DVD recorder for a newbie. (1 Viewer)

[John Morgan]

I know this has been discussed in many threads, my understanding of DVD recorders is nil. I was hoping to list my needs and you good people to steer me in the right direction for model and brand.

Price is not a big concern, but hopefully I can get what I need for under $1,000.

*I would prefer a stand-alone model, as my laser and DVR recorders are in a different room.

*My primary taping will be my considerable VHS tape collection that goes back to the early days of video. Also I have lasers that may not make it to DVD that I would like to transfer.

*My tape collection consists of prerecorded VHS tapes, and I do have a device to get around the copy protection, regular VHS tapes, and many ETmode VHS tapes that are super VHS on regular tape.

*Although I have the Times Warner cable with their DVR unit, I think I would like a DVD recorder that also has a hard drive. I think I would feel safer when burning a DVD from a laser or VHS source that it is safely on the DVD hard disc and I know there aren’t problems when burning the DVDr.

*I don’t know anything about DVD recording, and was wondering about the + and - differences and what one to go with.

*I never look at DVDs on my computer, so this will be for my main viewing room.

Here are some questions:

*Since I have a ton of movies that are just over an hour in length, can I put two films on a DVD without a loss of quality?

*Are there machines that allow you to “program” the length of what you want to record and the DVD recorder will then adjust the bit rate or whatever it is called to maximize the quality for the length?

*I assume that fancy on-screen menus are possible only with a computer, but can a stand-alone unit still allow you to index the films with their title?

Many thanks for your help....
John

 

[ChuckSolo]

The answer to your last three questions are all "YES."

It is against policy on this forum to discuss defeating copy protection on copyrighted pre-recorded films, VHS or otherwise.

You can get a DVDR for well under 1K bucks and for that price, you can get one with a fairly larde Hard Disk Drive. Connected correctly, you would be able to copy content from your PVR to the Hard Disk on the DVD recorder and record them to DVD at your convenience. Hard Disk drives are desireable on a DVDR because it allows you to edit content more easily. On some you can even watch a show being recorded from the beginning while the rest is still recording to the Hard drive. BTW-There are models that will record and playback any flavor of disc, i.e., DVD-R/+R or DVD-RW/+RW and even DVD-RAM. You can get one of these in your price range too.

Just browse the Internet and electronic store websites and check out the different models. The technology is beginning to mature and all but the cheapest DVDRs will do what you ask.

 

[John Morgan]

Thanks for your input, Chuck. And I understand about the discussion of macrovision defeating, although I think it is legal to make a DVD copy of a prerecorded tape for ones own use.
From other threads, I can deduce ( I think) what brands are better than others.
Again, thanks for the help.