Hi all. OK, the OH and I are looking to buy something to record TV programs on. Obvious first 'look' is at HDD DVD recorders and have already done some research, with the help of this forum in what machine to go for IF thats the route we go down.

However, what about Blue-ray? Is that the next big thing and are recorders available and backward compatible? I mean, can you play DVD's on them for a start? Can they Record normal digital programs as well as HD?

For information, we are not particularly great watchers of movies and the like, a lot of what we want to record is actually old footage of things like 1970's motor racing, currently clogging up the Sky+ drive and other stuff that will become harder and harder to come by as the years pass.


So, what I need help on is this - do we buy a really cheap HDD DVD recorder that will last 12 months until blue ray is better established, or do we just say sod it, and buy a decent HDD DVD recorder now and get 5 years out of it [in theory]??

Thanks in advance

You won't find a Blu-Ray DVD recorder for much less than a thousand pounds at the moment - if such things even exist. Whereas you'll get a DVD recorder from fifty quid upwards.

And Blu-Ray blank discs still cost more than a fiver apiece. Whereas blank DVD+Rs and DVD-Rs cost about twenty pence each.

Even if you found a Blu-Ray DVD recorder, you wouldn't be able to send high definition pictures to it, as all high definition stuff shown on Sky HD is copy protected. So you would only be able to record it in SD quality via scart anyway - in which case you should get an SD DVDR and wait for several years until recordable high definition becomes available.

Thankyou, that pretty much covers what I want to know. Its always so difficult when new technology comes along deciding whether to bite the bullet and go for it, or hang back until its down at a reasonable price/quality, especially with pace things move forward at.


So, now all we have to do is choose between the Panasonic and Sony DVDR's we have been looking at

I have a Panasonic it's perfect. Have a look at this, seems it has what you want.


http://www.trustedreviews.com/tvs/re...VD-Recorder/p1

Thats the panasonic we were looking at mate, so another vote for that one then! I feel the credit card getting hit this weekend!

Last night, a neighrbour brought his straightforward dvd recorder round so we could try and put something we have recorded for them onto a dvd, but could I get it to work? NOPE!
I used the copy function on sky+, no joy. Tried wiring it several ways but all without any success, so when the new one arrives, I apologise in advance for the post shouting HELP!!

Scart out of Sky+ box into scart in on DVD recorder. Select scart as source on DVD recorder (probably AV1 or AV2). Press play on Sky box. Press record on DVD recorder. Don't bother with Copy function on Sky+ unless you have multiple things to copy - it screws up the widescreen facility on any widescreen programmes that you want to transfer to DVD.

I have the EX75 which I think is similar but just a bit of an earlier model. The easiest way to connect this is as follows.

Sky+ TV SCART ---> DVDR AV 2
DVDR AV1 ----> TV RGB SCART

To record off Sky+ just select AV2 as the input and press record (there are more complex options that you can play with the most useful is flecible recording). This will let you record in RGB which will give by far the best quality. Note that if you want to record off the DVDR (Freeview) at the same time as watch Sky+ you have to use the timer function as passthrough doesn't work if recording direct - I find that most of the time the DVDR is in standby but its there when you need it.

Thanks again guys, appreciated

As you already have an HDD recorder (Sky+) I assume you only need a DVDR for archiving - in that case, do you need another with a hard drive? Would this little beaut from Panny do the job?
http://www.dixons.co.uk/martprd/stor...ory_oid=-29293
It had HDMI upscaling connectivity and a snip at £120!

Rgds,
Scorp

I tried those cabling configurations last night with the borrowed DVD recorder and had the same problem I had the night before, the picture is black and white - tested a couple of different scart cables in case I had a faulty one, and checked settings were on scart and rgb, etc, but still the same. However......


.... to answer your question scorpio, its because I would like to do some editing before final dvd transfer and the OH can record to the sky box, I can send it to the HDD and he can carry on recording other stuff on sky box until I have time to do the DVD bit, soooo............






The panasonic is ordered!! Any weeping and wailing sounds from the north London area in the next few days will be me, please ignore

The black/with issue may be that you have the scart from the DVDR going into the TV socket AV2 - these generally only accommodate Video(CVBS) or S-video.

If you are feeding an RGB signal you will get an issue.

Try 2 things, ensure the DVDR scart is going into TV AV1 which supports RGB OR chage the DVDR setting to be composite/video and see if this changes things.

The real solution should be the first option its just that either should verify the issue.

Rgds,
Scorp

Yeh!! That I didnt check, off to have another quick go now while we still have the loan machine and the TV is actually free!! Shall report back, thanks Scorpio

thankyou!!!!!! got it working and at least I know now what to expect with out own when it arrives.

great stuff, happy to help!

Scorp