Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Feedback on DVD Recorders

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Posted by Jeff Taylor (Member # 443) on 06-03-2003, 09:21 AM:

Has anyone had any first hand experience with the new DVD recorders from Phillips, Panasonic, etc. which are starting to show up in the $499 range?

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 06-08-2003, 01:08 AM:

A friend of mine got a DVD-RAM recorder a year (maybe two) ago and it was kind of cool. You can change quality settings and whatnot. He could put the disc in his DVD-RAM drive, demux the VOB files and then make a real DVD playable on real DVD players.

Not sure about these new DVD-R recorders you speak of, though. I imagine the menu abilities are limited... can't get fancy or anything, but who cares? Price still seems a bit steep to me, but if you do lots of archiving it would be worth it. Do they record to DVD-RWs?

Posted by Elena N. Solovyova (Member # 1636) on 06-08-2003, 05:38 AM:

I bought my Pioneer-104 in November for 220$ and absolutely happy with it. Can't imagine a feature that is not in it.

Posted by Dave Williams (Member # 299) on 06-08-2003, 01:23 PM:

Sony will release the Playstation 2X later this year. It will have a 120 GB hard drive with a satelite compatible reciever, and a DVD recorder on board.

No idea on price as of yet.

Dave

Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 06-08-2003, 02:14 PM:

My friend has the Philips DVD+RW recorder, and it's not perfect but pretty good. I have a few music laserdiscs recorded onto DVD that look about as good as the originals, and I've used the recorder to transfer some of my old Beta TV recordings- I've got one disc with just commercial breaks from 1978-80 and the entire 1977 Rolling Stone 10th Anniversary Special complete with commercials, with chapter stops at each commercial and highlight of the show. It's good to be able to watch it repeatedly without worrying about the tape getting eaten. I'm planning on getting my own machine as soon as they get a little more affordable, and get a few bugs worked out.

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 06-08-2003, 05:00 PM:

I've been using a Pioneer A-03/103 DVD-R/RW for a couple of years now and have been quite pleased with the results. This model has since been replaced by the A-04/104.

I also tried one of the early HP DVD+R/RW drives, but never got it to do anything but waste DVD+R media, so it is somewhere in the bottom of my closet.

Menus and chapters and all that are handled in the authoring software and have nothing at all to do with the burner itself. Of course, the software that ships with consumer burners usually aren't very powerful and lack many features.

Some of the people over at www.doom9.net seem to be pretty much on top of the (re)writeable DVD industry. Their comments and experiences pretty much convinced me on the Pioneer drive.

As far as media goes, TDK DVD-R media is the only thing I've had any luck burning at 2x. I could only get Sony, Memorex, and others to burn at 1x. (1x DVD = 8x CD-R)

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 06-09-2003, 10:19 AM:

There is a firmware update for A03 and A04 users which makes it fully compatible with 4x and faster media. Without the update, attempting to use high-speed media could damage your drive, apparently.

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 06-09-2003, 04:18 PM:

I've been *very* pleased with the Philips DVDRW228 +R/+RW. However if I were shopping now, I'd probably want something like the Sony model that does both + and - media.

Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 07-13-2003, 03:38 PM:

I broke down and got the Philips DVDR-985 recorder, since the price just dropped to $399. I'm mostly satisfied with it- I've borrowed a few old music laserdiscs and copied them, and they look about as good as the originals, but I'm getting a little annoyed transferring my old TV tapes. I have a VHS from 1980 that kept jittering and I had to copy it 3 times before it came out without jitters. I've got a Beta recording also from 1980 that messes with the recorder's brightness levels, making the picture ridiculously bright.
My Beta recording of the Royal Wedding from 1981 came out pretty well, but since it ran about 3 hours I had to split it up onto 2 discs- I wish they would at least make 2-sided blanks. I actually woke up in the middle of the night to watch that when it was on since I didn't have a VCR back then! They actually went for about 90 minutes with no commercials whatsoever during the wedding, though there's a few ones shown before and after which are a scream! I made chapter stops so I could skip directly to them. (One of them is for Superman II, "Now playing," and another for Dixie cups with Empire Strikes Back artwork on them.)
I made a copy of my "Gas Pump Girls" laserdisc, a 1978 movie that was filmed in Sacramento, and gave it to the people who now work in the building where it was filmed. That was pretty neat.
I didn't bother hooking up the antenna connection as there's nothing worth recording these days- my DVD recorder is a designated logo-free area! [Smile]

Posted by Jeff Taylor (Member # 443) on 07-19-2003, 11:55 AM:

Thanks for the feedback, guys. Guess it's time to take the plunge.