Questions to Pioneer and JVC DVR owners

[Tak]

I'm considering to buy a DVR, either Pioneer DVR 520H or JVC DR-MH30.
Questions are:
1. Can these play back a home authored DVD with AC3 audio created by ffmpeggui or Besweet?
I vaguely remember people talking about Pioneer players not liking AC3 audio created by those softwares.

2. Do Taiyo Yuden 8x DVD-Rs work with these recorders?

3. I read somewhere that Pioneer can record in PAL and NTSC.
Is this true?
I have a multistandard VCR that outputs PAL as well as pure NTSC signal.

Thanks very much for your reply in advance

[lordsmurf]

1. JVC, yes.
2. JVC, yes.

[Frobozz]

1. Pioneer, Don't know for sure about those apps but it has no trouble playing discs with AC3 audio for other apps I use for creating DVDs on my computer.
2. Pioneer, Sure. It's accepted any brand I've tried to date.
3. Pioneer, No.

[Tak]

Thanks very much for your reply.
It looks like I will have to take a home authored DVD to a store to test out the Pioneer for the audio compatibility.

In the Pioneer manual I found a setting for "Input Line System",
it sounds like it can record in PAL or NTSC to me...
Can someone confirm this?

[ckwok1]

In the Pioneer manual I found a setting for "Input Line System",
it sounds like it can record in PAL or NTSC to me...
Can someone confirm this?

Where do you live?

Models selling to countries using NTSC can be quite different to models selling to countries using PAL even though the main part of the model number is the same.

For example, my Pioneer DVR-320 does not have DV input but it has dual NTSC/PAL tuner, supports NTSC/PAL video input, and region free right out of the box .

You should ask your local dealer to confirm.

[Tak]

I live in UK, PAL land,
but I'm Japanese and have a lot of NTSC material.

I don't know what they are like in your country but the dealers over here are generally useless.

By the way,
If I was to record a motor racing programme in 2hr30mins mode what would the picture quality be like?

[ckwok1]

I live in UK, PAL land,
but I'm Japanese and have a lot of NTSC material.

I hope this link can be useful for you.

http://www.avland.co.uk/pioneer/dvr520/dvr520.htm

Recording less than or equal to 3 hr is usually quite good.