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Dvr Recorder Inputs - Any Better Than S-video?


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Hi All,

With HD tuners and Foxtel having Component outputs, it seems most HDD/DVD recorders still only have s-video or composite inputs. This seems to limit the potential quality of recordings, OR is it just that the quality of the recorded program won't be good enough anyway to bother with better inputs?

Anyone know the future of this area? Does any manufacturer have component inputs or even HDMI?

Pfeff

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Does any manufacturer have component inputs or even HDMI?

All my HDD DVD recorders have component inputs (& outputs) and they are the cheapest on the market. Kross TS-5188, MTV TS-2080 and MTV MDR5501 and they are all still going strong

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Hi Pfeff,

As mentioned component input DVDRs exist. However as you surmise, there is little benefit in going above Svideo for a DVDR. This is because DVDRs generally compress and recode the input to fit on the DVD. As an indication:

1) SVideo compared to Component is say 10% worse in picture quality (PQ)

2) FTA digital Tv is 3.5gb per hour. A DVD has 4.7 Gb

3) This allows about 2-3 hours of pretty good picture (not much compress) on a single DVD.

4) In this (common) scenario the data must be compressed ~20%

5) which outweighs most of the advantage of Component v SVideo inputs.

Regards

Peter Gillespie

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Hi Pfeff,

As mentioned component input DVDRs exist. However as you surmise, there is little benefit in going above Svideo for a DVDR. This is because DVDRs generally compress and recode the input to fit on the DVD. As an indication:

1) SVideo compared to Component is say 10% worse in picture quality (PQ)

2) FTA digital Tv is 3.5gb per hour. A DVD has 4.7 Gb

3) This allows about 2-3 hours of pretty good picture (not much compress) on a single DVD.

4) In this (common) scenario the data must be compressed ~20%

5) which outweighs most of the advantage of Component v SVideo inputs.

Regards

Peter Gillespie

That makes sense! I guess more units will become available when dual layer DVD+/-Rs become more affordable, although it is probably a bit like the chicken and egg situation.

This situation wasn't an issue for me before I got my 40V panel, but now I find the difference between recorded movies and retail DVD's quite noticable, especially more recent movies. It'll be a while before I'll be doing any more upgrades so I'm happy to wait.

Cheers

Pfeff

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'Tassie Devil' covered this question comprehensively :D

As I understood it there is no point in going beyond S-video unless you have high definition and a large screen

On a normal size screen i.e. up to 32 inch you wont be able to see any difference ! :blink:

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Hi All,

With HD tuners and Foxtel having Component outputs, it seems most HDD/DVD recorders still only have s-video or composite inputs. This seems to limit the potential quality of recordings, OR is it just that the quality of the recorded program won't be good enough anyway to bother with better inputs?

Anyone know the future of this area? Does any manufacturer have component inputs or even HDMI?

Pfeff

I doubt that any manufacturer would put an HDMI input on a DVD recorder. The Sony RDRGX3 that I'm currently using has an RGB-scart input as well as a couple of Svideo and composites. But it's a few years old and most of the newer models have ditched RGB. Which leaves Svideo as the best option for transferring from STBs to DVDRs, unless you can find something with components inputs.

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As mentioned component input DVDRs exist. However as you surmise, there is little benefit in going above Svideo for a DVDR. This is because DVDRs generally compress and recode the input to fit on the DVD

Beyond quality though another consideration is connectivity, quite often devices with multiple outputs that you might want to connect to a DVD recorder and another device at the same time can't do S-Video and component at the same time which often means running component to the monitor and composite to the recorder

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