DVD/HDD Recorder

tk123

This might be a stupid question BUT if i buy a dvd recorder with a HDD can I playback from the HDD or do I have to burn it to disk first??

Lump

You can play from the HDD....

John

Yes it was slightly stupid.

tk123

Well I had to check cos some of the ones I was reading were saying it supported playback of dvd+/-/rw/ram/flattened-coke-cans but didn't mention the HDD!! Hooray a new toy to buy!!

Lump

What one are you getting?

John

tk123

This one from pixmania I think - http://www.pixmania.com/ie/uk/91933/art/panasonic/dmr-e85hebs-diga-dvd-reco.html

SteM

tk123, are you going to be recording from a digital box or from normal analogue NTL? I know that some non-Irish bought VCR/DVD recorders have trouble tuning in all of the analogue channels so you might have some problems using the recorder unless it's with a Sky or NTL box via Scart. You might want to check the documentation before you buy it.

tk123

Thanks for that info SteM - i was just going to use it with analogue NTL for now...I'll check the specs!

SteM

Do me a favour will you? If you do pick one up will you post a review back here? €421 is a bargain and I've been toying with getting a DVD/HD recorder for ages now.

I've bought stuff from pixmania before and they were very good, stuff arrived within 2 days of order IIRC.

byte

According to Panasonic UK site, the tuner is UHF only.
http://panasonic.co.uk/dvd-recorders/dmre85hebs/index.htm

The one sold by Pixmania may differ slightly though so you'd be best to email the seller.

SteM

Thanks Byte.

Also, the pixmania site lists the HDD size as 120GB, every review of this machine I can find on the web lists it as 80GB.

Edit:
A customer on the pixmania site says.....

....Not only that the pixmania models are equipped with 120gig hard drives instead of 80gig which is 50% more storage and they have a 2 year guarantee which is 100% longer than the normal guarantee.

Absolutely stomping deal and a cracking dvd recorder/hdd combination to boot

DamoRed

There is a dual tuner Pioneer DVR520 Multiregion Hard-disc DVD Recorder available for €479 from Richer Sounds in Belfast. It's a little more expensive than the Panasonic, but carriage from Belfast is only €12.I don't know what the carriage from Pixmania in UK would be. Some of the features are that it has an 80GB hard disk and it can record at 48X speed from the HD to DVD.

Here's the little bit of info on the site.....

Pioneer's hard-disk DVD recorder with the i-link facility. High-capacity 80GB Hard Disk with 48 x High-Speed Copy from HDD to DVD. DV In/Out for easy editing of home-made video. Also features the chase Chase Play, which facilitates Simulteneous recording and playback. This unit has RGB In/Out via Euro-Scart and will playback MP3, WMA and JPEG's. This unit is a dual band unit and will work with both UHF anf VHF.

http://www.richersounds.ie/asp/index.asp

follow the link, then when the page loads, you'll see a dropdown menu on the right.....choose category.....Home Cinema....DVD Recorders. Make sure to select the euro as currency at the top of the page.


Richer Sounds are excellent to deal with and buy from. Very friendly and helpful on the phone. I don't know whether you've made a final decision on your purchase, but it may save you in the long run. Nothing worse than buying something that can only be used in certain places and circumstances. Happy viewing


Damo

SteM

DamoRed, thanks for the info. I'm almost certainly going to go with the Toshiba RD-XS34 though. It has a VHF/UHF tuner and a 160GB HD.

LE Concepts have it for £354 inc £25 UPS to Ireland and ship 25 DVD-Rs with it.

That works out at €520 (ish) for the 160GB Toshiba v €491 for the 80GB Pioneer. The Tosh is worth the extra €30 I think, although I currently have a Pioneer DVD player and do really like the build quality of it.

Lump

Have a look at ebuyer.com I recon you'll get it cheaper on there.

John

tk123

Well i'm not getting paid until the end of the month so I still have a few weeks to decide!!

Good Boy

I purchased the Pioneer DVR520 from Richer sounds Belfast exactly as per price quoted above and I'm well pleased with it so far. Still getting to grips with it.
Took 3 days to arrive from date of order. Nice slim model.

Did find it difficult enough to find DVD-RW discs in the usual stores i.e. Pc world, Currys and Dixons. while they had plenty of RW+ discs the only type they had were PC line brand X 2. I eventually found some at the Sony store in Liffey Valley although they were also X 2.
I'll have to send off for some discs. Although I don't need them for the moment as I mostly use the Hard drive.

Regards

Good Boy

SteM

Good Boy wrote:

I purchased the Pioneer DVR520 from Richer sounds Belfast exactly as per price quoted above and I'm well pleased with it so far. Still getting to grips with it.
Took 3 days to arrive from date of order. Nice slim model.

Did find it difficult enough to find DVD-RW discs in the usual stores i.e. Pc world, Currys and Dixons. while they had plenty of RW+ discs the only type they had were PC line brand X 2. I eventually found some at the Sony store in Liffey Valley although they were also X 2.
I'll have to send off for some discs. Although I don't need them for the moment as I mostly use the Hard drive.

Regards

Good Boy

Glad to hear you're happy with yours Good Boy.

I ended up getting the Tosh 160GB from the UK, ordered it on Tuesday 19th, arrived on Thursday 21st by UPS. It shipped with 25 8x DVD-Rs and the 5 I've tried so far have worked a treat. The manual that comes with the Toshiba is a beast to get through but I think that's just because you can do so much with the machine.

Having the HD to record on is amazing and the timeslip functionality is getting used quite a bit. Being able to record something and start watching it before the recording ends is really handy too as it means I don't have to wait around during the ads

Good Boy

@ SteM I believe the Tosh is the the dogs danglers and wipes the pioneer off the floor.
I went for the Lite-on from Argos but returned it again after reading about the merits of a hard drive. So I plumped for what seemed a bargain the Pioneer. Having read about other models it seems the Tosh with HD comes out along with one of the Panasonics as one of the best.
Anyway we'l enjoy them and there quite a step forward from the old vcr.

Regards

Good Boy