Question:
As these are dropping in price im starting to think about buying one but i don't know anything about the different formats available. Can anyone please recommend a magazine or web site where i can swot up. thanks.
What do you wish to record, off air transmission or disk backups ?
'What Video' Magazine May edition was a particularly good issue entitled 'DVD Recorders for all'. It reviewed the Panasonic DMRE50, and had a great feature comparison table in it. If you do a forum search on 'E50' (search the bargain forum as well), you'll see this is the most feature full and affordable model available today. Everyone who buys it (including me) gives it a huge thumbs up.
Take your time, prices will only fall.
If you want HDD and DVD then go for a Panasonic HS2. Now about £619 at Digital Direct. Great playback, really good recordings and intuitive menus. It also uses RAM discs which to my mind are the most flexible and DVD-R.
The Toshiba "version" is cheaper but lacks RGB input which to my mind kills it stone dead.
The Panasonic E50 is an excellent player and recorder but lacks Ilink support for DV in. The E60 is more expensive but takes care of this. Both have good pre-recorded playback.
The Pioneer is far to expensive (DVD-R DVD-RW) at over £700 which makes it irrelevant.
The Phillips use DVD+R and DVD+RW. They are good machines particularly on playback but there are some issues about quality and reliability.
Myself??? Well I had an HS2 which was superb and a Sony DVD player. But I needed the room and I really love the DVD playback on Sony machines. So I converted the two of them to the Sony DVD recorder which has everything the HS2 has by way of quality, slightly better DVD playback but of couse NO HDD. I have SKy+ so this isnt really an issue.
EDITED to sort out my plus and minuses:(
Originally posted by CLH
If you want HDD and DVD then go for a Panasonic HS2. Now about £619 at Digital Direct.
Come on then ... what's the URL? I find it helpful if people give a link to etailers they mention as it isn't always apparent from the name what their URL will be. :)
Seems to be more than £619 ... unless we're talking different etailers (http://www.digitaldirectuk.com/products_moreinfo/index.asp?product_id=850)?
Originally posted by CLH
If you want HDD and DVD then go for a Panasonic HS2. Now about £619 at Digital Direct. Great playback, really good recordings and intuitive menus. It also uses RAM discs which to my mind are the most flexible and DVD-R.
The Toshiba "version" is cheaper but lacks RGB input which to my mind kills it stone dead.
The Panasonic E50 is an excellent player and recorder but lacks Ilink support for DV in. The E60 is more expensive but takes care of this. Both have good pre-recorded playback.
The Pioneer is far to expensive (DVD+R DVD+RW) at over £700 which makes it irrelevant.
The Phillips use DVD-R and DVD-RW. They are good machines particularly on playback but there are some issues about quality and reliability.
Myself??? Well I had an HS2 which was superb and a Sony DVD player. But I needed the room and I really love the DVD playback on Sony machines. So I converted the two of them to the Sony DVD recorder which has everything the HS2 has by way of quality, slightly better DVD playback but of couse NO HDD. I have SKy+ so this isnt really an issue.
You got rid of a HS-2 for the Sony Recorder:lol: Some people have just got too much money to throw away.Agreed E50 is excellent(Ive got one and find it very useful).If you want RGB in the I would say the HS-2 is a good choice or wait a few months and get the new E80/E100 but these may be abit over the prices you are seeing at the mo.If you dont need RGB in(which Alot of people do) then the Toshiba RDXS30 is a good choice at the moment and at an excellent price for what it offers(see my thread in the bargain forum for more info.)It all depends really what you are going to be using it for,if its for Timeshifting tv programmes then dvd-ram is an excellent format for this.
Thanks for all your posts. I've already got a SKY + box which i quite regularly fill up with films which I then have to delete without watching in order to record the next one. I bought a cheap VCR witht he aim of downloading some of the films but im fed up with the reduction in picture quality. So Im really just after a good quality DVD recorder to download films i've recorder on my SKY +
Originally posted by Q
You got rid of a HS-2 for the Sony Recorder:lol: Some people have just got too much money to throw away.
Not at all. Sold a DVD player I won as a prize. Took at £75 drop on the HS2 and ended up £150 up. Best you don't comment on what people do unless you know the facts.
And I did it because of a lack of space. Or do you think the DVD player would have looked quite as good sat on top of the centre speaker on my TV?
Originally posted by sideshowbob
Seems to be more than £619 ... unless we're talking different etailers (http://www.digitaldirectuk.com/products_moreinfo/index.asp?product_id=850)?
Might be Digital Point then ??? Can't find the URL myself!
Also Multiregionmagic and Leconcepts are quite cheap as well.
steady guys !
fccabs - looks like the E50 is the machine you're after as it will RGB offload your Sky+ HD to the wonderful DVD-RAM media for later viewing. Remember that DVD-RAM has error correction and lasts for 30 years ! So no more wiping your HD. Around the £300 mark (see the bargain forum for the latest prices and suppliers).
thanks very much KaptinK
Heres the Digital Point link.
E60 on there as well.
http://www.digital-point.co.uk/dvd.asp
Originally posted by CLH
Not at all. Sold a DVD player I won as a prize. Took at £75 drop on the HS2 and ended up £150 up. Best you don't comment on what people do unless you know the facts.
Oi stroppy boy, reel your neck in or I will have to call you an a-hole :thumbs:
Interesting advice CLgHey, I'm thinking about moving to a recorder soon so will check out your pointers...
Originally posted by Roy
I'm thinking about moving to a recorder soon so will check out your pointers...
I thought you were already well acquainted with CLH's pointers.
This thread has been officially hijacked by the DVDF Clan.
http://www.roythompson.dsl.pipex.com/DVDFa.gif
Originally posted by CLH
Not at all. Sold a DVD player I won as a prize. Took at £75 drop on the HS2 and ended up £150 up. Best you don't comment on what people do unless you know the facts.
And I did it because of a lack of space. Or do you think the DVD player would have looked quite as good sat on top of the centre speaker on my TV?
1st of all I wouldnt have got rid of a piece of good kit just because I didnt have the space,I would have made the Space.Please read your two posts in this thread and try re-reading them neither of them make much sense so it could be easy to mis-understand your replies.So as to not start a flame war may I suggest you take the reply I did to your post as a joke as there was a smiley there.Having seen the Magazine Reviews of the HS-2,Toshiba,Sony all got good reviews but the Sony got the worst rating because of its price for what it offered.Agreed if you have Sky+ then you dont need a Hard drive but as the HS-2 is still regarded as the dog's ******** then I thought it was quite strange to get rid of what is considered to be the best dvd recorder on the market at the moment for a totally different format recorder(Dvd-ram to what ever format the sony is I cant remember and dont care as dvd-ram is the best anyway:D )
If I have mis-understood anything in your posts then Im sorry:thumbs: but a reply stating the misunderstanding would have been better than what was posted.
Originally posted by Roy
This thread has been officially hijacked by the DVDF Clan.
http://www.roythompson.dsl.pipex.com/DVDFa.gif
I have run off in fear!!
Originally posted by Q
1st of all I wouldnt have got rid of a piece of good kit just because I didnt have the space,I would have made the Space.Please read your two posts in this thread and try re-reading them neither of them make much sense so it could be easy to mis-understand your replies.So as to not start a flame war may I suggest you take the reply I did to your post as a joke as there was a smiley there.Having seen the Magazine Reviews of the HS-2,Toshiba,Sony all got good reviews but the Sony got the worst rating because of its price for what it offered.Agreed if you have Sky+ then you dont need a Hard drive but as the HS-2 is still regarded as the dog's ******** then I thought it was quite strange to get rid of what is considered to be the best dvd recorder on the market at the moment for a totally different format recorder(Dvd-ram to what ever format the sony is I cant remember and dont care as dvd-ram is the best anyway:D )
If I have mis-understood anything in your posts then Im sorry:thumbs: but a reply stating the misunderstanding would have been better than what was posted.
The HS2 is the dogs. It's better than the Sony in many ways especially at the price. But it isn't as good as a plain DVD player. The Sony IS better at that and as a cinephile that's what I want in my one box solution.
It really isn't about making space sometimes. She who must be obeyed simply won't allow it and (take a look through some of my recent posts) she's let me get away with a lot lately!:lol:
The only thing I took as offensive was the "more money than sense" thing. Believe me it was a tough hard thought out decision. I didn't want to do it. I'd prefer a set up like Cheeksters or Phayzes but sometimes you need to know when to quit!!
Why has nobody pointed out the mistake in the earlier post that the Pioneer uses DVD-R,and the Philips uses DVD+R.
Why would anybody want to transfer a live broadcast quality recording from SKY+ to any DVD format,where quality will drop if you put more than 1 hour on a disc.
PANASONIC DMR-E20
DVD recorder
5/5
£1000
December 2001
PANASONIC DMR-E30
DVD recorder
5/5
£550
October 2002
PANASONIC DMR-HS2
DVD recorder/hard drive combi
5/5
£1000
November 2002
PHILIPS DVDR 1000
DVD recorder
4.5/5
£1300
November 2001
PHILIPS DVDR 1000 MKII
dvd recorder
4.5/5
£1000
December 2002
PHILIPS DVDR 880
DVD recorder
5/5
£500
November 2002
PHILIPS DVDR 890
DVD+RW/DVD+R recorder
5/5
£600
October 2002
PHILIPS DVDR 985
DVD recorder
4.5/5
£900
June 2002
PIONEER DVR-7000
DVD recorder
4.5/5
£1300
April 2002
PIONEER DVR-A03
DVD-R/RW drive
4.5/5
£650
December 2001
SAMSUNG DVD-R3000
DVD recorder
3.5/5
£900
November 2002
According to Whatvideo and TV it seems you can't really go wrong with any of them!
To add to that
Panasonic DMR E50
DVD-RAM/-R
5/5 Best Buy
Toshiba RDXS30
HD/DVD-RAM/-R
4/5
Both of these have been reviewed in the last 2 months but cant remember specific months.Tosh was last months mag and Panasonic was the month before that.
Originally posted by phelings
Why would anybody want to transfer a live broadcast quality recording from SKY+ to any DVD format,where quality will drop if you put more than 1 hour on a disc.
So are you suggesting when the sky+ box is full, you go out and buy another one???
I for one am a big supporter of dvd-ram, especially if you want to archive material containing advert breaks (I believe dvd-ram is the only format that allows deleted sections to return to the free space).
The new JVC with support for dvd-r/-rw sounds good, but with the E50 so cheap these days, there's really no need to wait.
And if you play your cards right, dvd-ram media can be picked up quite cheap and not so far from dvd+/- rw blanks.
mike
I think you will find that 20 hours is enough for most people ,and surely the idea for all digital recording media is to maintain quality
Originally posted by phelings
I think you will find that 20 hours is enough for most people ,and surely the idea for all digital recording media is to maintain quality
I think you'll find it isn't :)
20 hrs = 5 vhs tapes, are you telling me you've never used more than 5 blank tapes for recording onto?
I personally like to record some programmes for watching again (my other particularly likes me to record programmes like how to be a gardener, where the ability to re-watch is very handy). 20 hrs would only cover the full series leaving a small amount for future recordings.
What I don't understand is where the quality is supposed to go? 40GB = 20hrs on the sky+ box, 4.2GB should = 2+hrs when recorded onto DVD, therefore you should be able to archive with little loss of quality at 2hrs per disk
There are many other reasons why you might choose dvd recorders not simply for quality:
1) They're nearly as cheap as VHS recorders
2) The media is easily imported into a PC for editing
3) The media life is far superior to tape
4) The media is smaller and easier to store
5) Random access to recorded programmes
mike
Exactly my point.SKY+ keeps the recording at a quality IDENTICAL to the broadcast.Anything I want to archive I transfer to DVD+R at 2 and a half hours max on a disc.
The whole point of SKY+ is not fiddling with tapes(discs) to watch your recordings.Even though I have a dvd recorder I always use SKY+ to watch and wipe as its just as much of a pain using a dvd recorder as it is a vcr.
I have never heard of anyone ,but you complaining that 20 hours is not enough storage.I suppose on a rare week of good tv it might be a bit tight,but surely downgrading to a dvd is a last resort,unless you wish to archive the recording.
Originally posted by phelings
Exactly my point.SKY+ keeps the recording at a quality IDENTICAL to the broadcast.Anything I want to archive I transfer to DVD+R at 2 and a half hours max on a disc.
The whole point of SKY+ is not fiddling with tapes(discs) to watch your recordings.Even though I have a dvd recorder I always use SKY+ to watch and wipe as its just as much of a pain using a dvd recorder as it is a vcr.
I have never heard of anyone ,but you complaining that 20 hours is not enough storage.I suppose on a rare week of good tv it might be a bit tight,but surely downgrading to a dvd is a last resort,unless you wish to archive the recording.
20 Hours isnt enough if you are using the Sky+ to store things that is what mbuckhurst was trying to say and I agree with him if you want to keep things on the hard drive.If all you ever do is record,watch,wipe then it will be enough but some people like to keep certain programmes.Myself Ive got all the 1st season of BoomTown on the tivo as well as alot of 3rd Watch and my 40gb hard drive is virtually full so having had just a 20gb hard drive wouldnt have been enough.My way of thinking is you can never have too much storage as it is there if you have it but if you havent then you have to compromise somewhere.
Many people fit a larger capacity hdd to their Sky+ box. 120g is not uncommon.There are a few threads on avforums regarding this as quite a few of them have done this.
Neither SKY+ nor Tivo are designed for storing things longterm. Surely if you want to keep something for multiple viewing you transfer it to dvd.No hard drive is designed for permanent storage,thats the whole point of the thing,watch and wipe,or if you want to keep it-put it on disc or(spits)tape.
Originally posted by phelings
Neither SKY+ nor Tivo are designed for storing things longterm. Surely if you want to keep something for multiple viewing you transfer it to dvd.No hard drive is designed for permanent storage,thats the whole point of the thing,watch and wipe,or if you want to keep it-put it on disc or(spits)tape.
I agree with that, but if we go back to your original statement:
Originally posted by phelings
Why would anybody want to transfer a live broadcast quality recording from SKY+ to any DVD format,where quality will drop if you put more than 1 hour on a disc.
I was commenting on the fact you didn't seem to think you would want to copy to dvd from sky+. I actually find 20hrs is not long enough so keep a couple of dvd-rams to transfer stuff to watch later on. This is especially useful with Tivo due to it's willingness to record lots of programmes it thinks you might like, but this is dependant on free space, so I like to keep mine relatively empty.
mike
I haven't got a hard disk DVD recorder (got an E50) and am therefore 'forced' into watching, tidying, deleting progs on a regular basis. If i had a HD unit i could easily accumulate 20 hours of 'would like to watch at some point' material and then be forced into recording on disks. The way you use these devices depends on your lifestyle, spare time and personality. I like a quality picture but don't mind LP mode if i want to fit it on the same disk as other relevant material. I rarely use the XP (max quality) mode but understand why others would settle for nothing less.
My original point was assuming you would be transferring to disc stuff that you would later delete.
My whole purpose in getting SKY+ was to watch recordings with no loss of quality,something us video buffs have wanted since before laserdisc.I suppose if you watch a lot of movies and sport it could accumulate quite quickly.I would think if you are a heavy "watch and wipe" viewer,rather than a collector,the cash would be better spent on a hard drive than a dvd recorder.
Pleased that you see how others use their machines. I knew that ideally I would have got on much better with a machine that doesn't yet exist. That's a 120GB HD plus disc library + EPG with DVD-RAM and ideally DVD+R as well as DVD-R , plus DV-IN and RGB-IN. I didn't want to wait and so I settled for the cheapest and nearest solution - the E50 (Seemed crazy to spend twice as much on the HS2 with hard disk). I reckon in a years time there will be a machine that will match my requirements, and at around £400. So until then I will be 'manually' filling in the specification gaps !
Originally posted by KaptinK
Pleased that you see how others use their machines. I knew that ideally I would have got on much better with a machine that doesn't yet exist. That's a 120GB HD plus disc library + EPG with DVD-RAM and ideally DVD+R as well as DVD-R , plus DV-IN and RGB-IN. I didn't want to wait and so I settled for the cheapest and nearest solution - the E50 (Seemed crazy to spend twice as much on the HS2 with hard disk). I reckon in a years time there will be a machine that will match my requirements, and at around £400. So until then I will be 'manually' filling in the specification gaps !
Totally agree.The E50 kept on dropping in price and the HS-2 was going up.I felt the same about paying double for the HS-2.I was tempted but thought I would get an E50 until something better comes along as above.£300 isnt that much to loose if doesnt work compared to loosing £600-£650.In the future I can see machines get better specified and cheaper which can only be a good thing:thumbs:
Answers:
What do you wish to record, off air transmission or disk backups ?
Answers:
'What Video' Magazine May edition was a particularly good issue entitled 'DVD Recorders for all'. It reviewed the Panasonic DMRE50, and had a great feature comparison table in it. If you do a forum search on 'E50' (search the bargain forum as well), you'll see this is the most feature full and affordable model available today. Everyone who buys it (including me) gives it a huge thumbs up.
Take your time, prices will only fall.
Answers:
If you want HDD and DVD then go for a Panasonic HS2. Now about £619 at Digital Direct. Great playback, really good recordings and intuitive menus. It also uses RAM discs which to my mind are the most flexible and DVD-R.
The Toshiba "version" is cheaper but lacks RGB input which to my mind kills it stone dead.
The Panasonic E50 is an excellent player and recorder but lacks Ilink support for DV in. The E60 is more expensive but takes care of this. Both have good pre-recorded playback.
The Pioneer is far to expensive (DVD-R DVD-RW) at over £700 which makes it irrelevant.
The Phillips use DVD+R and DVD+RW. They are good machines particularly on playback but there are some issues about quality and reliability.
Myself??? Well I had an HS2 which was superb and a Sony DVD player. But I needed the room and I really love the DVD playback on Sony machines. So I converted the two of them to the Sony DVD recorder which has everything the HS2 has by way of quality, slightly better DVD playback but of couse NO HDD. I have SKy+ so this isnt really an issue.
EDITED to sort out my plus and minuses:(
Answers:
Originally posted by CLH
If you want HDD and DVD then go for a Panasonic HS2. Now about £619 at Digital Direct.
Come on then ... what's the URL? I find it helpful if people give a link to etailers they mention as it isn't always apparent from the name what their URL will be. :)
Answers:
Seems to be more than £619 ... unless we're talking different etailers (http://www.digitaldirectuk.com/products_moreinfo/index.asp?product_id=850)?
Answers:
Originally posted by CLH
If you want HDD and DVD then go for a Panasonic HS2. Now about £619 at Digital Direct. Great playback, really good recordings and intuitive menus. It also uses RAM discs which to my mind are the most flexible and DVD-R.
The Toshiba "version" is cheaper but lacks RGB input which to my mind kills it stone dead.
The Panasonic E50 is an excellent player and recorder but lacks Ilink support for DV in. The E60 is more expensive but takes care of this. Both have good pre-recorded playback.
The Pioneer is far to expensive (DVD+R DVD+RW) at over £700 which makes it irrelevant.
The Phillips use DVD-R and DVD-RW. They are good machines particularly on playback but there are some issues about quality and reliability.
Myself??? Well I had an HS2 which was superb and a Sony DVD player. But I needed the room and I really love the DVD playback on Sony machines. So I converted the two of them to the Sony DVD recorder which has everything the HS2 has by way of quality, slightly better DVD playback but of couse NO HDD. I have SKy+ so this isnt really an issue.
You got rid of a HS-2 for the Sony Recorder:lol: Some people have just got too much money to throw away.Agreed E50 is excellent(Ive got one and find it very useful).If you want RGB in the I would say the HS-2 is a good choice or wait a few months and get the new E80/E100 but these may be abit over the prices you are seeing at the mo.If you dont need RGB in(which Alot of people do) then the Toshiba RDXS30 is a good choice at the moment and at an excellent price for what it offers(see my thread in the bargain forum for more info.)It all depends really what you are going to be using it for,if its for Timeshifting tv programmes then dvd-ram is an excellent format for this.
Answers:
Thanks for all your posts. I've already got a SKY + box which i quite regularly fill up with films which I then have to delete without watching in order to record the next one. I bought a cheap VCR witht he aim of downloading some of the films but im fed up with the reduction in picture quality. So Im really just after a good quality DVD recorder to download films i've recorder on my SKY +
Answers:
Originally posted by Q
You got rid of a HS-2 for the Sony Recorder:lol: Some people have just got too much money to throw away.
Not at all. Sold a DVD player I won as a prize. Took at £75 drop on the HS2 and ended up £150 up. Best you don't comment on what people do unless you know the facts.
And I did it because of a lack of space. Or do you think the DVD player would have looked quite as good sat on top of the centre speaker on my TV?
Answers:
Originally posted by sideshowbob
Seems to be more than £619 ... unless we're talking different etailers (http://www.digitaldirectuk.com/products_moreinfo/index.asp?product_id=850)?
Might be Digital Point then ??? Can't find the URL myself!
Also Multiregionmagic and Leconcepts are quite cheap as well.
Answers:
steady guys !
fccabs - looks like the E50 is the machine you're after as it will RGB offload your Sky+ HD to the wonderful DVD-RAM media for later viewing. Remember that DVD-RAM has error correction and lasts for 30 years ! So no more wiping your HD. Around the £300 mark (see the bargain forum for the latest prices and suppliers).
Answers:
thanks very much KaptinK
Answers:
Heres the Digital Point link.
E60 on there as well.
http://www.digital-point.co.uk/dvd.asp
Answers:
Originally posted by CLH
Not at all. Sold a DVD player I won as a prize. Took at £75 drop on the HS2 and ended up £150 up. Best you don't comment on what people do unless you know the facts.
Oi stroppy boy, reel your neck in or I will have to call you an a-hole :thumbs:
Interesting advice CLgHey, I'm thinking about moving to a recorder soon so will check out your pointers...
Answers:
Originally posted by Roy
I'm thinking about moving to a recorder soon so will check out your pointers...
I thought you were already well acquainted with CLH's pointers.
Answers:
This thread has been officially hijacked by the DVDF Clan.
http://www.roythompson.dsl.pipex.com/DVDFa.gif
Answers:
Originally posted by CLH
Not at all. Sold a DVD player I won as a prize. Took at £75 drop on the HS2 and ended up £150 up. Best you don't comment on what people do unless you know the facts.
And I did it because of a lack of space. Or do you think the DVD player would have looked quite as good sat on top of the centre speaker on my TV?
1st of all I wouldnt have got rid of a piece of good kit just because I didnt have the space,I would have made the Space.Please read your two posts in this thread and try re-reading them neither of them make much sense so it could be easy to mis-understand your replies.So as to not start a flame war may I suggest you take the reply I did to your post as a joke as there was a smiley there.Having seen the Magazine Reviews of the HS-2,Toshiba,Sony all got good reviews but the Sony got the worst rating because of its price for what it offered.Agreed if you have Sky+ then you dont need a Hard drive but as the HS-2 is still regarded as the dog's ******** then I thought it was quite strange to get rid of what is considered to be the best dvd recorder on the market at the moment for a totally different format recorder(Dvd-ram to what ever format the sony is I cant remember and dont care as dvd-ram is the best anyway:D )
If I have mis-understood anything in your posts then Im sorry:thumbs: but a reply stating the misunderstanding would have been better than what was posted.
Answers:
Originally posted by Roy
This thread has been officially hijacked by the DVDF Clan.
http://www.roythompson.dsl.pipex.com/DVDFa.gif
I have run off in fear!!
Answers:
Originally posted by Q
1st of all I wouldnt have got rid of a piece of good kit just because I didnt have the space,I would have made the Space.Please read your two posts in this thread and try re-reading them neither of them make much sense so it could be easy to mis-understand your replies.So as to not start a flame war may I suggest you take the reply I did to your post as a joke as there was a smiley there.Having seen the Magazine Reviews of the HS-2,Toshiba,Sony all got good reviews but the Sony got the worst rating because of its price for what it offered.Agreed if you have Sky+ then you dont need a Hard drive but as the HS-2 is still regarded as the dog's ******** then I thought it was quite strange to get rid of what is considered to be the best dvd recorder on the market at the moment for a totally different format recorder(Dvd-ram to what ever format the sony is I cant remember and dont care as dvd-ram is the best anyway:D )
If I have mis-understood anything in your posts then Im sorry:thumbs: but a reply stating the misunderstanding would have been better than what was posted.
The HS2 is the dogs. It's better than the Sony in many ways especially at the price. But it isn't as good as a plain DVD player. The Sony IS better at that and as a cinephile that's what I want in my one box solution.
It really isn't about making space sometimes. She who must be obeyed simply won't allow it and (take a look through some of my recent posts) she's let me get away with a lot lately!:lol:
The only thing I took as offensive was the "more money than sense" thing. Believe me it was a tough hard thought out decision. I didn't want to do it. I'd prefer a set up like Cheeksters or Phayzes but sometimes you need to know when to quit!!
Answers:
Why has nobody pointed out the mistake in the earlier post that the Pioneer uses DVD-R,and the Philips uses DVD+R.
Why would anybody want to transfer a live broadcast quality recording from SKY+ to any DVD format,where quality will drop if you put more than 1 hour on a disc.
Answers:
PANASONIC DMR-E20
DVD recorder
5/5
£1000
December 2001
PANASONIC DMR-E30
DVD recorder
5/5
£550
October 2002
PANASONIC DMR-HS2
DVD recorder/hard drive combi
5/5
£1000
November 2002
PHILIPS DVDR 1000
DVD recorder
4.5/5
£1300
November 2001
PHILIPS DVDR 1000 MKII
dvd recorder
4.5/5
£1000
December 2002
PHILIPS DVDR 880
DVD recorder
5/5
£500
November 2002
PHILIPS DVDR 890
DVD+RW/DVD+R recorder
5/5
£600
October 2002
PHILIPS DVDR 985
DVD recorder
4.5/5
£900
June 2002
PIONEER DVR-7000
DVD recorder
4.5/5
£1300
April 2002
PIONEER DVR-A03
DVD-R/RW drive
4.5/5
£650
December 2001
SAMSUNG DVD-R3000
DVD recorder
3.5/5
£900
November 2002
According to Whatvideo and TV it seems you can't really go wrong with any of them!
Answers:
To add to that
Panasonic DMR E50
DVD-RAM/-R
5/5 Best Buy
Toshiba RDXS30
HD/DVD-RAM/-R
4/5
Both of these have been reviewed in the last 2 months but cant remember specific months.Tosh was last months mag and Panasonic was the month before that.
Answers:
Originally posted by phelings
Why would anybody want to transfer a live broadcast quality recording from SKY+ to any DVD format,where quality will drop if you put more than 1 hour on a disc.
So are you suggesting when the sky+ box is full, you go out and buy another one???
I for one am a big supporter of dvd-ram, especially if you want to archive material containing advert breaks (I believe dvd-ram is the only format that allows deleted sections to return to the free space).
The new JVC with support for dvd-r/-rw sounds good, but with the E50 so cheap these days, there's really no need to wait.
And if you play your cards right, dvd-ram media can be picked up quite cheap and not so far from dvd+/- rw blanks.
mike
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I think you will find that 20 hours is enough for most people ,and surely the idea for all digital recording media is to maintain quality
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Originally posted by phelings
I think you will find that 20 hours is enough for most people ,and surely the idea for all digital recording media is to maintain quality
I think you'll find it isn't :)
20 hrs = 5 vhs tapes, are you telling me you've never used more than 5 blank tapes for recording onto?
I personally like to record some programmes for watching again (my other particularly likes me to record programmes like how to be a gardener, where the ability to re-watch is very handy). 20 hrs would only cover the full series leaving a small amount for future recordings.
What I don't understand is where the quality is supposed to go? 40GB = 20hrs on the sky+ box, 4.2GB should = 2+hrs when recorded onto DVD, therefore you should be able to archive with little loss of quality at 2hrs per disk
There are many other reasons why you might choose dvd recorders not simply for quality:
1) They're nearly as cheap as VHS recorders
2) The media is easily imported into a PC for editing
3) The media life is far superior to tape
4) The media is smaller and easier to store
5) Random access to recorded programmes
mike
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Exactly my point.SKY+ keeps the recording at a quality IDENTICAL to the broadcast.Anything I want to archive I transfer to DVD+R at 2 and a half hours max on a disc.
The whole point of SKY+ is not fiddling with tapes(discs) to watch your recordings.Even though I have a dvd recorder I always use SKY+ to watch and wipe as its just as much of a pain using a dvd recorder as it is a vcr.
I have never heard of anyone ,but you complaining that 20 hours is not enough storage.I suppose on a rare week of good tv it might be a bit tight,but surely downgrading to a dvd is a last resort,unless you wish to archive the recording.
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Originally posted by phelings
Exactly my point.SKY+ keeps the recording at a quality IDENTICAL to the broadcast.Anything I want to archive I transfer to DVD+R at 2 and a half hours max on a disc.
The whole point of SKY+ is not fiddling with tapes(discs) to watch your recordings.Even though I have a dvd recorder I always use SKY+ to watch and wipe as its just as much of a pain using a dvd recorder as it is a vcr.
I have never heard of anyone ,but you complaining that 20 hours is not enough storage.I suppose on a rare week of good tv it might be a bit tight,but surely downgrading to a dvd is a last resort,unless you wish to archive the recording.
20 Hours isnt enough if you are using the Sky+ to store things that is what mbuckhurst was trying to say and I agree with him if you want to keep things on the hard drive.If all you ever do is record,watch,wipe then it will be enough but some people like to keep certain programmes.Myself Ive got all the 1st season of BoomTown on the tivo as well as alot of 3rd Watch and my 40gb hard drive is virtually full so having had just a 20gb hard drive wouldnt have been enough.My way of thinking is you can never have too much storage as it is there if you have it but if you havent then you have to compromise somewhere.
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Many people fit a larger capacity hdd to their Sky+ box. 120g is not uncommon.There are a few threads on avforums regarding this as quite a few of them have done this.
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Neither SKY+ nor Tivo are designed for storing things longterm. Surely if you want to keep something for multiple viewing you transfer it to dvd.No hard drive is designed for permanent storage,thats the whole point of the thing,watch and wipe,or if you want to keep it-put it on disc or(spits)tape.
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Originally posted by phelings
Neither SKY+ nor Tivo are designed for storing things longterm. Surely if you want to keep something for multiple viewing you transfer it to dvd.No hard drive is designed for permanent storage,thats the whole point of the thing,watch and wipe,or if you want to keep it-put it on disc or(spits)tape.
I agree with that, but if we go back to your original statement:
Originally posted by phelings
Why would anybody want to transfer a live broadcast quality recording from SKY+ to any DVD format,where quality will drop if you put more than 1 hour on a disc.
I was commenting on the fact you didn't seem to think you would want to copy to dvd from sky+. I actually find 20hrs is not long enough so keep a couple of dvd-rams to transfer stuff to watch later on. This is especially useful with Tivo due to it's willingness to record lots of programmes it thinks you might like, but this is dependant on free space, so I like to keep mine relatively empty.
mike
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I haven't got a hard disk DVD recorder (got an E50) and am therefore 'forced' into watching, tidying, deleting progs on a regular basis. If i had a HD unit i could easily accumulate 20 hours of 'would like to watch at some point' material and then be forced into recording on disks. The way you use these devices depends on your lifestyle, spare time and personality. I like a quality picture but don't mind LP mode if i want to fit it on the same disk as other relevant material. I rarely use the XP (max quality) mode but understand why others would settle for nothing less.
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My original point was assuming you would be transferring to disc stuff that you would later delete.
My whole purpose in getting SKY+ was to watch recordings with no loss of quality,something us video buffs have wanted since before laserdisc.I suppose if you watch a lot of movies and sport it could accumulate quite quickly.I would think if you are a heavy "watch and wipe" viewer,rather than a collector,the cash would be better spent on a hard drive than a dvd recorder.
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Pleased that you see how others use their machines. I knew that ideally I would have got on much better with a machine that doesn't yet exist. That's a 120GB HD plus disc library + EPG with DVD-RAM and ideally DVD+R as well as DVD-R , plus DV-IN and RGB-IN. I didn't want to wait and so I settled for the cheapest and nearest solution - the E50 (Seemed crazy to spend twice as much on the HS2 with hard disk). I reckon in a years time there will be a machine that will match my requirements, and at around £400. So until then I will be 'manually' filling in the specification gaps !
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Originally posted by KaptinK
Pleased that you see how others use their machines. I knew that ideally I would have got on much better with a machine that doesn't yet exist. That's a 120GB HD plus disc library + EPG with DVD-RAM and ideally DVD+R as well as DVD-R , plus DV-IN and RGB-IN. I didn't want to wait and so I settled for the cheapest and nearest solution - the E50 (Seemed crazy to spend twice as much on the HS2 with hard disk). I reckon in a years time there will be a machine that will match my requirements, and at around £400. So until then I will be 'manually' filling in the specification gaps !
Totally agree.The E50 kept on dropping in price and the HS-2 was going up.I felt the same about paying double for the HS-2.I was tempted but thought I would get an E50 until something better comes along as above.£300 isnt that much to loose if doesnt work compared to loosing £600-£650.In the future I can see machines get better specified and cheaper which can only be a good thing:thumbs:
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