OT? DVD recorders?

[Jack W.]

Hi all. I'm considering a set top dvd recorder. One of the things I'll want to do is to transfer some VHS tapes to DVD. I have 2 VHS vcr's, so I really don't need a combination unit.
Anyone have any experience using one?
Thanks!
Jack

[bolantej]

it may be cheaper to get dvd burner for your computer and run the vcr through it to transfer your video. sorry, not really answering your question but just a suggestion.

[Jack W.]

it may be cheaper to get dvd burner for your computer and run the vcr through it to transfer your video. sorry, not really answering your question but just a suggestion.

Thanks bo. I have 2 DVD burners in my comp now, and they work fine. But my g/f wants to transfer some VHS tapes to DVD, and the software she/we've tried never seems to work properly. I think the easiest way would be a set top recorder. And I could also use it to record tv programs.
Thanks again.
Jack

[FlyingPete]

My take? We recently got a set top Panasonic hard disk recorder with a DVD Burner, great little unit, don't know where we would be without it.

We just this weekend retired our VHS after copying anything we wanted to keep to the hard disk, sorting, editing and chaptering them all and burning the whole lot off to DVD. Having the hard disk defiantly helps make the process easier.

A lot tidier and easier than using a PC, which I have done in the past. No worrying about sampling, codecs, and dropping frames. All done for you.

[Jack W.]

Thanks Pete. That's what I'm looking for.
Jack

[defordphoto]

I have a Panasonic DVD/VHS combo unit that makes duping tapes a breeze. And it was only about $100 at Costco. Push one button and get a perfect dupe. That HD unit also sounds pretty sweet, but I already have TIVO...

[Zepher]

I tried the panasonic DVD+HD unit and noticed that there are a lot of compression artifacts in any of the modes you choose, be it 2 hour High Quality or 16 hour low quality. I wasn't too pleased with it.
We just got a Sony DVD burner and that seems to have a much better compressor in it than the Panasonic. the sony is the size of an exteranal USB drive, has Video and Firewire inputs as well as a USB port to use on a PC. I think the unit was about $200USD.

Also, using the PC to capture the video allows you to really fine tune your edits but ends up taking 2-4 times the length of the video.
Example, a 1 hour video takes 1 hour to capture, 1-3 hours to encode, and about 10 minutes to burn.
Using a stand alone DVD-R, the entire process takes 1 hour + about 5 minutes to finalize the disc.
IF you were to spring for a nice capture card like the Matrox RTX.100's like we have at teh studio, it encodes the video to DVD-Compliant Mpeg-2 in real-time., but that card is about $900 or so.

[FlyingPete]

I tried the panasonic DVD+HD unit and noticed that there are a lot of compression artifacts in any of the modes you choose, be it 2 hour High Quality or 16 hour low quality. I wasn't too pleased with it.
We just got a Sony DVD burner and that seems to have a much better compressor in it than the Panasonic. the sony is the size of an exteranal USB drive, has Video and Firewire inputs as well as a USB port to use on a PC. I think the unit was about $200USD.

I have noticed those at the two lower settings, but not SP, well that is on my 29inch set anyway. The SP is supposed to be standard DVD quality.

[Zepher]

I have noticed those at the two lower settings, but not SP, well that is on my 29inch set anyway. The SP is supposed to be standard DVD quality.

I only noticed it when going to the hard drive and then to the disc.
I did it a few times and then gave up, and took the unit back.
You notice it a lot on dark portions of the video, be a bunch of digital squares/blockiness.

this is the unit I had,
can't remember the model number.
http://www.transamws6.com/pics/pc/dvd-r2.jpg