I was thinking it would be awesome to get a stand alone dvd recorder to record football games and such now that they are getting [relatively] cheap.

After reading some threads on here it seems like people think they suck in anything more than 1 hr record mode.... are there really no decent recorders? even the more expensive progressive scan recorders?

I will probably want to record in 4 hour mode... but will this really be unwatchable? Or just not live up to the videophile expectations of dvdtalkers?

I don't see how you couldn't fit 4 hours of at least 'good' video on a single layer dvd... i mean it is 4.6 gb for god sake... maybe not HD... but at least good enough to look good on a regular old TV???

Hmm...I've burned plenty of DVD's in the 2 hour SP mode and they look great. The 4 hour mode is definitely watchable and is still better than VHS IMO. The 6 hour mode is well...crap.

Well, I've had no problems going up to 2:15-2:30, and can barely tell the difference between 1 hr and 2 hr.

Unwatchable? No, but I have little use for it. Some compare it to VHS in SP mode. I think it's a hair better then VHS, if recorded off old fashion analog cable TV; but off a digital source is another story-it has a washed out, fuzzy quality (not as much pixels as you would think though). Have you ever recorded a game onto VHS? In a speed slower than SP? Was it "good" quality? But was it watchable?

You can. Don't be completely turned off by others comments (including what I've said before ), and use them as the deciding factor.
As I've said before, I use the 4 hour mode for transfering my old VHS that was recorded in LP/EP. If it was really that bad, there's no way I would do such a thing. I have also recorded LSU baseball games using flex-record, and set it to 3h 15m, and am content with the PQ.

Another option:Is a recorder something you have to "save" for? If it is, save a while longer and get the Panasonic E80 (about $520 shipped). It has a hard drive so you transfer 1 game from the drive to 2 disks and maintain the quality.

You know I always thought a better alternative to DVD recorders are HTPCs (Home Theater PC). Atop from playing DVDs normally from them, you could record onto the hard drive(s). This is assuming money isn't a very big factor, and that you know how to build a solid PC (which isn't too hard nowadays). But, I haven't built a HTPC yet myself because I have no use for recording right now.

this is very interesting. Perhaps i will take one for a testdrive from best buy or something...

sounds better than i had once thought.

how do these things interface with direct tv?

Well, for a good HTPC, you probably will want to build it yourself. Usually using some nice P4 or Athlon XP hardware, a couple 120GB (or more) hard drives and an ATI All-In-Wonder video card. This wouldn't be too bad of a place to start to get some more info. Neither would this

I've been trying to use a PC (my HTPC doesn't have enough processing power) to convert VHS to DVD. I very much would like a DVD recorder instead.

The PC doesn't produce as good quality as I'd like. It might if I added a $300 or so board. But it still would be very time consuming because you don't record right to DVD. You have to convert the recording and then burn it to DVD.

The PC is fine for just recording TV programs though. You just need a TV tuner board in any regular PC.

The quality depends on how much artifacts in the picture bother you. I usually record in the SP modes and the quality is very good, but there are slight artifacts. I barely notice them most of the time, but they are there. The 1 Hr mode is really the only way to get DVD quality with no artifacts.

I've tried to use 4 and 6 hour mode, but neither one is good enough for anything I would want to save. If I was just going to record something to watch once then 4 hour mode is fine. I have no problem watching these recordings, but there is pixelation in the picture. For long recordings though I still think a SVHS is a much better option than a DVD Recorder. A SVHS 6 hour recording has better quality than a 4 hour DVD Recording.

The old idiom: "you do get what you pay for" has never be more appropriate when seeking out a DVD recorder. Let me footnote what I am about to say with the following, I work in 24P HD & digital video commericially and have found no subsitute for Pioneer's flagship "professional" PRV-LX1" recorder. This is one incredible unit that performs extremely well in just about every recording mode. Utilizing the "one-hour-mode," on most current recorders, has been the only real way to produce prisitine video images. That was until this new Pioneer unit breezed onto the scene. Their PVR-9000 and DVR-7000 were terrific units but this new one really outperforms every unit that I've tested.
And No, I AM NOT a Pioneer employee. The PRV-LX1 sells for around $3,500 and is worth every penny. The unit includes a second drive for high-speed dubbing as well. Here's a link to the product: http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pe..._38303,00.html

TiVO.

If you have directv, you can just get a Directivo box for 100 bucks and record the games.

A TiVo or some other unit maybe the way to go if you just want to save games for later unless you want to save them all to dvd. Then look at the Pannie H80 with a HD. You could save the game to the HD and then if you decide it's worth archiving, you could burn it onto a dvd.

Problem with the professional units is $3500 is just to much to spend on one piece home theater equipment for most of us. Hopefully the home units will catch up to the quality of the pro units in a few years.

I for one love my Philips DVDR75 (no not in THAT way)

Hi Pac-Rat. You seem to be the guy Iwant to talk too.
I'm considering getting a DVD recorder and I have a bunch of vhs tapes that I recorded in ep mode that I would like to transfer to dvd. Exactly how is the picture quality in the 4 hour mode? Is it the same as ep vhs or is there some degradation? What about pixelation and artifacts?

What brand recorder do you have?

Like some people in this thread, I bought a DVD recorder to record football games for later viewing. After my VCR died, I figured DVD would be a MAJOR improvement in image quality. I recorded my first game last night on the Sony RDR-GX7 in the 180 min. mode, and then played it back on a brand new Sony KE-32TS2 Plasma TV (in progressive scan). I was simply appalled by the poor quality of the images. Pixelation is so bad - especially on long camera shots - that it gave me a nasty headache watching the game. To be fair, medium and close-up shots are tolerable, but the long-shots look like they're being transmitted from the moon 30 years ago.

Perhaps much of the problem is the large screen size I'm viewing - 32" 4:3 Expanded or 28" 4:3 Normal - both look terrible. Watching the games was actually much more enjoyable when I recorded them on a 1980 Toshiba VCR connected to a 1978 Victor 21" color TV - not nearly the gross distortions I'm dealing with now.

Even movies off the cable turner I've recorded in the 120 min. mode have numerous scenes where funky pixelation jumps out at you. If "DVD Quality" is only possible in the 60 min. mode, then it isn't really practical for most home recording applications. If anyone has suggestions on how to get decent DVD recordings/playback with the above equipment - PLEASE HELP ME!

Apparently the only way to get good quality in long play modes is to get a $3500 pro model DVD Recorder as noted above.

I had a Magnovox 630R at first, but returned it for a Panasonic E50. The Panasonic is a better player, but honestly the difference in picture quality was about the same.

I have two suggestions for long events like football games. First get a player like the Panasonic E80 that has a built in hard drive. Record the game to that. Edit out the commercials and unneeded stuff to get it down to 2 hours and then burn it to DVDR in SP mode. You will have some very minor artifacts, but nothing to noticable. I've never been bothered that much by the picture quality in SP mode.

Second is to get a SVHS VCR and use that for all your long recordings. Even in 6 hour mode SVHS recordings look great. Maybe in a few years DVD Recorders will improve in quality enough for you to transfer your SVHS tapes to them.

I've mostly used my DVD Recorder to transfer my LDs. It works great for that. I use the 1 hour mode and put each side of the LD on a separate disc. The quality is excellent. I also use it to record movies off of Turner Classic Movies. Using Flex recording I get very good recordings of 70 to 120 minute movies and it fills out many classic titles missing from my DVD collection.

Darkside - many thanks for your input to my posting. I'm still furious that I put out big bucks for what I thought would be a spectacular upgrade in video viewing (by purchasing a DVD Recorder) only to find out that the quality I get in the 180 min. mode is barely watchable. Unfortunately, in my research before purchasing I read too much hype posted by consumer electronic retailers - they all assured me that DVD recorded at any speed would be superior (or at least equal to) VHS. Yesterday I watched a 160 min. video tape recording at standard speed of last year's Super Bowl followed by a 180 min. DVD+RW recording of last weekend's Houston/Miami game. Much to my suprise and regret, the video tape recording looked considerably better (on a new Sony 32" Plasma TV).

As for your two suggestions - they are both good. But going back editing out commercials is too tedious and time consuming for me personally. I just watch an NFL game one time, then move on to the following week's action. In this day and age of DVD Mania - it appears that a good VCR can still do the job best in many home recording applications. Thanks again.