Advice sought

[gnelson]

I am a lieutenant in a US police department. Our department has 5 interview rooms that can be recorded on time-lapse VHS recorders. For a number of reasons I am looking at replacing the VHS recorders with DVD recorders. There are a few questions that I have been unable to find answers for and I was hoping that some users here could help.

1. Is anyone aware of any DVD recorders that will allow the time/date to be displayed on the finished video (much like a camcorder or security CCTV)? I have been unable to find one. This is not critical because the time and date are recorded on the DVD, but it would be nice.

2. We have an A/V rack in the control room where all of the recorders are. All of the recorders that I have looked at require at least some use of the remote control. Record and Stop can be done on the front of the unit, but to finalize the disc requires use of the remote control. How do you prevent the remote from controlling the other units? For example, rooms 2, 3 and 5 are in use and are being recorded. Room 2 finishes and the officer needs to finalize the DVD. Using the remote control will control all of the DVD recorders that are turned on. Any suggestions? This has to be a common obstacle but I cannot find anything on it. I do not want to buy five different make/models to get around this.

3. We do not want/need models with hard drives. Any reccomendations on a good DVD recorder for this use?

Thank you in advance for your help.

[Frobozz]

I have the Pioneer DVR-510H-S and I believe the following is also correct for the Pioneer DVR-220 and DVR-320.

1. Each time the recording is started and stopped the title is automatically named with the time and date of the recording.

2. There are three remote control ID settings so that three identical recorders can be operated separately by their own remotes.

[gnelson]

2. There are three remote control ID settings so that three identical recorders can be operated separately by their own remotes.

Does anyone know of any models that would support 5, or another solution?

[Frobozz]

You could always put something in front of the remote sensors so they can't see the remote. There might be some industrial units that have more of these kinds of capabilities. Here is a link at Pioneer. Give them a call.
http://pioneerelectronics.com/pna/bsc/category/0,,2076_4201,00.html

[gnelson]

Thank you for the input. I was finally able to find a good model that can be operated without the remote control. It is the Sony RDR-GX300. It's a fairly new dual format recorder that looks like it will work.