Some questions about DVD recorders.
10-03-04, 04:52 PM
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Some questions about DVD recorders.
I am thinking of buying a DVD recorder before Christmas and I have a few questions.
1. Do they come with a Timer recording capibility?
2. Do they operate the same as a VCR?
3. Can you pause a recording and then un-pause to continue recording? As in eliminate commercials.
4. Can you record at different speeds? How is the quality at slower speeds?
5. Can you take a disc out, then put it in later and continue recording at the spot you stopped at?
6. What format is the best?
7. Can you record at different speeds on the same disc?
8. Can you re-record over them, and can you re-record over just the parts you want to re-record over and not the entire thing?
9. What brands are the best? Wal-Mart is selling a $150 Recorder for around $150 from a company called "Ilo", is that a good company?
10. Can you record Widescreen recordings and make them Anamorphic?
11. Menus. - Can you make animated menus or are they static?
12, Chapter markers. - Does the machine automatically choose where to put chapters or can I? Are the chapters inputed during recording or can you choose where to put chapters after recording is done?
13. Scene Selection Menus. Can you choose the pics chosen for the scene selection points or does the machine automatically do that for you?
Hope these are not stupid questions, but just need answers before getting one.
Thanks in advance.
1. Do they come with a Timer recording capibility?
2. Do they operate the same as a VCR?
3. Can you pause a recording and then un-pause to continue recording? As in eliminate commercials.
4. Can you record at different speeds? How is the quality at slower speeds?
5. Can you take a disc out, then put it in later and continue recording at the spot you stopped at?
6. What format is the best?
7. Can you record at different speeds on the same disc?
8. Can you re-record over them, and can you re-record over just the parts you want to re-record over and not the entire thing?
9. What brands are the best? Wal-Mart is selling a $150 Recorder for around $150 from a company called "Ilo", is that a good company?
10. Can you record Widescreen recordings and make them Anamorphic?
11. Menus. - Can you make animated menus or are they static?
12, Chapter markers. - Does the machine automatically choose where to put chapters or can I? Are the chapters inputed during recording or can you choose where to put chapters after recording is done?
13. Scene Selection Menus. Can you choose the pics chosen for the scene selection points or does the machine automatically do that for you?
Hope these are not stupid questions, but just need answers before getting one.
Thanks in advance.
Last edited by DouglasRobert; 10-03-04 at 05:01 PM.
10-04-04, 12:20 AM
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Based on my experience with my Pioneer 420:
1. Do they come with a Timer recording capibility? Yes.
2. Do they operate the same as a VCR? Much more flexible; instant access to recorded programs is wonderful. No more searching through stacks of videotapes looking for something. Great for editing out commercials for archiving favorite shows onto disc. I strongly recommend a model with a hard drive for flexibility in this area.
3. Can you pause a recording and then un-pause to continue recording? As in eliminate commercials. Yes.
4. Can you record at different speeds? How is the quality at slower speeds? The Pioneer has 32 different speed increments to choose from. Even the LP speed is watchable, but I like SP for programs I'll keep. The max I try to fit on a DVD-R is about 2 hours and 15 minutes, which fits 3 hour-long programs with the commercials edited out.
5. Can you take a disc out, then put it in later and continue recording at the spot you stopped at? Yes. though my Pioneer has been a bit quirky with DVD-Rs and continuing; have had no problems with DVD-RWs.
6. What format is the best? Pioneer takes DVD-R and -RW. Haven't tried +R/RW or RAM.
7. Can you record at different speeds on the same disc? Yes.
8. Can you re-record over them, and can you re-record over just the parts you want to re-record over and not the entire thing? The re-recordable -RW lets you erase whichever parts you like. Only erasure of the last items on the disc will increase your disc space for re-recording, however. Ex. -- if you have 3 hour long programs on a disc, erasing program #1 will not increase the recording space by an hour, though erasing #3 will. (Things do not shift up on the disc to create space. ) If you erase #1 and record something which was the EXACT same length, I'm not sure if it will fit itself into the vacated space, or record at the end, though.
9. What brands are the best? Wal-Mart is selling a $150 Recorder for around $150 from a company called "Ilo", is that a good company? Don't know about Ilo. Everyone has different preferences. A very good forum for indepth analysis of various models:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forum...0&pagenumber=1
10. Can you record Widescreen recordings and make them Anamorphic? I don't know.
11. Menus. - Can you make animated menus or are they static? Menus are static on finalized discs. The hard drive thumbnails are animated when you highlight them.
12, Chapter markers. - Does the machine automatically choose where to put chapters or can I? Are the chapters inputed during recording or can you choose where to put chapters after recording is done? I've had some inconsistencies with the automatic chapter markings (which can be set to every 10 or 15 minutes). When I record a TV show, there are no automatic markings -- if it's a "keeper" show, I insert chapter markings around the commercials as I watch it, allowing for easy editing later. If I recall correctly, I've had the automatic markings show up in recordings from an external source, though sometimes it didn't show up. (I think this automatic marking can also be set to off.) Even with the automatic chapter marks, you can add others as desired.
13. Scene Selection Menus. Can you choose the pics chosen for the scene selection points or does the machine automatically do that for you? The machine automatically selects either the first frame or the selected setting (like 30 seconds in, I think). However, you can override that by inserting the navi marker for whichever frame you prefer as the title thumbnail. (The Pioneer only shows thumbnails on the menu for separate titles, not for chapters -- although you can see chapter thumbnails during editing, they do not carry over to the final dvd. I understand the Toshiba XS-32 allows thumbnails in a submenu for the chapters within a title for the final disc.)
Hope that helps some!
1. Do they come with a Timer recording capibility? Yes.
2. Do they operate the same as a VCR? Much more flexible; instant access to recorded programs is wonderful. No more searching through stacks of videotapes looking for something. Great for editing out commercials for archiving favorite shows onto disc. I strongly recommend a model with a hard drive for flexibility in this area.
3. Can you pause a recording and then un-pause to continue recording? As in eliminate commercials. Yes.
4. Can you record at different speeds? How is the quality at slower speeds? The Pioneer has 32 different speed increments to choose from. Even the LP speed is watchable, but I like SP for programs I'll keep. The max I try to fit on a DVD-R is about 2 hours and 15 minutes, which fits 3 hour-long programs with the commercials edited out.
5. Can you take a disc out, then put it in later and continue recording at the spot you stopped at? Yes. though my Pioneer has been a bit quirky with DVD-Rs and continuing; have had no problems with DVD-RWs.
6. What format is the best? Pioneer takes DVD-R and -RW. Haven't tried +R/RW or RAM.
7. Can you record at different speeds on the same disc? Yes.
8. Can you re-record over them, and can you re-record over just the parts you want to re-record over and not the entire thing? The re-recordable -RW lets you erase whichever parts you like. Only erasure of the last items on the disc will increase your disc space for re-recording, however. Ex. -- if you have 3 hour long programs on a disc, erasing program #1 will not increase the recording space by an hour, though erasing #3 will. (Things do not shift up on the disc to create space. ) If you erase #1 and record something which was the EXACT same length, I'm not sure if it will fit itself into the vacated space, or record at the end, though.
9. What brands are the best? Wal-Mart is selling a $150 Recorder for around $150 from a company called "Ilo", is that a good company? Don't know about Ilo. Everyone has different preferences. A very good forum for indepth analysis of various models:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forum...0&pagenumber=1
10. Can you record Widescreen recordings and make them Anamorphic? I don't know.
11. Menus. - Can you make animated menus or are they static? Menus are static on finalized discs. The hard drive thumbnails are animated when you highlight them.
12, Chapter markers. - Does the machine automatically choose where to put chapters or can I? Are the chapters inputed during recording or can you choose where to put chapters after recording is done? I've had some inconsistencies with the automatic chapter markings (which can be set to every 10 or 15 minutes). When I record a TV show, there are no automatic markings -- if it's a "keeper" show, I insert chapter markings around the commercials as I watch it, allowing for easy editing later. If I recall correctly, I've had the automatic markings show up in recordings from an external source, though sometimes it didn't show up. (I think this automatic marking can also be set to off.) Even with the automatic chapter marks, you can add others as desired.
13. Scene Selection Menus. Can you choose the pics chosen for the scene selection points or does the machine automatically do that for you? The machine automatically selects either the first frame or the selected setting (like 30 seconds in, I think). However, you can override that by inserting the navi marker for whichever frame you prefer as the title thumbnail. (The Pioneer only shows thumbnails on the menu for separate titles, not for chapters -- although you can see chapter thumbnails during editing, they do not carry over to the final dvd. I understand the Toshiba XS-32 allows thumbnails in a submenu for the chapters within a title for the final disc.)
Hope that helps some!
Last edited by rkndkn; 10-04-04 at 12:28 AM.
