What's Better? DVD Writer or External Drive for DVR

[DerbyDad03]

I'm trying to decide which would be better - a DVD player/recorder or an External drive for my Scientific Atlanta 8240 DVR STB.

My main goal is to be able to save things like concerts, the occasional sporting event, and other special events.

Here's what I understand so far:

External Drive option:

An eSata drive will give me more space, but the recordings will be locked to the DVR box, so I'll lose them if I ever replace the STB. I also would not be able to access them from my Computer if I wanted to edit out commercials, etc.

DVD Player/Recorder option:

I can use the "Copy to VCR" feature of the STB to copy the shows to a DVD player/recorder, but that would have to be done in real time - i.e. a 3 hour concert will take 3 hours to copy. If I wanted to eliminate the commercials, I would have to copy them to my computer, edit them and save them back to a DVD - which would require a DVD writer in my computer, something I do not currently have.

Is there something else I should be considering while I wrestle with this decision?

Thanks!

[Krispy Kritter]

You've pretty much covered it. You just need to decide which route to go. If you are recording things you actually want to keep, then there really isn't a decision to be made. Go the recorder route.

[DerbyDad03]

Thanks for the response.

OK, so now I'm looking for a DVD recorder and I find these specs for the SONY RDR-VX515

The DVD recorder features the following recording modes:
HQ (High Quality): 60 minutes
HSP: 90 minutes
SP (Standard): 120 minutes
LSP: 150 minutes
LP: 180 minutes
EP: 240 minutes
SLP: 360 minutes
SEP (Long Duration): 480 minutes

Are these specs pretty standard for DVD recorders?

Does that mean a 3 hour 1080i show has to be split across 3 DVD's or I'll lose the High Def quality?

Will my DVR even allow me to stop and start the transfer when each DVD fills up?

[Krispy Kritter]

Most recorders have various recording modes. And that is HQ (high quality), NOT HD. This recorder does not record HD content. The standard rule of thumb is 2 hours per DVD (SL DVD) with a quality source.

And I would personally avoid Sony.

[DerbyDad03]

Thanks for the info.

2 questions:

1 - Are there any DVD recorders that record HD?

2 -Can I pause the "Copy to VHS" feature of the DVR to split long shows across multiple DVD's?

Thanks again.

[orsetto]

Once you start "getting cute" with wanting to control the DVD dubs, edit commercial, and split across discs, you really need to re-think your budget or hardware choices. The best thing to attach to one of these cable DVRs is a DVD recorder with its own built-in hard drive, like a 2008 Phillips 3576 or Pioneer 460. You would then record from your cable box hard drive to the DVD recorder hard drive, unattended. When finished, it is then very easy to go in, trim commercials, and split a recording on the recorder hard drive before burning the final DVD. These hard drive DVD recorders are now all discontinued in North America, but you can find them on eBay from liquidation dealers or private sales, and uBid sometimes offers them. Price is $250 approx. You can do the same things using a computer, but would need to install a DVD burner and possibly a capture card and software, its more complex. A bare-bones $99 dvd recorder is usable if you plan ahead and have good timing. You can pause the DVD recorder when commercials are running, although there is a time lag involved. And you can split a long show across two discs at the higher quality XP or SP speeds by stopping the recorder and pausing the cable box. Avoid the current Sony and Toshiba units: they are over-reactive to real or imagined "record inhibit" flags in cable broadcasts and will often shut down in the middle of a recording. Instead, opt for the cheapie "Wal*Mart special" Sylvania or Magnavox models. Tunerless is better and cheaper, the models with ATSC tuners are all buggy as hell. No DVD recorder can record in HD, and you will probably lose the 16:9 formatting unless your cable box lets you "force" squeezed anamorphic signals from its video out jacks. Most people end up with 4:3 letterboxed DVDs.

Probably the primary benefit of investing in a home theater PC is you can record directly to it in HD and then burn "off-spec" DVDs which can play in HD on BluRay hardware. These dvds won't play at all in a standard dvd player, but many users enjoy the trade-off. It does of course require futzing around in software and is not nearly as simple as just hooking up a DVD recorder: as usual, your choice depends on your personality and preferred workflow.

Note when you are recording in "real time" directly to a DVD (i.e., using a recorder without a hard drive), media quality is crucial. The common 16x media available easily in stores is optimized for high speed burning in PCs and hard-drive recorders, it often fails in the middle of "real-time" recording. For that you should get the Taiyo Yuden (TY) Premium 8x DVD-R media, available from online dealers for about $35/100 delivered. It works every time- no coasters.

[DerbyDad03]

Thanks for the detailed response.

If hard drive DVD recorders are the answer to all of our dreams, why were they discontinued in NA? Who were the marketing geniuses that came up with that strategy?

[orsetto]

"Why they were discontinued" is a complex answer: a variety of factors worked against them, price more than anything (in their heyday, the good ones averaged $400-500). They didn't sell well, but mfrs were able to keep subsidizing them for the few who wanted them until the ATSC fiasco hit. The cost to add dual digital/analog tuners to every recorder in 2006 was so high, most mfrs decided to bail on the USA market rather than try to sell a $700 recorder. Phillips stayed in the game with their remarkably affordable models, but even at $279 they were/are still sneered at by Joe Average as "too expensive". American consumers do not have a flexible mindset regarding price: once you establish a low point, you can never go back up. People got used to several years of $99 vcrs, no amount of explaining DVD/HDD was better would convince them to blow $300-600 on a DVD recorder that "does the same thing". Also, these recorders are a giant pain in the ass to coordinate with cable/satellite, which in the USA has something like 85% penetration (outside the US its a fraction of that). Most of us opted for the "cheap" cable/satellite integrated recorder, like the one you have, but very few were interested in keeping anything permanently. The rental PVRs are idiot-proof timeshifters, and thats all anyone really wanted- they're happy with them, and other than TiVO no other recorders can get a toehold here. Add to this the confusing operation of DVD-R, what with "finalizing" and recording failures halfway thru a TV show, and even the "cheap" dvd-only recorders are dying out now.

A similar thing happened in photography 25 years ago: in the 1970s, everyone had a fancy expensive rangefinder or SLR, because it was considered "chic" and it was the only way to get a good picture. But the day Konica introduced a motorized autofocus point-and-shoot with built-in flash, they wrote the death notice for all other cameras. Within five years, no one bought an SLR unless they were truly dedicated, and today the cheapest throwaway digitals are the biggest sellers. No one ever went broke pandering to the "ease of use" crowd, but plenty have lost their shirts trying to market "better" products.

[edDV]

Amen bro.

Other examples:
S-VHS
Laserdisc
DVD-audio, enhanced CD
Hi8 vs VHS-C
DV vs. MPeg DVD/HDD
HDV vs. AVCHD
Honda vs. Chevrolet

The American consumer most always opts for a low quality solution even if the end result is questionable. Cool is more important than result. Marketing quality can be tricky. Status sells, quality less so.

HDTV has been forced by elites. Consumers would never have voted for HDTV with their wallet. I think they appreciate the 30yrs of work in their presumed interest. Probably not.