bigdongers Posted June 29, 2008 Posted June 29, 2008 Hi All, I am in need of a DVD recorder with HDD. I don't need anything flash so 160GB HDD and SD tuner is fine. I will be mainly using this to watch Divx and record foxtel and SD digital. I was looking at the Panasonic DMR-EX77 but also saw the LG RH397d http://au.lge.com/products/model/detail/vi...r__rh397d.jhtml. The only reason I am considering the LG is because you can play Divx files off a USB stick which would be handy as I prefer not to burn DVD's. Has anyone used the LG RH397d? What unit would you all recommend? Do any models have component input (would be good for Foxtel)
Rybags Posted June 30, 2008 Posted June 30, 2008 What's the price on that one? The alternative might be the 160 gig + DVD recorder Tevion from Aldi for around $230 although it's not exactly a high-rep brand. That webpage has the specs of the LG but doesn't seem to list them properly. You'd expect any recorder to have at least S-Video input. It has an SD tuner which is nice (the Aldi one doesn't, so you have to hook it to an STB). I've found that HDD size isn't all that important. I just copy recordings I want to keep to DVD+RW then edit/convert to Divx on the computer. So, don't bypass a particular recorder because it's only got an 80 or 120 gig drive. The Tevion has SCART input although I've not used it so don't know what level of functionality it has there. SCART can potentially mean anything from composite only, to component.
bigdongers Posted July 1, 2008 Author Posted July 1, 2008 So nobody has used the LG unit? I just went through the user manual and it looks like you can copy files from USB and DVD onto the HDD which is really handy.
soogs Posted July 2, 2008 Posted July 2, 2008 Don't get the Pana 77 if you wish to play DivX, has problem with aspect ratio see other threads. However new model out soon.
bigdongers Posted July 28, 2008 Author Posted July 28, 2008 Ok just an update. I took the plunge and bought a LG RH397D unit and so far its fantastic! Its listed as $499 RRP but I managed to get it for $420 and you also get a $30 Visa card voucher from LG via redemption so it really works out to $390 all up which I am happy with. Its got a very good interface and plays Divx off a USB key with no issues. You can also copy Divx files from USB onto the built in 160GB HDD which is really nice as well. The only issue I have so far is that copying from USB to HDD seems to be extremely slow. I havnt timed it but to copy a 700MB AVI file over would take about 30 minutes I think. Its definitely a leave it copying overnight job. Luckily, you can copy an entire folder at at time so you don't have to do it AVI by AVI.
miata Posted July 28, 2008 Posted July 28, 2008 Ok just an update.I took the plunge and bought a LG RH397D unit and so far its fantastic! Its listed as $499 RRP but I managed to get it for $420 and you also get a $30 Visa card voucher from LG via redemption so it really works out to $390 all up which I am happy with. Its got a very good interface and plays Divx off a USB key with no issues. You can also copy Divx files from USB onto the built in 160GB HDD which is really nice as well. The only issue I have so far is that copying from USB to HDD seems to be extremely slow. I havnt timed it but to copy a 700MB AVI file over would take about 30 minutes I think. Its definitely a leave it copying overnight job. Luckily, you can copy an entire folder at at time so you don't have to do it AVI by AVI. Let's hope that you have better experiences with your LG product, than most other people (including me) have had.
RS2000 Posted July 28, 2008 Posted July 28, 2008 Don't get the Pana 77 if you wish to play DivX, has problem with aspect ratio see other threads. However new model out soon. does the ex78 have the same problems?
bigdongers Posted July 28, 2008 Author Posted July 28, 2008 Let's hope that you have better experiences with your LG product, than most other people (including me) have had. what issues have you had? Is it with any specific product or just in general?
miata Posted July 28, 2008 Posted July 28, 2008 what issues have you had? Is it with any specific product or just in general? My own issue was with a LaFinion 32" CRT TV which never ever worked as advertised. It took three years for me to get a full refund. One of my best friends had his 40" Plasma replaced within 2 days then when the second set started to play up it took well over 12 months to get any kind of action, even now he has waited 7 weeks for the promised replacement. Their "Service Department" is not one that they should be proud of.
soogs Posted July 30, 2008 Posted July 30, 2008 Ok just an update. I took the plunge and bought a LG RH397D unit and so far its fantastic! Its listed as $499 RRP but I managed to get it for $420 and you also get a $30 Visa card voucher from LG via redemption so it really works out to $390 all up which I am happy with. I'm glad you are happy with the unit. Is easy to record programs straight of the EPG? I have a Pana 77 and it does it really easily.
yargttam Posted August 20, 2008 Posted August 20, 2008 I'm interested in the Divx playing capability of this machine - the product manual that you can download from the LG website says it supports 720x576 resolution. Does that mean everything up to that resolution, or only that resolution? Will I have to re-encode all my Divx if they are a different size? I'm comparing this machine to the Panasonic DMR-EX77 - their manual says it does Divx from 32x32 up to 720x576. Can anyone comment on the ability to play back Divx on the LG at different resolutions? I tried searching the forums, but apparently I can't search for 'divx' because the word is less than five characters. Nice. Thanks, Matt.
Rybags Posted August 21, 2008 Posted August 21, 2008 With all the players I've tested, they've handled up to and including 720x576. Any more in either dimension and they refuse to play the file. Official DVD spec is that, so I guess they set that as the limit for some reason. Your normal DVD/Divx players don't have a great deal of grunt, so it's understandable. They will also tend to stutter if you give it a file with really high bitrate. Although Divx/XVid files tend to be around 1000 kbps anyway, which is pretty easily handled.
membrain Posted August 21, 2008 Posted August 21, 2008 (edited) Hi, I've been in the market for a PVR for while now and am very close to a purchase. I came across this grundig 250gb for $219 on deals direct and thought it sounded pretty good. Does any have this model or know of it? It doesn't say whether the digital tuner is SD or HD, and I'm unsure of the term "Fully DVBT compliant", sounds a bit dodgy. http://www.dealsdirect.com.au/p/grundig-25...pvr-twin-tuner/ Any advice would be awesome Edited August 21, 2008 by membrain
diesel Posted August 22, 2008 Posted August 22, 2008 I've been in the market for a PVR for while now and am very close to a purchase. I came across this grundig 250gb for $219 on deals direct and thought it sounded pretty good. Does any have this model or know of it? It doesn't say whether the digital tuner is SD or HD, and I'm unsure of the term "Fully DVBT compliant", sounds a bit dodgy.http://www.dealsdirect.com.au/p/grundig-25...pvr-twin-tuner/ Any advice would be awesome There's a thread on it already on here Grundig Twin Tuner Hd Pvr, Any Good? It's only short but I recall reading in another thread (can't find it right now) that it was a little buggy from some of the replies and folks had returned them back to DSE. You do realise that it's a PVR, so it doesn;t have a DVD rec on board
Pleasure Paulie Posted August 24, 2008 Posted August 24, 2008 Those who have the LG RH397H, does it have any sort of auto fit capability when moving recorded TV etc from the HDD to a DVD?
kbw Posted August 25, 2008 Posted August 25, 2008 Sorry I haven't had a chance to sort that out yet. What I did see is that it seems to have the option of taking the clip and set the resolution to put it on the disk as and it shows you how much space would be left on the disk. Will and get more info soon (I know I have said that to you before)
yargttam Posted August 25, 2008 Posted August 25, 2008 OK, I bought one yesterday (LG RH397D). Happy with it so far. To answer my own question, it does play any resolution Divx up to the specified max. As for burning to DVD with an auto fit capability, it does have an 'AUTO' setting when you pick the disk recording size... but I'm not sure if that is simply making a copy at the same size as the HDD recording, or whether something more clever occurs. Nothing mentioned in the manual about auto fit. If I have a chance I will try to work it out. Really easy to set up a timer recording manually, and also using the episode guide (find the thing on the guide, press one button. done!) If anyone is wondering about making it a multi-region DVD player, I succeeded in doing so by following instructions from Google for other LG products.
Pleasure Paulie Posted August 28, 2008 Posted August 28, 2008 As for burning to DVD with an auto fit capability, it does have an 'AUTO' setting when you pick the disk recording size... but I'm not sure if that is simply making a copy at the same size as the HDD recording, or whether something more clever occurs. Nothing mentioned in the manual about auto fit. If I have a chance I will try to work it out. Thanks for your feedback. Did you manage to work out what the auto feature was? Eg, if you wanted to put a rather large video, can it lower video quality to fit on a dvd etc? Thanks for your help!
newtaste Posted September 12, 2008 Posted September 12, 2008 If anyone is wondering about making it a multi-region DVD player, I succeeded in doing so by following instructions from Google for other LG products. How did you do that? Presssing 0 seven times at the Lock does not work on my RH397D.
yargttam Posted September 14, 2008 Posted September 14, 2008 How did you do that? Presssing 0 seven times at the Lock does not work on my RH397D. Yep, I pressed 0 seven times while on the 'lock' menu, and it said something about being region free. I've tested it on region 1, 2 and 4 disks, all OK.
Honest Gaza Posted January 8, 2009 Posted January 8, 2009 What's the price on that one?The alternative might be the 160 gig + DVD recorder Tevion from Aldi for around $230 although it's not exactly a high-rep brand. That webpage has the specs of the LG but doesn't seem to list them properly. You'd expect any recorder to have at least S-Video input. It has an SD tuner which is nice (the Aldi one doesn't, so you have to hook it to an STB). I've found that HDD size isn't all that important. I just copy recordings I want to keep to DVD+RW then edit/convert to Divx on the computer. So, don't bypass a particular recorder because it's only got an 80 or 120 gig drive. The Tevion has SCART input although I've not used it so don't know what level of functionality it has there. SCART can potentially mean anything from composite only, to component. A late response I know....but no it doesn't
Guest Lell1503563418 Posted August 13, 2009 Posted August 13, 2009 OK, I bought one yesterday (LG RH397D). Happy with it so far. To answer my own question, it does play any resolution Divx up to the specified max. As for burning to DVD with an auto fit capability, it does have an 'AUTO' setting when you pick the disk recording size... but I'm not sure if that is simply making a copy at the same size as the HDD recording, or whether something more clever occurs. Nothing mentioned in the manual about auto fit. If I have a chance I will try to work it out. Really easy to set up a timer recording manually, and also using the episode guide (find the thing on the guide, press one button. done!) If anyone is wondering about making it a multi-region DVD player, I succeeded in doing so by following instructions from Google for other LG products.
Guest Lell1503563418 Posted August 13, 2009 Posted August 13, 2009 A late response I know....but no it doesn't Can you tell me if you can record a TV program while watching something on another channel as I can with my VCR.
diesel Posted August 13, 2009 Posted August 13, 2009 Can you tell me if you can record a TV program while watching something on another channel as I can with my VCR. If you are using the DVDR's tuner to record a show, then you cannot then try and use it to watch another channel. What you would do in this example is use the tuner in the TV to watch the show you are not recording, or get a twin tuner recorder.
lancer1993 Posted December 8, 2009 Posted December 8, 2009 I've had 2 LG units the DBRH197 and the RH2T80 and they work great for the most part but the newer RH2T80 had an DVD issue early where it wouldn't record, luckily this was fixed under warranty. But recently the older DBRH197 suffered the same problem and is now being fixed. Clive Peeters has the current RH397D on sale for just $299 which I might get if the repairs cost too much, but that leaves me with a problem of getting things off the HDD of the old one. I noticed the USB is a input and looking at the posts here is works with avi files but if I was to take the HDD from the old unit and put it in a USB case would this work? Or will I have to use AV leads? The only issue then is the on screen data that will be recorded along with the programs, like the play square and such, can these be turned off?
Recommended Posts