Help with buying a DVD Recorder

[KozmikBloo]

I'm finally getting a DVD recorder but there are so many to choose from my head is spinning. My main objective is to dub VHS home movies to DVD. Is a combo my best bet? Any suggestions would be much appreciated. :)

[AnnieBW]

Tivo is offering a $400 DVR/Tivo combo with a firewire port. I think it's called Humax or something like that. Go to http://www.tivo.com to find out more. We just got a Tivo, and I frelling LOVE it!

[LT Garrix]

Not sure if combo devices will let you record from VHS to DVD. They should say on the box. I know with the plain DVD/VHS combos you couldn't record from DVD to VHS, but they may allow it the other way as people would want to archive their home movies.

I was briefly looking at www.overstock.com and they had some good prices on the last years models of DVDr's.

I would stay away from Sony products. I know many people who have had longevity issues with the regular DVD players. Once upon a time Sony put out a really great product and I had no problem shelling out a little extra for their stuff. Heck we still have Sony electronics that work great and are nearing 10 years old, but we bought a DVD player 3 years ago that stopped working right after about 15 months and it turns out it's a common problem with several models of DVD player.

You might want to go to your library and check out Consumer Reports. I'm sure you can find a back issue with some reviews.

Most of the new ones now have an internal harddrive so they also function as a DVR, saving you money on discs.

ETA: I looked at a couple of specs on Best Buy and it does look like combos will let you go from VHS to DVD, though they do say they won't let you copy copyrighted material. Not sure how they know that.

[atlantagirl]

I know nothing about archiving videos to DVDs, but I was looking at a Tivo/DVD-R combination this weekend. I saw the Tivo ad for the Humax box and asked about it at Best Buy. Turns out they have a Toshiba with more than twice as much capacity for the same price.

Let us know what you find out! I'm on the verge of taking the plunge myself! ;)

[LT Garrix]

I thought about it, but I don't watch enough TV to make it worth the investment. I either watch sports or DVDs. Maybe once they are down to around $200 I may get one, but most run around $400, more for the higher end ones.

[vikingscaper]

I bought a Panasonic DMR-E50S DVD recorder last year and it was one of my worst investments ever. I bought it thinking that the DVDs that I record on it could be played on all DVD players but that wasn't the case and they could only be played back on the recorder. Most recently (this Sunday as I was preparing to record the mini on it), the recorder became all frelled up. I accidentally hit the power button while it was finalizing the recording and it then went into Recover mode. Ever since that happened, I have not been able to eject the disk that is inside it and I have tried to contact Panasonic several times about it and they haven't been able to help me. So, if you are really interested in a DVD recorder, I would stay away from Panasonic (IMO).

[LT Garrix]

We have a Panasonic non-DVD record, just player and have had not problems with it.

VS, have you tried unplugging it for a couple of minutes to let the memory reset? That clears up a lot of electronics devices hangups, it's like rebooting your computer.

The one thing you need to watch out for with DVDr's are disc format. Some will write to -R discs, others +R discs and some both. Some older DVD players will not play the +R discs since they are the newer format, but most newer ones will play both types. I've only recorded to -R's, but all three machines and both PCs will read them, and the one is 3+ years old. And I've sent -R discs to multiple people and no one has had problems reading them.

Right now the +R's have the speed advantage at 8xs, but I'm sure it won't be long before the -R's catch up in speed.

I'm not sure how it is for the TV type, but I know that one of the options on my computer DVD burner is that I need to set up in the option menu that will allow it to record media to a disc that can be read by any compatible DVD drive.

All in all, DVDrs are more complex than VCRs and it would probably be worth reading the directions before you use it. I would also test it out right after you buy it so if it doesn't work well, ie record discs you can play elsewhere, you could take it back.

It seems odd, vs, that you haven't been able to play the discs on other machines.

[vikingscaper]

We have a Panasonic non-DVD record, just player and have had not problems with it.

VS, have you tried unplugging it for a couple of minutes to let the memory reset? That clears up a lot of electronics devices hangups, it's like rebooting your computer.

The one thing you need to watch out for with DVDr's are disc format. Some will write to -R discs, others +R discs and some both. Some older DVD players will not play the +R discs since they are the newer format, but most newer ones will play both types. I've only recorded to -R's, but all three machines and both PCs will read them, and the one is 3+ years old. And I've sent -R discs to multiple people and no one has had problems reading them.

Right now the +R's have the speed advantage at 8xs, but I'm sure it won't be long before the -R's catch up in speed.

I'm not sure how it is for the TV type, but I know that one of the options on my computer DVD burner is that I need to set up in the option menu that will allow it to record media to a disc that can be read by any compatible DVD drive.

All in all, DVDrs are more complex than VCRs and it would probably be worth reading the directions before you use it. I would also test it out right after you buy it so if it doesn't work well, ie record discs you can play elsewhere, you could take it back.

It seems odd, vs, that you haven't been able to play the discs on other machines.

The one other DVD player that Ihave is a fairly old one and in the manual, it says that the disks cannot be played on older DVD players.