DVD Recorder

shown73

This is perhaps not the right board, but anyway.... A little while ago there was a spirited dscussion about the best budget DVD recorder, and by and large the Panasonic DMR-ES20 seemed to come out tops, although by far not the cheapest. I just thought that it might be of interest that in my latest Which magazine, arrived today, the "Best Buy" was exactly that model. Its score was in fact equaled by the Pioneer DVR-230-S, with superb picture, but no Freeview tuner.
Does this mean then, that if I had the Panasonic, I wouldn't need a separate freeview box? We have Sky anyway, but as a recent pensioner, this is one of the things that might have to be sacrificed!
Not exactly a money saving post, but in view of the amount of discussion, I thought it might be of some interest.

Aiadi

It does have freeview tuner built-in so you wouldn't need an extra freeview box.

shown73

Thought so, but not sure, thanks...

rowantoad

Have you considered a pvr (personal video recorder) with built in freeview instead of a DVD recorder?

The best being the topfield 5800 or humax 9200

http://www.cwdigital.co.uk/pvr_9200t.asp
http://www.cwdigital.co.uk/pvr_5800t.asp

Not good for keeping programs long term (although you can connect to a pc and archive off if you can be bothered) but no 4.7GB limit per disk / swapping.

shown73

Interesting, but the one over-riding requirement for me is the ability to transfer my holiday/family tapes to DVD, and if poss, to connect my analogue Hi-8 camera to transfer direct to DVD. Tall order, I know, and we will invest in a digital camera soon, but for the moment, it would be nice to have this versatility.

rowantoad

Ah yes, i can see now why people would be keen on these.

shown73

Problem is, and I think it's fairly typical, PC has been banished to now redundant bedroom 3, and of course 42" plasma is in main lounge, downstairs. I'm happier upstairs with PC, as it happens. Not all TV is crap, of course, only about 95%... Long live imagination!

surfsister

shown73 wrote:

This is perhaps not the right board, but anyway.... A little while ago there was a spirited dscussion about the best budget DVD recorder, and by and large the Panasonic DMR-ES20 seemed to come out tops, although by far not the cheapest. I just thought that it might be of interest that in my latest Which magazine, arrived today, the "Best Buy" was exactly that model. Its score was in fact equaled by the Pioneer DVR-230-S, with superb picture, but no Freeview tuner.
Does this mean then, that if I had the Panasonic, I wouldn't need a separate freeview box? We have Sky anyway, but as a recent pensioner, this is one of the things that might have to be sacrificed!
Not exactly a money saving post, but in view of the amount of discussion, I thought it might be of some interest.

please could you give us some idea of cost?

thanks

taxiphil

I've got the Panasonic DMR-ES20 and it's a really superb piece of kit. I can't fault it. I'm particularly impressed by its ease of use. Setting the timer to record something is an absolute doddle with the built-in 7 day EPG (Electronic Programme Guide), you just scroll to the show you want and press Enter.

A couple of suggestions I'd make:

• I wouldn't even consider getting a model without built-in Freeview (DVB), like the Pioneer one you mentioned. It's going to obsolete in a few years when the government turn off analogue broadcasts, so you'll be stuck with a separate Freeview box and it's a complete pain to co-ordinate your TV, DVD Recorder and Freeview box and fumble around with three different remote controls.

• Only Panasonic models use the DVD-RAM disks which are re-recordable and offer amazing features like "Time Slip" which lets you rewind and watch something from the beginning while it's still recording it (similar to what a PVR / Sky Plus box does).

angiekane

The Panasonic DMR-ES20DEB is a DVD recorder with both Freeview and analogue tuners built in.
Take care with model number as the letters after ES20 mean a lot of difference to the features of each model.

If i remember right there is a flap on the front left that you should be able to connect your old hi-8 camcorder.

chivvy

Yes, definitely go for a Panasonic with the time slip feature as it is so useful for watching a programme that's already started from the beginning (e.g. a football match) without waiting for it to end or watch a programme you have already recorded whilst recording another. Plus its fantastic for eliminating adverts by manually skipping forward by 3 or 4 mins instantaneously.