I recently 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 Plama TV (in progressive scan). I was simply appalled by the poor quality of the images. Pixelation and artifacts are 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 Im viewing - 32" 4:3 Expanded or 28" 4:3 Normal - both look terrible. Watching the games was actually more enjoyable when I recorded them on a 1980 Toshiba VCR connected to a 1978 Victor color TV - not nearly the gross distortions I'm dealing with now.

Even movies off the cable tuner I've recorded in the 120 min. mode have numerous scenes where funky artifacts jump 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! Thank you.

Sigh... Man, you need to return that DVD recorder and get a TiVO like all the TV recording people. Get one w/ at least 60 hour record time and you'll be set for the season.

Set top DVD recorders are still in the premature stage, limited by the storage size of 4.7GB DVD media. Wait 'til Blu-Ray hits main stream consumer market before considering the purchase of a optical disc based recorder.

Thanks a lot for your reply FuzzyBalls - it makes sense. I have a lot to learn about DVD technology, and I appreciate your input. I just feel so stupid shelling out big bucks on what I thought would be a spectacular upgrade only to have it turn out a step backwards in overall viewing pleasure. Yes, a 160 min. VHS video tape recording at standard speed makes superior images than DVD+RW in the 180 min. mode - I proved that to myself watching both types on my 32" plasma TV last night. By the way: What exactyl is TiVO? I'm not familiar with that term yet. Thanks again.

P.T. Reynolds,

Check out the DVD Recorder forum at AVSForum. Maybe you can get some help or insight there and your money won't have been wasted. It's a pretty active forum and you should get plenty of info there.

Fuzzy not if you have the DVD-18 which holds 2 of the DVD-9 on each side, total held in 'SP' mode 4 hours or 2 hours a side!

You must be thinking of dual-sided DVDs with 4.7GB per side, not 9GB.

Dual-layers on one side can't be written with a DVD recorder. Therefore you can't record more than 4.7GB per side of a DVD.

Yeah, I think it will be awhile before we can record on dual layer discs (too bad).

Just curious P.T.

What brand of blank DVD's are you using? Have you tried other brands just to be sure there's no quality changes?

My Philips 75 (+R) looks really good in the setting range you mentioned (recording from DTV). I use Memorex and Compusa Brands of DVD's with no problems.

Thanks for your reply Alfer2002. The Sony RDR-GX7 can record using DVD-R/+RW/-RW formats. I've tried all three formats using disks from name brand manufacturers: Sony, Maxell, Victor. The results from the various modes appear about the same to me. Of course, the slower the recording speed, the worse the quality. The bottom line for me is that a 160 min. VHS video tape recorded at standard speed looks considerably better than a DVD recorded in the 180 min. mode (viewing on a new Sony 32" Plasma TV). This is depressing news after spending considerable bucks in hopes of a major viewing upgrade of recorded NFL football games.

You say you record from DTV. Is that Digital TV? If so, that could explain your superior results. I'm recording from a pretty old analog cable tuner. Do you think this is the root of my problems?

Actually I meant Directv...

I use the S-Videoout feed from the Directv receiver and the video looks as good as the original IMO.

I'd be willing to bet an old analog cable box using RCA composite video output to the recorder is 99% of the problem.

Have you tried copying any Hi-8 or S-VHS material by chance? If so how did it look.

Alfer2002 - Thanks for your feedback. I'm also using an S-videoout from the cable tuner - no RCA composite. I suspect the cable tuner may be the problem, plus intrinsic atmospheric problems at outdoor sporting events. When I record from the TV tuner, the copy looks as good as the original IMO (in SP mode). SP mode from the cable tuner gets many artifacts. In LP mode, the quality is very poor (from the cable tuner).

When I first got the DVD recorder, I copied several video tapes in SP mode and they looked fine - at least as good as the originals. I just purchased some 9.4GB double sided DVD-RW disks and am going to record the Atlanta/ Dallas NFL replay in HSP 90 min. mode - 3 hrs. total. I'm dying to see what it looks like, though flipping the disk is inconvinient. I suppose I should post the results.