Product ReviewsMagnavox MDR535H/F7 HDD and DVD Recorder with Digital Tuner

superior technology

Solves my time shift needs much more easily than old VHS tape machines. It has many capabilities that I may never use. Programming is pretty intuitive and playback from HDD is excellent. Skipping or replay is also practical and has superior video/audio. Should have bought one of these years ago. Haven't tried other brands. Sadly, new ones are apparently no longer made. Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: puddynose

Older model, but all the bells and whistles I need

This is my second Magnavox recorder. My older one had something happen to the hard drive and cannot be repaired. This particular unit has a very slight problem in the display (cuts off about 1/16" at the bottom for some weird reason) but it is only noticeable when displaying something like a station guide. I use this to record programs coming to me from my satellite dish. I really enjoy watching a recorded program and zipping through the commercials with a one touch button that you can program (e.g. 1 minute skip, 30 seconds skip etc.). There is also a "back" button that you can program for duration. For those special movies I want to record, I can program the recording speed so that the playback is almost like looking at the original broadcast. If I want, I can edit a recording (such as remove the first 2 minutes or the last minutes, remove any commercials) on the hard drive and then copy it to a DVD using the built in DVD recorder.

I have been using this unit for quite some time and it has performed admirably. I love this older model Magnavox recorder.Read full review...

Its ok but could have been better

I bought this to replace a polaroid recorder I had. It is easy to use and set up. The picture of recorded over the air programs is not any better than the polaroid I had that was 7 years older. Also another negative it that you can only record 1 program at a time so If you keep up on watching what you record the 500gig drive is over kill. Save the $ buy the 320gig or 160gig. I was hoping my polaroid would make it till playstation added a tuner so you could record over the air broadcasts on it but the PS4 is not gonna have that they advertise it does everything but it does a bunch of crap that I dont care about and is missing the 1 feature I want. so I bought this instead and would purchase it again. It is an average value for the price.Read full review...

I love the ability to time shift with this product.

I have been a time shifter for years starting with VCR's. I progressed to the Phillips DVR's and now have the Magnavox. Funai has made improvements in the DVR. I would like to see a multiple tuner model in the future but I fear the market is not large enough. I receive my television only over the air so cable systems that offer DVR's will limit the growth of non controlled systems. The Magnavox has convinced me to upgrade from my original Phillips machines if they ever breakdown. Get these machines while you can.Read full review...

Great Magnavox HDD and DVR

We have now used the DVR for several weeks, and are very pleased with the quality of this machine. This is an updated version of the DVR that was fried when an electrical technician did some work on the same wiring circuit, not knowing the DVR was ON and set to do a timer recording. Fried the machine. So this replacement has been just great. In fact, my wife is now able to record at a higher resolution for 300 hours of recording! More than oodles for us. It has been a very good purchase.Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: mcardtrader

The Magnavox is the best option if you are looking for price x features.

I bought this product because i like to record my favorite TV shows and be able to transfer to a DVD disk.I know that now there are PVR but i really like to do disks with the best episodes. I had a pannasonic that (after some years of use) say goodbye.

Well i can tell that this product has the same features and it´s cheaper. User interface is very easy and the quality of the image is fantastic. The HDMI output makes all diference.

The 500GB HDD is also great size for people like me, that has a short time to see the recordings and likes a lot of TV shows. You can storage there and see when you can.

One thing that i didn´t like is the remote. It could be better design with buttons with different colors and sizes.
Unfortunatly the Magnavox doesn´t have this...but after some time you can memorize the main buttons.

Another thing that could be better is to be a region free player. The player is set to region 1 and it´s not possible to change that... so for commercial DVD´s the unit only accept region 1.

Even with these 2 things that i didn´t like still be a very good option.I plan to buy another unit in a near future.Read full review...

Own your DVR instead of renting it from your cable or satellite company

I had previously been using a TIVO receiver for my DVR. However, the subscription to TIVO expired and without a subscription it is pretty much worthless. What I needed is a DVR with a hard drive that I didn't have to rent from the cable company. I like to record my favorite TV shows and then watch them when my time allows. After doing a little research on this subject and not wanting to go backward to use a VCR to do the same thing, I came across this Magnavox MDR535. I bought it and have been enjoying it for several months now. It will record about 40 hours of HD programming on the hard drive before it's full. It has the analog and digital tuner capability, and in the high quality mode, the picture plays back just as good as the original HD picture from the cable source. I am very happy with this DVR. It does everything that the TIVO did, except that it doesn't have the capability to record more than 1 show simultaneously, and so far that hasn't been a problem. So there you have it. If you would rather own your DVR and not rent it from the cable or satellite company, this is a good brand and model to buy.Read full review...

peak of design cycle of Magnavox DVRs

the 535 is best iteration of the Magnavox DVRs, single tuner OTA/Cable, 30 event schedule timer recording, one button instant record, well appointed simple editor and decent human friendly sized remote control.

they really buggered it up in the next generation MDR86x. It has fonts that barely readable on small factor TV monitors, NO high speed dubbing to DVDs. An awkward change in editor technique and interface, a very burdensome text entry (i.e. Takes as many a 7 Keystrikes to enter an uppercase S) via a tiny remote. The minor enhancement in file handling and internet connectivity in the new generations are not especially exciting, especially considering that the data stream captured in cyclical TV series does NOT include the specific episode,Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: gatorno1972

Excellent HD Recording DVR Unit (with caveat for Cable Only users)

Bought pre-owned but looks like new and works great. Manual could be better & takes some guessing on some tasks (like initially setting the clock time, etc) but unit itself is excellent. If you only have Cable TV and your channels are scrambled like mine (Specrum Cable) you can Only record the channel you are currently watching. If you ALSO have an OTA antenna (like me) you can use a coax cable splitter and run one lead to the unit & other to TV, then you can record any OTA channel while watching a cable only channel. Overall i'm very happy with this unit and it's performance so far & give it 5 Stars. Just wonder why Magnavox/ Funai Electric quit making these units as nothing else on the market before or after begin to compare to all the features these units have? Sure beats the high monthly cost of cable rental & service recording fees & TiVo as well.Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: krimsonbehelit

Great machine,money well spent!

MDR535H/F7 is excellent! Better & more user friendly than the MDR515H/F7, and way better than the newest model MDR557H/F7. While the previous models (513,515,533,535,&537) could "make disc compatible", without manually finalizing,(to be able to use on other brands of DVD players)the newest one has 1TB of storage & makes you manually finalize the DVD. It has a setting to finalize@ end of recording, and @ disk full, but no "make disc compatible", and it won't play on other players unless manually finalized. So,if you have a chance to get one of these units (vs. the MDR557H/F7) don't hesitate--it's money well spent! I did buy a MDR557H/F7, & returned it less than a week later. I hated it,& the clock wouldn't stay set correctly, so ended up missing several timer recordings. It was lighter and seemed more cheaply built.Read full review...