Just bought a pioneer dvr 420h

[eddie1]

can someone please tell me the optimal settings for the video adjustment

eg black levels etc also if i record at fine quality to the hard drive if i then put it on to a dvd at lp will i get a better result than if i record it directly to hd at lp thanks

[gshelley61]

If you are in the US or Canada, and are recording form a VCR, cable box or analog (VHS, 8mm) camcorder... then your input video black level setup should be at 7.5 IRE (not 0 IRE). Use 0 IRE for digital sources like MiniDV and Digital8 camcorders (which generally record and playback at 0 IRE black level).

The other input adjustments (noise reduction, detail, color, white and black level, etc.) are a matter of trial and error. Do some test recordings. You can also preview how the finished DVD will look by using the encoding preview feature in the Manual Recording mode.

Re-encoding from XP on the hard drive to LP on a disc will be a huge drop in quality mainly because the resolution in LP will be at half D1 (352x480) instead of full D1 (720x480). Go from XP to SP (two hours per DVD) and the results will be much better.

[eddie1]

thanks for taking time to answer my quesions will try what you suggested i am in the uk so will mess about with the settings and see what i can sort out as i am in the uk and record from satelite what does the black level need to be please

[gshelley61]

OK, well in the UK (and everywhere else except North America) black levels are 0 IRE. Only US and Canada NTSC format is 7.5 IRE. So, you should be able to leave your input set to 0 IRE (that's probably the default setting in European models).

[eddie1]

thanks