DVD Recorder owners, are you loving your machines or...? (1 Viewer)

[alan halvorson]

There's the just coming out (and very expensive) Pioneer DVD recorders that incorporate TIVO. I don't know their capabilities yet, but I've heard some concerns.

I love my Panasonic E80. That hard drive makes quite a difference. My main complaints are a.) burns at only a 1X speed. The E100 and E120, I understand, burn at a 4X speed, but they are more expensive. b.) the clunky method of entering title names. Not any clunkier than all other recorders I've seen though. Someday, some designer will have a light come on and incorporate a keyboard input for entering title names. c.) Inability to name markers. I don't believe any recorder allows you to name markers but I want to. To get around this on some of my recordings, I divide the program into smaller titles. Titles can be named and the recorder will record up to 99 titles to a disc. It's a work around, but it's tedious.

I think editing capabilities will get more and more sophisticated - next years models will make this years appear primitive. Maybe, someday, standalone recorders will become so sophisticated that they will reduce/eliminate the need for PC based dvd recording, at least for hobbyists and maybe for some professionals.

 

[Jerome Grate]

?
So, this is what I would do, record a show on the JVC7600 (S-VHS tape of course) then run the S-Video from the JVC to the DVD recorder and take advantage of the DNR/TBC during playback and that should give me a pristine picture on the DVD. Sounds good, or do you think differently. Sorry for so many questions, but this is the only place I can get educated before the purchase. Also, what should I be looking for in regards to this player to have the most flexibility with recording on DVD+r, DVD-R, DVD-RW etc as well as Prerecorded DVD Playback. I'm looking to replace one of the weak link in my system which is the Pioneer DV-414, (I think it was first or second generation player).

 

[Michael Reuben]

AFAIK="as far as I know"

Also, what should I be looking for in regards to this player to have the most flexibility with recording on DVD+r, DVD-R, DVD-RW etc as well as Prerecorded DVD Playback.

There may be players in the pipeline that will record both -R and +R formats, but I don't know of any at the moment. In theory, at least, both formats should be playable when finalized on any DVD player, though there are plenty of instances of incompatibility. Right now your choice is between a +R model like the Phillips discussed above or a -R model like my Panasonic. The pros and cons of the two formats have been endlessly debated with no clear resolution. You can find previous threads with a search.

If you go the PC route, your choices expand dramatically, but that takes you in a whole other direction (and one I'm with which I have no hands-on experience).

M.

 

[Marvin]

Someone wrote a review of the E80 on Amazon. It was generally positive but said that when you copy something from the hard drive to DVD-R, it's not a digital transfer and therefore there's some noticeable degradation of the DVD-R copy. Have all/any of you E80 owners found that to be the case?

 

[Michael Reuben]

it's not a digital transfer and therefore there's some noticeable degradation of the DVD-R copy

I've done it that way too, and the degradation is minor (assuming you're not trying to cram too much onto a single disc).

M.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Scott, I disagree. One of the main reasons for having the hard disk in the DVD recorder is so that the recording of a broadcast isn't lost if a DVD-R or DVD-RAM fails during the broadcast (which happens more frequently with DVD recording media than with tape). Using a TiVo unit protects you from losing the broadcast altogether, but it still limits you in what you can do with the recording. You'd have to play it back on TiVo and re-record it onto DVD, with a loss in quality as a result -- and the loss could be very significant if the TiVo recording wasn't made at a high quality setting.

Good points, Michael. I do not record much television, so had not thought out all the issues. For my needs, a TIVO subscription is a waste of equipment and money -- the E80's TV recording feature is more than enough.

 

[alan halvorson]

The only advantage I've seen to a +R recorder over a -R seems to be that a +R recorder takes only a minute or so to finalize while a -R recorder is said to take anywhere from 1-20 minutes. All my recordings so far on my E80 - none over 2 hours - have taken 4 minutes to finalize. No big deal.

 

[Angel Pagan]

If you only plan on using the DVD recorder for burning television programs, then you probably do not need a recorder with a built-in hard drive (you have it covered with the TIVO). However, if you plan on copying a lot of home videos from VHS, 8mm, etc, then a recorder with a hard drive can still be very useful.

Mostly it'd be for television programs but would also copy home videos.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Mostly it'd be for television programs but would also copy home videos.

Then I would still recommend a recorder with a hard drive, if you can afford it. The convenience and functionality of the HD when copying home videos should not be underestimated. This has been the main use of my Panasonic E80, and I could not imagine trying to create DVD's of my home videos without it.

 

[Michael Reuben]

Would I lose image quality if transfering from the tivo HD to the recorder HD (for editing options)?

As I understand it, DirecTiVos store the exact datastream received from DirecTV -- so no, there probably isn't any loss in image quality, since you're starting with the same data. It's a question of time and convenience. Think through the process with a 2-hour movie.

1. You DirecTiVo the movie. That takes 2 hours.
2. Now you play the movie on your DirecTiVo, while recording it on your DVD recorder (hard disk or recordable DVD). That takes another 2 hours, during which both machines are tied up.
3. If you've gone to hard disk, you edit out commercials and then burn a DVD. This takes yet another 1-2 hours (depending on the format, the recorder, etc.).[/list=1]
   That's why it makes more sense (at least to me) to leave TiVo out of it, and just connect the recorder to your TV source (whether it's a cable box, DirecTV, or something else). As always, YMMV.
   
   M.

 

[Angel Pagan]

Thanks Michael. I got it now. Is the Panny DMR-E80H the ideal model for this task or are there others (recorder w/built-in HD) in this group to consider? Is there a thread or link to another site that has info that compares units with these features?

Thanks again.

 

[Alf S]

Go to DVDRhelp for a ton of great info.

Again if all you really want to do is copy TV to a recorder, a HD isn't necessary.

I transferred 4 hours of Xmas videos (span of 7 years) for my sister, and for the most part she wanted the whole video, unedited. Any edits I did easily by pausing the recorder, forwarding to the next scene on the Hi-8 video, then continued the recording.

Alf

 

[Angel Pagan]

Alf, thanks for the link.

 

[alan halvorson]

On-the-fly editing forces you to pay attention. If you're off, there's no way to back out (assuming you're recording to DVD-R or DVD+R). I really hate this paying attention part - I want to do other things while the recorder is doing its thing and a hard drive allows me to do them.

The downside of recording to a hard drive, editing the program and then dubbing it to disc is the added time it takes.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Another advantage to using a hard drive -- making multiple copies of your videos. I simply record the home videos to the hard drive, make my edits once, and then can generate multiple lossless copies of one or more "programs" onto discs for family and friends. I've done multiple copies of weddings, family events and whitewater rafting trips for various friends and family.

 

[Steve Phillips]

Sony has a standalone DVD recorder on the market now that records DVD+RW, DVD-RW and DVD-R. More multi format recorders are on the way.

Plus, there are tons of dual format PC DVD burners on the market.

 

[Bob_Lawrance]

I have the panasonic dvd recorder, but i am having a hard time finding dvdrw disks. Does anyone know where I could purchase some. I live in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, or is there a website I could order from.

I also am a little confused, looking at the Panasonic Website, it only plays DVDR or DVD ram, is DVDRs, rerecordable, or can i record multiple times.

 

[Jerome Grate]

I went to J&R and the sales guy was very helpful. He showed me the machines from the basic DVD recorder Panasonic to Phillips to the ones that have the firewire input with a hard drive. He said the Panasonics and Phillips were pretty easy to operate but the Sony was some what complex to operate. Very helpful and I'm going to make the leap into it. I can get rid of those tapes and record my son's favorite shows and play it on his DVD player. Should be fun.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I have the panasonic dvd recorder, but i am having a hard time finding dvdrw disks.

If you own one of the Panasonic standalone recorders, you should not be shopping for DVD-RW discs. You can only record DVD-R or DVD-RAM with those units.

 

[DAN NEIR]

I have the E80 and have nothing but good things to say about this unit. I bought it to transfer old movies to dvd. I have an entire box of old vhs material that I've been able to transfer on to a 25 pack of blank tdk discs. This machine is saving me alot of space and I like the fact that old shows/movies are being preserved on a better format. My next task is to tranfer the 200 or so beta movies I have on to disc. I was able to buy 3 50 packs of Fuji discs at best Buy a few weeks ago when they were on sale.