Page 1 of VHS to DVD

Hi I'm a new member to this forum and need advice on what DVD recorder to purchase. One of my reason for buying a recorder is to convert all my videos onto a DVD format. I'm not interested in DVD ram as I have a hard disk recorder with my Sky +
I've been advised to purchase a JVC DR-MV1 which a DVD/VHS Combi but some of my video tapes are bought films and I believe have a copyright signal that will prevent me from converting them, is this true. The other method of converting is to use my P.C. with a TV or video capture card and software but still leaves me with the question of what format + or -.
My DVD player is a Pioneer DV-717, no it's not steam driven and has given me flawless performance for the past 6 years. :) I would like to replace it with one of the same quality in both picture and sound output. Sound being as important as picture.
Regardless of the outcome I would still like to replace DV-717 with a recorder that will allow me to look at my photos on cd format and play recorded DVD's.

I would really appreciate any advice you can give on both questions. Thank you.

hi alan, & welcome to the forums :D

first off, if you`re buying a dvd recorder to replace you`re vhs (& backupr you`re existing collection of video`s) don`t get a combi dvd/vhs unit, honestly, it`s not worth the hassle for a few reasons=

1.as you allready stated, you want to back up you`re own comercial vhs`s, a combi unit will not do this due to macrovision.
2.once you get used to dvd recording etc, you won`t want a vhs player/recorder in the house ;) & you certainly won`t need one atached to you`re dvd recorder :)
3. put the money towards a dvd recorder with built in hard drive ;) a much better use of the space :D

then to back up you`re vhs stuff, connect you`re old vhs player/recorder up to the dvd using a macro removing scart lead (about £20, [url=" www.sonel.com "] www.sonel.com /url] ?) press play on the vhs & record on the dvd recorder, voila :)
as for recomendations for the recorder itself, depends on you`re budget + what you want out of it, a couple of questions=

1. how much do you want/have to spend ?
2. do you expect to be lending you`re recordings out to friends etc (i say lend, rather than give, there is a reason for this ;) & i will explain)
3. have you allready seen anything you fancy other than the combi unit :)

This item was edited on Monday, 3rd January 2005, 12:33

In addition to the above reply (all good info, BTW)

You mentioned recording to your PC-to be honest, I wouldn`t, it`s can be very hit and miss unless you are using an external capture box, but if you are looking to spends that kind of money, you might as well buy the DVD recorder which has multiple uses

That said, I`d certainly use the PC in the process. `All In One` boxes have a great convenience, but even the better ones have limited editing functions compared to what you can do on your PC. You could write your VHS stuff to a re-writable disc, then transfer that onto your PC`s hard drive and edit until your hearts content.

DVD recorder/HDD are still relatively expensive, you are still looking at £350 upwards-You can get extremely good DVD recorders in the £150-£200 category now-and even if you`ve got to buy editing and authoring software, you are still going to be about £100 in pocket, you aren`t tying your TV up while you edit, you aren`t farting around with tiny remote keys and you can get as creative as you want when you write the `finished product`.

I`m not knocking HDD recorders, they are coming along quite nicely, but they are probably a year or so away from getting as feature rich as they should be, and are still pricey.

**Copied from http://www.dvd.reviewer.co.uk/forums/thread.asp?Forum=211&Thread=384071**

I`m new to the forum, and since the dvd player has broken, and the vcr is old, I`m in the market for a dvd recorder to replace both.

I`m leaning toward a HDD + DVD unit, primarily to enable me to watch a rented dvd whilst recording, but also to avoid the "Quick its starting! - bugger, I haven`t got a disc!" moment.

I`m considering the Panasonic DMR-E85 (*), the Sony RDR-HW900 & the Toshiba RD-XS32 (although the Tosh is a definate 3rd choice!) - Any recommendations/opinions gratefully received!?

I`m not fussed by multi-region, and a DV Input isn`t a requirement, as I use the PC for that.

Also, I need to transfer old VHS onto DVD - anybody know if this is easily done with any of the above?

Thanks in advance!

* - I`ve seen various flavours of this eg. HEBS & EBS, can anyone shed any light on the differences please?

You forgot the Pioneer 420,only £318 at Empire currently.
As a HDD recorder the Sony is flawed,aswell as the usual overpricing.Panasonic are also good,as long as you won`t ever watch a rewritable dvd anywhere other than the recorder-RAM is not compatible.
The Pioneer or the Tosh is the way to go.Both are full featured.The Pioneer has a PC style disc backup for copying discs very quickly,and the Tosh has more fancy menu options than any other HDD currently,including chapter thumbnails(as opposed to everyone else`s title thumbnails only)and you can even use a screen grab as the background for your main disc menu

Hi Chris thanks for the info, :) you convinced me not to get one.
My budget would be about £300 pos £350 if it's special
I`ve looked at the Panasonic DMRE55 this got Product of the year from What Hi Fi.
And my brother in law has the DMRE50 and thinks it's good.
I've had very good results with Pioneer, What's the DVR420 like

An important feature i forgot to mention is that i will need a multi region unit as in the
old days i brought a lot of dvd`s from America. (they used to be a lot cheaper)

That lead is just what the doctor ordered.

It is possible that I would want to lend the disks to my son and to my friend in Spain.
The telly out there is terrible.

I look forward to your comments :)

:) Thank you Emily, Dave & Phelings, all taken on board and appriciated :D

This item was edited on Monday, 3rd January 2005, 12:19

It is possible that I would want to lend the disks to my son and to my friend in Spain.

so you would be using write once disc`s for that anyway, rather than RW`s ? i only ask because the lack of -/+RW support is a bugbear to some, but as blank -r`s only cost around 20p each i would assume you would use them to send to spian ? and ram would be you`re "home" format, the dmr-e55 can be got for £200 multi-region, but as you`re budget is at least a third higher than this i`d be looking at hard drive models :) this way you probably would never need either Ram or RW as you would copy primarily to the hard drive, then you could edit etc, then archive the stuff you wanna keep/send onto a dvd-r.

just imo, but i reckon hard disc recorders are the best way for you to go.

EDIT= a swift google of the DVR420 tells me the machine won`t play +r/+rw/ram :( so it seems a bit limited, http://ws3.richersounds.com/showproduct.php?cda=showproduct&pid=PION-DVR420

EDIT X2= That lead is just what the doctor ordered. one thing to remember tho, the lead will only let you backup PAL (english) vhs/dvd, if you want to back up any of you`re american dvd`s you would need to take a different route (unless you`re new recorder can handle recording in ntsc), feel free to pm me if you want any info on this ;)

This item was edited on Monday, 3rd January 2005, 12:39

Chriky Chris you are quick!! :o
Yes I've look at your link and hard drive it is, but which one would you get if you where me? :)
Could you tell me about +R, my info is that it's like the old betamax, better but not universal? And only used by Sony and Philips.
Would I be lost without it?

Thanks

Alan

+R -R two different routes to achieve the same end & not much between them in advantages either way.

I am perfectly happy with my second Mico R311 (+R) machine & will play in a -R machine anyway.

The machine you buy dictates the recording media, not the playback. ;)




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This item was edited on Monday, 3rd January 2005, 14:05