Can I burn a DVD on a PVR? I know I can record hours of tv on it but don't understand what happens if I want to keep a program and do what I used to do on videotape- just keep the tape! Or do I need both machines?!!
PVR- DVD Recorder- what's the difference?
A PVR is generally a hard drive recorder complete with Guide and more than one tuner to avoid clashes.
And they don't usually come with a dvd recording section.
DVD recorders are usually handicapped by having only one tuner.
However the new Panasonic range seem to be covering all bases with some twin tuners machines where you can copy your recordings to dvd if you want - but they are quite pricey.
And they don't usually come with a dvd recording section.
DVD recorders are usually handicapped by having only one tuner.
However the new Panasonic range seem to be covering all bases with some twin tuners machines where you can copy your recordings to dvd if you want - but they are quite pricey.
By convention a PVR is a device that records broadcast television programmes to a hard drive only. It generally has no DVD record capability and most cannot record from anything other than their built in tuners.
DVD recorders can have many of the features of a PVR, including a hard drive. So the distinction can be a bit blurred.
If a PVR has no DVD section then fairly obviously it cannot burn a disk. To do that you would need a separate DVD recorder. So depending on how much use you think you will make of the DVD function it might be best to buy a DVD recorder only and use that for all recording.
Many DVD recorders with hard drives can record to the hard drive and then do a high speed copy to disk and often you can do basic editing, like take out the ads, on the recording before you copy it to disk.
One potential downside though. A lot of PVRs have two tuners. Which means you can record one channel and watch a different one at the same time or record two channels at the same time. There are not many DVD recorders I know of that also have two tuners. However if you have a digital telly that might not be such a restriction as you can watch one channel on the telly and record another one on the DVD.
DVD recorders can have many of the features of a PVR, including a hard drive. So the distinction can be a bit blurred.
If a PVR has no DVD section then fairly obviously it cannot burn a disk. To do that you would need a separate DVD recorder. So depending on how much use you think you will make of the DVD function it might be best to buy a DVD recorder only and use that for all recording.
Many DVD recorders with hard drives can record to the hard drive and then do a high speed copy to disk and often you can do basic editing, like take out the ads, on the recording before you copy it to disk.
One potential downside though. A lot of PVRs have two tuners. Which means you can record one channel and watch a different one at the same time or record two channels at the same time. There are not many DVD recorders I know of that also have two tuners. However if you have a digital telly that might not be such a restriction as you can watch one channel on the telly and record another one on the DVD.
I would add that PVRs are usually much easier and convenient to use. It is usually better to use a PVR for the normal day to day stuff and a separate DVDR for the rare occasions you want to keep something.
I have a PVR (Sky+HD) and an HDD DVDR but to be honest the DVDR is rarely used and if it breaks I don't think I'll bother replacing it - I'll spend the money on Blu-rays or DVDs.
I have a PVR (Sky+HD) and an HDD DVDR but to be honest the DVDR is rarely used and if it breaks I don't think I'll bother replacing it - I'll spend the money on Blu-rays or DVDs.
Some pvrs allow the copying of content to a usb device. This makes it possible to create full original quality DVD's using a PC, unlike a dvdr it's also much quicker as the dvdr approach has to take place in real time.
Originally Posted by grahamlthompson:
“Some pvrs allow the copying of content to a usb device. This makes it possible to create full original quality DVD's using a PC, unlike a dvdr it's also much quicker as the dvdr approach has to take place in real time.”
“Some pvrs allow the copying of content to a usb device. This makes it possible to create full original quality DVD's using a PC, unlike a dvdr it's also much quicker as the dvdr approach has to take place in real time.”
Yes but presumably the USB file will be the same quality as the PVR recording so if you need to put more than one hour ona disc and the file is larger than 4.4Gb the PC will have to re-encode it and I'm not sure but I've never hard of any device that can re-encode faster than real time .
When you use the dvdr its done in real time but the recording can be made in the appropriate quality level for immediate high speed burning to disc once edited .
Go to some specialized forum like avsforum... generally they will have more info.
But yea the most versitile are pc based dvr, but that is more intial work. Dvd recorder is just a vcr in functionality really.
As for above, reencoding an SD encoding in faster than real time is possible on modern pc hardware. I think even hd 264 transcoding is faster than real time now with sandy bridge acceleration and such.
But yea the most versitile are pc based dvr, but that is more intial work. Dvd recorder is just a vcr in functionality really.
As for above, reencoding an SD encoding in faster than real time is possible on modern pc hardware. I think even hd 264 transcoding is faster than real time now with sandy bridge acceleration and such.
Originally Posted by knackyknickknoc:
“Yes but presumably the USB file will be the same quality as the PVR recording so if you need to put more than one hour ona disc and the file is larger than 4.4Gb the PC will have to re-encode it and I'm not sure but I've never hard of any device that can re-encode faster than real time .
When you use the dvdr its done in real time but the recording can be made in the appropriate quality level for immediate high speed burning to disc once edited .”
“Yes but presumably the USB file will be the same quality as the PVR recording so if you need to put more than one hour ona disc and the file is larger than 4.4Gb the PC will have to re-encode it and I'm not sure but I've never hard of any device that can re-encode faster than real time .
When you use the dvdr its done in real time but the recording can be made in the appropriate quality level for immediate high speed burning to disc once edited .”
4GB of SD TV is getting close to 3hrs of content. There is always the option of dual layer blanks to double the recording capability. Never had to recode any SD recorded content though I do use videredo to edit out ads and top and tail footage. As VR only recodes at edit points it's lightning fast. In any case for most content it's easier to copy to a networked HDD (1TB drive these days can be bought for less than £40.00). A standard DVD blank can also hold up to about 1 HR of HD content using AVCHD format if you have a blu-ray player of some description. No normal dvd recorder can do this, it's very easy on a PC using free software.
I think a PVR is ideal for recording TV .
if its a film or something like that , it is usually better to buy a £ 3 dvd at ASDA/ Tesco and cheaper
where a DVD recorder comes in handy is camcorder
I cant make mind up if Blu Ray is dead in the water or not .
if its a film or something like that , it is usually better to buy a £ 3 dvd at ASDA/ Tesco and cheaper
where a DVD recorder comes in handy is camcorder
I cant make mind up if Blu Ray is dead in the water or not .
Get an HDD/DVD combi. On a day-to-day basis you just use the PVR aspect of it. When you want to keep something long term, you transfer it from HDD to DVD (on panasonic machines, it's called dubbing).
Originally Posted by TheBigM:
“Get an HDD/DVD combi. On a day-to-day basis you just use the PVR aspect of it. When you want to keep something long term, you transfer it from HDD to DVD (on panasonic machines, it's called dubbing).”
“Get an HDD/DVD combi. On a day-to-day basis you just use the PVR aspect of it. When you want to keep something long term, you transfer it from HDD to DVD (on panasonic machines, it's called dubbing).”
Certainly my Panny DVDR is nothing like as easy to use as any PVR I've seen. Also it only has one Tuner.
I use my PVR (Sky+) for general day to day use and the DVDR for doing what it's designed to do which is record DVDs. Obviously with Sky I will use Sky+ but even if I changed to Freeview I would get a separate PVR rather than use the DVDR.
Originally Posted by bobcar:
“Certainly my Panny DVDR is nothing like as easy to use as any PVR I've seen. Also it only has one Tuner.
I use my PVR (Sky+) for general day to day use and the DVDR for doing what it's designed to do which is record DVDs. Obviously with Sky I will use Sky+ but even if I changed to Freeview I would get a separate PVR rather than use the DVDR.”
“Certainly my Panny DVDR is nothing like as easy to use as any PVR I've seen. Also it only has one Tuner.
I use my PVR (Sky+) for general day to day use and the DVDR for doing what it's designed to do which is record DVDs. Obviously with Sky I will use Sky+ but even if I changed to Freeview I would get a separate PVR rather than use the DVDR.”
I have a V+ to go with TV from Virgin Media. This is just for time-shifting purposes of course. If I want to keep something long-term, I can use the "copy to DVD/VCR" facility of the V+ to output to the Panasonic hard drive. When I've enough recordings, I can do a fast burn from that onto DVD. It's also useful for quickly making DVDs from movies recorded on a camcorder (I'm using one with Mini DV tape) where you don't want to bother editing on a PC. It was also very handy to use when converting old VHS cassettes to DVD.
I have two DVDR/HDD recorders and both are as easy to use as my HDFoxT2/HDD PVR. All have direct from EPG timer recording, series recording, and recommendations.Using the SP setting the recordings are surprisingly good, and transfer to DVD, when required, takes about seven minutes for a two-hour film after editing. Using the HQ setting for SD Freeview is overkill, IMO.
Cheers, Mike.
Cheers, Mike.
for some years I have managed very well with a regular Panasonic DVDR-HDD recorder with single built in Freeview tuner.
This wasnt a problem as the tv also had Freeview built in. I could operate the freeview tv on its own while the recorder did its own thing (different channel).
A DVD/HDD combi is far easier than a plain DVD recoder as you dont have any issues with recording lots of everyday stuff to the hard disc drive (capacity). Its just an EPG a bit like Sky etc.
That said, if the tv doesnt have the desired built in tuner, you need to buy a recorder with 2 tuners built in - one to provide a live tv signal to the tv, and the other to record stuff.
(or buy a new tv).
This wasnt a problem as the tv also had Freeview built in. I could operate the freeview tv on its own while the recorder did its own thing (different channel).
A DVD/HDD combi is far easier than a plain DVD recoder as you dont have any issues with recording lots of everyday stuff to the hard disc drive (capacity). Its just an EPG a bit like Sky etc.
That said, if the tv doesnt have the desired built in tuner, you need to buy a recorder with 2 tuners built in - one to provide a live tv signal to the tv, and the other to record stuff.
(or buy a new tv).
Originally Posted by David (2):
“for some years I have managed very well with a regular Panasonic DVDR-HDD recorder with single built in Freeview tuner.
This wasnt a problem as the tv also had Freeview built in. I could operate the freeview tv on its own while the recorder did its own thing (different channel).
A DVD/HDD combi is far easier than a plain DVD recoder as you dont have any issues with recording lots of everyday stuff to the hard disc drive (capacity). Its just an EPG a bit like Sky etc.
That said, if the tv doesnt have the desired built in tuner, you need to buy a recorder with 2 tuners built in - one to provide a live tv signal to the tv, and the other to record stuff.
(or buy a new tv).”
“for some years I have managed very well with a regular Panasonic DVDR-HDD recorder with single built in Freeview tuner.
This wasnt a problem as the tv also had Freeview built in. I could operate the freeview tv on its own while the recorder did its own thing (different channel).
A DVD/HDD combi is far easier than a plain DVD recoder as you dont have any issues with recording lots of everyday stuff to the hard disc drive (capacity). Its just an EPG a bit like Sky etc.
That said, if the tv doesnt have the desired built in tuner, you need to buy a recorder with 2 tuners built in - one to provide a live tv signal to the tv, and the other to record stuff.
(or buy a new tv).”
Not to mention the times that you want to record 2 channels. It always seems that there is nothing on all week and then everything is on at the same time
.I'd find the DVDR much easier to lose than the PVR and when it breaks I don't think I'll replace it.
Originally Posted by niall campbell:
“I cant make mind up if Blu Ray is dead in the water or not .”
“I cant make mind up if Blu Ray is dead in the water or not .”
With dvd sales decreasing and Bluray increasing its far from dead in the water.
Originally Posted by TheBigM:
“I have a V+ to go with TV from Virgin Media. This is just for time-shifting purposes of course. If I want to keep something long-term, I can use the "copy to DVD/VCR" facility of the V+ to output to the Panasonic hard drive. When I've enough recordings, I can do a fast burn from that onto DVD. It's also useful for quickly making DVDs from movies recorded on a camcorder (I'm using one with Mini DV tape) where you don't want to bother editing on a PC. It was also very handy to use when converting old VHS cassettes to DVD.”
“I have a V+ to go with TV from Virgin Media. This is just for time-shifting purposes of course. If I want to keep something long-term, I can use the "copy to DVD/VCR" facility of the V+ to output to the Panasonic hard drive. When I've enough recordings, I can do a fast burn from that onto DVD. It's also useful for quickly making DVDs from movies recorded on a camcorder (I'm using one with Mini DV tape) where you don't want to bother editing on a PC. It was also very handy to use when converting old VHS cassettes to DVD.”
Thats the problem with Panasonic recorders.
If you use FR it fails to take editing into account so you need to copy the programmes from the V+ one at a time .
I tried using a Panny after a few years with Pioneer but I had to sell the Panny and go back to Pioneer where you can choose the quality level independently from the length of recording.
So if I want to copy 5 shows over from the V+ that last 4 hours with ads and padding I can set the Pioneer to record for 4 hours but at the right quality setting required to fit them all on a single disc AFTER they've been edited.
Not possible on a Panny . Tell it to record at 2.5 hour quality setting and it will stop recording after 2.5 hours.
