DVD Recorders (1 Viewer)

[DAN NEIR]

I just bought a 25 pack of TDK dvd-r's for only $39.94 at Staples.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

On the Pansonics, if you watch the inputs through the recorder you see it as it's being digitized, with added artifacts (so you can set it to the EP+ mode and see how crappy it looks without having to record a disc and watch it). It also displays everything about a second behind real-time- this makes for great fun when adjusting the tracking controls on the VCR, and playing a video game hooked up through it is totally out.

 

[Ryan Wishton]

edit

 

[DAN NEIR]

Has anyone encountered some material that they could not record?
I've been transferring stuff from my old beta to dvd and came across 2 tapes that made the harddrive and disc inside say "that the material could not be recorded" My guess is that this old material has the copyguard/macrovision on it and won't let the recorder record it. I tried hooking up my old stabilizer that I use to use to record old macrovision encoded tapes but it didn't work. Does anyone have a possible solution to this problem?

 

[Jesse Skeen]

I actually had the "lock" come on when I started an old off-air tape, but switching inputs made it go away. It sometimes misinterprets tape glitches as a 16x9 signal too, and will change to a squeezed letterboxed picture!
It seems to have a brightness level problem with some stuff; it seems like it's well-known but haven't heard if Philips is doing anything about it (their customer service is pathetic!)

 

[DustinLC]

On the Pansonics, if you watch the inputs through the recorder you see it as it's being digitized, with added artifacts (so you can set it to the EP+ mode and see how crappy it looks without having to record a disc and watch it). It also displays everything about a second behind real-time

On this lip-sync problem. I never noticed it on my E80 or HS2. I watch everything through the two recorders.

On the digitized effect, I also disagree. Only if you record it on the HDD and watch it back do you notice it. using EP mode and maybe LP mode but I really haven't used these two modes all that much. Just feeding the line through the recorders hasn't added the artifacts as you have stated. At least not with my two recorders and my two TV (Hitachi RP 42' and Sony Wega HD 32').

 

[CraigL]

Any black level bug on this model?

 

[Ryan Wishton]

Well, I have finally ordered the Panasonic E-80 today... I also thought about the Sony (I just always liked the Sony picture), but I read some reviews that said it has problems being only a first generation recorder and all...

I wanted something kind of like a Tivo (But, I dont have phone line access anywhere near by. Yes, I also know I wont get the special features that Tivo has) and also want to transfer VHS tapes over to DVD... This seems like it should suit me for the time being until more advanced recorders with all the things I am looking for come out in the future...

Sure, I could transfer my tapes over to the computer, but it is a big pain in the arse... Not to mention it takes forever and sometimes I dont want to sit by the computer waiting on it... Not to mention when something fails after waiting on it forever...

I figured I paid $540 for this including shipping... I would have paid $600 for Tivo or Replay (including the lifetime subscription) and another $400 for a stand alone DVD recorder... Too much right now... Also, hearing that HDTV compatible Tivos are coming in the future, this might not be the very best time to buy one... Sure, I wont get all the special things, but this should suit me fine... Better than recording from VHS like I have always done in the past, so this is a step up for me...

Plus, when in the next year or two more advanced options come out, I can always sell this one and upgrade...


I hope to be happy with the recorder... I bought it from Amazon which has a great return policy, so I get to try it for 30 days... Of course I will love the machine and wont need to use the return policy hopefully.

The one thing I will miss about the computer is being able to customize my own menus, etc... The freedom of PC recording is great because you can put just about anything you want in it... But, making DVD's from the computer is a bigger pain than I would have originally expected...

 

[Alf S]

Sure this is pricey now, but it's so cool!

DVD Recorder w/ Tivo

 

[Scott Dautel]

deleted post

 

[David Susilo]

I used to use BeAll (Samsung) DVD-R, failed about 10% of the time. Memorex failed about 30% of the time. Optodisc about 5% of the time. Now I use Princo and have burned close to 2,000 discs (yes, two thousand) and the failure rate so far is about 1.5%