I have a Pioneer DVR-LX60D hard drive & DVD player/recorder, which has lasted me for many years now (and only had one hard drive failure!). However I'm looking to buy a Blu-Ray version and I'm hoping for some recommendations. When I bought the Pioneer it seemed like DVD/HDD recorders were all the rage, but these days there appear to be a lot fewer of them around (Pioneer stopped doing them altogether AFAIK)

I'm a bit out of touch with all the newest features available but here's what I'd like:

Obviously plays Blu-Ray and standard DVDs & CDs, also DVD-R & -RW and whatever re-writable Blu-Ray discs there are. Also DivX compatibility.

Freeview tuner, possibly two. High Def.

Hard Disc Drive, with editing capabilities. I always like to top & tail recordings and erase ad breaks etc., split recordings and so on. Also need the ability to transfer from HDD to DVD/Blu-Ray disc.

Ability to plug in VHS recorder to transfer old videos to HDD (via SCART)

Googling brings up so many choices but they don't always fit the bill, it's very confusing as like I say I'm not particularly up to date on the latest innovations. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

EDIT: Perhaps it doesn't need to transfer to dvd. What I'm really looking for is something to archive TV recordings. I don't like leaving recordings on the HDD because obviously it gets full (or the drive fails!) so maybe there is a PVR with editing facilities that lets you copy to an external drive or USB stick, in a format that can be played on other machines (DivX, mp4 etc - unlike Sony's pvr which seems to be a format that will only play on the same machine)

I just wonder if your better buying or using a PC ?

If you got a graphics card which accepts an input signal and a Blu Ray Recorder for it, it might work out cheaper?

You may wish to consider buying a NAS Hard drive to store your media on there.

It just connects to your router and is then wireless, tvs, blu ray, phones etc with DLNA ability will play from it.

You could just then concentrate on a simple blu ray player.

As 4K blu ray is on its way, with HDMI 2.0 looking as a must !!

Technology marches on

4K Blu-ray is likely to require HDCP2.2. I don't think any 4K TVs have this yet. Afaik only 1 current AV receiver has HDCP2.2 (It's an Onkyo receiver).

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/tv-dvd-...pdt.html#cat-0 Yet you can get HDMI 2.0 tvs for exampe

The port isn't the issue. 4K Blu-ray will almost certainly use an upgraded copy protection system (HDCP2.2). Without this you won't be able to use a 4k Blu-ray player. The hardware for HDCP2.2 is only just becoming available so unlikely any current 4K TV will have this capability.

http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/hdcp-2-2...-need-to-know/

Anyway heres a Panasonic one with Scart Input...................... no idea if its RGB scart input though

http://www.richersounds.com/product/...pana-dmrbwt740

Thanks for the replies. I don't really want to go the PC route as I hate watching programmes on my PC monitor and prefer watching on my big TV.


That's sounds great. Oh, it doesn't play DivX or mp4 - drat.

Oh hang on, maybe it does play DivX & mp4 but only from a USB stick? It's not so clear. If it does though that would be excellent.

Oh yeah, since I have several region 1 DVDs it has to be a multi-region player. That's okay for the plain DVD section, but what is the deal with Blu-Rays? Can a machine be made to play any region Blu-Ray?

Some can be remote control hacked for DVD but Blu-ray requires hardware mods.

Best to buy one already modded.

Try

http://www.mrmdvd.com/catalog/

I bought the normal Panny blu ray player & does not play a lot of File types.

My Tv will play most file types from a NAS Hard Drive or my xbox.

Will look up the Panasonic website for you

Thanks. It looks like that model is available with multi-region DVD playback, but just region B for Blu-Ray. That might not matter though; I'm not sure I'll be purchasing foreign blu-rays. Although having said that who knows what I might want in the future?

http://www.panasonic.com/uk/consumer...0eb.specs.html

Divx & MKV from dvd

Divx & Xvid from network

Divx & mkv from usb

If you could ask richer sounds or another shop to see it playing from a dvd-r & usb stick ?

They may even have a NAS Hard drive in shop

My TV is a few years old and doesn't play any video files via USB, which is why I was looking for a blu-ray player that did. Perhaps I should get a new TV?

However I'm thinking the Panasonic DMR-BWT740, if it's multi-region, is the way to go.

Groovy.

Even more groovy is putting your files into a NAS Hard Drive

Or if your router supports a USB hard drive

Run a CAT 6 cable from your router to back of tv, http://www.amazon.co.uk/Duronic-CAT6...ethernet+cable cheap as chips

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Netgear-5-po...netgear+switch buy one of them, if you need it and connect all your gadgets up to the network with 2 metre patch cableshttp://www.amazon.co.uk/Shielded-Network-Cable-Meters-Ethernet-Grey/dp/B0021V3OMM/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1416241091&sr=8-11&keywords=cat+6+2m