DVD recorder and hard drive advice please

jamtart6

Hi techies! :hello:

Can you help me please?

I want to buy a DVD player with a DVD recorder with a hard drive (all as one rather than 3 pieces of hardware :rotfl:!)

We have been reccomended the Sony RDR HXD 995 which is £229 at Multizone-AV (never heard of them are they any good?) this includes a 250gb hardrive.

We have SO many videos that we want to put onto DVD (or at least store digitally) but have no idea what is the best hardware/sized hard drive to do this with?

ANY advice would be much appreciated - particularly on cheaper models if they are just as good ?

thank you :A

Airwolf1

I have a Sony freeview/DVD recorder/HDD. Would recommend. I did get a Samsung one originally, but when playing back, there was a 2 second delay between the action on screen and the sound!

jamtart6

oh dear sounds bad!!

I am right in thinking dvd-recorder will allow me to put my video tapes into digital aren't i?

linni

I am bumping this up because I would like to know too..

OK_Sauce

jamtart6 wrote: »

oh dear sounds bad!!

I am right in thinking dvd-recorder will allow me to put my video tapes into digital aren't i?

If the videos are prerecorded it's likely they would have some sort of copy protection on them (probably Macrovision). Therefore you would not be able to copy them successfully. There are ways round this :whistle: but I'm not entirely sure of the legality of them. :shhh:

jamtart6

hi OK Sauce
they are mainly home videos that we are concerned about (childhood ones nothing sinister!!) as we dont want to lose those precious memories! So I think we should be OK.

This is a gift for my Dad as it is him who wants it, but it is a struggle to know which is good/what is needed!

coolagarry

In this months which they list their 'best buys' as follows
Panasonic DMR-EX768EB-K £225
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-DMR-EX768EBK-Freeview-Recorder-Up-Conversion/dp/B0015M0MSC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1236248540&sr=1-2
Sony RDR-HXD890 £225
Sony RDR-HXD995 £243

(Some excellent used offers on that Amazon Link)

[Deleted User]

Hi
why not go to Avforums.co.uk and ask/research there, much better advice/feedback
good luck

moneysaver

I have a Panasonic DVD recorder, had it a couple of years. The way I have stored my holiday videos is to put them on to the hard drive, then transfer them on to the dvd.

The transfer to the hard drive has to be done in real time, but on the Panasonic it has a feature that allows the transfer from hard drive to dvd in high speed. You can just record one video at a time on to the hard drive if you wish, so the size of the hard drive would not matter.

The size of the hard drive does matter if you are recording on to it from the tv( the bigger the better).

Don't forget if you want to play your recorded dvd's on another player you will have to finalize them on the same dvd you have recorded them on.


Moneysaver

Leopard

jamtart6 & linni,


The Sony RDR-HXD995 is a marvellous piece of kit and will do all the things you mention. And more (including the high-speed DVD burning mentioned in respect of the Panasonic). It can even record dual-layer DVDs.

That's a personal recommendation; I have one myself and I am seriously impressed by it: it's really useful, extremely versatile and it works brilliantly.

But it's cheaper - £220 - at Richer Sounds. I'm sure you've heard of them! And they offer an excellent (refundable if not invoked) 5-year warranty for an extra 10%.

Moreover, you've got a shop to actually take it back to if ever you have a problem with it.

If you don't want or need the multi-region version, it's cheaper still.

But if you've got a Panasonic television, it's probably better to buy the Panasonic DVD recorder because of their mutual interoperability.

Otherwise, I'd buy the Sony. (And did!)

jamtart6

Samsung TV's!

Thanks for all the info to you all, and thanks for the links

I'm assuming Richer Sounds is a real shop too rather than online!

edit: yes it is! and about a 5 minute walk from my work!!