Sony RDR DC-205 HDD DVD Recorder/ Player

[paul kersey]

I purchased the above machine in February 2010, in an effort to replace my existing seperates. The machine was supplied as a multi-region player by a local Sony main dealer. I have already found that it will not play the Warner Brothers "On demand" discs from the US, because with the machine having recording capabilities something in the software prevents this kind of disc being played for fear of being copied. Last night however, I found that it refused to play or even recognise the existence of any of the discs in my "Wrong Turn" box set. These discs are genuine Region 2 issued by 20th Century Fox and are playable in my cheapo, no name, TV/DVD player in the bedroom. The Sony player was even reluctant to eject the discs and it was only when I gave it that certain "I hate technology" stare that it allowed me to remove the discs in question.

Is this likely to be a case of the Sony machine being extra discriminatory in the type of discs it will play or a case of faulty discs?

Is it better to buy seperate home entertainment equipment rather than my one box does it all strategy?. I welcome your views and suggestions, bearing in mind a somewhat restricted budget.
I only require the ability to play DVD's without being restricted by Region, I would also like to record TV preferably on Hard drive and very rarely it would be nice to be able to record from the hard drive on to DVD. In view of my Freeview HD experience as documented on another thread, the ability to be able to watch Freeview HD would be nice if possible.