Sony RDR-HX8 & RDR-HX10 - WOW!!!

[piano632]

These 2 machines already sound fantastic!
Both will be able to record to HDD at 15Mbps, then dub to disc with 2-pass VBR encoding! The HX8 will have 160GB HDD and the HX10 will have 250GB HDD. Does anybody know when these will be available in U.S.?

http://www.avland.co.uk/sony/rdrhx8/rdr-hx8.htm
http://www.avland.co.uk/sony/rdrhx10/rdr-hx10.htm

[donpedro]

Holly macaroni !!! Well.... I guess you can never wait until what you want get's cheaper. There is always something new that makes it obsolete

[tommyoz]

Oh boy! I just bought the Sony RDR-GX7.
It's just not right.

[tag]

According to Sony's web site (as of 1/04 at the CES), the entry level "RDR-GX300" will be available in July and run around $500. Re the other new models, it just says, "availability and pricing will be announced this spring".

From the foregoing, it sure appears as if none of these models are going to be available any time soon (unfortunately). Does anyone have different, or more current, information??

Somewhat disappointing to learn the U.S. won't be seeing the new models until mid-summer.

[donpedro]

It's time to move to Japan At least that is what I was reading in magazine recently that all the latest cool stuf is realeast first there...

[tommyoz]

It's time to move to Japan At least that is what I was reading in magazine recently that all the latest cool stuf is realeast first there...

Yep, that's true - http://www.akibalive.com/archives/000183.html

[tag]

It's time to move to Japan At least that is what I was reading in magazine recently that all the latest cool stuf is realeast first there...

Absolutely! Yet, I wouldn't necessarily have a huge problem with that IF the stuff got over here (U.S.) within a reasonable time frame. It doesn't, though.....more like 6-9 months and, in some cases, NEVER.

[mike1061]

Here is a link to a US based web site. Though it only says coming soon.
http://shop.store.yahoo.com/cammy/rdrhx8.html
Mike.

[piano632]

America's dominance in technology is long gone. America may have invented the light bulb, the phonograph and a hundred other things, but Japan has been the world leader in this area since the 70's. They were the ones that invented VHS and Betamax and always had the best VCR's with the most features first. But as to the new Sony DVD recorders - the real question is why is the UK getting these models before the US? Usually it's the other way around.

[tag]

Here is a link to a US based web site. Though it only says coming soon.
http://shop.store.yahoo.com/cammy/rdrhx8.html
Mike.

Hi Mike,

Yeah.......the old "coming soon". I sincerely hope the web site is correct about that but then I noticed they have the Panasonic DMR-E75 recorder listed as "coming soon" and that thing isn't supposed to be released until sometime in May.

Who knows.......???

[donpedro]

Well... May is soon, isn't it ?

[oldfart13]

And yet...America is acknowledged as "the big market" capable of making or breaking your company. If you want to bank your future on selling only to Asia or Europe, go ahead. No one is hedging their bets. Like it or not, it's an affluent country with an extremely high standard of living. America still holds the most patents for products in the world. But that marketplace can be fickle. The original technology to produce videotapes though was held by (as I recall) Scotch and the hardware by Philips (also holds patents on CD hardware). Those are not Japanese companies and the original ideas are now very old. Japan was once very 3rd worldish (check out the condition of the country at the end of WW2) and many of the old guard Japanese are still extremely gratified for the US aid at the end of that period of time (the public press of today notwithstanding). The grass isn't always greener on the other side of the fence. I was once enamoured with Japan in the late 70s and early 80s. I have no desire to live there now what with all the horror stories from my compadres over the years. So, I'm living my life here and loving it...

[kabanero]

And I don't want to drive on the left side of the road.

[zanos]

TBC is crap compared to panasonic and no vbr recording. Cased closed.

[tag]

Well... May is soon, isn't it ?

Depends........beginning or end thereof?

[tag]

TBC is crap compared to panasonic and no vbr recording. Cased closed.

Okay, what does this mean?

I'm in the market for a standalone DVD recorder and am trying (like all hell) to decide between a Sony model (e.g. GX7 or whatever a follow-on model) and a Panasonic (such as the E60 or the "soon-to-be-released" E75). I definitely want DV in (aka firewire, i.Link) and will be using it almost exclusively to transfer old VHS and Hi8 tapes to DVD and, soon, miniDV tapes to DVD.

What's a mutha to do here?

[donpedro]

Japan was once very 3rd worldish (check out the condition of the country at the end of WW2) and many of the old guard Japanese are still extremely gratified for the US aid at the end of that period of time (the public press of today notwithstanding).

Well... some time ago Rome Empire was more developed than rest of the world too Also invention of wheel and paper came from China US was famouse by "stealing" brains from other countries. Who was behind nuclear bomb ? I saw some movie about first rocket with ape (or monkey)... who was main constructor ? ok, ok... enough...

[Kevin abq]

Who was behind nuclear bomb ?

http://www.atomicmuseum.com/

The atomic bomb was only the culmination of decades of work. This page shows the scientists who made breakthrough discoveries that made atomic energy possible. There were more British scientists making discoveries than anyone else. What "brain stealing" are you referring to? Do you think we kidnapped British scientists and made them discover stuff?
http://www.atomicmuseum.com/tour/atomicage.cfm

Sorry this thread got hijacked

[mike1061]

zanos wrote
TBC is crap compared to panasonic and no vbr recording. Cased closed.
Would you explain this, because the Panasonic dosen't have TBC at all (I think).
This mechine looked good to me. I am also intrested in how the editing would come out.
Thanks Mike.

[tag]

zanos wrote
TBC is crap compared to panasonic and no vbr recording. Cased closed.
Would you explain this, because the Panasonic dosen't have TBC at all (I think).

That certainly isn't my understanding. I thought all the Panasonic standalone DVD recorders had TBC.

[tommyoz]

Panasonics do have TBC.

I'm just about to return my Sony RDR-GX7.
It will not accept any DVD-R that I throw in. It starts to record then it stops and says dirty disc (no my source is not Macrovision protected). All my connections are tight and tested.
Some didn't even get that far. I've tried the following discs, Taiyo Yuden, SONY, Tdk, Panasonic & prodisc. I am not wasting anymore.
DVD+RW & DVD-RW have recorded with no problems and the quality is great. I want something that's gonna work all around.

[mike1061]

tommyoz
I just looked on a web site and Don Pedro's list of DVD recorders. I don't see it having the TBC. Belive me I am not trying to say I am an expert, I was trying to find out what the differance between mechines was. I despertly want to get get one, or even a Pioneer, but I'm killing myself trying to find the perfact one.
Thanks Mike.

[asichter]

the Panasonic dosen't have TBC at all (I think).

The Panasonic does have a TBC. All models they've released have a TBC.

Andy.

[zorankarapancev]

Without a doubt, this new Sony products will be the best DVD recorders this year! I don’t see any reason why the recording quality will be worst then GX-3 and GX-7, machines that established themselves as the best on the market today.

Sony DVD recorders have excellent TBC and VBR recording, but what they are lacking is FR (Flexible Recording)! Again, Sony will introduce wonderful products without this essential option! I would like to see official Sony explanation about this omission.

Because some members still do not understand the differences between VBR and FR, let me take a minute to explain that.

Variable bit rate (VBR) attempts to give each frame the optimum number of bytes, while still meeting set constraints (such as the overall data rate of the movie, and the maximum peak data rate).
VBR employs a special motion detector for the incoming video data and dynamically adjusts the bit rate on MPEG2 video over time.
This optimizes the compression of any given sequence resulting in a much higher quality picture, and reduced file size. Simple picture (color bars, for example) demand a low bit rate, while complex picture require a higher one. When action or detail is increased in the video scene, the variable bit rate automatically increases to provide you with quality video without the loss of valuable information, frames or resolution. When there is little or no change in the video stream, storage requirements are reduced by the automatic lowering of the bit rate. Almost every DVD-Video feature film available today uses variable bit rate encoding.

The FR (flexible recording) mode determines the most appropriate bit rate according to the length of the project that you want to record. ("FR mode" is terminology used mostly by Panasonic).

Example: if you don’t have this option, the recording of 2 hours and 5 minutes will ask for use of the closest set recording time, which is the 3 hour mode! You will end up with a much lower quality of recording and 1/3 unused disc. FR mode will allow you to punch the exact time and therefore to optimize your recording.

Sincerely,
Zoran

[tommyoz]

I despertly want to get get one, or even a Pioneer, but I'm killing myself trying to find the perfact one.
Thanks Mike.

There is no perfect one. All machines have their pros and cons. Read the previous post from zorankarapancev.

[donpedro]

I just looked on a web site and Don Pedro's list of DVD recorders.

don't trust donpedro's list

[mike1061]

Thanks, and I know there is no perfact mechine, and I send more time reading this wed site, than anything, almost as much time as working.
Thanks Mike.

[bnbhoha]

I say wait for fo the dual layered standalone dvd recorders; that's when I'll upgrade from my E100

[zanos]

Without a doubt, this new Sony products will be the best DVD recorders this year! I don’t see any reason why the recording quality will be worst then GX-3 and GX-7, machines that established themselves as the best on the market today.

Sony DVD recorders have excellent TBC and VBR recording, but what they are lacking is FR (Flexible Recording)! Again, Sony will introduce wonderful products without this essential option! I would like to see official Sony explanation about this omission.

Sincerely,
Zoran

I meant FR, sorry for the typo. However their TBC doesn't come close to panasonics'. There is a very common error found in bad quality vhs tapes it simply isn't able to correct. It's the thing that causes images to suddently start losing their shape and start warping. If you have rare tapes you want to transfer over to dvd and they have this problem you're out of luck with the sony.

[tag]

....If you have rare tapes you want to transfer over to dvd and they have this problem you're out of luck with the sony.

Good to know! Looks like I'll be buying the Panasonic then (probably the E75 when it's released).