DVD Recorder

AlanS

I'm looking to buy a standalone DVD recorder ( or maybe persuade my better half to buy me one for Xmas !).

Maximum price around £150

The only "must have's" are that it has as firewire port so that I can transfer film from my video camera and that it works well with a wide screen TV.

There's too much choice out there.

One which caught my eye was the one for 79.99 from www.svp.co.uk ( http://www.blankdiscshop.co.uk/acatalog/dvdrecord.html ), but after reading reviews elsewhere, I was concerned that it had problems with wide screen TV's

Any recommendations / bargains / ones to avoid ?

paul_h

AlanS wrote:

One which caught my eye was the one for 79.99 from www.svp.co.uk ( http://www.blankdiscshop.co.uk/acatalog/dvdrecord.html ), but after reading reviews elsewhere, I was concerned that it had problems with wide screen TV's

If you want one which will produce dvds which will correctly switch between 4:3 and 16:9 formats automatically on the same disc, you need one which will record in the DVD+VR format, these usually use DVD+R/RW discs. The Philips ones are quite good value, and the picture quality is superb, however not all of them have the firewire connection.

If you could to stretch your budget, this one is a great buy with 80Gb hard drive recorder and Guideplus too -

PHILIPS HDRW 720

For a budget machine, the LiteOns below are supposed to be very good. Avoid the 4KUS machine on SVP, although it is supposed to be a rebadged LiteOn machine, LiteOn make no reference to it on their website and I have also seen mixed reports about it. It does not look like a LiteOn manufactured machine either.

LiteOn LVW-5002B

LiteOn LVW-5006B

All 3 of these players have firewire/IEEE1394/i.link and use the DVD+VR format on DVD+R/RW discs, the Liteon LVW-5006B can record this format on both DVD+R/RW and DVD-R/RW discs.

seth

Do any of these units have basic editing.
I have a PVR and wanted one with a DVD writer or USB, but also wanted to delete the stuff at the start end of a recording.

Ideally one that let me delete the adverts too.

Went to Dixons the chap said a Pioneer 433H? did this?

paul_h

seth wrote:

Do any of these units have basic editing.
I have a PVR and wanted one with a DVD writer or USB, but also wanted to delete the stuff at the start end of a recording.

Ideally one that let me delete the adverts too.

The Philips HDRW720 certainly does, I use mine to do edits very successfully - it's easier and much quicker than messing about transferring it on a PC to edit it. You mark the bits you want to edit out, as many as you like, then dump the edited version without the ads or preamble onto a DVD+R. Easy.

Once you get the hang of which frames to do the cuts on, the results are spot on. This is another advantage of the DVD+VR format. You can even undo any cuts while the program is on the hard drive if you change your mind.

Some other players can edit but the method can be clumsy and the results are not so good.

AlanS

paul_h ... you seem to know the Philips HDRW720 very well.

How well does it integrate with a Digital SetTop Box ?

I have a NetGem iPlayer+ which has an EPG etc. Is it just a matter of plugging it into the HDRW720 and it'll automatically pick up all the digital channels ? Will my digi box intergrate with the Guide Plus system ?

Also is this player hackable to play multi-region DVDs ?

paul_h

AlanS wrote:

paul_h ... you seem to know the Philips HDRW720 very well.

How well does it integrate with a Digital SetTop Box ?

I have a NetGem iPlayer+ which has an EPG etc. Is it just a matter of plugging it into the HDRW720 and it'll automatically pick up all the digital channels ? Will my digi box intergrate with the Guide Plus system ?

Also is this player hackable to play multi-region DVDs ?

I've had a HDRW720 for quite a while now, I find that it works great. It has the guideplus system on it which is a 7 day EPG which works similar to Sky+ or other PVRs.

You can set recording by selecting to the program you want on the EPG, then just press the red button to set the timer. The machine then selects the correct channel on the external digibox when the recording starts. This is all done internal to the recorder, it does not use the existing EPG on the digibox.

I have used mine with a standard Sky box and a Sagem freeview box with no problems, NETGEM is one of the selections on the external box setup, so I would assume it should integrate with the iPlayer just as well. The system works out from your country, postcode and which external box you have what EPG information it has to download from the system overnight - guideplus EPG data is transmitted via terrestrial ITV1 and British Eurosport on satellite in the UK.


There is a tried and tested multi-region hack for this machine here.

More info about guideplus, and demos here - GEMStar GUIDEplus+


Hope this helps! :j

seth

£216.66 seems an OK price. The DVD-VR seems to be a good format.

AlanS

having problems finding out if PHILIPS HDRW 720 is compatible with NetGem iPlayer+ .... emailed both NetGem and Philips, but no-one has bothered to reply .... anyone know the answer ?

seth

AlanS wrote:

having problems finding out if PHILIPS HDRW 720 is compatible with NetGem iPlayer+ .... emailed both NetGem and Philips, but no-one has bothered to reply .... anyone know the answer ?

Had a look on the Guide plus site and the NETGEM range is listed. I looked up Humax as I have their units, and the old model listed as compatible use the SAME IR codes to change channel even on the new HD model I have. I have an old 1000 model in the kitchen and it operates the new model in the living room.

Tech support is poor at these companies, try the consumer helplines I think they are listed in the back of the Argos catalogue, use the geographic codes on https://www.saynoto0870.com.

http://www.europe.guideplus.com/En/help/supextrec_uk.html#1