A few questions regarding DVD recorders

I'm thinking about buying my first DVD recorder and have a reasonable amount of cash to throw at the right model, say up to about £700?

Would be nice if it had a built-in hard drive, but herein is my first question. Does the hard drive remain constantly spun up even when you're not using the machine to record stuff? I'd not be keen on constant background noise from the machine as it'd share the listening room with the main hi-fi.

Secondly, is it worth getting a machine with HDMI or DVI outputs, or is component video out as good. Will be investing in an HDMI/DVI equipped LCD or DLP TV soon as well if this connection route is worth going aong. If so, what DVD recorders out there are equipped with HDMI/DVI out?

 

I've been pondering on this also. I have the Sky+ box and do value the record facility, but loath the haphazard background noise of the hard drive.

Also, disk space is getting cheaper all the time (I wont embarrass myself by saying how much I once paid for a 60Mb drive for my Atari a while back), so a built-in hard drive seems like a limitation -unless its a diy job to periodically insert an upgrade. Some solid state onboard storage and facility to transfer to an external hard disk seems the way to go. But would also be interested in being put on the right track.

 

most of the stuff yo ucan do with a hdd you can do with dvd ram (pause live tv, chasing playback, etc.) sky+'s real coup de grace is the series link which afaik only it can do now tivo is dead. i use a toshiba dvd ram recorder and find is sufficient.
cheers

julian.

 

"the series link"

mind's gone blank on this? pl say more.

 

where you can record every episode in a series automatically. a bit redundant nowadays as with umpty billion channels you can usually find any program repeated at any given second of the day but useful if you fancy a dr who binge or simpsons laughathon. obvioiusly the box needs access to tv schedules and the ability to change channels for this feature hence tivo and sky+ only at present. when will they standardise an entertainment data bus for this kind of thing (i guess there is rs232 and rc5 but it's a poor substitute really).
cheers


julian.

 

Can DVD recorders be used for CD recording also?
Any disadvantages compared to dedicated CD recorders such as the one from Yamaha?
Thx

 

thanks Julian. I've not been looking for that, but I get the point. the v-isan identification system would provide that but is not generally implemented.

I take your point on dvd ram. but why does the sky+ box have such noise?

 

all dvd ram is is a very fast access recordable dvd standard - that means a dvd ram disc can be written to and read from at the same time (with suitable buffers) so is only spinning when in use - much as a normal dvd or cd / cdr/rw is. a hdd recorder has the hdd spun up all the time it's on. with sky+ you can pause / rewind at any time - with dvd ram you have to tell it you want to start timeslipping - i guess another slight advantage for sky+ and mainly only for sports - certainly the only time i ever pause tv is when i'm watching something and have to go put my daughter to bed (timeslip) - in that instance it's fantastic. also good for starting to record somethign when your out and then watching it before it's finished (chasing playback).
i guess it's all about how you plan to use the things. the 'ram' disks seem to be pretty reliable too - i've only had one screw up which was frustrating but it was a non caddy cheapo disc so not totally unexpected.
cheers


julian.

 

Whatever you get, make sure it does DVD-RAM. Nothing else is nearly as flexible.

 

ot I find the sky+ series link is pretty naff tbh, hardly ever seems to let you do it. Theres loads of things that are on the same time each week, I tried to use it for Later... but it just won't accept that its a series on at the same time each week.

 

Well, if the hard drive is spun up all the time then I'll go the DVD-RAM route. It's hard to believe no manufacturer has implemented some kind of sleep mode which powers down hard drive for when the unit is in standby, just like on a PC.

Having done a bit of searching, it looks like there aren't currently any DVD recorders with HDMI/DVI outputs on the UK market. Again hard to believe seeing as players have had them for quite a while.

In that case I might just be buying a standard DVD recorder with no HD and just use a component video connection. Any good suggestions for a very cheap one to be used as an intermim measure with prog scan?

 

is it possible to replace the stock hard drives they give you in these boxes, if so, could you not transplant a Seagate drive (as they're whisper quiet) thus resolve the hard drive issue.

Yes I'm looking onto these too, another problem I seen is the format that certain drives support and others don't.

Sorry but if they can make PC DVD writers support all formats then so should the seperate dvd recorders.

Yes DVD RAM is the way to go, but AFAIK only Tosh and Panny support these formats.

I think the Panny dmres10 is the best deal at the mo from Richer Sounds at £180 or the Tosh DR3 at £200 both multi region, I'm tempted myself.

 

henry,
what you want is a tosh dr1 (i use one and love it) - component outs, pal progressive scan and 'ram' unfortunately they don;t make 'em any more . there are a few on e-bay though
not sure what else is out there with all the bells and whistles though.
cheers

julian

 

The hard drive noise on sky+ is usually on the amstrad boxes. I had mine replaced with a pace and thats fine. The sky engineer admitted that the amstrad boxes were noisy. He used another word.

If you are looking at a hard drive/dvd recorder, it might be worth looking at this months (September) What Hi-FI. They do a group test. The Sony came out on top. I am not suggesting that What Hi-Fi is right as they are pretty crap otherwise but it is a starting point.

Rod

 

The reason the HDD doesn't power down is because its always being used, your not directly watching TV, your watching the tv after its been written to HDD, thats how you can pause and rewind tv. I have a pace box too, makes no noticeable noise, the AV amp fan is louder.

 

Thanks for the heads-up on the Toshiba DR1 Julian. I saw that Richer Sounds had a few of these as end of line stock that they're currently getting rid of, tried getting hold of one but my local store doesn't have one and they won't deliver, otherwise I might have gone for that as it looks so much nicer build qualitywise than the £170 Panasonic that would have fitted the bill.

I ended up going for a mail order JVC DRM 100 based purely on spec for £180 including dleivery, although I did buy blind having not read any opinions on it beforehand. It arrived yesterday, not had much time to play with it yet, though I'm really starting to regret that decision now.

Firstly, the JVC has a case fan which I knew about but assumed it was only activated when required i.e. temperature triggered, but unfortunately it is spinning all the time even when the machine's in standby. Arrggh, I might as well have bought an HD based recorder!!

Secondly, although PAL region 2 playback seems OK, NSTC region 1 discs seem very jerky. My old Pioneer DVD/LD combi player did a much better job. Although playback isn't such a big issue as this deck was bought mainly as a recorder, the fan issue is bugging me. I'm wondering whether to break open the case and disconnect the fan, assuming the fan really is necessary or to just sell it on.

 

Sell it and buy the panny! Surely you could have carried the unit home from Richer? I wouldn't have thought it was that big, or ordered it from their website? Or like you say get the cover off and take a pair of snips to the fan wires!

 

Lee, yes could buy the Panny though I'd have prefered the Tosh that Julian recommended. The panny just looks so cheap.

I'd have to travel to Bristol or Plymouth to pick up the Tosh DR1, they don't deliver or move stock between stores for end of line stock and at the time I didn't really want to travel.

Could snip the fan wires but really don't know how warm it gets in use as I've not really used it enough yet. Not even done any recording on the JVC yet!

 

Oh right, so they didn't have it in the Exeter store, fair enough then mate, agreed. You could always try Ebay for them, be interested to know how you get on with the DVD recorder, as I'm interested in this, eg can you fit as much on a dvd as you can on a VHS? Can they record on dual layer discs etc.

The panny might look "cheap" but not as bad as the LG DR7800 thats really butt ugly. Ya the panny DMRES10 reminds me of an eighties CD player, classic look

 

FFS - it's only £7ish return with a cripple card to Plymouth, and a 15 minute walk from the station to Richers. If you really want one and they have one in stock, *I'd* be willing to pick it up for you, provided you pay my train fare