It does what it says!

Author's Rating:

Pros: Thumbnails make finding shows a breeze. It uses the most compatible DVD format. (DVD R/RW)

Cons: Remote is not user friendly. Can’t record and watch at the same time.

The Bottom Line: 
Overall, for $280 bucks it is the only DVD recorder with an internal hard drive that doesn’t break the bank. It does what it advertises.

Author's Review
The iLO DVDRH04 DVD Recorder was a pleasant surprise to electronics that make promises and rarely deliver. The folks at iLO did a good job at keeping it simple. This product is a great replacement for your aging VCR. It is especially good at setting up recurring shows that come on daily or weekly. However, it will not work with your satellite service because the iLO can not control the satellite receiver. If you are looking for a way to record over-the-air or basic cable, then this is the perfect solution. The recorder lets you type in titles for your shows using the on screen keyboard. If you have the patience it works, but after taking 5mins to type Saturday Night Light one character at a time using the not so friendly remote and you’ll never use the on screen keyboard again. The iLO makes up for this in an exceptional way. The browser screen lets you pick an image from the show to make a thumbnail for quick recognition of the show. So, by pausing right on the title screen of the recording and making it the show’s thumbnail you have a nice picture to let you know what the show is when browsing through the many recordings. Copying shows out to DVD really can’t get much easier than “Select” and “Go.” The recorder creates a simple DVD menu which shows your thumbnails and titles. It also creates the DVD very quickly. I record in the Extended Play mode to give four hours recording time on standard DVD. Quality is fair and sometimes comparable to a VCR, but remember you get the capabilities of a DVD. I am recording off standard analog cable so my source is not all that great. The recorder does have a High Quality mode which will fit about one hour of record time on a DVD and I hear it’s very good. It comes with a DV Link to record directly from a digital video camera, but I am unable to test it. Since iLO went with DVD R/RW I have yet to experience the compatibility issues I had with DVD-R/RW in standard DVD players. I have been using DVD RW discs about twenty times over with no problems. Articles say I can use these discs hundreds of times with no problems. Keep in mind that discs get scratched and will cause reoccurring problems, but costs have dropped significantly to purchase new discs. The remote could use an overhaul. The buttons are not laid out well and it can be twitchy at times. ILO could have an all around winner if they put more time into the remote, especially for a device that relies on the remote to do so much. Setting up timer recordings can be very easy if you have VCR Plus, which is standard with TV Guide listings. Manually recording shows can take some effort. The tuner does give some flexibility if you want to remove channels from the visible listing or even rearrange channels into an order you prefer. It’s like customizing your service to have the first few channels as the main ones routinely watched. Lack of an IR blaster was a surprise. By adding this simple function, the recorder could control satellite receiver or cable box allowing it to go beyond a basic cable feed. Also, adding a PS/2 port to the recorder would allow a keyboard to be attached and much easier title renaming.

Overall, for $280 bucks it is the only DVD recorder with an internal hard drive that doesn’t break the bank. It is compatible with all the standard DVD players I’ve tried the discs in and DVD RW discs are also nicely priced. Value aside, it does what it advertises and that certainly overcomes for its minor shortcomings.