Great second DVR - not versatile for TV junkies

Author's Rating:

Pros: records quicker than real time - fill up full DVD in one hour

Cons: can't copy transfered shows from other tivo, stuck with original record speed, can't customize menus

The Bottom Line: 
If you know how you are going to use the 810 it is great. If this is your first system I would get the Tivo and a DVD separately.

Author's Review
TV archive junkie here's the scoop

There are several great reviews already posted that give very accurate information about the Pioneer 810 so I did not want to re-invent the wheel. I have to say I found mine online new for $450 so I was not as concerned about the price. Also, if this is your second Tivo you can get a full monthly subscription for about $6.95 per month. I was initially worried about the poor quality some have mentioned in the reviews when shows are recorded at EP and LP. I have noticed that the Medium/LP speed on the Pioneer 810 creates an image that is not quite as good as the Medium/LP speed on my Tivo brand Tivo that did not come with a DVR. I am not an image freak, I have no HD TV or anything fancy but I noticed it. It does not really bother me. if I want better quality I record at a higher rate.

TRANSFER TO DVD
I record a lot of TV shows to send to my friend overseas. I have a Pioneer 210 DVR which I read is just the Costco version of the Pioneer 310. It is a fabulous DVR. I can copy from my Tivo, a VHS, or set it just like a VCR and record TV. it has a timer and all the standard features of a VCR us 80's and 90's kids grew up with. No matter what speed the show was recorded on Tivo, I can change the speed when I record to DVD on my Pioneer 210/310. If it was recorded at Basic on Tivo I can save it on DVD at Fine. It doesn't me the quality is as great as if I tivoed it at the best quality but it helps. Also if I tivoed it at best quality and want to record it at EP on a DVD I can. For example, if I have 6 episodes of ER on tivo at the Best Quality, I can fit them all on one DVD at EP speed and they look reasonably well. Those same 6 episodes at Best Quality on the Pioneer 810 tivo would take up 6 DVDs because I cannot adjust the record speed when it comes time to transfer to DVD. The speed it was recorded at on the 810 tivo is what it gets recorded at on the DVD. That is a drag. It means I have to plan in advance how I wan to record something. Now I only get 4 hours of ER on one DVD because the lowest I record it to the Pioneer 810 Tivo is Medium/LP.

BUY YOUR TIVO AND DVR SEPARATELY
If this is not your second unit, I recommend buying them separately. There is just so much more flexibility. With the Pioneer 210 or Pioneer 310 you have the option of editing out commercials, hitting pause when you are recording, and setting it like a VCR. You can record from a camcorder although I have never done it. With the separate Tivo and DVD I can record two things at once - one on my tivo and one on the DVR and I can still watch a thrid show on TV. You cannot record straight to the Pioneer 810, it has to be on Tivo first. The Pioneer 210/310 also lets you create menus with your recordings, set a navigation shot for those menus, and type in names for the titles of each show. I can tape a TV show and then set the screen shot to the part in the intro with the show logo and that will appear in my menu. The Pioneer 210/310 has about 8 different menus to choose from with different colors and themes. I can also keep adding to the DVD until I am done and want to finalize. I always know how much record time is left, no more guessing like on the VCR. With the Pioneer 810 once you hit record you can't add to it. If I want to keep specific shows together I can keep getting them off the Tivo and adding to the DVD. With the separate units you can also hook up another DVD or VHS to the Pioneer 210/310 and copy the shows. You can transfer all those VHS tapes to DVD.

BUY YOUR TIVO AND DVR AS AN INTEGRATED UNIT
You are probably wondering why I got the Pioneer 810 if I was so happy with the Pioneer 210/310 with a separate Tivo. First, the price came down and $450 with a rebate helped. As I mentioned, I record TV for my friend overseas who also has kids. The kids like sponge bob and Gilligan's Island and Leave it to Beaver and it was getting hard to tie up the system recording all those shows onto DVD. Furthermore, on the Pioneer 210/310 unit 1 hour show = 1 hour record time. My life was spent recording. Now with the Pioneer 810 I can set the Tivo to grab all the Leave it to Beavers and then pop in a DVD and copy eight 30 min shows (recorded in LP) in 1 hour! I use the comp-usa DVD-Rs so I have no idea if a faster DVD-R would copy any quicker. Being able to copy shows so quickly is a bonus. I can easily put them on the DVD to take with me on a trip to watch on the plane. The Pioneer 810 automatically generates the menu but you can type in a title for the DVD. The menu looks exactly like the Tivo Now Playing screen.

INTEGRATING TWO TIVOs - TRANSFERRING SHOWS
The great thing about having two Tivos is being able to watch shows on either one. My downstairs Tivo is the one with the Pioneer 210/310 DVR. My upstairs Tivo is the Pioneer 810 with the DVR built in. I can take a show from the upstairs Pioneer 810 and transfer it to the downstairs tivo and then copy the show with the Pioneer 210/310. I can also transfer shows to the upstairs tivo but I can't copy the transferred show to the Pioneer 810 DVR. I tried, the Pioneer 810 says "no way." It is good to be able to transfer it downstairs to record to DVD the Pioneer 210/310. For example. I want all the Smallville episodes on one DVD. So far there have only three have aired. On the Pioneer 810 I have to wait until 6 air at the medium speed before I can empty my tivo and the medium speed pixilates sometimes so I actually want to tivo it at the high quality and not the Medium Quality. I can tivo it at the high quality, transfer it downstairs and copy to DVD at EP and fit more per DVD and not have the pixilating problem. At high quality I could only fit 2 one hour shows on the DVD. Sounds like a lot of work but I don't do that for every show. The only down side about transferring is that it goes in real time. One hour show takes one hour to transfer. I queue up a bunch of shows I want to have available on the other box and have them run all night. you can watch a show immediately as it is transferring but as you fast forward through the commercials you quickly hit the point where you have to wait for more show to transfer before you can continue. One the Pioneer 810 you can watch while you transfer from one box to the next and while you copy on DVD. on the Pioneer 210/310 you cannot change your Tivo channel when you are copying a show to DVD but your tivo can record new shows while you are copying. When I am copying on the Pioneer 210/310 and can't change change the channel on the Tivo I hit the Video button on the TV and watch channels that way.

SUMMARY
The price is right to get the unit together and if you know how you are going to use it - the Pioneer 810 is a great unit. If this is your first system I would get the Tivo and a DVD separately.