Sony RDR GX300 DVD Recorder
Tuesday, January 4th, 2005
2004 Scott James
sjames@ssd.k12.mo.us
My Summary
The GX300 is a gizmo worth looking into if you have video footage of anything on VHS or Hi8 (I have tons of have family video footage) you want to archive, or any TV programs you want to record to DVD. I find the unit versatile, easy to use, and well worth the cost.
Sony’s Summary
The Sony RDR-GX300 DVD Recorder is a feature packed recorder player for your convenience. Recording compatibility with DVD-R/W and DVD+R/W, playback compatible with DVD Video, Video CD, SVCD, CD-DA, CD-R/W, MP3. Also features Progressive Scan, a user friendly (GUI) Graphic User Interface and of course Dolby Digital and DTS Optical/Coaxial Output is built-in as standard.
My Experience
The GX300 is available from B&H for $325 (B&H # SORDRGX300) + shipping. Setup is not a lot more complicated than using a VHS recorder. The instructions were helpful and included a quick start foldout (like a road map) that gave a visual overview of the process, and a detailed manual for the more complicated tasks. The key is to place the GX300 between your video source and the TV you will use as the monitor.
I have a 21 year old TV (I’m still waiting on a verdict on plasma or LCD), so that means I use an RF modulator (from Radio Shack) to send signals between the DVD player, VHS player, cable and the tv. The GX300 has all the connections for modern tv and audio systems built right in, but it works great with my old junk, too. I immediately set the system up as a stand alone (no cable) so I could begin archiving my family footage. I connected the audio and video outputs of the GX300 to my RF modulator. I connected the outputs of my VHS machine to the line in on the GX300 (see illustrations). I turned everything on and it worked, first time! I then followed the instructions to setup the GX300: date, time, and recording quality (most of my video tapes were recorded at SP, two hours, so I matched the quality).
I tested the setup by playing my tape through the GX300 to the tv, and could see that was cranking. Ok now, once all this was done, I put a blank DVD into the GX300, which formats the disk in a few seconds. I pressed the Record button on the GX300, let 5 seconds rollout, then clicked the Play button on my VHS player: it took off like a rocket. I decided to take a chance and left everything unattended for the next two hours. When I returned, the tv screen was blank, meaning the VHS tape had finished. The GX300 records to the DVD for the designated amount of time depending on the quality you want: the GX300 records from 60 minutes (highest quality) to 6 hours (lowest quality) on one DVD. I set it for 2 hours to match the SP of the original tape.
Using the provided remote control for the GX300, I clicked on the Tools button, then Disc Info, and proceeded to type in a title for the disc. A grid with numbers and letters is displayed. You navigate with the up/down, right/left buttons on the control, select the alpha/numeric, and press Enter. There is a Space selection to put blank space between words/numbers, and a Back selection to erase mistakes. Lastly, press the Finish button to complete the titling process. This is a little awkward, but hey, it got the job done. It will provide more information than all the blank VHS tapes I have lying around!
The last step in the process is to Finalize the DVD. That means the GX300 prepares the DVD to be played on standard DVD players. Otherwise, it can only be played back on the GX300. It takes 2 minutes to finalize a DVD.
Now for the Acid Test: will it play on any of our 3 DVD players? Yes, it played on all of them, even the oldest! The quality was very high considering that some of the VHS tapes were almost 20 years old. Boy, is this easy! It took just a couple of days to convert all my VHS tapes of the kids to DVD. That’s because once the system was setup and chugging along, I did the following: put in a blank dvd, started a tape, and walked away. Whenever I came back around to check on things, I named and finalized the DVD.
The finished DVD does not provide any kind of menu like you are used to with commercial DVDs. When inserted into the DVD player, a screen comes on listing the video name and date. Press Play and the movie begins. That’s it. It literally converts incoming video and audio signal to a digital video format and writes it to the disc. Nothing fancy, but the quality is great and the process is pretty painless. The GX300 also allows you to adjust the color of the incoming tape if it needs it. I am happy with the finished product.
Once I completed all my VHS tapes, I switched the setup to my Sony Video 8mm tape player, and got those all done as well. In the days just before and just after Christmas, I archived all my most important video tapes. Impressive, most impressive.
I am now rooting around in cardboard boxes in my basement looking for cool stuff to convert. I got a box of 100 Verbatim DVDs for $60, so 60 cents a pop seems quite reasonable. Interesting.
Beyond Stand Alone
I moved on to recording a program from cable. I inserted the incoming cable tv coaxial into my RF box and waited for the next episode of The West Wing. I set the record quality to the one hour mode. When the time came, I inserted a disc, pressed Record, and sat down to watch the show. Yes, you get the commercials, but you can fast forward through them. When the show was done, I titled and finalized. The finished product looks great.
I don’t watch much cable tv. I mostly have cable for the high speed internet connection. But if I was into watching tv, this machine would be awesome for archiving my favs. I could grab the Iron Chef tofu fight or Oprah’s car giveaway: whatever floats your boat. I did not try to setup timed recording; I haven’t had the unit long enough or the desire to mess with it yet, but it can be done.
I have several friends with Tivo. Ah, now you’re talking you say. Could I combine these technologies, letting Tivo do all the dirty work with timed recording? You bet! Tivo can be inserted into the loop just like any other video source. Real possibilities there I think.
What else can it do? Lots. As I mentioned, any video source can be setup for recording. However, any video source that uses copy guard won’t work (most commercial DVDs, for instance). It’s a fine DVD playback unit in its own right, including parental control features. It has input for optical or coaxial digital sound, uses VCR+ for timed program recording, includes a remote device that lets you control your cable box, edit and create playlists of scenes on a disc, and can burn to a wide variety of DVDs, including DVD-R and DVD-RW. Packs a punch.
Concerns
The remote control does not have a Record or Record Stop button, meaning you have to walk up to the front of the machine to start or stop a recording. So I’m lazy. That’s about it.
For the Record
I like this gizmo quite a bit. It gives me a lot of bang for the buck. I have already gotten most of my money back in just a couple of weeks by archiving my family video collection: priceless, as the advertisement goes. I’m still searching for those rare things I’ve recorded in the past, and when I find them I know how easy it is to make a great recording from them. I think you’ll like this gizmo, too.
Manual in PDF format from Sony
http://pdf.crse.com/manuals/2024212312.pdf
If you slide down the panel on the lower part of the front of the remote, you will find buttons for record and stop record. But, maybe you found this by now. I bought my recorder last night, I’m very impressed with the video quality. I’ve been struggling for years to capture decent quality video with my computers and 3 different video cards ( ATI All-In-Wonder 8 MB PCI, ATI Radeon 64 MB with VIVO, and MSI GeForce 2 64 MB with VIVO )
Add to concerns:
They don’t handle being dropped well :: pokes SJ in the ribs ::
I just bought and installed a Sony RDR-GX300 DVD recorder and so far 3 out of 5 new Fuji DVDs have been given the “The disc is dirty” message. When that happens, the unit freezes up and no operations are possible, including turning off the power.
I’d try another brand of DVDs before tossing the recorder. You might find this post useful: Rebranding Blank CDs and DVDs.
Richard, I am impressed with your notes. I was sorry to read you hadn’t found the rec/stop buttons before you did all that recording!! But, I have an issue, which has me befuddled. Copied from home VHS last night. It seems distorted and makes everyone chunky. This morning I tried all three settings, for a quick test, after seeing my results from last night. I tried recording in 16:9, 4:3 ltrbx and 4:3 pan scan — video still looks distorted. Any clues? My movies, when I tape from tv look beautiful, wo distortion. This is the main reason I wanted a DVD recorder, to preserve the old VHS home movies. Any clues? Again, thanks for the great notes. I love this technology!
Joe, I haven’t had a problem with the recorder, but found I needed to switch to DVD- instead of DVD+ so they would play in my older DVD player. I was receiving the same msg on my Panasonic DVD/VCR when I tried to play some I had recorded, but I realize that is not the same problem you are having. Just thought I’d throw that out, about the plus and minus modes.
Patti: Thanks for the comments. My friend Scott James wrote the review so your comments are aimed at him and I’ll alert him that you’ve commented. I’m sure he’ll have ideas on how to help with the distored video.
Thanks,
Richard
No one would ever accuse me of being observant! Sorry Scott. Thank you Richard. I simply must peruse this site further — looks very interesting, and the pictures are exquisite (only saw a few, but makes me want to come back to see more)
I am switching my DVD to feed off the tv, instead of through the VCR (I clicked on the manual link, and it is recommended) Could be part of the problem. Thanks again!
Patti, thanks for looking and keep us informed on how work with the DVD burner is going. I alterted Scott to your comment so at some point he’ll come look. Feel free to email him as well.
Patti (and others as interested),
I have reviewed my setup. I am currently running my cable tv cable into an RF modulator, then into the GX300 using RCA cables (I do not have the cable tv cable hooked directly to the GX) and having no distortion on recordings from tv. I set recording to 4:3 format. I use Verbatim brand DVD -R disks (got them at Sam’s Club – ouch, I know – for $22). When I record from vcr or hi8, I hook ‘em straight into the RCA inputs on the GX300. My recordings from tape and hi8 look great. I’m puzzled as to your setup. Perhaps you can shed light on how you have things connected?
Scott
Patti,
One other thing came to mind as soon as I submitted that last comment. Make sure you don’t have another DVD player in the loop anywhere. That could be the culprit if you do. Lineup must be like this: vcr (source) -> GX300 -> TV.
Scott
we just bought one of these and i keep having a problem with timed recordings – even when set up with videoplus – stoping unexpectedly after a minute or so. am i just mssing something? feedback appreciated. Matthew
I too am having issues with the timed recordings. One show I was recorder using the timer was stopped 40 minutes into the program. I checked the manual and it gave me some possible reasons, but none of it fit with my problem; there was no power outage, ect. Then the other night I was sitting here, recording something and looked up, and noticed the recorder had stopped recording. When I looked at the disc, there was visable room left on it, and the recoring setting was set for SP, which should have given me 120 minutes. Does any of this sound familiar? Please let me know if you have a fix. Also, I’m using Memorex DVD-R to record on.
My recorder freezes up upon playback of any dvd I made. I have tried many brands and even the unlabeled dvd’s freeze. Sometimes it plays fine for an hour then goes wacko and cannot play anymore. Anyone have any thing similiar happening?
I don’t have one, my friend Scott wrote that review. However, if you can get rid of it under warranty that might be a good idea. I can’t say if there are a few lemons or the model has problems, I just don’t know. From what I hear, Scott has not had these problems with his but that’s just one person’s experience.
This is too funny. Tonight I’m having a problem hooking up the DVD recorder, straight to my tv (of course I can’t find my manual!!) and went searching for some advice. The minute I started reading this page, I realized I’d been here before! Glad I found you guys again. Thank you Richard and Scott, for all your tips, comments and help. I’m kind of embarrassed to say I was a ditz. I discovered I needed to change the ratio on the other dvd players, to view my recorded discs. Sorry I had you scratching your heads for no reason! My videos transferred beautifully!! I’m still thrilled with this recorder.
Regarding the timed programs, I took the big step just a week ago, which is really stupid, since I did this a million times with my vcrs. Why I thought it was more difficult, I’ll never know. I’ve not had a problem. It has worked perfectly every time.
Missy, out of, maybe 300 successful burns, I’ve had six or seven ruined when they stopped recording stop. Sometimes it is on a brand new disc, but when I look I can see dust or a minute scratch. Since I pulled them straight from a new spool, I don’t understand why it could be dirty or damaged, but it does happen. I don’t know about other brands, but this one does not like dirt, fingerprints or scratches. I’ve learned to be very careful, and keep all my recorded discs in sleeves.
Marianne, so far, I haven’t had that problem. It sounds defective to me. Since you wrote this on 1/1, I hope you are a happy owner of a working dvd recorder.
Now…back to my attempts to hook it up without the vcr in-between. I’ve tried every connection possible, and must call it a night. Better go find that manual. lol.
Patti: thanks for checking back in and for your report. Have you looked online at Sony’s site for a PDF version of the manual? In the past few years many manufacturers are getting hip to the idea that it’s cheaper to put them up for download than to send them out again.
Got it! Thanks for the tip, Richard. Doggone it, I had to reverse back to the vcr setup, as I can’t find my thingy bobby that sits over the cable box. Grrrrr. But….I’m back in business and all is well. Happy day to you!
Got a new Sony DVD (RDR-GX315) It was easy to set up, but I can only record from TV channels not premium channels. When I try to record premium channels like HBO, it shows message that I “cannot record copyrighted material” and it shuts off. This is useless when trying to record my favorite Sopranos. Any ideas? The cable company states they do not block these channnels that I am paying for, and Sony can’t give me an answer. Help I have an expensive clock on my shelf if I can’t use it.
Ric, I do not have access to premium channels. I have 2 friends that own the Sony DVD recorder. One reports never trying the premium channels and I haven’t heard yet from the second. I know my local cable company does not block recording of premium channels (according to a tech support staff person I spoke to) since all shows can be recorded to Tivo.
After reviewing the manual, page 50 states ““The recorder does not record programs with Copy-Never signals. Such recordings stop after a few seconds.” Perhaps that is the case here?
Finally, read the threads found here:
http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/2/112021.html
Apparently this is an issue with not only the Sony DVD recorders, but all DVD recorders.
I noticed someone mentioned experiencing the “disc is dirty’ message and I just wondered if that issued was ever resolved? I have two rdr-gx300′s reporting that error and apparently media format doesn’t matter. Any ideas?
Hi i have a Sony RDR GX300 DVD Recorder with a satellite receiver and freeview set top box all connected via scarts the problem i have is on channels 1,2,3,4,5 on the dvd i get wavey lines its like somekind of interferance some channels are worse than others but line 1 and line 3 which my satellite and freeview are on are both ok. What could be the problem? i have tried adjusting the rf modulator settings on the freeview box which made some channels better but not much.
Thanks Mick
Hi! Have tested the recorder with TDK 8x DVD-Rs and had no problems, but some weeks ago they changed their DVDs, they’re still 8x, but I only get recordings from 15 minutes, then the recording stops! I burned 3 DVD-Rs ’til I believed it: 15 minutes, every try! So what DVD-Rs are you using? I know, that there was a media list on the Sony website, but I can’t find it anymore… and I think, it’s too old now for being helpful.
How do you know it is the media and now the machine?
I purchased the Sony RDR-GX300 a couple of years ago to transfer Hi-8 to DVDs. I transferred a couple of tapes using HP dvd+R 8x and had no problems. Today, I decided to transfer to DVDs again using dvd+r 16x (after a year of not using the DVD recorder) but every time I tried to use the dvd, a message came up saying cannot play this disc and disc error was displayed. I tried playing DVDs that I recorded before on the dvd recorder, but those discs didn’t play either. I even tried putting in a store bought DVD in the recorder to see if it played and it also displayed the message of cannot play disc and the panel said disc error. I’m not sure if the DVD Recorder is damaged or my settings are incorrect and causing these problems.
Roberto,
It sounds to me like your machine is dirty. If you don’t already own some type of CD player cleaner (I have the Memorex gizmo – drop in, it runs, you take it out). I would try that first, though it certainly could be the unit has bombed for some unknown reason: could have been an electrical jolt (had any electical storms in the last year?), a physical knock or bang (while cleaning around it?), or it could just be its time!
I would also check the manual again (I can’t find mine right now – too many piles of junk related to upcoming Christmas trip in the way) to see if it ever could write to 16x DVDs. Since it won’t even read a commercial disk, I’d say stick with the notions in paragraphs one above. See what happens. All you have to lose is the cost of a gizmo you should have anyway.
-Scott
I am now having problems with trying to record to the new 16x dvd-r’s These discs sre all that I can find now. I always used memorex 8x and I grabbed 2 spools of new dvd-r’s not realizing that they had changed to 16x. Upon reading an insert with the discs. It says home deck owners will need to burn an update disc from the manufacturer’s website. Or request one. So how are we to find such an update? I looked on sony’s site and found nothing. I know phillips has updates that you download and burn on to a cd and pop the cd in to your dvd player and it updates the player. I hope this can be solved because it really sucks to have my recorder become obsolete with in 2 years.
I bought one of these over the weekend and although I get really good digital/HD signals with an antenna on my TV, I can’t seem to get this unit to “hear” the digital versions of my local stations like my TV can. Is it possible?
Missy / Patti.
I too have a problem with timed recordings. I can set the record timer or set the record time manually and it always stops ½ way thru the set time. For example, I set the recording for 1 hour and the recording stops after 30 minutes. Set it for 3 hours and it stops recording after 1.5 hours. I have gone thru about a dozen disks of different manufacturers and all have the same results. The very first burn I made was set for 2 hours and it worked. Since then I have had this problem. I have tried resetting factory defaults, it didn’t help.
Any suggestions?
Hi folks,
I’ve had this recorder about 6 months and love it. the only problem I’m having is importing the recorded files into NERO 7 so I can add menus. I get a picture of a closed envelope and after a few minutes of transfer, I get a message that the file cannot be imported. Anyway around this problem?
Yikes, Frank! Nero is a Windows program, yes? I am not familiar with this issue. Have you contacted the Sony folks on this one?
I have made 2 recordings off a vhs tape I made myself. It plays fine in this recorder but not in anything else. Do I need to finalize the recording somehow. I cannot find the manual and my adobe won’t let me download it from the internet.
Kris
I have been recording DVD’s with the Sony GX300 for a while. I tried copying some of the recordings by ripping the movies to my PC and then burning another copy using the DVD burner in my PC.
Problem is the copy only plays on my PC and not in the Sony unit. Is there a certain format I need to use when burning a copy for it to play in the Sony or any other DVD player?
Randy
My Sony recorder was recording all my old VHS home movies to DVD format for a while then it stopped working right. Now when I try to record a movie from VHS to DVD the copying stops every minute and gives me a message “updating info”. This causes the play back on the DVD to have a lot of “chapters” listed and every minute you have to start a new one. What is causing this?
Manual in PDF format from Sony
http://pdf.crse.com/manuals/2024212312.pdf
Page 96 – “Resetting the Recorder” might help.
Page 102 – Error codes – Any of these showing up?
Scott
I never had a problem recording my tivo programs onto a disc until we just set up a 2005 hp plasma tv. Now it just records a black screen. Is it possible it is a problem between the newer plasma tv and recorder? We also have a newer satellite box.
Marianne: I have no idea, hopefully Scott will know and I’ve alerted him that you’ve commented on his piece so he’ll get back to you when he returns from wherever he’s gone for the holidays.
Found this thread via a Google search.
I’ve had the GS300 for almost 2 years, and just started getting the “Disk is Dirty” message every time I tried to burn one. After reading the info here and in a couple other threads, I realized I was trying to use 16x DVD-R discs (which the manual says is OK). Found some old 8x DVD-R discs and they work fine.
“Page 96 – “Resetting the Recorder” might help.
Page 102 – Error codes – Any of these showing up?
Scott”
We had about 15 discs that were recorded but not finalized and we got the dirty disc error and then couldn’t even play them at all.
I went to setup and reset the settings back to factory settings, and now we can finalize AND watch these discs.
Thanks SCOTT!
i have the dvd recorder mentioned about – have had for 2 years and works great – when i first got it door would not open so circuit city had to send back to sony and fix that but now works fine – i have it hooked up to my jvc vcr/dvd player and i only copy tapes i have taped off tv onto recorder – i do have not have it hooked into cable – anyway, it works fine this way except sometimes when i am copying a tape i recored from a tv show – recorder says picture cannot be recorded – yet when i go back and ck the dvd there are no blanks – i use sony dvd+rw dvds and then i burn that on computer to make a permanent copy on a dvd-r – this way i do not waste a dvd-r if something happens when i am doing the first recording – just wonder why it does this – i can see picture from vcr to recorder on tv screen but then black box comes up and it says this picture cannot be recorded
I’ve had a Sony RDR GX300 for about 2 years. I do have problems with some blank disks, such as the 16x type.
Most of the time I record commercial video movies at the 3 hour setting. On DVD playback the 3 hour setting looks better than the original tape because of the digital tricks used to improve the picture.
At first I assumed the 2 hour setting was better, but this is not the case. However, I sometimes use the 1 and 2 hour settings for special projects. I’ve never gone beyond 3 hours.
This is a great tip for those still using this technology! Thanks for taking the time to send this in.