Although the Sony HTR 6000's main function is recording to DVD, many may consider buying this product as a solution for both playback/recording hence avoiding the extra cost of an additional DVD player. The performance of a DVD player can be described in terms related to reading speed, reading accuracy and compatibility with various CD/DVD recordable/rewritable formats as well as data/audio playback support, stored on any common media.

The Sony RDR-GX3 can reproduce the following discs:

DVD-Video
DVD-RW v1.0, v1.1, v1.1 with CPRM
DVD+RW
DVD-R
DVD+R
AudioCD
CD-R and CD-RW as AudioCD only

while it cannot the following:

CD-ROM included PhotoCD
CD-R, CD-RW
Part of CD-Extra
Video CD
Super Video CD
DVD-ROM
DVD-Audio
DVD-RAM
SACD

DVD support

• DVD-Video

The Sony we tested is a Region-2 drive, which means that the unit is able to decode (play) only the pressed DVD-Video discs coming from the European region.

The recorder supports both PAL and NTSC TV signal transmission formats. The player will recognize only the region 2 NTSC DVD-Video discs.

We connected the RDR-GX3 using the Scart interface with the corresponding cable, which is not included in the unit's package. The RDR-GX3 supports the DVD-Video format.

We also tried various brands of DVD+R9 (Dual layer recordable discs). The RDR-GX3 reported "Disc Error". We repeated the same task with a different booktype this time, DVD-ROM instead of DVD+R DL and again the error message was the same...

We also tried several recordable and rewritable discs, burned with different burners. There were cases where some DVD-RW were not readable.

• DVD-ROM

This format is not supported.

• VCD/SVCD

Both formats are not supported!!!

• PhotoCD

According to the specifications, this type of disc cannot be read by the RDR-GX3...

• CD support

Only in cases where the CD-R or CD-RW is recorded as AudioCD format can the RDR-GX3 read it.

• AudioCD

In the case of pressed/recordable/rewritable AudioCDs, the player recognizes and plays all the tracks. The device plays audio files recorded on CD-R, 10x HS-RW, 24x US-RW and 32x US-RW discs we used.

The Sony will play all protected formats from DVDs which can be purchased from any audio store. The tested discs were "Natalie Imbruglia - White Lilies island" protected with Macrovision' Key2Audio system, and "Celine Dion - A New Day Has Come" protected with Cactus Data Shield 2000. Both titles were recognized and played without any problems., which is good news as this kind of media is virtually not playable on PCs due to the protection schemes designed to discourage PC users from copying them.

• Super AudioCD

This format is not supported

Compressed Audio Performance

• Compressed Audio (data CD/DVD)

Unfortunately the RDR-GX3 cannot reproduce any compressed audio types.

The table below shows a list of MP3 and WMA files with a variety of compression settings and the behavior of the device.