Thursday, September 15, 2005
Buying a DVD Recorder on a Budget! - revision #3
A useful Sneazy blog post (for a change) will be posted here on buying a DVD recorder on a budget (under $250). This article will grow organically as I collect more information and resources. This is currently revision #3
Two reviews
These two comparative reviews are the most interesting I have found so far. As always, take them with a grain of salt.
The first review is a five page story at Sound & Vision magazine comparing three of the newest releases by Panasonic, Philips and Pioneer (the 3Ps). Very compact yet very informative article. Well done! All three recorders look good - assuming their restrictions are not hard requirements on your part.
The second review is at CNET comparing six budget units from Philips, Pioneer, Panasonic, RCA and LiteOn Also note the four additional stories on this page under "More Resources".
O'Sneazy Commentary
Fact: More multi-format players are becoming available.
Fact: The industry attempts to downplay the media format Babel, but in reality, it is an interoperability MESS. Things are not peachy for the various formats and modes, but not bad either.
As it stands right, we have these types of media:
Non-recordable (DVD-Video)
Write Once (DVD-R, DVD+R)
Rewriteable (DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM)
We also have two types of Recording modes:
Video (produces a DVD format like store-bought DVDs): DVD-Video
VR recording (format created for recording TV shows, allows editing of the disk in the DVD recorder, but not compatible with all DVD players/recorders)
Media Format Wars
Dash format includes DVD-R and DVD-RW, supported by Pioneer et al
Plus format, includes DVD+R and DVD+RW, supported by Philips et al
DVD-RAM supported by Panasonic et al
Shockingly Sony, the queen of proprietory media, supports both -R and +R. [No DVD-MemoryStick format ;-) ].
As you might expect, confusion arises as you mix and match from the above categories, as things are not interchangeable and interoperable.
So what do you do as a buyer?
Step 1: Figure out what you want to record on DVDs
Step 2: Compare the various DVD recorders with respect to your needs identified in Step #1, keeping in mind the cost of media
Step 3: Buy!
Step 1 is actually more important than the features of individual recorders. Identify the main uses you have for the DVD recorders. Some typical uses:
Record old VHS tapes to DVD
Record DV/camcorder movies to DVD
Record favorite movies and TV shows to DVD for future viewing
Record TV shows/movies but not interested in keeping copies after you watch the shows
Watch live TV shows/movies with time-shifting (start watching halfway in the show and fast-forward the commercials, similar to using a TiVo)
Record music CDs on CD-Rs and CD-RWs from the commercial-free cable/satelite music channels
You also have to ask yourself questions like these:
Do you want to edit (eg remove commercials) the shows before archiving them on DVD?
Do you want to edit the shows on the DVD recorder?
Do you want to edit the shows on your PC or Mac?
The ideal device would have a hard disk and a DVD recorder in one, utilizing high-speed transfer between the two so it avoids further compression and finishes much faster. Unfortunately, as of right now, these models (the reliable ones) cost upwards of $400. So for a budget of $200, the choice is single-disk DVD recorders.
So let's talk some models
After spending millions of nanoseconds on this topic, the O'Sneazy Factor is ready to name some names that are worthy of your consideration - depending on your individual DVD recording needs.
The envelope please...
Listed in random order:
Toshiba DR4
Panasonic ES-10 (ES-20 just announced)
Pioneer DVR-233s, 225s
Samsung R120
Sony GX300 and GX315
Philips DVR 615 (Magnavox DVR660/17 may be a clone)
The ones from the not-so-big brands, with higher risk of problems and more iffy reliability, but decidedly much lower prices:
LiteOn 5005
ilo 05 @ walmart - similar to the Cyberhome 1600
Links, resources, discussion forums
Great resource site: Videohelp.com
AV discussion forum, with "DVD Recorder" sub-forum: http://www.avsforum.com/
An opinionated site: http://www.digitalfaq.com/
Yet another site: http://www.dvdrecorderworld.com/
Two reviews
These two comparative reviews are the most interesting I have found so far. As always, take them with a grain of salt.
The first review is a five page story at Sound & Vision magazine comparing three of the newest releases by Panasonic, Philips and Pioneer (the 3Ps). Very compact yet very informative article. Well done! All three recorders look good - assuming their restrictions are not hard requirements on your part.
The second review is at CNET comparing six budget units from Philips, Pioneer, Panasonic, RCA and LiteOn Also note the four additional stories on this page under "More Resources".
O'Sneazy Commentary
Fact: More multi-format players are becoming available.
Fact: The industry attempts to downplay the media format Babel, but in reality, it is an interoperability MESS. Things are not peachy for the various formats and modes, but not bad either.
As it stands right, we have these types of media:
We also have two types of Recording modes:
Media Format Wars
Shockingly Sony, the queen of proprietory media, supports both -R and +R. [No DVD-MemoryStick format ;-) ].
As you might expect, confusion arises as you mix and match from the above categories, as things are not interchangeable and interoperable.
So what do you do as a buyer?
Step 1 is actually more important than the features of individual recorders. Identify the main uses you have for the DVD recorders. Some typical uses:
You also have to ask yourself questions like these:
The ideal device would have a hard disk and a DVD recorder in one, utilizing high-speed transfer between the two so it avoids further compression and finishes much faster. Unfortunately, as of right now, these models (the reliable ones) cost upwards of $400. So for a budget of $200, the choice is single-disk DVD recorders.
So let's talk some models
After spending millions of nanoseconds on this topic, the O'Sneazy Factor is ready to name some names that are worthy of your consideration - depending on your individual DVD recording needs.
The envelope please...
Listed in random order:
The ones from the not-so-big brands, with higher risk of problems and more iffy reliability, but decidedly much lower prices:
Links, resources, discussion forums
Great resource site: Videohelp.com
AV discussion forum, with "DVD Recorder" sub-forum: http://www.avsforum.com/
An opinionated site: http://www.digitalfaq.com/
Yet another site: http://www.dvdrecorderworld.com/
