Which one to buy?

[J C]

I need more advise on which DVD Recorder to buy. First I bought an Apex, and it eventually stopped finalizing disks right. Right now I have an Ilo DVDR04. I do love it when it works, but lately it has been constantly jumping and writing invalid disks. I did read a suggestion to have a fan blow on the motherboard and that would stop the jumping of the video, and it did work till today. It still does it sometimes.

I recently bought a LiteOn DVD Burner, and I am very happy with it. I was looking at a LiteOn LVW-5045, but with all of the negative remarks on it I decided to stay away from the LiteOn DVD Recorders (unless there is a very good one that I don't know about).

And I was going to go with a Panasonic, but I read that it has blocks in the image after the 2 hour mode. I almost alway use the 4 hour mode.

I am not a Phillips fan because of the horrible experiance with one of their VCR/DVD Player (the thing doesn't even rewind now, unless you rewind it while you have it playing). So I am staying away from thier brand.

I do understand that no brand is perfect, but I am looking for a brand that can last a while and has a good 4 hour quality mode (and maybe a hard drive).

[Racer2x]

Well, personally, I'm waiting till I can afford a Pioneer, like a 531H. That way, I can record to the harddrive, and edit out commercials, top and tail, etc. I went through 3 ILOs, till I gave up on them, and am currently using my buddy's Cyberhome 1530 (yes, I AM THAT desperate!). I have heard lots of good things about the Pioneers, in spite of the bad experiences I have had with my Pioneer burner, in my pc.

[slacker]

After decoding all the personal opinions around this web site, I still think the Sony is the best dvd recorder. I don't own one but still hold to this opinion. The problem I think some people have with it is that it is also the most expensive.

JVC gets high marks with some people, Panasonic with others. I love my Panasonic ES30VS, now replaced by the ES40VS. No complaints, no problems. Purrs like a kitten!

I know of no dvd recorder, not one, that reliably and consistently encodes 4 hours worth of video without some level of artifacting, macroblocking, pixelation, etc. 2.5 hours MAX is about all I can tolerate quality-wise.

My decision is greatly influenced by what is sold locally because I know that if I have any issues I can just walk in and get my money back or a replacement if I desire, no questions asked, a powerful incentive.

[J C]

I love my Panasonic ES30VS, now replaced by the ES40VS. No complaints, no problems. Purrs like a kitten!

Since you have experiance with Panasonic and say that you don't have any problems with yours, I might go with a Panasonic brand.

[J C]

I love my Panasonic ES30VS, now replaced by the ES40VS. No complaints, no problems. Purrs like a kitten!

Since you have experiance with Panasonic and say that you don't have any problems with yours, I might go with a Panasonic brand.

I looked around about the ES40VS, and there were several complants about that model.

I might go with Pioneer, like Racer2x suggested, maybe the DVR-533H-S.

[fvnesscafe]

The thing is, you are going to have problems w/ any dvd recorder. Not one is head and shoulders above any of the others. I've read bad stuff on all the brands and all models. I personally am a Panasonic owner. I started w/ a Panasonice DMR-HS2 and am now using a DMR-E85H. There are lots of things I would have changed about both of them, BUT I would rather have my dvd recorder then be stuck w/ a vcr. DVD just turns out better. Even w/ the pixilation problems that I'm thinking may be because of my digital cable and not my dvd player, it's still better then vhs. My advice is look for brands you have experience with. Search those brands for recorders w/ features you "must" have (amount of built in hard drive, available recording modes, etc...) and then see if those features are flawed in the machines you've researched. The one w/ the least amount of complaints is your best bet. Good luck!

[lordsmurf]

I own or have owned a Panasonic, JVC, Apex, Sony, Centrios, LiteOn, Philips, ILO, Cyberhome...

... and have tested numerous machines like Pioneer, Samsung, Toshiba ... and many other models from the brands I already own.

Panasonic is a major cluster-screw when it comes to the ability to edit and author on the computer. The MPEG video and AC3 audio streams are authored badly, and the audio is known to be not fully to spec. Then you get the usual blocks and IRE/gamma and other quality quality issues. Lately I saw a Panasonic model that tends to lower the tone of audio, strips out upper octaves. I basically hate these machines for all their flaws. The only reason I kept the ES10 was because of its sync filters, used for pass-through only, no recording.

JVC is easily the best model. The first model, the "10" had a small percentage of PSU/loading errors, but that model was discontinued at least 6 months ago, and the "100" units don't have this flaw. The machine is about as close to flawless as it gets for DVD recorders, and the quality is excellent. Streams are fully compliant, so you can edit and re-author with zero problems.

LG and Pioneer are both really nice runners up to the JVC. Although the newest Pioneer 500 series has changed the bitrate/res jump, so 3-hour is suffering on the new models (Full D1 with weak bitrate).

LiteOn units (and the re-branded clones) work nice too, but their tuners can leave much to be desired, be it audio noise or other issues. It depends on your signal at your home/wherever, and the exact model. The other inputs are fine. Your ILO 04 clone suffers from overheating if you get the jitters. Simply give the unit more air, by either adding a custom fan job, or simply removing the lid from the unit to let it breathe.

Apex was great, the unit had an LSI chipset, but the unit had various flaws with the PSU on the 9000 model, would explode sometimes. If you've got a latter model, and it's LSI, I'd see about repairing it. I don't mean pay somebody, but rather open it up and clean out the DVD burner inside. Not a cleaner disc, those suck, open it up and clean it. Search forum for how to clean a drive with q-tips and alcohol. And then be sure you use good discs, not junk. This may REALLY be your problem.

Philips is crap, all sorts of flaws. Basically, if it can go wrong, it does.

Sony and Toshiba are okay, but not the best. Sony has a number of flaws, so I'd put Toshiba over it, but Toshiba has some IRE issues to worry about too. Nothing is perfect.

Cyberhome, RCA, Memorex and others are crap quality. Lot of units go here.

My Centrios is not too shabby, but I only use it for limited recordings off tv (I'd not use it for archive quality work, mostly just temp recordings) or it's PAL>NTSC output from the modulated RF out.

If I were you, hunt down a JVC, LG or Pioneer. Those would be upgrades from what you have now. Most other recorders would be downgrades, or trading off other flaws.

See the FLAWS sticky in this forum too.

I also use a lot of 4-hour mode. Nothing can hold a candle to the JVC in this department. The LP 4-hour mode on it looks better than some machine's SP 2-hour mode. And if you work with VHS, the JVC has filters that even clean up chroma errors and grain issue commonly afflcting VHS tapes. So you not only transfer, but improve quality too.

[trhouse]

Here are some links to threads which include tests of all these units.

Adaptec AVC-2200
Lite-On LVW5006, LVW5007
JVC DR-M10
Panasonic DMR-ES10
Pioneer DVR-320, DVR-531, DVR-533
Sony RDR-HX900
Toshiba D-R4

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=279460
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=263530&highlight=panasonic+es10+test

and here is a thread which says the best test to to look at them,

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=273291&highlight=panasonic+es10+test

[Racer2x]

While I would agree with the Cyberhome comment (am currently using the 1530), I disagree on the ILO comment. I went through 3 ILOs, till I gave up on them, and got my money back. LOts of other people have had the exact same issues with them, and have posted as such: No longer readin discs that it recorded. As of recently, it appears that the issue stems from dirty laser heads. Some have reported success in reading discs, again, after a healthy cleaning, and I DO mean HEALTHY! It usually means getting in there, and MANUALLY cleaning the laser with qtips, and a good cleaning solution, and not just running a cleaner disc in it for 30 seconds.
Oddly enough, as much as I hate this Cyberhome 1530, it has ACTUALLY been more reliable than those 3 ILO were. I'm STILL gonna save up for a Pioneer, though.

[slacker]

JC,

I understand that the Pioneer is a good machine. GO FOR IT! But I haven't seen any of the complaints regarding the ES40VS you eluded to. Where are they?

[J C]

Apex was great, the unit had an LSI chipset, but the unit had various flaws with the PSU on the 9000 model, would explode sometimes. If you've got a latter model, and it's LSI, I'd see about repairing it. I don't mean pay somebody, but rather open it up and clean out the DVD burner inside. Not a cleaner disc, those suck, open it up and clean it. Search forum for how to clean a drive with q-tips and alcohol. And then be sure you use good discs, not junk. This may REALLY be your problem.

I did like my Apex, but no matter what I tried I could not ever figure out a way to get the data off the DVD and onto the computer. Every time I put one of the Apex-made DVDs in, the computer froze and stopped responding. That is the main reason I wasn't fond of my Apex, I always put the videos onto the computer and re-author it. And I used Maxell and Memorex DVD+Rs on the Apex, and they started to not finallize after a few months. The only thing that I can figure about it not finalizing is that it needs cleaned, like you said, or it got too hot and it broke somthing.

I also use a lot of 4-hour mode. Nothing can hold a candle to the JVC in this department. The LP 4-hour mode on it looks better than some machine's SP 2-hour mode. And if you work with VHS, the JVC has filters that even clean up chroma errors and grain issue commonly afflcting VHS tapes. So you not only transfer, but improve quality too.

I now do plan to get a JVC DVD Recorder. As long as it has a good 4-hour quality, I am happy.

[tonydead]

I know this info is somewhere but I can't find it, so sorry for asking here but I'm desperate.

I have the Pioneer 531H. How do I get the recorded media to my computer? My PC can't read the disc it makes because of some encryption the DVR puts on them.