Can anyone recommend a DVD Recorder?

[Barbarossa]

My only requirement is that as well as DVD recording it also has a built-in hard-drive. :schnauz:

It needs to be able to write DVD-RW as well as DVD-R, but I have no preference of + or - ... :ermm:

I'd quite like to spend below £300 if possible, but if not, what the hell... :lookaroun

Can anyone help?


Alternatively, if I just get a cheapo Goodmans or Alba one, is it worth it, or are they just teh monkey-shits? :pinch:

[3RA1N1AC]

i don't have any experience with other brands, but i'm quite satisfied with the Panasonic recorder that i've got. the quality of its recordings are excellent. no hard drive in mine, but Panasonic does make recorders that have 'em.

from what i've read, just shopping around on the net and looking at reviews, it seems Pioneer recorders are also widely considered to have excellent video quality.

Sony recorders prolly also do good-quality recordings but Sony products have become fairly notorious in the last several years for having problems of durability, to a really unacceptable extent considering the usually high prices of most of their stuff -- breaking down, wearing out suddenly & unexpectedly through normal use (rather than abuse).

i'd suggest giving much consideration to Panasonic and Pioneer, if quality is your main concern, and since you're willing to spend a reasonable bit of money on a good recorder.

[lynx]

If you want Divx playback go for the LG RH7500 80GB, £230 (£237 if delivered) at Dixons, or the LG RH7900 (Dutch variant of the 7800) 160GB, £263.50 inc delivery.

I've got the 7500, and I haven't even come close to running out of disk space. I'm told that upgrading to a bigger disk is simple - open the case, replace the ide hdd, close the case and reformat.

[Barbarossa]

Thanks both..

Lynx - that does look to be good value for money... ;)

[Barbarossa]

If you want Divx playback go for the LG RH7500 80GB, £230 (£237 if delivered) at Dixons, or the LG RH7900 (Dutch variant of the 7800) 160GB, £263.50 inc delivery.

I've got the 7500, and I haven't even come close to running out of disk space. I'm told that upgrading to a bigger disk is simple - open the case, replace the ide hdd, close the case and reformat.

I bought the 7500, but gawd.. it takes a while to startup from standby mode - 18 seconds!

Is this normal? :O

Otherwise, I'm very happy ;)

EDIT: By the way, you could have warned me the remote control is about as long as my forearm... :dabs:

[lynx]

Mine takes just as long, but I found that other HD based recorders take a while too.

It isn't a problem when recording from timer though, it knows it takes a while so it starts up in plenty of time. A word of warning though, the system has to be in standby mode in order to run timer recordings.

Actually, I like the remote since it allows me to control a lot of the functions on my TV too. You never lose it either. :P

[Barbarossa]

The remote doesn't seem to be compatible with panasonic tv's, unfortunately. :unsure:

That's good to know about the timer recordings though. I should remember to put it in standby, I'm used to that with the VCR anyway.

No, I'm pretty pleased with it so far. Cheers! ;)

[{I}{K}{E}]

I have the RH-7900H
when playing XviD with .srt/.sub subtitles, the subs dont disappear if there is nothing said for a while (it stays on the screen until the next line) there is nothing wrong with the subtitle file :(

[Barbarossa]

/Bump.

It's also got DV input socket, which is a real bonus as I can now upload my camcorder shots to the hard-drive for editing without loss of quality :01:

[lynx]

/Bump.

It's also got DV input socket, which is a real bonus as I can now upload my camcorder shots to the hard-drive for editing without loss of quality :01:For some unexplained reason, after you've edited a clip you lose the option for fast copying back to dvd, so you have to copy at normal playback speed.

A better idea might be to copy straight to dvd, then edit on your pc.

[Barbarossa]

A better idea might be to copy straight to dvd, then edit on your pc.

That would be a better idea, but for that I'll need a better pc... :dabs:

[lynx]

New firmware version available, V60126A, for all RH7xxx series.

http://se.lgservice.com/
The site doesn't like links so you have to copy it into the address bar.

Click on floppy icon (device driver), then select DVD&VIDEO&SET TOP from the bottom box (not the drop-down list). Last time I looked it was the first item.

Click on the subject to get the instructions, click on the file name to download the file.

Main improvement is support for Hi-Res Divx (not tested)
Edit: Tested, it doesn't work. :(