Kreisen 530C - Stereo or Mono tuner?

[jsganz]

I know it's got the LSI chip for a top notch picture, but is the tuner stereo?
For the price, I would be surprised if it is.....but anyone know for sure?
Does anyone here even own one of these machines?

[lordsmurf]

I tried three times to get one for testing. I give up.

Supposedly it had a stereo tuner. The unit is apparently very similar to an LG. Kreisen is also a USA version Ellion (UK) clone. Also supposedly records AC3 and not MP2, therefore not using DVD+VR specs (I'm not fond of MP2 nor CVBR DVD+VR specs, so this is good).

Most UK'ers that leave reviews online seem to be pleased with it.

ecost, tigerdirect, target, and globalcomputers are all carrying it right now, for $99 after rebate, plus shipping/tax.

http://www.globalcomputer.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=987112&S...=OTC-GSHOPPING

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=987112&Sku=...P=OTC-SHOPPING

http://www.ecost.com/ecost/shop/detail.asp?dpno=436046&store=ecost&source=ECOSTDEAL&sr...mail,ECOSTDEAL

It may be a great machine, but I just have to miss out on it. I'm content with the LiteOn 5104 I got (for S-VHS work) and the Centrios 8020 (for tv tuner work).

[jsganz]

I wonder if there's an online manual somewhere so I can see what it can (and can't) do as far as editing etc.

[Bodyslide]

I found the manual here, but I didn't see anything about the tuner.

http://www.kreisen.com/support/Downloads.asp

[jsganz]

Yeah....looks like it can do the usual editing: chapter hiding (to cut out commericials), title dividing etc. Only disadvantage I can see right off the
bat is no quality selection between 2 and 4 hour recording time.
No "fit to space" setting whatsoever.
So, if a movie is 2 hrs. and 5 min....you're forced to use 4 hour mode.
Pretty lousy! Whatever you gain from the LSI chipset picture quality is
out the window in that case.
I emailed tech support to find out about the tuner.
Who knows....maybe they'll let me know one of these days.

[cahusker]

Only disadvantage I can see right off the
bat is no quality selection between 2 and 4 hour recording time.
No "fit to space" setting whatsoever.
So, if a movie is 2 hrs. and 5 min....you're forced to use 4 hour mode.
Pretty lousy! Whatever you gain from the LSI chipset picture quality is
out the window in that case.

According to this link there is 60, 120 & 180 recording modes.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=987112&Sku=...P=OTC-SHOPPING

[jsganz]

I was just going by what it says in the online manual.
They only list 4 modes....unless they've changed things since the manual was put out???
I'm still waiting to hear about the tuner.