Page 1 of DVD Recorders reliable?

:/ Bought a panasonic dvd recorder have recorded 4 dvds since xmas and played prob 30 at most as use sky+ most time. in for repair guy at shop matter of factly points out units not that reliable am i unlucky or anyone have prob? (mine ram drive)

I bought an Dmr-Es10 just before xmas,done plenty of recording and s*** loads of playback no problems here.


(A.C.C Founder)

You were unlucky as my Panasonic E50 is about 3 years old and still works well. Yes It does crash sometimes but still works well most the time. :)

I proberbly should`nt say this but Im hoping for it to break so I can buy a new one with Freeview & hard drive :/

This item was edited on Friday, 11th August 2006, 22:27

I have a dvd recorder considered by most as a piece of junk and it has yet to give me any major problems. If I say this recorder suffers from the "LOADING" problem, you will probably know which brand this is.

Most people are probably reactionary when it comes to electronics, but I try to find out what causes the flaws. I found out what they were with this recorder and I just try to avoid smudged discs and keep atleast one programmed recording in the queue.

I love dvd recorders, the next one I get will have a hard drive though...

....and you thought life was tough

This item was edited on Saturday, 12th August 2006, 03:34

I bought my Panny before Christmas `cos they had such a good reputation here, never had a prob.

Al

www.admars.co.uk

If you compare DVD recorders directly with VCRs, then VCRs are a damned sight more reliable.

This is because VCRs have been in production since the 70s and every manufacturer has pretty well ironed out all the flaws so every machine works efficiently.

BUT we have only been recording to DVD since the beginning of this CENTURY (6 years or so) and the standalone DVD Recorders on the shelves are still only about 2nd or 3rd generation at best, so on the whole all manufacturers are still sorting out firmware bugs, design faults and disc compatibility problems.

Or to put it another way, we are trying to fly with branches and feathers! Give it another decade and things should be running a lot more smoothly.

I have owned a Toshiba DR1 (1st generation) which cost £340 in January 2004, recorded to DVD-R/W and RAM only, and died after just 15 months with a failed DVD Drive.

I currently own a Liteon LVW-5006 which I bought for about £145 in March 2005 (1st generation) which has been replaced/repaired 3 times in the 17 months since I bought it!. It records to DVD-R/W and DVD+R/W as well as CD in audio, VCD and SVCD modes. Very versatile but littered with problems, but thank goodness Liteon give all their machines a 2 year warranty!

I also own a JVC DR-M7 (1st generation) which I bought to replace the Toshiba in April 2005, at a cost of £157. It records to DVD-R/W and RAM again. Still going strong but quite a few issues that I am not happy with. I will not be buying JVC again.

All consumers who have bought a DVD recorder to date can consider themselves to be Beta Testers, as the manufacturers are still learning about the machines and rely on customer feedback to help with future improvements.

Therefore, buy cautiously but don`t be afraid to have a go. If no-one took the risk, the whole industry would fail to take off, which would be a disaster. Recording to DVD is definitely a better option than sticking with VHS tapes, but we have a long way to go before we can safely buy a DVD recorder off the shelf and be 100% confident that it won`t let us down at some point.

Sue Don`t Diss JVC so quickly. I`ve had loads of JVC & it is one of the more reliable makes. When it comes to DVD Recorders Panasonic have to be the most reliable, I`ve heard of hardly any problems with them. I`ve had 3 & all have been faultless as is the DVD-RAM system. They are everybit as reliable as any video recorder if fact more reliable than many video recorders. Don`t you remember stretched tapes, tapes going white inside, jammed tapes, tapes winding themselves around the head. Cleaning the heads & so on. No I`m glad I bought a Panasonic & the reliability that goes with it, however give JVC another chance.

I also now believe Panasonic (followed closely by Pioneer) are the best DVD recorder manufacturers. Having owned 3 different brands of DVD Recorder I have been able to compare them thoroughly.

The Toshiba was very well designed, but incredibly complicated to use. Being a technophile, I mastered it, but there must have been nearly 80 buttons on the remote (there were actually 78 - I counted them one day when I was bored!), so it was not for the faint-hearted!!! Unfortunately, it looked like the rear end of a bus - very ugly! The editing features were wonderful, but as the drive didn`t last very long, it put me off buying another.

The JVC in comparison to the Tosh, is nowhere near as good. Again, complicated to control, although it is a simpler remote. There is no Timeslip function, although you can choose to start watching something that is recording from the beginning, and you can opt to watch a previous recording while recording to disc (but only with DVD-RAM)

However, because DVD-RAM has not taken off, and hardly any manufacturers have made their players RAM compatible, I have virtually stopped using RAM discs. We have 4 TVs in our house, and it is not convenient to record to DVD-RAM or DVD-RW in VR mode, as I know the discs will not play back in any other machines. So all those editting features are instantly lost, because I only record to DVD-RW in Video mode to ensure compatibility.

The other grouch that I have with JVC recorders is that when you finalise a disc you do not get a title menu screen. It just autoplays when inserted into another player, and chapter breaks are automatically created during finalisation at approximately 5 min intervals.

So really JVC have designed their recorders to be used in a solitary environment where you do not intend to try and play back a disc in another machine and you do not intend to create a permanent recording.

In contrast, the Tosh (and Panasonics) create lovely title menu screens, giving a choice of background colours etc to create a very professional disc when completed.

And as for the Liteon - well, if they could just start producing machines that didn`t break down every 5 minutes, they would be the market leader by miles. Simple to operate, uncluttered remotes, lovely neat title menu screens and creating discs that play back in virtually any player. (I use DVD-RW, DVD-R, DVD+RW & DVD+R without any compatibility issues at all)

So out of the 3 machines that I have owned, I would say that the Toshiba had the best editing features and created the most professional finalised discs, but the Liteon wins by a mile for its simplicity and compatibility. It just loses marks for its unreliability.

It will be interesting to see how all the manufacturers are doing in another 10 years time. ;)

I bought a Goodmans for £99 about 18months ago (I think). Recorded loads and loads, had a couple of glitches, but on the whole it`s great.

Not bothered about quality too much as long as I get to see my programmes....and it`s still better than VHS!

I have two Panny machines

A DMRE50 and E55
The E50 must be,gowd,around 4 or 5 years old now (bought as soon as they came out)
The E55 is around 3 years old.
Both have been 100% reliable.
No complaints at all. 8)

This item was edited on Monday, 14th August 2006, 14:30