DVD-recorder with hard disk

[Vitnir]

I am seriously considering getting a DVD-recorder with hard disk to replace my VHS. I have no idea what to get, I visited the two shops there is in my town and the option seem to be a SHARP 320 (80 Gb Hdd), Pioneer 520 and a Sony which they were out of stock of.
Links to reviews or personal experience you want to share? Thanks.

 

[Iconoclast]

I've been looking at these for a while now, and I think I'll have a splurge on one after Christmas. From the reviews I've read, a lot of people like the Topfield TF5000PVRT, this unit has twin standard definition digital receivers and a 120GB drive. Personally, I think twin tuners are a "must have", you can watch one channel live while recording another, and you can do picture in picture of two live channels. Note that not all PVRs described as having twin tuners are the same, most cannot record two channels simultaneously, they only allow you to record from one tuner and watch the other tuner live. Unfortunately, I've no idea if the Topfield unit is available in an NTSC version. Finally, are you sure you want the ability to record to DVDs?

 

[Vitnir]

Well why on earth would I not want to record to DVD? I have never liked VHS-tapes. Topfield as a brand is unknown to me in Sweden and I don't like to spend as much money as it sounds like it costs. That's why I waited a year for these units to be more reasonable priced.

 

[richardm]

Funnily enough, Which? Magazine has just done a review of these things.

In their opinion you're better off with a separate DVD recorder and PVR - it's cheaper, for one thing. However, they review a few anyway.

The Pioneer DVR-520H-S comes out with excellent marks for picture playback and recording, and more than decent for sound. It's a bit iffy for long play picture recording (but no worse than any of the others, and according to earlier reviews still better than the best VHS machine). And it's not that easy to use (but you're not worried about that, I suspect!)

They don't cover the Sharp 320 but do review the 300. Surprisingly enough it actually gets a slightly higher score than the Pioneer, with better quality sound in recordings.

In reality there seems to be nothing between any of them in terms of picture quality, which is pretty reassuring.

If you have a separate digital tuner with an electronic programme guide, you can use that to trigger recordings on the Pioneer one, which could be a useful feature. The Sharp 300 doesn't allow this (the 320 might, though)

Hope that's some help!

 

[Iconoclast]

Well why on earth would I not want to record to DVD? I have never liked VHS-tapes.

Nobody ever liked VHS. The point I was trying to make is that unless you want to archive things you don't need DVD recording capabilities, you just record to the hard drive.

 

[richardm]

Nobody ever liked VHS. The point I was trying to make is that unless you want to archive things you don't need DVD recording capabilities, you just record to the hard drive.

I'm considering getting a DVD recorder specifically because the hard drive on my DVR keeps filling up! So I think that wanting to archive things off is an inevitable part of recording onto a hard disk.

Sometimes it's a case of wanting to record something else but having half-a-dozen films on there that I recorded but haven't got around to watching yet. It's a bit frustrating trying to decide what to lose. DVDs are so cheap these days it would be a nice facility to have.

 

[bPer]

I own a Panasonic DVD recorder

I bought a DVD recorder back in September, so I could record programs for my wife while she is away at university. I bought a Panasonic DMRE85S
from Audiotronic (duMoulin in Quebec) here in Canada. At the time, it cost just under a grand; now it is $789. Figures.

I absolutely love the thing! The 120Gb H/D stores something like 213 hours of programming. I have filled it up twice now, before transferring what I want to DVD. It is my first serious experience with time-shifting, and that's what makes this thing so appealing. I can watch 'The Daily Show' during the next evening (when there's nothing but garbage on anyways) instead of having to stay up until 23:30.

The user interface is a little rough around the edges, but a few days of using it is all that is needed to get comfortable with it. I admit, though, that I have to haul out the manual sometimes when I'm transferring. The worst thing about the UI is changing titles using the remote. Sort of like text messaging on a cellphone, which I detest. I wish there was a computer interface for that kind of thing. Oh well.

It is pretty clear that Panasonic is marketing this kind of machine as a VCR replacement. They even retain the SP/LP/EP designations for the various compression settings. I find that SP is better than SP on VHS, and almost as good as S-VHS, and the highest setting (XP) is better than that. I have settled on SP for almost everything I record.

Back to my wife for a moment. The reason I bought the DVD recorder was so I could burn DVDs of her favorite shows while she is away, and mail them to her or carry them with me when I go to visit. She doesn't have a decent TV to view the disks, but both of her laptops (and mine too) play the disks with fine results. Of course, the same strategy (view on another DVD-capable machine) could apply even if your sweetie isn't 600 km away.

This is the way of the future. I predict that in a couple of years, you will see these things in discount stores for less than Cdn$100 and VCRs will be very difficult to find.

Hope this helps.

bPer

 

[Vitnir]

Nobody ever liked VHS. The point I was trying to make is that unless you want to archive things you don't need DVD recording capabilities, you just record to the hard drive.

Ok, I see. Well then we are on the same page It's definately for the archiving bit I want the recorder. There are too many great movies on TV that they only show once.

The SHARP is a lot cheaper than the Pioneer in the store (on the net they are about the same) so I'l prob end up with that one then.