VCR/DVD Recorder Combi - Which One?

pad_ehh · 10-10-2006, 15:26

My second DVD/VCR recorder combi has died, but I want to buy a new one that is DVD recordable aswell as just the VCR part, and maybe with HDD space too to edit the recordings before puting them on DVD. Any suggestions for which ones are worth looking at, and their prices? Hopefully getting one today or tomorrow if all goes well as I have recordings to make and now no bloody unit to do them with. My Sky+ box is also being a total bitch but that's another issue.

What about this DVD-R and DVD+R thing. Which one of those is better? Thanks in advance for your help!

Paddy

pad_ehh · 10-10-2006, 18:45

OK, well at least could someone point out what the differences in -R/RW and +R/RW and which one is better?

Paddy

CJL · 11-10-2006, 12:38

You really limit yourself looking for a "combi". Surely unless space is VERY tight it pays to get a VCR for about £40 (do Argos still do them?) and then the world's your oyster when choosing DVDR

As for + or -, these days it doesn't matter much. It used to all be about compatability but now pretty much all machines can play all formats so whether you give + or - to a friend they should be able to play your discs.

-RW/+RW tends to be for your own use so I guess one might say that -RW (assuming VR is available) has slightly more functionality but then you can also get that with -RAM anyway

Cliff

papadontpreach · 11-10-2006, 13:40

Hi Paddy, this really does rely heavily on your buget, But if you have been saving a bit the new Panasonic dvd-vhs-250gb hard drive- freeview is brilliant the cheapest I can find online for you is http://www.pricerunner.jibelectrical...d=PAN-DMREX95V

I can recommend these people as I just bought a panny telly from them and the couriers made a cock up, these guys could'nt do enough to help, brilliant

CJL · 11-10-2006, 14:00

Holy Mackerel! £450. If you spent £40 on a VCR you'd have £410 left for a DVDR. Surely you can get 250GB+DVB-T for less than £410? In fact Pricerunner has:

http://www.pricerunner.co.uk/sound-a...588786/details

which is a Panasonic 250GB, DVB-T machine for £350. So you pay a massive premium (£60) to have a VHS bolted on!

(BTW, one thing you tend to find once you have digital telly and digital recording is that you never go back to using VHS anyway - it looks such unbelievable crap once you get use to digital quality - so I wouldn't put too much focus on the VHS side of things myself)

Cliff

pad_ehh · 11-10-2006, 14:10

The only reason I want the VCR part of it is so that any VHS recordings we have of proper films TV shows etc. (i.e. not taped off the telly), can be transferred to DVD so we can get rid of the tapes. The transfer is alot simpler to do if your using one machine I would have thought. The 2 VCR's I have are claped out anyway...

I seem to remember reading that the DVD-R's can be recorded on once only and then thats it, whereas you can record onto a DVD+R and then if you want to add more onto it you can. Then if you want you can even erase the disc and start again, (although I think that's +RW). This would be handier for recording a weekly TV series on to one disc, adding more to it every week, (and freeing up HDD space as you go), rather than say one episode per disc, meaning alot of discs.

I'm looking to spend a max of about £250~£300 on a good DVD recorder with HDD if possible. Freeview would be a bonus too, but I only have it in the bedroom and it's coming from a different aerial than the one that feeds the living room. Our area won't be switched off to receive Freeview locally until 2012, so maybe having a Freeview tuner would be a waste as it won't be used for another 5/6 years and the chances are we won't even have the same equipment then!

Leaving the VCR part out then, what good DVD Recorders are there out there?

Paddy

CJL · 11-10-2006, 15:29

But if they are commercial tapes (i.e. NOT telly recordings) they will be Macrovision copy protected won't they? So the DVD recorder will not let you make copies to disk anyway. If you had separate VHS and DVDR there ARE gadgets you can put between them that can help in this situation (but least said, soonest mended eh?)

DVD-R and DVD+R can only be recorded onto once. This can actually be done in several goes until you fill the disk when you usually "finalise" it which then makes it playable in other machines.

DVD-RW and DVD+RW are re-useable. You can record things to them (several goes until full) then you can wipe the entire disk and start all over again.

DVD-RW in VR mode and DVD-RAM are more like a big floppy disk, you can make then delete invidual recording on them without needing to wipe the entire disk. You are also able to start playing a recording while it's still being made (so called "chase play" or "time slip")

Once you have an HDD in the box it's like a HUGE DVD-RAM or DVD-RW(VR). In this case you will probably never use DVD-RAM, DVD-RW or DVD+RW but will make all your recordings onto the hard drive then for anything you want to keep permenantly you then record to the very cheap DVD-R or DVD+R disks (about 10p/disc). You only really need to worry about -RW, +RW or -RAM if the machine doesn't have an HDD

Personally I'm a great fan of Panasonics, I think they'll have a HDD+DVB-T recorder in your budget (160GB I'm guessing for that money)

Cliff

PS Looks like this fits the bill. It says its DVB-T and it has 160GB and it's yours for £286:

http://www.pricerunner.co.uk/sound-a...587577/details

pad_ehh · 11-10-2006, 15:58

Thanks for the comments so far everyone.

Any DVD recorder I'd be getting would probably be bought from Argos as I would be putting it on my Argos card for now, I don't have the spare cash to but it outright. So, if any of the DVD recorders on there look good and are worth going for, let me know as I intend to get it tomorrow after work as they stay open late.

Paddy

broadz · 11-10-2006, 16:06

Paddy, the comment about wanting to copy commercial video tapes to DVD has been made on one or two other threads, and the problem about macrovision still exists, whether you are copying from a separate VCR to the DVD recorder using scart, or whether you are using a combined machine to do both. In all honesty, if you like a movie so much that you have currently got on video tape, you'd probably be better off buying it on DVD (with all the extra features, better sound and picture, chapter selection etc etc etc) than copying from tape to DVD anyway. Let's face it, any film that's been out more than six months on DVD can be bought for less than a tenner nowadays. Copying from tape to DVD will give you only stereo sound at best, the picture quality will only be as good as the tape is now, no widescreen options. I was in the same boat as you, I've got hundreds of films on tape that I'd like to put onto DVD, but I get much better copies by recording to DVD from Sky the next time the film is shown than recording from a worn-out video tape.

pad_ehh · 11-10-2006, 16:10

Well, there are some films and TV shows, but I have alot of Billy Connoly standup shows and things that I'd like to keep. Also, I have a shedload of Disney films on VHS and Disney DVD's aren't cheap! Some of them aren't even available on DVD yet, or any more.

Paddy

CJL · 11-10-2006, 16:44

"Sonel" always works well as a search term in Google

pad_ehh · 11-10-2006, 17:37

Ah I get ya...

So, (quickly changing subject), DVD recorders then, any recommendations from those available on the Argos website?

Paddy

papadontpreach · 11-10-2006, 20:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by CJL

Holy Mackerel! £450. If you spent £40 on a VCR you'd have £410 left for a DVDR. Surely you can get 250GB+DVB-T for less than £410? In fact Pricerunner has:

http://www.pricerunner.co.uk/sound-a...588786/details

which is a Panasonic 250GB, DVB-T machine for £350. So you pay a massive premium (£60) to have a VHS bolted on!

(BTW, one thing you tend to find once you have digital telly and digital recording is that you never go back to using VHS anyway - it looks such unbelievable crap once you get use to digital quality - so I wouldn't put too much focus on the VHS side of things myself)

Cliff

Holy mackerel indeed, the extra £60 may seem excesive for a addon on VHS recorder but is one of panasonics finest quality conplete with a feature that stabilises and improves the picture quality when dubbing to a dvd, its also worth pointing out panasonics latest model read and write to all formats, + - R/RW and Ram.

Its not the cost of the vcr I find pricey with panasonic but the price of their Hard Drives.

pad_ehh · 12-10-2006, 09:47

What about the Philips DVDR3440? It would certainly go with my Philips 32" telly, but is it any good? It's £180 and it comes with 80GB HDD, which is more then I would need really. Has anyone used of of these before and could tell me what it's like?

Does it have the option of editing your recordings on the HD before puttint it onto DVD, so you can take out the adverts and any extra recorded material at the start or end?

Paddy

CJL · 12-10-2006, 11:17

Philips have always had a bit of a bad reputation when it comes to DVD recorders but maybe there more recent stuff is OK these days? "Good" brands are Panasonic, Pioneer and Sony.

You should find that any DVDR that contains an HDD will allow all the expected editing (top/tail, ad removal) before you commit to a disc.

Cliff

pad_ehh · 12-10-2006, 11:51

The Panasonic DMREX75 looks enticing and it even has a HDMI output for when I get my HDTV soon too. It's £349, which is about £49 more than most other places are charging for it, but then again I am getting it on my Argos card. I'm tempted to get this one, and it is a "good" brand, after all! Is it worth the money?

Paddy

CJL · 12-10-2006, 15:50

As an extremely satisified Panasonic DVDR customer I wouldn't hesitate to buy another Panasonic. One thing they do that a lot of other DVDRs don't is a mode called "Flexible Record" when putting stuff on disk. While many brands just offer XP (1hr), SP (2hr), LP (3/4hr), EP (6/8hr) recording to a disk (so that if you want to record 2hours and 5 minutes you have no choice but to pick the inferior LP rather than SP mode) on Panasonic you can select "FR" then dial in "2h 5min" and it will adapt the compression rate to EXACTLY fit that length onto the 4.7GB disk.

Cliff

pad_ehh · 12-10-2006, 17:16

Right, I've made my mind up. I just reserved it at Argos and will be going down to collect it after work. Can't wait to get it home and have a fiddle! What to copy first?! Ooh, I love messing with electrical things!

Paddy

10-10-2006, 15:26	#1
pad_ehh Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 13,767	VCR/DVD Recorder Combi - Which One? My second DVD/VCR recorder combi has died, but I want to buy a new one that is DVD recordable aswell as just the VCR part, and maybe with HDD space too to edit the recordings before puting them on DVD. Any suggestions for which ones are worth looking at, and their prices? Hopefully getting one today or tomorrow if all goes well as I have recordings to make and now no bloody unit to do them with. My Sky+ box is also being a total bitch but that's another issue. What about this DVD-R and DVD+R thing. Which one of those is better? Thanks in advance for your help! Paddy

11-10-2006, 13:40	#4
papadontpreach Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Cornwall Posts: 297	Hi Paddy, this really does rely heavily on your buget, But if you have been saving a bit the new Panasonic dvd-vhs-250gb hard drive- freeview is brilliant the cheapest I can find online for you is http://www.pricerunner.jibelectrical...d=PAN-DMREX95V I can recommend these people as I just bought a panny telly from them and the couriers made a cock up, these guys could'nt do enough to help, brilliant Last edited by papadontpreach : 11-10-2006 at 13:44.

11-10-2006, 14:00	#5
CJL Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Finchingfield, Essex Posts: 5,511	Holy Mackerel! £450. If you spent £40 on a VCR you'd have £410 left for a DVDR. Surely you can get 250GB+DVB-T for less than £410? In fact Pricerunner has: http://www.pricerunner.co.uk/sound-a...588786/details which is a Panasonic 250GB, DVB-T machine for £350. So you pay a massive premium (£60) to have a VHS bolted on! (BTW, one thing you tend to find once you have digital telly and digital recording is that you never go back to using VHS anyway - it looks such unbelievable crap once you get use to digital quality - so I wouldn't put too much focus on the VHS side of things myself) Cliff Last edited by CJL : 11-10-2006 at 14:03.

11-10-2006, 15:29	#7
CJL Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Finchingfield, Essex Posts: 5,511	But if they are commercial tapes (i.e. NOT telly recordings) they will be Macrovision copy protected won't they? So the DVD recorder will not let you make copies to disk anyway. If you had separate VHS and DVDR there ARE gadgets you can put between them that can help in this situation (but least said, soonest mended eh?) DVD-R and DVD+R can only be recorded onto once. This can actually be done in several goes until you fill the disk when you usually "finalise" it which then makes it playable in other machines. DVD-RW and DVD+RW are re-useable. You can record things to them (several goes until full) then you can wipe the entire disk and start all over again. DVD-RW in VR mode and DVD-RAM are more like a big floppy disk, you can make then delete invidual recording on them without needing to wipe the entire disk. You are also able to start playing a recording while it's still being made (so called "chase play" or "time slip") Once you have an HDD in the box it's like a HUGE DVD-RAM or DVD-RW(VR). In this case you will probably never use DVD-RAM, DVD-RW or DVD+RW but will make all your recordings onto the hard drive then for anything you want to keep permenantly you then record to the very cheap DVD-R or DVD+R disks (about 10p/disc). You only really need to worry about -RW, +RW or -RAM if the machine doesn't have an HDD Personally I'm a great fan of Panasonics, I think they'll have a HDD+DVB-T recorder in your budget (160GB I'm guessing for that money) Cliff PS Looks like this fits the bill. It says its DVB-T and it has 160GB and it's yours for £286: http://www.pricerunner.co.uk/sound-a...587577/details Last edited by CJL : 11-10-2006 at 15:31.

10-10-2006, 18:45	#2
pad_ehh Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 13,767	OK, well at least could someone point out what the differences in -R/RW and +R/RW and which one is better? Paddy

11-10-2006, 12:38	#3
CJL Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Finchingfield, Essex Posts: 5,511	You really limit yourself looking for a "combi". Surely unless space is VERY tight it pays to get a VCR for about £40 (do Argos still do them?) and then the world's your oyster when choosing DVDR As for + or -, these days it doesn't matter much. It used to all be about compatability but now pretty much all machines can play all formats so whether you give + or - to a friend they should be able to play your discs. -RW/+RW tends to be for your own use so I guess one might say that -RW (assuming VR is available) has slightly more functionality but then you can also get that with -RAM anyway Cliff

11-10-2006, 14:10	#6
pad_ehh Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 13,767	The only reason I want the VCR part of it is so that any VHS recordings we have of proper films TV shows etc. (i.e. not taped off the telly), can be transferred to DVD so we can get rid of the tapes. The transfer is alot simpler to do if your using one machine I would have thought. The 2 VCR's I have are claped out anyway... I seem to remember reading that the DVD-R's can be recorded on once only and then thats it, whereas you can record onto a DVD+R and then if you want to add more onto it you can. Then if you want you can even erase the disc and start again, (although I think that's +RW). This would be handier for recording a weekly TV series on to one disc, adding more to it every week, (and freeing up HDD space as you go), rather than say one episode per disc, meaning alot of discs. I'm looking to spend a max of about £250~£300 on a good DVD recorder with HDD if possible. Freeview would be a bonus too, but I only have it in the bedroom and it's coming from a different aerial than the one that feeds the living room. Our area won't be switched off to receive Freeview locally until 2012, so maybe having a Freeview tuner would be a waste as it won't be used for another 5/6 years and the chances are we won't even have the same equipment then! Leaving the VCR part out then, what good DVD Recorders are there out there? Paddy

11-10-2006, 15:58	#8
pad_ehh Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 13,767	Thanks for the comments so far everyone. Any DVD recorder I'd be getting would probably be bought from Argos as I would be putting it on my Argos card for now, I don't have the spare cash to but it outright. So, if any of the DVD recorders on there look good and are worth going for, let me know as I intend to get it tomorrow after work as they stay open late. Paddy

11-10-2006, 16:06	#9
broadz Banned User Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 2,313	Paddy, the comment about wanting to copy commercial video tapes to DVD has been made on one or two other threads, and the problem about macrovision still exists, whether you are copying from a separate VCR to the DVD recorder using scart, or whether you are using a combined machine to do both. In all honesty, if you like a movie so much that you have currently got on video tape, you'd probably be better off buying it on DVD (with all the extra features, better sound and picture, chapter selection etc etc etc) than copying from tape to DVD anyway. Let's face it, any film that's been out more than six months on DVD can be bought for less than a tenner nowadays. Copying from tape to DVD will give you only stereo sound at best, the picture quality will only be as good as the tape is now, no widescreen options. I was in the same boat as you, I've got hundreds of films on tape that I'd like to put onto DVD, but I get much better copies by recording to DVD from Sky the next time the film is shown than recording from a worn-out video tape.

11-10-2006, 16:10	#10
pad_ehh Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 13,767	Well, there are some films and TV shows, but I have alot of Billy Connoly standup shows and things that I'd like to keep. Also, I have a shedload of Disney films on VHS and Disney DVD's aren't cheap! Some of them aren't even available on DVD yet, or any more. Paddy

11-10-2006, 16:44	#11
CJL Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Finchingfield, Essex Posts: 5,511	"Sonel" always works well as a search term in Google

11-10-2006, 17:37	#12
pad_ehh Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 13,767	Ah I get ya... So, (quickly changing subject), DVD recorders then, any recommendations from those available on the Argos website? Paddy

11-10-2006, 20:40	#13
papadontpreach Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Cornwall Posts: 297	Quote: Originally Posted by CJL Holy Mackerel! £450. If you spent £40 on a VCR you'd have £410 left for a DVDR. Surely you can get 250GB+DVB-T for less than £410? In fact Pricerunner has: http://www.pricerunner.co.uk/sound-a...588786/details which is a Panasonic 250GB, DVB-T machine for £350. So you pay a massive premium (£60) to have a VHS bolted on! (BTW, one thing you tend to find once you have digital telly and digital recording is that you never go back to using VHS anyway - it looks such unbelievable crap once you get use to digital quality - so I wouldn't put too much focus on the VHS side of things myself) Cliff Holy mackerel indeed, the extra £60 may seem excesive for a addon on VHS recorder but is one of panasonics finest quality conplete with a feature that stabilises and improves the picture quality when dubbing to a dvd, its also worth pointing out panasonics latest model read and write to all formats, + - R/RW and Ram. Its not the cost of the vcr I find pricey with panasonic but the price of their Hard Drives.

12-10-2006, 09:47	#14
pad_ehh Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 13,767	What about the Philips DVDR3440? It would certainly go with my Philips 32" telly, but is it any good? It's £180 and it comes with 80GB HDD, which is more then I would need really. Has anyone used of of these before and could tell me what it's like? Does it have the option of editing your recordings on the HD before puttint it onto DVD, so you can take out the adverts and any extra recorded material at the start or end? Paddy

12-10-2006, 11:17	#15
CJL Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Finchingfield, Essex Posts: 5,511	Philips have always had a bit of a bad reputation when it comes to DVD recorders but maybe there more recent stuff is OK these days? "Good" brands are Panasonic, Pioneer and Sony. You should find that any DVDR that contains an HDD will allow all the expected editing (top/tail, ad removal) before you commit to a disc. Cliff

12-10-2006, 11:51	#16
pad_ehh Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 13,767	The Panasonic DMREX75 looks enticing and it even has a HDMI output for when I get my HDTV soon too. It's £349, which is about £49 more than most other places are charging for it, but then again I am getting it on my Argos card. I'm tempted to get this one, and it is a "good" brand, after all! Is it worth the money? Paddy

12-10-2006, 15:50	#17
CJL Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Finchingfield, Essex Posts: 5,511	As an extremely satisified Panasonic DVDR customer I wouldn't hesitate to buy another Panasonic. One thing they do that a lot of other DVDRs don't is a mode called "Flexible Record" when putting stuff on disk. While many brands just offer XP (1hr), SP (2hr), LP (3/4hr), EP (6/8hr) recording to a disk (so that if you want to record 2hours and 5 minutes you have no choice but to pick the inferior LP rather than SP mode) on Panasonic you can select "FR" then dial in "2h 5min" and it will adapt the compression rate to EXACTLY fit that length onto the 4.7GB disk. Cliff

12-10-2006, 17:16	#18
pad_ehh Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 13,767	Right, I've made my mind up. I just reserved it at Argos and will be going down to collect it after work. Can't wait to get it home and have a fiddle! What to copy first?! Ooh, I love messing with electrical things! Paddy

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VCR/DVD Recorder Combi - Which One?