Purchasing New DVD Recorder-Need Advice & Questions Answ

[Seanster]

Hi everyone,

I hope I am not being repetitive on some of the questions I am going to ask but I couldn’t really find the exact answer to all of my questions from the postings. I am really new to the DVD Recorder technology so some of my questions may sound ignorant. Sorry for that. Anyways, I am planning to buy a dvd recorder and if I can get the answers to the following questions, it would help me so much:

1) Are there such things as Consumer DVD-R media as opposed to Computer DVD-R media. What I am referring to is that when I bought my Pro CD Recorder deck, I chose to buy it because it will able to use all media, Consumer or Computer. Computer media is cheaper than Consumer and I wanted that ability to use whatever I want because I do a lot of recording.

2) My second question is related to the first one. Is there a Pro DVD Recorder deck as opposed to a Consumer DVD Recorder deck? If so, what are the major differences?

3) I am also taking into consideration the SCMS function that is in most Consumer CD Recorder decks. Do the following units like the Panasonic E-30 & E-50 and the Phillips DVDR985 have some kind of copy protection device? I definitely would not want them if they had this.

4) Speaking of the Panasonic and Phillips DVD Recorders, which one of the two would everyone in here suggest I purchase. If it’s the Panasonic, is there a big difference between the E-30 & E-50 that I should consider. The only difference I see is the $100 price difference because the E-50 is the newer model.

5) My primary use for this DVD Recorder is to transfer my music video collection from VHS/Laserdisc to DVD. Can I basically buy one of these two DVD Recorder units, go home and hook my VCR or laserdisc player up to it, and just start recording. Will I be able stop and start where I want? Is it as easy as a cd recorder or vcr?

6) I’ve also heard that there will be DVD Recorders coming from Apex, Samsung, and some of the other companies who always tend to give us less expensive products with more features. Is it worth waiting for these and does anyone have a time table for when these decks will be on sale in stores?

Thank you everyone in advance for your help.

[mkelley]

Whew, a lot of questions. I'll give some of them a shot, FWIW,

1) The "consumer/computer" media thingee with CD's was just a way to rip off people... or give well-deserved royalties to the record industry, depending upon which side of the fence you're sitting on. There is no similar mechanism going on right now in the DVD industry (thank god).

Be aware, however, that many standalone DVD recorders such as the Panasonic are a lot more picky when it comes to media than an internal recorder. I have both the Panasonic 30 as well as an internal Sony burner, and my Panny unit will not work with any disk costing less than $3 (no kidding, I think it reads the receipts :>) My Sony works with even > $1 media, just fine (it eats everything so far I've thrown at it). I've burnt an awful lot of coasters with my Panny, and absolutely zero with the Sony.

2) Yep, there is actually is such a thing as a "pro" unit which will produce DVDs guaranteed to work with any player on the market -- AFAIK it's not less than $10K (and maybe a *lot* more) and if you're going to buy it you probably don't belong on this forum.

3) There aren't, to my knowledge, digital rights management built into any DVD recorder. Internal burners, such as the Sony (a terrific unit) are intentionally built "slower" in their reading of DVDs in order to slow down pirates from copying DVDs, but so far no chip has been embedded. You recognize, of course, that there is inherent copy protection built into all commerical DVDs (with, of course, ways around it).

5) Yes, you can just go home and hook it up and feed it the right media (remember, $3 or more :>) and it will copy those VHS and laserdiscs just fine. My Panny has a TBC control which seems to effectively remove most Macrovision as well, so that doesn't seem to be an issue (or it just may be that the tapes I am transferring don't have any protection) and laser discs have never had any, so they work great (I haven't even gotten around to transferring *that* collection -- I will only live another 20 or 30 years so I just won't have the time <g>)

It's very straightforward and with the exception of fancy menus (you'll just have text based menus) it's really cool.

6) I have heard conflicting reports about the Samsung units -- it appears now they have cancelled them over a format dispute (+ v. -) but you never know.

But the answer to your question is, yes, of course if you wait there will be better, cheaper machines, just like the answer to any computer hardware question. Should you buy a computer now or wait? Should you buy a cell-phone now or wait?

Things will *always* be better in the future, and only you can judge whether the use you get now will be worth the wait. If you are always waiting, you'll *never* buy.

I bought my Panny a year ago, and I bought my Sony a month ago. I may buy yet another DVD recorder in the next couple of years. Am I glad I didn't wait? You bet your life. The last VHS tape I bought was well over a year ago and I've never looked back.

[ckdexterhn1]

I have the Panasonic E50, and I think it's great! It has no problems burning cheaper discs. There is a mechanism in the recorder that prevents making copies of Macrovision tapes, but a video stablizer can fix that problem...

[Seanster]

Thanks for the replies guys. It helped me a lot. I will most likely buy a Panasonic DMR-30. I don't think I will be able to wait much longer. Which brand of blank DVD's would be the best for this?

[Seanster]

A special thanks to mkelley for answering most of my questions.

[mkelley]

Seanster,

You're more than welcome for any help we've provided.

I've had terrific luck with any store bought media -- I go to CompUSA and buy whatever's on sale. Lately even Target has started carrying DVD-R (and for the other fans, +R) which is actually usually on sale and quite reasonable (around $2 per disk). Memorex or some such.

I notice a general trend in the quality of media -- I bought my Panny over a year ago and back then I got a lot of bad media. So with the previous poster saying his unit works fine with cheaper media it might well be worth a try to buy something like, say the Samsung BeAll (which is my favorite media for my Sony) -- you can buy them at $1.70 per disk at 50 units or so nearly everywhere online (and sometimes cheaper). You can also buy from Meritline a "trial" pack for around $20 that gives you 10 or 12 disks of various makes so you can see what your unit likes and order from them the kind that works.

Good luck -- I promise you you'll be happy switching (my wife is so happy we can fit 125 disks in the space it takes to store 8 VHS tapes or so).

[thxkid]

I buy either the Ritek or the better merritline DVD-R's for aorund $52-$60 a 50 pack have no problems and forget about ver coptinga DVD because ALL DVD recorder has CGMS built into it to prevent that, of course you can shop around for DVD players that may get you around that . I have the E20 and have always used cheap media in it without a problem maybe used about 200 DVD-R's so far.
Laser Disc has Nada copy guard on it, never did, why hollywood industry hated them so much, good idea to back them up now my pioneer 900 series dual side player went out before I could get my collection over to DVD, had to borrow my dads Sony player, not near the Laser disc player the pioneer was, plus I doubt very much you gonna find Star wars Triology, Indiana Jones Triology, Song of the South, Sleeping Beauty and a whole lot more I had, it will a long while before they hit DVD, if ever.

[ejai]

I own an E-30 and found TDK the best brand for me. I've used serval brands and the only one that has been consistant is TDK.

The worst brand I've use is Memorex. Stay away from cheap disks unless it's been tried and tested and most people on the forum trust it.
Even then you should buy a small amount and see if it works for you.

Also test them in several different dvd players to check the compatibility.

ej

[dafoe]

2) Yep, there is actually is such a thing as a "pro" unit which will produce DVDs guaranteed to work with any player on the market -- AFAIK it's not less than $10K

Do you know who makes this burner and where I can find it?

[piano632]

Pioneer just released a PRO unit called the PRV-LX1. It's got a dual tray DVD-R and can edit menus. If you got about $4,700 in spare change lying around you can buy it. HA! Sony's Blu-Ray recorder costs less than this!

You can see this and a slew of other models out or due to be out soon here:
http://www.1-877camcorder.com/video-dvd-recorders.html

[Gil T Pleasure]

I believe the PRV-LX1 uses DVD-R for General discs; mkelley was referring to the pro units that use DVD-R for Authoring discs.

6) I have heard conflicting reports about the Samsung units -- it appears now they have cancelled them over a format dispute (+ v. -) but you never know.

Looking at the Sunday ads/inserts, I see Best Buy is selling the Samsung DVD-R4000 for $499.99. Samsung's website only listed the DVD-R2000 and DVD-R3000 models. Is this new?

[handyguy]

i have a e30, paid $444 bucks for it but it came with a rebate for a free panasonic dvd player ( a real nice one). I use accu dvd-r disks on it, you can get them for about a dollar each. onecall.com has those e30/50s