What's new

How important is a hard drive? (1 Viewer)

RossHy

Agent
Joined
Feb 13, 2003
Messages
38
As the title implies, when looking for a DVD recorder, how important is a hard drive? Can you editing such as taking out commercials without having a hard drive?

I guess what I'm looking for is different things you can do with a hard drive that couldn't do otherwise. Thanks.
 

alan halvorson

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Oct 2, 1998
Messages
2,009
The only way to remove commercials when recording on a machine without a hard drive is use the pause button. This is a real pain. Unless your favorite thing to do is to babysit your machine while recording, don't consider any dvd recorder that lacks a hard drive.
 

Brandon R

Auditioning
Joined
Oct 2, 2004
Messages
3
I HAVE A TOSHIBA RD-XS32 W/A HARD DRIVE AND AM HAVING TROUBLE WITH IT. I'VE MADE 3 DVD'S FROM A 6 PACK AND NOW IT WONT TAKE ANY OTHERS :angry:
 

alan halvorson

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Oct 2, 1998
Messages
2,009
Brandon: More information, please. What do you mean by NOW IT WONT TAKE ANY OTHERS? What does the machine do or say? I am not familar with this model, so hopefully someone can chime in.
 

SteveK

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jan 10, 2000
Messages
518
Brandon - I have the same model you do. I get that message occasionally. Whenever I do, I just remove the disk, blow on it to remove whatever dust there may be, then reinsert the disk. That always seems to work.

However, perhaps the problem may be incompatible disks. What kind of DVD are you using, including the "x", 8x etc. I tried using a 4x DVD-RW but it would not work, but a 4x -R does work. I could be mistaken, but I believe 2x is the fastest DVD-RW you can use and 4x is the fastest -R. You also can't use +R. So please provide more information about the discs you are trying to use. I'll try to help if I can.

Steve
 

Brandon R

Auditioning
Joined
Oct 2, 2004
Messages
3
I HAVE 2 TYPES FUJIFILM DVD-R 4.7GB UPTO 4X WRITE &
MAXELL DVD-R 1X 2X AND 4X WRITE SPEED COMPATIBLE 4.7GB
 

SteveK

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jan 10, 2000
Messages
518
Brandon - It doesn't sound like a disc compatability problem...unfortunately, since that would obviously be the easiest problem to solve. Both disc brands you mentioned are obviously brand name discs, so that shouldn't be a problem. The few times I've had the problem you mentioned, I simply cleaned the disk (perhaps a bit of dust on it even though it's brand new), then tried again with no further problems. If that doesn't work, you might want to give Customer Service a call or send them an e-mail. I've found them to be very responsive.

Good luck!

Steve K.
 

RossHy

Agent
Joined
Feb 13, 2003
Messages
38
OK, say my DVD recorder had a hard drive and I wanted to transfer an old VHS tape to DVD. Would I just transfer the tape to the hard drive, edit out what I don't want, and then burn it to the DVD?

I guess what I'm trying to figure out is whether the hard drive is worth the extra $200 or so.
 

Michael Reuben

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 12, 1998
Messages
21,763
Real Name
Michael Reuben

That's the basic procedure.

I regard a hard drive as essential, especially for recording from broadcasts. Why? Because DVD media can have defects. If you're recording to a blank disc that turns out to be defective, most machines will just quit, and you've lost the broadcast. If you've recorded to a hard drive and are burning to DVD, you just start over with a new blank.

Another advantage with a hard drive: It's easy to make multiple copies.

M.
 

Thomas Newton

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jun 16, 1999
Messages
2,303
Real Name
Thomas Newton
It's possible that DVD-RAM allows more flexible editing than DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW. So if you got a machine that took DVD-RAM as one of the formats, but that did not have a hard drive, you might be able to do some editing when using DVD-RAM discs.

Note that DVD-RAM is not a widely-supported playback format, and would not be the best bet for distributing videos of your baby's first steps.
 

Carrie-P

Auditioning
Joined
Jul 23, 2004
Messages
7
I think having a hard drive is better/edit for folks that edit a lot of commercials, etc. and it's great for those who also use the DVD recorder as a quasi-DVR as well.
 

Paul Clarke

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jan 29, 2002
Messages
998
Ross,



Get an HDD unit. I have 2 Tosh's...the D-KR2 RAM capable but no HDD...and the RD-SX32 which is RAM capable and also has the 80GB HDD. The ease of editing and the greater overall flexibility with the HDD is well worth the money in the long run.
 

Jon Martin

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Sep 19, 2002
Messages
2,218
I'd say a hard drive is VERY important.

I've often found that I'll record something to the hard drive, only to watch it and realize it isn't worth saving and delete it without wasting a DVD.

Plus, as mentioned, editing is A LOT easier. And you can make multiple copies.


You can record directly to a DVD as well, not hassle with the hard drive if you don't want.

Honestly, I didn't think a hard drive was important but ending up buying the Panasonic E-80 with one. Now, I don't know how I could have gotten along without it.
 

RossHy

Agent
Joined
Feb 13, 2003
Messages
38
OK, here's a probably obvious question, but I'll ask anyway: Can you record to a DVD on multiple occassions? For example, can I record an episode of a show this week and then tape the next week's episode on the same DVD?
 

Michael Reuben

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 12, 1998
Messages
21,763
Real Name
Michael Reuben
quote:Can you record to a DVD on multiple occassions? For example, can I record an episode of a show this week and then tape the next week's episode on the same DVD?


It depends on the format. DVD-RW, DVD+RW and DVD-RAM are rewriteable formats. DVD-R and DVD+R are not.



M.
 

RossHy

Agent
Joined
Feb 13, 2003
Messages
38
So if I use a rewritable format, I can record multiple episodes of a weekly show? Not on top of each other, but back to back? Just wanted to clarify. Thanks everyone for your help.
 

Michael Reuben

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 12, 1998
Messages
21,763
Real Name
Michael Reuben
quote:So if I use a rewritable format, I can record multiple episodes of a weekly show? Not on top of each other, but back to back?

You can also do that with a non-rewriteable format. Let's take a specific example. You're recording on a DVD-R at what is generally referred to as "standard" speed, which gives you just over 2 hours on a disc.

First session: You record a 1-hour program.

Second session: You record a half-hour program.

Third session: You record another half-hour program.

This works as long as you don't "finalize" the disc until after the third session.

Note, however, that you may not be able to edit out commercials or anything else (such as station promos). It depends on the machine and the format. And that's one of the advantages of a hard drive -- you record the three programs, do all your editing, order them the way you want, and burn them to disc.

M.
 

Stacey

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Feb 10, 2002
Messages
174
Also the beauty of the Hard Drive is that once you've recoded your shows and edited the commercials, you can get more shows on the disc compared with the burn to disc only (unless you feel up to babysitting the machine and pausing for commercials and guessing when the show will come back on to unpause...too much work in my eyes).



Hard Drive??? YES!
thumbsup.gif
 

Elizabeth S

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 9, 2001
Messages
4,850
Location
Hawaii
Real Name
Elizabeth S
I also feel more secure recording to the hard drive just in case you happen to have a faulty DVD-R, -RW, etc. The hard drive also just makes it a lot easier to view everything -- no scrambling around looking for which disc it's on.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Forum statistics

Threads
356,810
Messages
5,123,582
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
1
Top