[cmorris]

What do people think re this DVD Recorder?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LG-Digital...70858024875%26


As budget is limited

[cmorris]

or this one

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Panasonic-...73068f7&_uhb=1

[chrisjr]

The Panasonic is not a DVD recorder. it is a Freeview PVR, ie it records to hard disk only.

[cmorris]

Is the LG one allow yo to record onto HDD then transfer to DVD?

[mac2708]

Review of LG item here
http://www.trustedreviews.com/lg-rht...-System_review

[cmorris]

In your opinion which one should I get?

[mac2708]

If you want to transfer/archive recordings made to the hard drive to DVD then the obvious (IMHO) least-fuss choice is the LG.
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.

[evil c]

Is transferring from HDD to DVD a must have?

[cmorris]

Well the planner fills up a lot so we want something to transfer to HDD to free less space then any films we can burn to DVD

[evil c]

I don't understand your last answer. Which? haven't tested the 497H but they have tested the 498H and both machines are the same spec except the 497H has a smaller HDD (160GB or 129 hours compared to 250GB). Both models date back to 2009 and bear in mind that this machine only has an SD digital tuner. It cannot record HD Freeview and it will not show Full HD content in its native resolution. This is what they say about the 498H:

'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.'

[cmorris]

What about Panasonic DVD HDD Recorder for £100

[Nigel Goodwin]

Originally Posted by cmorris

What about Panasonic DVD HDD Recorder for £100

It's a PVR, so can record ONLY from it's internal Freeview tuner, you can't transfer recording to it from elsewhere.

[cmorris]

So panasonic PVR's are limited. I though you could record from sky onto HDD and copy to DVD

[David (2)]

you can copy from a Sky box to external dvd recorder, but only in SD quality, not HD content (in any case blank dvds wouldnt hold much hd content). You are also limited to doing the transfer with scart.

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.

[cmorris]

So what your saying is there is no point and stick with your scart DVD

[andys corner]

Originally Posted by David (2)

you can copy from a Sky box to external dvd recorder, but only in SD quality, not HD content (in any case blank dvds wouldnt hold much hd content). You are also limited to doing the transfer with scart.

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

[chrisjr]

Originally Posted by cmorris

What about Panasonic DVD HDD Recorder for £100

If you mean the device you linked to in post 2 then that is NOT a DVD recorder. So no use for what you want to do.

[chrisjr]

Originally Posted by cmorris

So panasonic PVR's are limited. I though you could record from sky onto HDD and copy to DVD

All PVRs are limited in the same way. None of them can record from external sources. They don't have the necessary electronics on board to permit this as they don't need them.

A DVD recorder on the other hand does contain the necessary electronics to allow it to record from external sources.

[Sideburns57]

Originally Posted by cmorris

So panasonic PVR's are limited. I though you could record from sky onto HDD and copy to DVD

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!

[Sideburns57]

.........this one

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.

[Nigel Goodwin]

Originally Posted by Sideburns57

.........this one

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.

[AidanLunn]

Originally Posted by cmorris

So panasonic PVR's are limited. I though you could record from sky onto HDD and copy to DVD

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.

[nomad2king]

According to the online version of the manual.
page 68
Recording from external equipment
page 69
Linked timer recording (SKY Digital STB, etc.)–EXT LINK

[chrisjr]

Originally Posted by Sideburns57

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!

I no nufink me

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).

[Sideburns57]

Originally Posted by chrisjr

I no nufink me

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!