Info and forum posts by 'mirror'

RE: SEG DVDR500 DVD Video Recorder -

A +R disc is use once only. These discs need to be finalised to play on another machine. A +RW can be recorded on many times. By definition these discs can`t be finalised and indeed don`t need to be to play on another machine. The problem is that not all dvd players will play +RW discs. Check carefully to see what discs you are using.

RE: Best RGB using DVD recorder under £80?

Where are these mythical Panasonics for less than £100? Certainly not where I live. I thought Tesco were a national store.

RE: Technika DVDR 2005

You are using the DV input which is only for camcorders. Connect your dvd player by scart to the input scart of the Technika then use the input button on the remote to find the av channel with the dvd player. Be warned though that if you try to record a commercial dvd copy protection will prevent this unless your player is one of the very very few that can disable macrvision.

RE: Copying from Sky+ on to DVD but want to delete the ad breaks

The hard disc option is by far the best but if its not available here is an alternative but it requires you to have a dvd player as well as your sony recorder. First, record the programme complete with adverts to a RW disc. Now edit out the adverts by putting chapter marks on each side and hiding the chapters that contain the adverts (your manual should show you how to do this). Now make the RW disc compatible for playback on other machines (again consult the manual). The next step is to connect the dvd player to the recorder and play back the edited RW disc recording it to a one time + or - r disc. This will be a permanent copy of the show, film or whatever without the adverts. Finally, the RW disc can be erased in the recorder so that you can start the whole process over again. Its not fast but it certainly does work.

RE: BUSH DVD recorder 3003R how to finalise disc

Load the disc. A small picture should appear. Use the up arrow on the controller to go up to the next level. Use the right arrow to reveal a set of options including finalise. Choose finalise and press enter. This is the usual set up for any Philips based +RW machine.

RE: LCD TV`s - is the picture really that bad?

People are fooling themselves. Put any 32" plasma or LCD up against a Sony trinitron CRT and they will be blown away. Even more so when motion is taken into account such as a football match since many people are interested in such things. The refresh rate on the new technology just can`t compete yet. Another 3-5 years I would guess.

RE: DVD recorder, DivX playback, progressive scan £79 (Tescos - in store only)

I also had trouble with the tray but I think it was mainly because I didn`t give the machine time to come alive from switch on - I think it does some checks before settling down. The beast does whistle especially when finalising discs but the recordings are pretty good and the price is very competitive.

RE: DVD recorder 160Gb hard drive £149.99

I chased up why Lidl charge £200 for this recorder in N. Ireland but only £150 in England and was told that there are separate distribution companies. However, next week the situation is reversed with the dvd recorder they have as a special (not a hard disc one) cheaper at £119 in N. Ireland compared to England at £129 - bonkers!

RE: Philips DVD R80 -

The standard Philips hack should work with the R80. The early 880 series had major problems but the R70/R80 series were generally ok. What problems are you having with the machine apart from the region hack? Sometimes it`s down to the quality of the disc used though I can confirm that the Panasonic (any Panasonic) is an infinitively more reliable and flexible recorder.

RE: Local Offers I`m afraid :-(

Son`s of Bit**s. First they screw us on the £i9.99 dvd player then this!!! Out here on the edge of the Empire we always get the sh*t end of the stick!

RE: 26

Offer seems to have disappeared. Sold out I guess.

Hack Wanted for Bush DVR 3003 Recorder

Is there a handset hack for the Bush DVR 3003 dvd recorder?

RE: DVD Recorder Quality. In what way do poor machines fail to work well?

See my reply in Bargain bucket forum

RE: ASDA Cyberhome DVR 1600

See my reply in Bargain Bucket forum

RE: Is The ASDA Cyberhome DVR 1600 DVD-R Recordable ?

Yes. Although it doesn`t say anything about this is in the manual it will happily use both DVD+ and DVD- format discs. When you put them in a little dialog box comes up asking if you want the disc formatted. Click OK it does the business in a few seconds and away you go.

It will also use -RW (rewriteable discs) but I haven`t explored whether it will allow full access to the editing possibilities with this format.

RE: Dell 5150,19TFT P4 3GHZ 1GBRAM 160GB DVDRW 256 GFX £514 Only

I ordered this package last night following the procedure above. The price came down to £571 including vat and shipping. When I went to the checkout however delivery of £57 was added and then subtracted from the price leaving the total at £571 and not the £514 which I expected. When I queried this with Dell this morning I got the run around and ended up at some foreign call centre with an incomprehensible operator. The deal is still quite good but this has taken the icing off the cake for me.

RE: Multiregion remote Hack Codes for the Venturer STS91DVD Player

Have you tried the standard Venturer hack.

Open the drive tray.
Press 8 1 3 2 8 on your remote control.
Press the Enter button on your remote control to cycle the regions to 9 for MR.
Press the Subtitle/Return button on your remote control to finish.

RE: Asda DVD Recorders £69

Its a bit hit and miss with this recorder. Some run quite hot (no fan) and after a time that distorts the recording. On the plus side they take both DVD+ and DVD- discs (DVD+RW and DVD-RW too). The recording times can also be a bit akward eg 114mins instead of 2 hours, 170 minutes insteasd of 3 hours. Finally there is a simple multi region hack available from the handset.

RE: Alba RDVD 1002

The Alba and the Goodmans are essentially the same machine. I tried both and found they tended to have hesitations in the recording about every 1-2 minutes. Are you having this problem?

RE: Cyberhome DVR 1600 DVD Recorder £59.94 at Asda

Mine was £84.99 and that`s still the price in my local Asda stores. The first one I had ran quite hot and was buggy on recordings so went back. The replacement had different firmware and seems to run a bit cooler but I`m taking no chances and have put a fan behind it. Recordings are fine when they work.

RE: Bargain DivX & Card Reader DVD Player £19.99 From Lidl!!

12th November is a Saturday but I thought Lidl only had specials on Monday and Thursday or is the practice different in different regions?

RE: Technika DVD-105

When he says type in the numbers quick he means very quickly, less than a second between numbers if possible.

RE: not sure if this discussion belongs here....

BBC and ITV signals are not scrambled or protected with anti copy signals such as macrovision but they are broadcast in PAL and are therefore recorder as PAL signals. If your TV can`t handle PAL or if your player doesn`t convert PAL to NTSC then obviously you will get some strange looking pictures on the screen.

RE: Worth get an HDD/DVD Recorder?

You need to have a Sky decoder to get the satellite programmes and this is either a standard Sky box or a Sky+ box. Since the Sky + is a combined receiver and HDD you don`t need a separate recorder. If you have a standard Sky box just hook this up to the HDD recorder you buy and away you go.

HDD recorders are excellent for editing out adverts etc and I recommend any of the Panasonic models

RE: TOSHIBA D-R350SB DVD Recorder

nice1 means exactly what he says. Almost without exception the high end manufacturers, Sony, Panasonic and Toshiba do not provide machines that can be hacked with the remote they are supplied with. Some can be done with a special remote available to dealers (and there are companies that will rent you modified universal remotes that can be used once for hacking) and some have a special disc that flashes the internal firmware of the machine. Others have to have additional physical modifications such as chips put in to change the region. The only Toshiba I ever knew that could be hacked from its own remote was the 240e and that was a very low budget machine.

Here`s that hack

open the tray
type 2403960
keep pressing enter until you reach region 9
close the tray
turn the player off
turn it back on

RE: DVD Recorder Quality. In what way do poor machines fail to work well?

The european version of this machine is the ME the US version is the MU. I know the MU plays Divvx but I haven`t been able to test this on the ME version. The manual doesn`t mention this feature but then again it didn`t say anything about accepting -r discs. The manual is here http://www.cyberhome.de/files/handbuecher/Neu04_05_05/1600/Manual_EN_DVR_1600.pdf

RE: DVD Recorder Quality. In what way do poor machines fail to work well?

Yes it will write to both +r/rw and -r/rw. If it wasn`t for the heat problem it would be unbeatable for £85.

RE: DVD Recorder Quality. In what way do poor machines fail to work well?

I have a Cyberhome 1600 which is an interesting machine. Though billed as a DVD+r recorder it is in fact dual format and will quite hapilly use DVD-r discs as well. The record quality settings are slightly unusual at 60 mins in highest quality mode, 114mins in standard quality and 172 mins in long play (there is a longer mode but I haven`t used it. The remote is a bit small and the user interface a bit clunky but they do work.

The only downside with this machine, and this is common to many budget recorders (Goodmans, Alba etc) is that the power supply produces a lot of heat and there is no fan to dissapate it. As a recording proceeds therefore the heat can induce errors into the disc such as picture breakup and freezing. The floor of this machine is a heat sink and its essential that air can circulate freely through it. Don`t put it in an enclosed space and don`t set it on top of another machine if this runs warm. Personally I have put a small fan behind mine and this keeps it cool. The recording are then perfect.

PS. Its also very easy to hack for multi-region playback

This item was edited on Monday, 24th October 2005, 11:46

RE: lg dr7400

Did you finalise the disc? If it is a once only +R disc it needs to be finalised to play on other machines, including PC drives.

I just noticed you said it was a +RW disc. Many drives and players can be quite choosy about playing re-writable discs like these.

This item was edited on Wednesday, 12th October 2005, 17:10

RE: dvd +rw and dvd -rw

I`m definitely simple! How do you edit an RW recording to get rid of the adverts? I`ve tried following the Phillips manual for my R70 but I`m hopelessly confused.