Sting1624705796 Posted September 11, 2004 Posted September 11, 2004 Dear all, I'm looking for a dvd recorder, which will mainly be used with my samsung d4. i understand that to make use of the picture-in-picture features, i need to use the "progressive component" input. I'm not exactly sure about this, but was told by the samsung guy who demoed the tv in my place. It'll be a 1st purchase of a dvd p, and i'm not 100% sure what i should be looking for. Is the DVI option common for DVD players? Will that make much of a difference since the D4 is not HD? If not, then the a progressive component input should suffice? Am looking for a HD of around 80g, with both dvd-r and dvd+r options. Any other features i should take into account when making a choice?
htfreak Posted September 11, 2004 Posted September 11, 2004 Welcome to XP.. currently, there are quite a number of 80GB DVD Recorders available in the market. Let me try to do a quick listing here :- 1. Panasonic E100 (DVD-R/RAM) $1199 2. Panasonic E85 (DVD-R/RAM) $999 3. Pioneer 520 (DVD-R/-RW) $1299 4. Pioneer 510 (DVD-R/-RW) $1099 5. Philips (DVD+R/+RW) $999 6. LG (DVD-R/-RW) $899 * Used to have both + and - but hard to find now. 7. Sharp DV-HR300 (DVD-R/-RW) $1099 Currently, none of the models available here have DVI option so you can only depend on component for now which allows for progressive signal output. In terms of ease of use, I would highly recommend the Panny E100 for its intuitive user interface and feature support. Steer clear of the Sharp as you will have a heart attack navigating through its user interface. IMHO, I wouldn't worry too much about having both + and - support. BTW, bigger capacity models are starting to come out already with the Pioneer 720 model (160GB) making a headstart. Sony will be launching their 160GB next month while Panny is not too far away with the rumoured E500 model. Once you get hooked on this, trust me that 80GB won't be enough. Have fun.
Guest jonlee Posted September 11, 2004 Posted September 11, 2004 Which one has good PAL and NTSC progressive? Welcome to XP.. currently, there are quite a number of 80GB DVD Recorders available in the market. Let me try to do a quick listing here :- 1. Panasonic E100 (DVD-R/RAM) $1199 2. Panasonic E85 (DVD-R/RAM) $999 3. Pioneer 520 (DVD-R/-RW) $1299 4. Pioneer 510 (DVD-R/-RW) $1099 5. Philips (DVD+R/+RW) $999 6. LG (DVD-R/-RW) $899 * Used to have both + and - but hard to find now. 7. Sharp DV-HR300 (DVD-R/-RW) $1099 Currently, none of the models available here have DVI option so you can only depend on component for now which allows for progressive signal output. In terms of ease of use, I would highly recommend the Panny E100 for its intuitive user interface and feature support. Steer clear of the Sharp as you will have a heart attack navigating through its user interface. IMHO, I wouldn't worry too much about having both + and - support. BTW, bigger capacity models are starting to come out already with the Pioneer 720 model (160GB) making a headstart. Sony will be launching their 160GB next month while Panny is not too far away with the rumoured E500 model. Once you get hooked on this, trust me that 80GB won't be enough. Have fun.
htfreak Posted September 13, 2004 Posted September 13, 2004 Gee it's hard to tell since none of them comes equipped with the Faroudja chip. May only know the answer by doing a physical side-by-side comparison.
Sting1624705796 Posted September 14, 2004 Author Posted September 14, 2004 Hi! Thanx for the reply. The list of DVD players have really been helpful. Now to go look at the various specs. 80 gigs not enuff?.. gosh.. what do u guys record??? I'll most prob be recording the various series mum can't bear to miss... and transfer over to dvd after every few episodes. Most of the other shows on scv, like hbo and star movies, are of soooo bad quality i'ld rather skip it. thanx dude!
htfreak Posted September 14, 2004 Posted September 14, 2004 80Gig will not be enough if you have to record Kids Central & Kids TV everyday of the week for the young ones to watch during the night. This is why I have two recorders recording the two different channels at the same time. ;D
meyappan Posted September 14, 2004 Posted September 14, 2004 Toshiba has a hard-disk recorder RSX-32 available here and highly reviewed in the UK. http://www.toshiba.com.hk/eng/hksar/products_detail.asp?productId=1475
htfreak Posted September 14, 2004 Posted September 14, 2004 The Toshibas have one advantage of supporting both RAM and -RW rewriteable formats. Where did you happen to see it over here and what is the MSRP?
meyappan Posted September 15, 2004 Posted September 15, 2004 The Toshiba was seen at BEST Denki, Plaza Singapura with a price tag of $1199. In comparison, the DMRE85 costs 200 less at $999.
raindance Posted September 19, 2004 Posted September 19, 2004 Hi, also got a dvd recorder question... For recording from composite/s-video input, are the recorders on sale here able to do both NTSC and PAL formats? And for NTSC, is it following the japanese standard (ie black at IRE0)? Thanks.
htfreak Posted September 19, 2004 Posted September 19, 2004 This is dependent on the recorder itself. My Panny E-100 is able to record both NTSC and PAL signals while my Sharp HR-300 can only handle PAL signals. As for your other question concerning NTSC, there is nothing indicated on my Panny manual to provide you with an answer.
tsammyc Posted September 21, 2004 Posted September 21, 2004 Gee it's hard to tell since none of them comes equipped with the Faroudja chip. May only know the answer by doing a physical side-by-side comparison. The Philips has Faroudja
Guest jonlee Posted September 21, 2004 Posted September 21, 2004 not the new philips with HD. The Philips has Faroudja
myhifisystem Posted September 21, 2004 Posted September 21, 2004 Panny is still the best. Go for E-85 at S$999 is a real bargain now!
pschia Posted September 21, 2004 Posted September 21, 2004 Do note that Panasonic E85 uses SCART sockets and does not have DV link input which is useful for direct connection to video cameras. It does have component video, S-Video and composite video outputs though.
htfreak Posted September 21, 2004 Posted September 21, 2004 The E100 can still be gotten for $999 at various retail stores. Remembered seeing it on sale at Thomas Plaza's Best Denki last Friday. Frankly, the only advantage of the E85 is the longer EP recording hours (quality sucks big time at this setting), the E100 far surpasses the E85 in terms of features like DV-input, PC Card input, SD-Card input and the ability to output MPEG-4. Anyway, I found out something shocking with the Sharp DVD recorder, this stupid unit is only able to record in analog audio mode and not in DD2.0 which most other recorders support. As a result, in order to playback recorded stuff on the HDD and regular DVD's. One would have to keep going into settings to switch between PCM and Bitstream mode for the digital output. :o
raindance Posted September 21, 2004 Posted September 21, 2004 The E100 can still be gotten for $999 at various retail stores. Remembered seeing it on sale at Thomas Plaza's Best Denki last Friday. Frankly, the only advantage of the E85 is the longer EP recording hours (quality sucks big time at this setting), the E100 far surpasses the E85 in terms of features like DV-input, PC Card input, SD-Card input and the ability to output MPEG-4. Anyway, I found out something shocking with the Sharp DVD recorder, this stupid unit is only able to record in analog audio mode and not in DD2.0 which most other recorders support. As a result, in order to playback recorded stuff on the HDD and regular DVD's. One would have to keep going into settings to switch between PCM and Bitstream mode for the digital output. :o Hi, when you say analog mode, do you mean Linear PCM? ie 16 bits at 48KHz? Isn't that better than DD2.0? btw, does anyone else knows of any other DVD recorder models that can record in both NTSC and PAL from composite/S-video input? Thanks.
Guest jonlee Posted October 4, 2004 Posted October 4, 2004 Read a review that the E100 only has scart for RGB output. Does this mean there is no component out? The E100 can still be gotten for $999 at various retail stores. Remembered seeing it on sale at Thomas Plaza's Best Denki last Friday. Frankly, the only advantage of the E85 is the longer EP recording hours (quality sucks big time at this setting), the E100 far surpasses the E85 in terms of features like DV-input, PC Card input, SD-Card input and the ability to output MPEG-4. Anyway, I found out something shocking with the Sharp DVD recorder, this stupid unit is only able to record in analog audio mode and not in DD2.0 which most other recorders support. As a result, in order to playback recorded stuff on the HDD and regular DVD's. One would have to keep going into settings to switch between PCM and Bitstream mode for the digital output. :o
htfreak Posted October 4, 2004 Posted October 4, 2004 Jon.. Don't worry, there is component out available for the E100.
Guest jonlee Posted October 4, 2004 Posted October 4, 2004 Thanx. Hope u don't mind a few more questions since u own the E100. 1. It does both NTSC/PAL progressive? This is important as my Philips Pixel Plus needs different AV input for progressive and non-progressive signals. 2. Can I watch normal TV if I only connect RF between SCV cable box -> E100, then component from E100 -> TV? Or I need to connect RF from E100 -> TV as well? Jon.. Don't worry, there is component out available for the E100.
htfreak Posted October 4, 2004 Posted October 4, 2004 1) The E100 is able to record in both PAL and NTSC. I believe the newer Pioneer 320/520/720 series is able to do so as well. 2) You can get both TV and DVD output using just your component connection to your TV. Only caveat is that once you put the E100 into timer mode, it will only show you a blue screen. According to the Pioneer sales person, there is no need to physically put the recorder into timer mode for their new series. BTW, Panny Spore is evaluating bringing in some of the latest models like the E220/E330 (Twin Tuner) with 160/250GB HDD or the E500 with a 400GB HDD. No idea when these will come out but I think they would probably make it here before Christmas in order to counter against the Pioneer 720 and the upcoming Sony 160GB recorder. Have fun..
Wolf1624705742 Posted October 4, 2004 Posted October 4, 2004 1) The E100 is able to record in both PAL and NTSC. I believe the newer Pioneer 320/520/720 series is able to do so as well. Does that mean it is also a multi-tuner (both PAL/NTSC)?
Guest jonlee Posted October 5, 2004 Posted October 5, 2004 sorrie...I was actually referring to whether E100 able to play NTSC/PAL dvds in progressive scan? Read from web Pioneer 720 does not have progressive scan, but E100 has 480p. Not sure whether can E100 does 576p (PAL progressive). 1) The E100 is able to record in both PAL and NTSC. I believe the newer Pioneer 320/520/720 series is able to do so as well.
htfreak Posted October 5, 2004 Posted October 5, 2004 Will need to refer back to my manual for this. Check back tonite but off-hand, I believe it only handles NTSC Progressive.
YWNWA Posted October 5, 2004 Posted October 5, 2004 I have been mulling over one year on which DVD Recorder to buy. There is not much quality shows on TV, and I do not want to spend $1,000 to record the few shows and movies that interest me. I finally bought this : http://vgear.com/products/list.asp?ProdID=AMVG1-003-030 I have used it several times already to record such movies as MI2 and The Perfect Storm as well as TV shows as EPL highlights, Friends, 24, etc. The picture quality and the sound quality is good, not DVD quality but good enough. I record to my hard disks, which total more than 200GB, in PAL with DD2.0 224kb/s.
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