LG RH266 - Functionallity concerns.

[therock003]

Hello i just purchased an LG RH266 dvd recorder with 160GB HDD and i would like to address a couple of questions.

A)I have not yet found if there is a way to transfer video capturred to the HDD to my computer.The manual says it's possible to burn to a disc but i do not want to do that.(Mostly due to the transcoding there's is to follow).
B)As far as mpeg4 goes does it only support divx playback,i tried xvid files but they were not recognized as an acceptable format,isnt there any way with a firmware update possibly to be a able to run xvid files?
C)And finally can i record any program from tv while i will be watching another channel.

I use the rf connector directly from the antenna to my recorder for the capturing.

[wabjxo]

Hello i just purchased an LG RH266 dvd recorder with 160GB HDD and i would like to address a couple of questions.

A)I have not yet found if there is a way to transfer video capturred to the HDD to my computer.The manual says it's possible to burn to a disc but i do not want to do that.(Mostly due to the transcoding there's is to follow).

You can burn to a disc using high-speed dub/copy, which produces a mirror-image, lossless copy on the disc. Then copy files to your PC per instructions with your software.

B)As far as mpeg4 goes does it only support divx playback,i tried xvid files but they were not recognized as an acceptable format,isnt there any way with a firmware update possibly to be a able to run xvid files?

Don't know on this model.

C)And finally can i record any program from tv while i will be watching another channel.
I use the rf connector directly from the antenna to my recorder for the capturing.

You can check the 1st sketch in this post, which should work for virtually any DVDR since the coax in/out loop is just a passthru of the incoming signal. You have to have a separate line connection from DVDR to TV to see anything internal from the DVDR (menus, channels, etc.). This allows passthru of the incoming signal to your TV and recording on the DVDR as a separate action... both TV and DVDR tuners are independent.

[therock003]

By the way i forgot to ask,by recording to hard drive,does it record on dvd format (mpeg-2) or mpeg-4(divx).

I dot know if you use LG models,but since i have this model,i need to capture the video feed as accurately as possible.

Thank you for your reply.

[wabjxo]

By the way i forgot to ask,by recording to hard drive,does it record on dvd format (mpeg-2) or mpeg-4(divx).

Should be MPEG2.

[therock003]

Ok lets recap.

I inserted a disc,intialised and then went onto the transfer.

The dubbing option gives a quality setting,same as the record setting presets.If you choose what you've chosen upon recording will that mean it will not re-encode?

-Cause i choose XP (best quality) and i chose XP on the dubbing as well.But there did not seem to be any high speed option,it was happening real time.Like it needed an actual hour to write one hour content.That's without a doubt unacceptable.How can i hasten it?

[wabjxo]

XP (also called "HQ") rec mode will fit only 1-hour on a std DVD if trying to use high-speed dub (HSD). If more than 1-hour, the dub menu will downrez the copy mode to one that WILL fit.

Here's a post that explains some things that might help you get a title that'll dub in high-speed lossless mode to a std DVD. Same principles apply to virtually any DVDR, only "HSD Times" may be slightly different.

[therock003]

Is the HSD available to every such player?If file is below the time, will HSD be automatically enabled?Because i think my file was a little over 1:05 that's y RTD seemed to have been set.

But still 20 minutes is too much,why dont they give usb outs and transfer without causing any inconvenience

[wabjxo]

Can't say if EVERY DVDR has a high-speed dub/copy mode, but if your unit has a dubbing menu, there should be one screen that shows what rec mode the dub will be made in. On the Philips units, the menu auto-selects HSD if the total file size is at or below the max. capacity of the DVD... 4424MB (4.4GB) on a std DVD. My Pio 640 also auto-selects HSD if the file size fits. Both will auto-select the next-best, but lower, quality rec mode if the file size is over max DVD capacity.

If your dub menu shows that it'll have to do a real-time dub at a lower quality rec mode, you can back out of the dub menu and edit the title(s) down to fit, or split the title(s) into pieces that fit, or obviously decide to do nothing and just accept the lower-quality real-time dub.

If your titles have commercials and network promos, those are great places to delete chunks... in the U.S., program time is about 43 minutes per hour, so cutting commercials on a 3-hour program gets the title down to 2-hr-SP range, so you can actually RECORD a 3-hr program at 2-hr-SP on a HDD DVDR like the Philips 3575 or 3576, then cut commercials to end up with a 2:09:00 SP title (43 x 3 = 129 minutes), which fits within the Philips' 2:10:00 max HSD Time for 2-hr-SP rec mode.

Some brands, such as Panasonic, appear to limit HSD at SP mode to 2:07:00 (based on user reports), rather than the 2:10:00 of the Philips 3575 or 3576 U.S. models.

[therock003]

Well yes i understand all of the above,but on the dubbing i dont see anywhere an rtd/HSD switch.So i'm wondering if it supports it or not,and if it does then i guess its up to the player to decide,cause such an option was not visible to me.

It only displayed the rec modes and then start/cancel!

I'll try trimming some commercials to get it around an hour and then try and see if its entering rtd

[wabjxo]

Check your manual for anything called "high speed" cuz on Panasonics, for instance, you have to make an original SETUP change to allow HSD on titles recorded to the HDD. If that's not set in advance, all HDD recordings will NOT be HSDubbale.

Not sure if your LG is like that, but since you don't see a HSD option, it could be either a Setup setting, or more likely it's just the title you tried to dub was too large in file size so there was no option titled "high speed" anything.

My Philips 3575's always show the HIGH option highlighted automaticall if the title(s) will fit, but will highlight a lower quality rec mode if not... but the "HIGH" will still be in the menu, just not selectable.

On my Pio 640, the notation for "high speed" is just in text as the dub/copy mode the machine will be using as long as the title(s) aren't too big.

Try cutting your currect title down or just make a "test" recording of ANY length below 1-hour at XP mode, then try dubbing that and I think the HSD option might show up then?

[therock003]

Ok i finally got it.I tried on a 48 min file i got and on the rec mode,if you scroll through the options SP,LP,Auto...then last one that appears is Fast which is actually HSD.

Anyway it doesnt seem all that faster though,with me having a 4x DVD=RW disc but at least thankfully i confirmed that HSD is supported.

Thanx for you response and the support my friend,i appreciate it.

[benqfc]

Well, What's really bugs me about this machine is it can only receive "MONO" TV Broadcasting. which means, even your TV Station broadcast "Stereo" or "Sap" signal, but this machine can only record it in "Mono" Mode. I asked LG Customer services and was told that this is "By Design" ...

Don't bother to hook this machine to your "Stereo" system.

But there's a set of "Stereo" AV input the the front panel of the recorder. I have no idea what's it for ???

[wabjxo]

Well, the tuner may be "mono" (2-channel non-stereo) but the inputs that don't go thru the tuner prob. have separate L/R channels for a stereo input. Your unit prob. records with DD2.0 compression like *most*. Check the specs?