr, EP 6HR, and manually adjustable in 32 or so steps. (or was it 34?) Basically, everything above EP will be in standard MPEG-2 DVD format; EP and lower will be in MPEG-1 (think VCD) format. Quality on a regular TV looks fine down to EP if you're sitting a few feet away on the couch. EP looks like VHS EP mode if you're sitting a foot or two in front of the TV. The other modes look fine. Take the same disc and play it on a PC, and you'll notice the difference even more -- Fine is the sharpest and least blocky - like a very good PC conversion of video to DVD; SP is good, like a fast 1-pass conversion, but still decent; LP is similar to a live ATI All-In-Wonder or WinTV recording to the PC - more blocky, noticable artifacts, etc.; EP is well, like a VCD. Obviously the DVR-220-S has a decent block&noise reduction filter on playback of recordings, so that's why it looks better to play recordings on it than the PC. --- Noise, which shows up like grainy particles of sand in recordings, is quite well controlled even in LP/EP mode vs. some yucky PC MPEG-2 live recorders which simply go super-blocky or rectangular blocky when there's noise. The noise appearance is a lot less annoying than what you'd normally see on a live MEPG-2 recording on a PC TV tuner card. Keep in mind that you can manually adjust the noise reduction level on the deck. --- Startup takes a few dozen seconds; insert of disc to playback takes a few more seconds. It's not as fast as a DVD player simply because it has to figure out if the disc is recordable or not, and to spin up the cooling fan in back. Shutdown is quick. The cooling fan is very quiet, and silent in all cases I've used and tested the deck. Definitely not a noise problem at all IMO. --- So far, at least on cheap 1x DVD-R media (CMC MAG) and included samples of FujiFilm DVD-R for Video DVD-R and DVD-RW discs, the recorder works perfectly! Absolutely no glitches, pauses, stutters, or any other problems in the recordings. (I'm happy because I have a good use for all of those slow, old 1x DVD-R Optimum discs I have bought cheap.) Here, don't bother feeding it faster than 2x discs -- why? It won't record faster than that live, and when finalizing, etc., I don't think the drive runs much faster. The drive is quiet - again, like the fan, not a problem when recording or playing in a quiet room. You just don't hear it. Same with drive eject/close noise - very quiet, you can hear it, but it's very muted and soft. --- Front panel display is nice - when you change the record speed, it'll tell you right away how much time is left on the disc inserted for another recording. Nice feature! --- The drive remembers the last 50+ discs you've recorded to. It'll remember the title along with how much empty space is left, so you can easily and quickly pick a disc you've recorded to to fit a new recording onto. Here, simply press the menu, bring up the disc history icon, and there's the whole list on-screen. --- Some things are buried farther than I'd prefer. Here, jumping ahead by exact timecode takes a few menu presses -- Main Menu -> Disc Navigator -> Jump -> by Time -> enter time and enter. Wish this one feature was on a remote control menu button! --- Watch out if you've got an old TV! The DVD player menus come right up to the edges and beyond on an old TV like mine, and overscans to the point where most left hand menus are partially cut off. Not a problem with the newer TVs, but something to keep in mind. Wish they thought it out more and put the menus in the center like any thought-out deck should. --- AV sync over 2 hours is perfect - no problems, no out-of-syncs, just perfects sync. --- Forget PAL discs - this baby will play them, but only in B&W! It won't internally convert from PAL to NTSC timing for output like the Philips DVP642. --- Forget any foreign discs. No region unlocks yet that I know of. --- DVD recording from the front panel SVHS jack from a cheap Sharp VL-Z3U camcorder works fine. Quality is so-so due to the so-so quality of the camcorder and use of the SVHS jack, but otherwise, okay for what it is. Really easy Camcorder to DVD copies, even though this model doesn't have the DV input jack of the $300 DVR-320-S, and it works fine. Just keep in mind to keep the deck in Fine or SP mode for this purpose and you won't really miss the DV input at all for most consumer level DV camcorders under $500 (which can't even get past 350 lines of resolution due to poor quality single CCD sensors). --- Plays DVD-R and DVD+R video discs from a PC just fine. --- Like any recorder, finalize does take a few minutes (menu says 4min) here, so you know the drive inside isn't faster than 2-4x. You need to do this on recordings you'll take to a PC or most other players. Once done, they play fine on other recorders, laptop, pc, etc here. --- NO HOLES in the TOP of the unit! YEAH!! You can stack it up with more decks on top w/o fear of overheating! Hate the ones where you can only put it on the top of a deck stack due to vent holes. --- In the end, after a LOT of research for a cheap DVD recorder, it came down to a handful - the iLo for $139 at walmart (has pluses of DV input jack, m.vision and region unlock, cheaper, easier-to-navi menu and remote; has minuses of skipping, shutting down w/o warning, louder fan, green tint in video recording problem, tv tuner lack of sensitivity in lower channels problem, etc), a few on-sale decks - Philips, Panasonic for $199, and this one. Pioneer DVR-220-S does have a stereo tuner for stereo recordings; iLo doesn't. The manual is comprehensive and does explain just about everything clearly. I didn't see any real negatives for the DVR-220-S, so I tried this unit out first. Although the remote and menuing could be simpler designed, it's easy enough for me to use that after 3-4 recordings, I've got it down pat. The best thing about this deck vs. the iLo - no problems! Although it would have been nice to have rgn & mvsn free, I do have the Philips DVP642 for that. Also, DVD recorders will improve significantly over the years (add dupe capability, Divx recording, etc.), so I'm not itching to spend $$$$ on a recorder knowing this. (ie. might as well go cheap and upgrade next year) videohelp.com had a long thread on this model vs. the other cheapies for recorded image quality from video input, and the DVR-220-S was the best -- maintaining the best image quality and colors. This is another HUGE reason I picked the Pioneer first - no point spending a few dollars less on a recorder that got crappy recordings (keep in mind, this IS important - poorer input = poor quality recordings even at FINE mode). That said, I had the same itch to return & try out the iLo for the heck of it after getting the DVR-220-S, but after two weeks of use, I've kept it because it's so easy to use, has nice & colorful menus, auto-plays each recording as a preview in the disc menu selection, auto-sets the time quickly (a minute or so), and auto-titles each recording with the show's name (really, really like this feature!) without any problems at all. It's really one of those no-brainer recorders that simply does it's job whether from the TV antenna or camcorder, and does it right w/o fussing. Oh, and also love the fact that the front display tells you how much recording time you've got left on the disc when you change recording speeds! I'd much rather stick with the Pioneer than have to deal with crashes, shutdowns, failed recordings, green tinted video, etc. of the iLo, and for the small/insignificant difference between the $200 Pioneer and $140-180 other Walmart and cheap DVD recorders out there, I'd much rather keep this one! (and I've read the reviews on the other cheapies - yuck!) Above all, image quality is the best of those tested! Happy here =)

Jerome from France reported February 12, 2005:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL?	DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3? CVD?	1 days	No rating
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
Before I buy this player/recorder (online in France), I'd like to know if we can make it region-free? thx http://www.cdiscount.com/mag/fich_prod.asp?mscssi ... ;numpage=1

Kojack from United Kingdom reported February 09, 2005:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	DVD-R DVD-RW DVD-R DL?	DVD+R DVD+RW? DVD+R DL?	VCD XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3 CVD?	90 days	9 of 10
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
This is my second post on here about the Pioneer DVR-220-S. After 3 months have made many great recordings, the only problem is when the recordings are played back in another DVD player, the dvd video skips or has a small jump.But is fine when played back in the 220. I know its not my second player I have at home because I have lent disc's to a few friends all with different players & they experience the same problem. My question is, has anyone else experienced this & also could it be different or poor quality disc's. I have used Datawite, Ritek. I have just switch to Ridisc & Verbatim for better quality & will post my results here. Rgs

JAW-MAN from United States reported January 07, 2005:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR CDRW	DVD-R DVD-RW DVD-R DL?	DVD+R DVD+RW? DVD+R DL?	VCD XVCD? XSVCD?	~~SVCD~~ SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3? CVD?	30 days	8 of 10
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
My first DVD recorder was an iLO DVDR04 purchased the day after Thanksgiving at Wal-Mart. After about ten days I became disgusted with some of the DVDR04's bugs and returned it for the Pioneer DVR-220. For the most part, it has performed very well for me. Since it uses only DVD-R/RW media, it suits me fine, for I buy far more of that than I do the "+" format. I particularly like the thirty-two Manual Recording modes, though I have no use for those greater than four hours. I played around with the editing features in VR mode on a DVD-RW and they perform well, though I prefer doing my editing on the PC. I am very satisfied with the DVR-220. I would give this unit a perfect "10" rating, but it does have a few minor issues that bug me. For instance, when I make DVD's that runs over two hours using the "cheapie" DVD-R media (Ritek, Prodiscs made by MCC, Teon), they play fine on the DVR-220, but when I play them on my Norcent DP300 and Mintek MDP-5860 DVD players, they tend to freeze midway through the disc. When I make copies of those problem discs on my Pioneer DVR-AO6 burner at 2x using the same "cheapie" media, the freezing problem disappears! When I use a better-grade media in the DVR-220 (e.g., Maxell, Prodisc S03), I do not have that freezing problem during playback on the other players. I earlier mentioned DVD-RW discs done in VR mode. The editing features work great, but the VR mode is something of limited usefulness for me, for I cannot make copies of VR mode discs on my PC. Nor can I play the VR mode discs on any of my other DVD players. Another minor issue with the DVR-220 is that it won't play ISO/MPEG2 files. And I wish it allowed a little more flexibility concerning the automatic chapter placements on discs done in Video Mode. The mininum setting for this is ten minutes, though I would prefer five minutes as it was on my previous iLO DVDR04. Despite these issues, it's still a wonderful DVD recorder. JAW

dudley from Canada reported January 07, 2005:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	DVD-R DVD-RW DVD-R DL?	DVD+R DVD+RW DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3 CVD?	4 days	9 of 10
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
Great dvd recorder for its price. I recently bought a Sharp dvd recorder and bought some blank dvd-rw's to record things. Next thing you know, the Sharp recorder say disc not recordable. I kept trying and finally returned the damn Sharp recorder and bought this Pioneer 220. I used the same blank dvd-rw's on the Pioneer and it works like a charm. Also, the spec's of the Pioneer 220 doesn't say anything about PLAYING dvd+r/rw's but I tried some anyways and it works.

Jared S from Canada reported January 02, 2005:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR CDRW?	DVD-R DVD-RW DVD-R DL?	DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL?	VCD XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3 WMA CVD?	14 days	9 of 10
~~DVD-RAM~~
Comments:
I have had this player/recorder for 2 weeks now, got it on sale at a CDN Best Buy for $299. I got it hooked up as illustrated on the manual (You need RCA cords [which is included] to get this sucker running). Did some test recording of tv, and the fine mode (1hr) was really spectacular, I really couldnt notice a difference unless really close up if I was watching tv or a recording. Upclose you could maybe spot an odd thing or two, but you'd have to pay real close attention infront of the tv. 2 HR mode words just fine as well, and its probably most recommended as it balances picture and sound quite well. The Variable setting it gives you are simply awesome as well for recordings you do to -RW and regular -R. If you aren't too sure of what itd look like, just hit the preview button and it'll tell ya, as well as give you the exact mins it can handle.Fore example, i need a setting for 2.5 hours. It'll have settings like 2 hours 22 mins, and so on and so forth and allow you to preview them. Sound is great as well, just as good as the cable is. Evev when it downsamples from uncompressed in 1-2 hour modes, it still sounds exactly the way it did on tv. Editing isnt all too fantastic, i havent played aroudn tho with it, but its basic elemantary stuff. Media compatibility is seemingly good. Ive used CMC to Sony/Benq media to Taiyo 4x -R to G04 Ritek. All work flawless. Setup menus are great, and a good step up from VCR menus and its blandness. Its more intuitive. VCD's work just fine, as well as SVCD. DVD's with .mpg's don't work. Overall, its a great recorder, a great choice for those you just wanna transfer and start recording to dvd. Quality is extremely acceptable, and the fact it plays svcds and vcds which are formats most players can't do so very well in this recorder category, its great stuff. Thumbs up from over here.

John-5000 from United States reported December 28, 2004:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR CDRW	DVD-R DVD-RW DVD-R DL?	DVD+R DVD+RW DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3? CVD?	2 days	10 of 10
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
I Bought the pioneer 225 The recording quality is Excellent, it looks the same as the orginal, my source i record from is a Dish Network Satellite. I recorded on a DVD-RW in VR-mode because it lets you Edit out all TV Commercial with easy. VR-Mode I then Put the DVD into my home computer to see if it would play the DVD it did not read more. I did some research to see why the computer was not seeing the DVD. My answer was simple it needed something to read VR-mode so i install Nero 6 player and installed the UDF drivers, and cool now it plays in my home computer problem fixed. There is software by Ulead also that has a program that will play this UDF drivers. If you Record in VR-mode witch it is set this way by default, it will only play in Home or computer DVD with UDF Drivers, So if you put the DVD into another home player and wonder why it does not work it because VR-mode, so if you dont wont VR-mode you can turn it off but before you do that read more. I Use Ulead MovieFactory 3 Disc Creator Edition because it can take a DVD in VR-Mode and easley Turn VR-Chapters into Authered DVD Chapters and all DVD Home Player and computers can see. I am new to Nero 6 it may do the same thing have not tryed yet when i test this i will update this here.

Sequoia from United Kingdom reported December 13, 2004:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR CDRW?	DVD-R DVD-RW DVD-R DL?	DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3? CVD?	14 days	9 of 10
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
I can echo 'Creeek'. I bought this unit from Richer Sounds at £170 too and it's superb. The Video Plus is good, but it can be set up for external activation - ideal for SKY/Satellite recording. This means no setting up of the DVR220 at all - just leave it to the SKY box to switch on&off and the DVR220 will follow it. The quality of the recording is great, with up to 32 individual quality settings to choose from. Well worth the money.

Darren from United States reported December 13, 2004:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL?	DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3? CVD?	90 days	No rating
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
I am having difficulty playing dvd's that I've record on this unit on my portable player (initial idm-1210). I have used dvd-rw's. the player plays storebought dvd's just fine. the recorder plays anything it records just fine. I just can't record and take it with me. I'm looking for help or suggestions.

creeek from United Kingdom reported November 18, 2004:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	DVD-R DVD-RW DVD-R DL?	DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3? CVD?	7 days	9 of 10
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
Absolutely great! Bought at 'RicherSounds' for £170, from shop! (cant beat that on the net!) Been looking for months, at Liteon, Philips, panasonic and JVC in same price Range. For features, editing, then this IS the best!!!! BUT, only in VR mode (cant read it on PC... yet!) needs to support UDF, apparently. But, in VR mode, can split chapters, cut sections, combine sections, edit text (but time consuming with remote!) Perfect, for example to record an hours VH1 and cutting out the adverts perfectly. If you want compatibility, must record in the 'video mode', where chapter can be applied when ready for finalising. Got Video plus and other VERY easy timer recoding options, the easiest I have seen. Go to pioneer.co.uk to download manual. ONLY thing missing for me is the DV input, but the composite video input on the front makes up for this. Dont regret getting this at all, LOVE it!!!

Kojack from United Kingdom reported October 31, 2004:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL?	DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3? CVD?	N/A	9 of 10
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
Priced at 199.00 in the UK, this is my first recorder which I bought after doing some reading & seeing people having problems with other units. So far so good, have had it for a couple of weeks now with no problems except the RW wouldn't play in my other player, no big deal. Found it easy to use & had no problems with any of the recordings. 6hr does loose some picture quality but have found 1,2&4 hr to be very good.

peret from Spain reported October 05, 2004:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL?	DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3? CVD?	N/A	8 of 10
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
I've had this unit for 1 month now and are quite pleased with it: feature set, ease of use, picture quality, compatibility with other players, etc, except for 2 points: - It should have a third input connection. Just the rear "L1" (SCART) and the front "L2" (RCA) are not enough. - If I record on a -RW disk (video mode) the recording is played OK on other DVDs and on my PC, but if I copy the file to edit it on the PC the sound is severely out of synch (several seconds). Strangely enough, with -R disks there's no problem!! I'll have to investigate :-(

David from United States reported September 30, 2004:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR CDRW	DVD-R DVD-RW DVD-R DL?	DVD+R DVD+RW DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3 CVD?	90 days	10 of 10
~~DVD-RAM~~
Comments:
Excellent quality recordings. Very solid, zero bugs. Excellent usability. Great features, ie chaseplay.

Deadeye from United States reported September 23, 2004:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL?	DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3? CVD?	N/A	No rating
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
WalMart has dropped the price of this unit to $250. It's a great unit. Unlike the Cyberhome 1500 I replaced this one with, it works flawlessly. I'm not crazy about the VR mode, which it defaulted to, but that was easily changed. Overall, a very impressive unit that works great.

Henry D. from United States reported September 11, 2004:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR CDRW?	DVD-R DVD-RW DVD-R DL?	DVD+R DVD+RW DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3 CVD?	7 days	9 of 10
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
No comments

Dan from United States reported August 16, 2004:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL?	DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3? CVD?	N/A	7 of 10
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
I have purchased the DVR-225 which from some researching the net I found that this is a model that is exclusive to Best Buy. I love this unit just like most have said before my post except one thing has baffled me from the get go. I like to record the NASCAR races and save them in a library of DVD's for my future enjoyment. I use the VR mode for editing out the commercials with a -RW but for some reason after finishing editing and finalizing the DVD, it will not play in any other DVD player, and even by trying to use a burner to put to a regular -R says that the DVD is empty. I have made sure that the DVD players are compatable with -RW's and all the -R's that I have made work fine in my other DVD players. I have no clue if I am doing something wrong or if this is an issue all around.

Gardenio - Stockholm from Sweden reported August 10, 2004:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL?	DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3? CVD?	N/A	8 of 10
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
Yes, I am really happy with this recorder, after 1 month!

deano from United Kingdom reported August 04, 2004:
Read features:						Time used:	Rating:
CDR? CDRW?	DVD-R? DVD-RW? DVD-R DL?	DVD+R? DVD+RW? DVD+R DL?	VCD? XVCD? XSVCD?	SVCD? SVCDSubs? SVCDTracks?	MP3? CVD?	N/A	9 of 10
DVD-RAM?
Comments:
I got this machine yesterday, so far im very happy. Records well, but tho ep mode is like slow motion a little bit. all other modes are very good. ive used some generic dvd-r and datasafe dvd-rw without any probs......ive hooked up to my amp for full dts surround playback of pre-recorded disks. great editing functions, as good as any software ive seen for the pc! ill post more later when ive experimented more. so far im very happy with it.

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Original Equipment Manufacturer.

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Write support / Read support
DVD-R = Works
~~DVD-R~~ = Is not supported
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FireWire = Computer desktop DVD Writer with IEEE 1394/FireWire/i.Link connection (some standalone desktop dvd recorder supports this also but then it is usually to connect your DV camera to the recorder)

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