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DVD Recordder
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What do people think re this DVD Recorder?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LG-Digital-Freeview-160GB-DVD-Hard-Drive-HDD-TV-Recorder-RHT497H-/270858024875?_trksid=p5197.m1992&_trkparms=aid%3D111000%26algo%3DREC.CURRENT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D14%26meid%3D5492331735756156994%26pid%3D100015%26prg%3D1006%26rk%3D1%26sd%3D270858024875%26
As budget is limited
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LG-Digital-Freeview-160GB-DVD-Hard-Drive-HDD-TV-Recorder-RHT497H-/270858024875?_trksid=p5197.m1992&_trkparms=aid%3D111000%26algo%3DREC.CURRENT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D14%26meid%3D5492331735756156994%26pid%3D100015%26prg%3D1006%26rk%3D1%26sd%3D270858024875%26
As budget is limited
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http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Panasonic-DMR-HW120EBK-500GB-HDD-Recorder-with-Twin-Freeview-HD-Tuners-/130848680183?pt=UK_AudioTVElectronics_Video_DVDPlayers_Recorders&hash=item1e773068f7&_uhb=1
http://www.trustedreviews.com/lg-rht497h-dvd-hdd-recorder_Surround-Sound-System_review
This is not a recommendation but an attempt to answer your question about choice between the two items
Read the comments on the trustedreviews site carefully.
'The DVD recorder can be used for recording programmes onto DVD-R/-RW, DVD+R/+RW or DVD-Ram discs, including DVD+R dual-layer discs. This recorder has only a single digital tuner, which means you can't watch one programme and record another unless you also own a digital TV with its own tuner.
You can start watching a recorded programme before it's finished recording, which means you can deliberately set a programme to record, start watching it a few minutes after it has started and 'chase play', skipping over ad breaks as you 'catch up' with the live broadcast. This is very useful if your programme is on a commercial channel and you find the ads irritating.
Our viewing and listening experts were generally impressed with this model's picture and sound quality. Digital subtitles can be recorded and turned on/off as required, but people with a visual impairment will disappointed that there's no audio description, which provides an additional narrative track explaining what's happening on the picture in greater detail.
There's an HDMI output for connecting to an HD-ready TV, but the 'upscaled' picture (not true high definition) isn't an improvement over the conventional picture. There's also a USB input for transferring files from USB drives - MP3, wma, jpeg and DivX formats are all supported.
It's not a particularly easy recorder to use. The poorly presented instructions lack detail and useful diagrams and it's hard to find required sections. The remote control has some small buttons and some functions aren't obvious. Also the EPG is hard to read at times.
Pros: Good picture and sound.
Cons: Not easy to use, poor instructions, no audio description, can't record radio programmes, single-tuner PVR functionality less versatile than dedicated twin-tuner PVR.'
It's a PVR, so can record ONLY from it's internal Freeview tuner, you can't transfer recording to it from elsewhere.
things have been made a lot more locked in since the advent of broadcast HD, to the point where its not really done very much any more.
i used to do that, never had hd and the tv i had at the time was a philips, it claimed to have hd but the hd element was so watered down i wouldnt call it hd.
i used to buy discs from aldi at 25 a time, a 4.7gb disc would house either 1 or 2 films, i tried to maximise the amount a disc would hold, wasnt great
A DVD recorder on the other hand does contain the necessary electronics to allow it to record from external sources.
You can - I do. If my Panasonic qualifies as a PVR that is! But I am loathe to disagree with Chrisjr - he is A and me Z on the knowledge front!
Panasonic DMR-BWT720EB Freeview+HD Blu-Ray Disc Recorder, with 1Tb HDD & Twin HD Terrestrial Tuner
.........which says it is a Recorder.........
Bloody good machine though.
That's a 'DVD' recorder (actually BD recorder as well), not just a PVR.
Anything that contains a DVD/BD recorder 'should' accept analogue inputs, because you can't simply record the direct digital signal as a PVR does.
Any PVR is limited.
Panasonic DVD Recorders, even ones with HDDs built in can record from almost any source.
The Panasonic device you linked to above is not one of those, it is a PVR only.
page 68
Recording from external equipment
page 69
Linked timer recording (SKY Digital STB, etc.)–EXT LINK
A PVR by convention is a device that records from it's tuner(s) to hard drive only. It has no optical disk drive. Technically there is no reason why a PVR could not record from SCART to the hard drive also. Which would permit it to record from an external Sky box or whatever.
However to do so requires circuits to convert analogue audio and video to digital and encode it in the MPEG format. A PVR does not need this for it's primary role so they tend not to include these circuits.
DVD recorders need an MPEG encoder stage to at least recode the TV stream to a format compatible with DVD video. Plus they were around years ago with purely analogue tuners so a digital converter would have been essential. Not hard to see that the digital converter would hang around into the Freeview age (it isn't strictly necessary any more for recording just telly programmes).
Thanks. Last time I take you on!