| MDteX |
| My VCR died this weekend and I was thinking about replacing it with a DVD recorder. Who has one and what should I look for? Just looking for input so I can make an informed purchase. :D |
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| BLACK-BLING-MDX |
| wait for a lil... |
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| Warzau |
They are coming down in price. You have the one that directly record to DVDs be it DVD-R , -RW,+R,+RW, RAM. Then you got the ones with a HDD, different size HD reflect the price. I currently have this one http://catalog2.panasonic.com/webap...odel=DMR-E100HS so does Pierre
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The reason I like it was the fact it had a large HD, and it has a Firewire port so I can record from my camcorder to the HDD or DVD-R. NOW any of the console DVD records will give you basic recording. Meanin they will have basic simple menus and little or no editing features other than shortening a video( removing commercials). For more intense editing might as well get a MAC or a PC dedicated for video editing. Set top one are for quick and dirty recording. Pioneer's Recorder http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/p...2912926,00.html was another one I was considering. But it had a 80G HD and NO firewire, but it did have basic tivo, But I never was a fan of tivo so the Pannys vcr plus is fine for me. |
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| Maik |
I also have the Panasonic. Although I bought mine over a year ago, so its the DMR HS2 model. I absolutely love the unit, and would not hesitate to buy it again. The hard drive, is, in my opinion essential as it allows for all kinds of simple editing. For example, I record Pats games, and then edit out the commercals prior to recording on a DV-R.
Editing is very simple, and I have found that the recorded disks are compatable with most dvd players.
I am a huge TIVO fan. The units work very well together.
Check out
http://www.thewholewideweb.com/foru...lt.asp?CAT_ID=7
great source of info. |
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| neide |
| Can I ask what you used your VCR for? Sure you wouldn't rather have a DVR? I can't tell you how many people I know that didn't get the whole DVR (Tivo/ReplayTV) thing until they actually owned one. I couldn't imagine not having one - and no, I don't watch a lot of TV. |
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| laborlitigator |
| What's a VCR?:2: |
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| robrecht |
The Pioneer with basic TiVo mentioned above is great (less than $700 last Christmas). For $12/month or $300 lifetime of unit, you can add full TiVo, which is also great. Recording with a season's pass (automatically skips reruns unless not previously recorded) or when prompted by a promo trailer or with a wish list is so damn easy. Never again with the VCR or VCR+ hassles.
I also recommend the one-time $100 Home Media Option, which allows you to program your TiVo remotely over the Internet when you're at work or on vacation. It also allows an easy way to put all of your digital photos and music on your TV system. The Home Media Option works best if you have a cable modem or DSL.
However, if you have or want HDTV soon, you may want to wait for a TiVo unit that is HDTV compatible.
DirecTiVo (satellite) is cheaper ($5 per month) but I don't think the Home Media Option is available. I don't like subscription services, and I think TiVo is priced a little on the high side, but imagine the amount you spend every week on TV Guide or the hassle of using newspaper or Internet channel guides. VCRs, and DVD recorders that claim to be as easy as VCRs, are so 20th century. I always found VCRs to be such a hassle that I never used them.
The other alternative is a computer card that allows you to do a lot of this stuff, but not all, from your computer. Personally, I find TiVo much easier and relaxing. OMG, I've turned into a TiVo evangelist!:eek::awais: |
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| MDteX |
To answer some of the questions.
I use (used :( ) my VCR to record weekly shows and some movies. I do like the idea of hooking my digital camcorder up and making DVDs to send the grandparents. Is that the main advantage of having a hard drive in the unit?
I've never had Tivo and I've never understood the need for it. I currently have DirecTV.
Keep the info coming!:D |
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| neide |
quote:
Originally posted by MDteX
To answer some of the questions.
I use (used :( ) my VCR to record weekly shows and some movies. I do like the idea of hooking my digital camcorder up and making DVDs to send the grandparents. Is that the main advantage of having a hard drive in the unit?
I've never had Tivo and I've never understood the need for it. I currently have DirecTV.
Keep the info coming!:D
TiVo makes recording anything off broadcast trivial. Its like a VCR with an integrated menu an no tapes. And the DirectTv one (its a TiVo recorder with two built in DirecTv tuners) is pretty cool (although its missing the Home Media Option) - and you can get it for about 100 bucks. There is so much info out there about these, I hate to repeat it all, do a google. But suffice it to say, not many people can go back once they've used one. |
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| Warzau |
quote:
Originally posted by MDteX
To answer some of the questions.
I use (used :( ) my VCR to record weekly shows and some movies. I do like the idea of hooking my digital camcorder up and making DVDs to send the grandparents. Is that the main advantage of having a hard drive in the unit?
That is the reason I went with the Pany unit. It had a firewire input so I could transfer the video from my DV camcorder in digital format with out any loss. All the other HDD/DVDR didnt have them I dont know why? |
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| Pierre |
Yep, Warzau and I have the same unit. I paid CDN $1599 for it in Nov/03 (net of a $200 mail-in rebate). Absolutely love the unit for two basic reasons:
1) Ease of use, including ability to edit. The HDD/DVD-R combo is the way to go. Friend of mine bought the E80 (no HDD), and he traded it in within a week due to its lack of a HDD.
2) Quality: absolutely NO degradation in the quality of the recording. In fact, last night, I turned on our home entertainment system and thought I was watching a live HDTV broadcast when I realized 5 minutes later that the weather forecast was all wrong: I had actually enagaged the HDD, was watching a pre-recorded program and could not tell the difference! Only hiccup: you cannot record 5.1 sound; the best you'll get is Dolby 2.1. (The unit will play back 5.1 on DVD-R's with it.) Still.....
In addition, the 160 GB HDD will hold 26 hours of recordings at top quality. Can't beat it.
Don't hesitate to get this. You won't regret it. |
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| johnh123 |
quote:
Originally posted by MDteX
I've never had Tivo and I've never understood the need for it. I currently have DirecTV.
You need to go out today, yes today, and get a directivo. You won't regret it. |
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| Maik |
quote:
Originally posted by johnh123
You need to go out today, yes today, and get a directivo. You won't regret it.
I second that.
I will never not have TIVO (or its successor) |
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| robrecht |
quote:
Originally posted by Pierre
Yep, Warzau and I have the same unit. I paid CDN $1599 for it in Nov/03 (net of a $200 mail-in rebate). Absolutely love the unit for two basic reasons:
1) Ease of use, including ability to edit. The HDD/DVD-R combo is the way to go. Friend of mine bought the E80 (no HDD), and he traded it in within a week due to its lack of a HDD.
2) Quality: absolutely NO degradation in the quality of the recording. In fact, last night, I turned on our home entertainment system and thought I was watching a live HDTV broadcast ...
In addition, the 160 GB HDD will hold 26 hours of recordings at top quality. Can't beat it.
Don't hesitate to get this. You won't regret it.
Excuse my ignorance here, but by HDD do you mean Hard Disc Drive or something else?
The Pioneer units with TiVo also have this (80 or 120 GB)--I still notice occasional pixilation (I think that's the right term). Is that normal or is something wrong with my unit or is HDD something altogether different? |
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| neide |
| All of the recorders, except the TiVo/DirectTv combos and the Dish Network ones, use compression. Usually at the highest level of quality, you can't telll too much, but on a big, bright TV a lot of people can, especially if there is a lot of motion. The TiVo/DirectTv combos and the dish ones however record the satellite signal directly, so its the same as the signal coming down, so its no different then watching satellite live. |
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| robrecht |
quote:
Originally posted by neide
All of the recorders, except the TiVo/DirectTv combos and the Dish Network ones, use compression. Usually at the highest level of quality, you can't telll too much, but on a big, bright TV a lot of people can, especially if there is a lot of motion. The TiVo/DirectTv combos and the dish ones however record the satellite signal directly, so its the same as the signal coming down, so its no different then watching satellite live.
Thanks, neide, I figured it was related to the compression algorythms but I do still notice it on our big screen TV even at the highest quality recording setting (maybe less so but not so sure).
BTW, do you know why the DirTiVo units do not offer the Home Media Option? Might they in the future or is there some intrinsic reason? |
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| neide |
quote:
Originally posted by robrecht
BTW, do you know why the DirTiVo units do not offer the Home Media Option? Might they in the future or is there some intrinsic reason?
There has been a lot of speculation about this - but no one seems to know for sure. I've heard that since DirecTV supports this units they are worried about the support, or they are worried about content being removed from the recorders (which can be done with HMO, but is not supposed to be). I think DirecTV is concerned that if you can get at the recorded files you may be able to figure out how their compression algorithm works? |
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| Pierre |
quote:
Originally posted by robrecht
Excuse my ignorance here, but by HDD do you mean Hard Disc Drive or something else?
Hard Disk Drive indeed. |
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| MDteX |
quote:
Originally posted by Warzau
They are coming down in price. You have the one that directly record to DVDs be it DVD-R , -RW,+R,+RW, RAM. Then you got the ones with a HDD, different size HD reflect the price. I currently have this one http://catalog2.panasonic.com/webap...odel=DMR-E100HS so does Pierre.
You pose quite a dilema. I can spend $100 and get a nice new VCR replacement or I can spend $1200 and get a DVD recorder. Let me think about this??? Done. Forget spending that much.
I'm looking at the ones in the $400-$600 range. Do I have to have and HDD to copy from DV camcorder to DVD? |
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| Maik |
quote:
Originally posted by MDteX
You pose quite a dilema. I can spend $100 and get a nice new VCR replacement or I can spend $1200 and get a DVD recorder. Let me think about this??? Done. Forget spending that much.
I'm looking at the ones in the $400-$600 range. Do I have to have and HDD to copy from DV camcorder to DVD?
Actually, the Panasonic models with a hard drive are less than $1,000. I have seen them at Best Buy and Circuit City for $700-$800.
The answer to your question is, no. You do not need a hard drive to record to a dvd, However, if you would like to do some editing it is essential (and quite simple). The hard drive makes simple work out of moving segments around, inserting pictures or segments and deleting portions that are redundant, too long, etc.
Without the hard drive, you will have to do any editing you want on the camcorder prior to recording the dvd. My unit, is the older DMR HS2, which has a smaller hard drive (40 GB) than the newer models. Since I have plenty of hard drive space on my TIVO, and only use the DMR's hard drive as a temp holding spot for editing purposes, the smaller hard drive works fine for me, but I would say that it is an essential component and would highly recommend that you get one with a hard drive. |
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| robrecht |
quote:
Originally posted by MDteX
You pose quite a dilema. I can spend $100 and get a nice new VCR replacement or I can spend $1200 and get a DVD recorder. Let me think about this??? Done. Forget spending that much.
I'm looking at the ones in the $400-$600 range. Do I have to have and HDD to copy from DV camcorder to DVD?
The Pioneer with 80 GB hard drive, DVD-R/W and TiVo was $670 in December, suspect it might be lower now. Without the Firewire connection, I think you'd need to actually play the video on your camera into the unit, record it on the harddrive, and then burn it onto a DVD. I think this is how I will convert our older, nondigital home videos. Seems like a slower process, but I'm not sure there's a better way. |
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| Maik |
quote:
Originally posted by robrecht
The Panasonic with 80 GB hard drive, DVD-R/W and TiVo was $670 in December, suspect it might be lower now. Without the Firewire connection, I think you'd need to actually play the video on your camera into the unit, record it on the harddrive, and then burn it onto a DVD. I think this is how I will convert our older, nondigital home videos. Seems like a slower process, but I'm not sure there's a better way.
Thats a surprise, my older model includes a firewire connection on the back of the unit. I would be surprised to think that they would have eliminated that connection. |
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| robrecht |
quote:
Originally posted by Maik
Thats a surprise, my older model includes a firewire connection on the back of the unit. I would be surprised to think that they would have eliminated that connection.
I'm gonna take Warzau's word for it (see above) for the time being (rather than pull the unit out or go get the manual out of the box in the basement) since I'm really supposed to be working right now! As for why, maybe it's because real editing is much easier on a computer but I could be wrong about that too.
Oh well, back to writing my boring abstract. |
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| Warzau |
| Actually I was talking about the Current Pioneer model I was considering. The sales person and I looked at the Pioneer and it didnt have any firewire input. He was surprised because the previous Pioneer model did have it. I didnt mean Panasonic. :4: |
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| robrecht |
quote:
Originally posted by Warzau
Actually I was talking about the Current Pioneer model I was considering. The sales person and I looked at the Pioneer and it didnt have any firewire input. He was surprised because the previous Pioneer model did have it. I didnt mean Panasonic. :4:
Sorry, I didn't mean Panasonic either--I meant the Pioneer TiVo units. Edited my post. Sorry, Maik! |
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| Maik |
quote:
Originally posted by robrecht
Sorry, I didn't mean Panasonic either--I meant the Pioneer TiVo units. Edited my post. Sorry, Maik!
Opps, sorry boys.
Actually, I have read not so good things about the Pioneer/Tivo units. My understanding is that they pale in comparason to the Panny units in terms of editing capability.
FYI, I run my Sony SAT T60 Tivo unit through the Panny, so I can record on the TIVO and archive/edit and record to DVD on the Panny.
Works out quite well. |
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| mdxxxx |
quote:
Originally posted by johnh123
You need to go out today, yes today, and get a directivo. You won't regret it.
Well, I'm a little late to the Tivo show, however, better late then never. I'm having my directv/tivo installed this weekend...:4: |
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| Maik |
quote:
Originally posted by mdxxxx
Well, I'm a little late to the Tivo show, however, better late then never. I'm having my directv/tivo installed this weekend...:4:
It wont take you long to wonder how you lived so long without it! |
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| zafer |
| Its like going from dial-up to broadband, there's no going back :rolleyes: |
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| mdxxxx |
quote:
Originally posted by Maik
It wont take you long to wonder how you lived so long without it!
quote:
Originally posted by zafer
Its like going from dial-up to broadband, there's no going back :rolleyes:
Very true... It didn't take long for me to get comfortable with it... next is a dvd burner to go with it...:4: |
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| Wazowski |
| Add my name to the list of persons that just got a DirecTV-TiVo unit. I am VERY happy and I could not be more impressed. Unlike stand alone TiVo units, all recordings on the DirecTV-TiVo units are the same super high quality as the original broadcast since the digital data is directly stored onto the HD right off the sattellite -- this is kind of like the same idea that you have no loss in quality when transferring audio/video between your MiniDV camera and your PC through a Firewire connection. Also, the DirecTV-TiVo box has 2 independent tuners, so you can simultaneously channel surf while recording, or watch a recording while simultaneously recording 2 programs, etc. True, the DirecTV-TiVo does not yet have the home media option, so this is one drawback if you must have it. |
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| MDteX |
quote:
Originally posted by Wazowski
Add my name to the list of persons that just got a DirecTV-TiVo unit. I am VERY happy and I could not be more impressed. Unlike stand alone TiVo units, all recordings on the DirecTV-TiVo units are the same super high quality as the original broadcast since the digital data is directly stored onto the HD right off the sattellite -- this is kind of like the same idea that you have no loss in quality when transferring audio/video between your MiniDV camera and your PC through a Firewire connection. Also, the DirecTV-TiVo box has 2 independent tuners, so you can simultaneously channel surf while recording, or watch a recording while simultaneously recording 2 programs, etc. True, the DirecTV-TiVo does not yet have the home media option, so this is one drawback if you must have it.
Does someone make a DirecTV-TiVo-DVD recorder? Sounds like that is what I want. |
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| tax_atty |
| I was going to get Tivo when I read my cable company is adding it (or a similar technology) in March. Based on the press release and some inside info I have it will end up being cheaper for me than getting Tivo on my own. Now I'm just "patiently" waiting for March to come. I'll get a stand alone DVD burner some time in the future so I can copy home movies from my digital camcorder to DVD. |
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| Wazowski |
quote:
Originally posted by MDteX
Does someone make a DirecTV-TiVo-DVD recorder? Sounds like that is what I want.
One can hope, but I wouldn't be surprised if Hollywood seriously opposes a DirecTiVo to DVD recorder unit. Since DirecTiVo units record in ultra high quality (raw satellite data), this would be the ultimate piracy unit. I'm just speculating, but I wouldn't be surprised if this has something to do with why no home media option is yet available on DirecTiVo units either. Just my humble opinion. |
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| mdxxxx |
quote:
Originally posted by Wazowski
One can hope, but I wouldn't be surprised if Hollywood seriously opposes a DirecTiVo to DVD recorder unit. Since DirecTiVo units record in ultra high quality (raw satellite data), this would be the ultimate piracy unit. I'm just speculating, but I wouldn't be surprised if this has something to do with why no home media option is yet available on DirecTiVo units either. Just my humble opinion.
http://www.ptvupgrade.com/ |
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| A2MDXer |
quote:
Originally posted by MDteX
To answer some of the questions.
I use (used :( ) my VCR to record weekly shows and some movies. I do like the idea of hooking my digital camcorder up and making DVDs to send the grandparents. Is that the main advantage of having a hard drive in the unit?
I've never had Tivo and I've never understood the need for it. I currently have DirecTV.
Keep the info coming!:D
I am surprised that no one has mentioned the Sony (RDR-GX7 I think?). I have had it for about 4 months and the quality is top notch (no surprise). It's a bit more expensive than comparable Panasonics and doens't have a hard drive but it's also a dual format recorder (-Rw or +Rw), you have some editing features if you use DVD-RWs and it's the best for converting tapes from digital camcorders. It has Firewire (ILink) and it's one touch recording. E.g. when I connect the cable to the camcorder, I can just hit one button and the recorder will automatically read the tape in the camcorder, rewind it if necessary, automatically start recording from the beginning and automatically stop when the camcorder tape runs out. If you are doing a lot of this, look at the Sony. I figured that Hard Drive technology would rapidly improve in a few years and I didn't really need that right now so I can always add a PVR in the future. It's also very user friendly. Let me know if you want more details. I got it from OneCall in November for $530 (Best Buy still has it for $699). |
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| MDteX |
quote:
Originally posted by A2MDXer
I am surprised that no one has mentioned the Sony (RDR-GX7 I think?). I have had it for about 4 months and the quality is top notch (no surprise). It's a bit more expensive than comparable Panasonics and doens't have a hard drive but it's also a dual format recorder (-Rw or +Rw), you have some editing features if you use DVD-RWs and it's the best for converting tapes from digital camcorders. It has Firewire (ILink) and it's one touch recording. E.g. when I connect the cable to the camcorder, I can just hit one button and the recorder will automatically read the tape in the camcorder, rewind it if necessary, automatically start recording from the beginning and automatically stop when the camcorder tape runs out. If you are doing a lot of this, look at the Sony. I figured that Hard Drive technology would rapidly improve in a few years and I didn't really need that right now so I can always add a PVR in the future. It's also very user friendly. Let me know if you want more details. I got it from OneCall in November for $530 (Best Buy still has it for $699).
That is one I've look at but I do want a hard drive.
BTW onecall.com is a great place. I've done business with them for several years. Good prices, excellent service and factory authorized dealer. I rarely buy anywhere else. One tip, when you talk to them they will lower the price sometimes. I've been able to negotiate lower prices than what the website has. :D |
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| A2MDXer |
quote:
Originally posted by MDteX
That is one I've look at but I do want a hard drive.
BTW onecall.com is a great place. I've done business with them for several years. Good prices, excellent service and factory authorized dealer. I rarely buy anywhere else. One tip, when you talk to them they will lower the price sometimes. I've been able to negotiate lower prices than what the website has. :D
Yes, when I went to buy the Sony the website best price was about $550 I think but I had seen it for less on other reputable sites so I called and they matched it. |
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