Using the Optimized Mode on the Pioneer DVR-640H...

[Razortceps]

Ok so I asked a question earlier and Frobezz (sorry if I got the name wrong) lead me in the right direction. I eventually found the optimized mode to help me with my problem. With that said I have a couple of questions just to make sure I understand everything correctly...

1) When I record something with the SP (2hr mode) setting, but the sports game ends up being 2hrs and 20 minutes therefore not allowing me to put it all on one disc....by using the optimized mode it will solve the problem by slightly lowering the quality to fit it all on one disc? Thus giving me a picture quality as though I recorded it ina 2hr 20 manual mode?

2) When it says copying is carried out in real time when using the optimized mode, does that mean it will take 2hr 20 minutes to burn it to a DVD-R? Then a horiblely long time to finalize it?

3) It says when copying in something other than High Speed mode am I to guess that using the optimize feature is its own mode, thus something other than high speed, because it takes so long to record if I understood the definition of real time recording correctly. And if that is the case, if I edited out commericals and automatically had chapters inserted because of it, will those chapters disappear and be replaces with ones ever 10 or 15 minutes? Because I know when editting in video mode it does not allow you to remove those dividers. So Just want to make sure that by doing this it will still be in video mode and what the story with the chapter makers will be.

4) This is kind of part of question 3, but just so its not forget optimized mode can be used with video mode, correct?

5) If I use this optimized mode, do I still have the option to put in a graphic main menu, a title, and a thumbnail...or does everything automatically get put in place regarding the graphic menu and thumbnail to where I have no say on things?

6) Finally this last question is more related to your own personal perference. If your like me and record ever basketball game of your teams thus leading to 82 recordings a season. Would you use the optimize mode for the probably 8-12 times you know you will go over the time limit but not the give or take other 70. Or would you just record in a mode where at about 2hrs 20mins where you knew you would always be able to get the game on a single disc would having to worry about optimizing it. In other words is there going to be a much worse quality lose on the 8-12 optimized recording I do compared to if I just recorded it in the 2hr 20min in the first place. Love to hear your opinions. Thanks.

[Frobozz]

Ok so I asked a question earlier and Frobezz (sorry if I got the name wrong) lead me in the right direction. I eventually found the optimized mode to help me with my problem. With that said I have a couple of questions just to make sure I understand everything correctly...

1) When I record something with the SP (2hr mode) setting, but the sports game ends up being 2hrs and 20 minutes therefore not allowing me to put it all on one disc....by using the optimized mode it will solve the problem by slightly lowering the quality to fit it all on one disc? Thus giving me a picture quality as though I recorded it ina 2hr 20 manual mode?

Yes, although there is a slight loss of quality compared with recording in the 2 hr 20 minute mode in the first place.

2) When it says copying is carried out in real time when using the optimized mode, does that mean it will take 2hr 20 minutes to burn it to a DVD-R? Then a horiblely long time to finalize it?

Yes and no. It takes that long to record but finalizing only takes a minute or two.

3) It says when copying in something other than High Speed mode am I to guess that using the optimize feature is its own mode, thus something other than high speed, because it takes so long to record if I understood the definition of real time recording correctly. And if that is the case, if I edited out commericals and automatically had chapters inserted because of it, will those chapters disappear and be replaces with ones ever 10 or 15 minutes? Because I know when editting in video mode it does not allow you to remove those dividers. So Just want to make sure that by doing this it will still be in video mode and what the story with the chapter makers will be.

The chapters will be replaced with the time-increment chapters. If you wanted you could record to a VR-mode DVD-RW disc. In this case there will be no chapter markers but you can later do a high-speed copy back to the hard drive, add markers there and high-speed burn a video-mode DVD-R with your custom chapter markers. Of course this makes the process take even more time.

4) This is kind of part of question 3, but just so its not forget optimized mode can be used with video mode, correct?

Yes.

5) If I use this optimized mode, do I still have the option to put in a graphic main menu, a title, and a thumbnail...or does everything automatically get put in place regarding the graphic menu and thumbnail to where I have no say on things?

All of that is available after the disc is burned and before finalizing.

6) Finally this last question is more related to your own personal perference. If your like me and record ever basketball game of your teams thus leading to 82 recordings a season. Would you use the optimize mode for the probably 8-12 times you know you will go over the time limit but not the give or take other 70. Or would you just record in a mode where at about 2hrs 20mins where you knew you would always be able to get the game on a single disc would having to worry about optimizing it. In other words is there going to be a much worse quality lose on the 8-12 optimized recording I do compared to if I just recorded it in the 2hr 20min in the first place. Love to hear your opinions. Thanks.

I would always use the 2 hr 20 min mode because it still looks good.

Back when my favorite NBA team was really good (in VCR days) I used to make highlight tapes rather than save entire games. You could do this with the editing commands in the Playlist window and then high-speed copy the highlights to a VR-mode DVD-RW. Each game's highlights would be a new title. Eventually the disc will be full and you can high-speed copy it to the HDD and then back to a video-mode DVD-R for archiving. Those old highlight video tapes are pretty exhilerating to watch.

[Razortceps]

Alright Frobozz you know best...Ive seen you on this site longer than anyone else and you always seem to provide accurate information. I just always thought there was a huge jump if you stepped 10 minutes out of SP mode...in other words anything past 2hr mode. Now you said you would always just use 2hr 20 min mode because it still looks good...what if I have been using 2hr 30 min mode ( MN 18 )...would that change your thoughts on matters? Also for you personally being the video buff that you are, even though you would still continue to use the entended time mode rather than using the optimized body....do you think you could see a difference between two TV screens....on playing SP mode 2hr and one play MN 18 mode 2hr 30 min....or is even your eye not trained that perfectly?

P.S. What NBA team did you use to record...the Blazers with Clyde the Glide? I noticed you were from Oregon so I figured as much :0) Very fun guy to watch...although I think there was still was one that even more entertaining to follow...actually two if youd really like two know...well just leave you with #'s though rather than with names =0) 23 & 33 *wink*...number 91 was even entertaining in his own right as well...but not so much for his athelticism if you get my drift hehehe

[Frobozz]

I attended Blazer games the first year they were in the NBA and remained a fan until Rasheed and his ilk took all the fun out of it. I remember when I was at an event with Clyde and a rude person shouted out that Clyde wasn't as good as MJ. My thought was "It's a compliment that someone thinks Michael needs this boosting in comparison with Clyde. It's certainly not Clyde's fault that someone else is a better basketball player." Those were some really entertaining games and we're seeing more of that "play-like-you-enjoy-the-game" kind of NBA basketball again.

As for the Pioneer's picture quality there is a guide near the back of the manual that shows how much can be recorded at different MN settings. Where there is a horizontal line in the table the Pioneer reduces its resolution (such as from 720x480 to 360x480). Those are the points where the picture quality steps down more dramatically than at other points.

The 640 has a better MPEG encoder than the 520 and 510 series so you can record longer at the 720x480 resolution than can I. For me it is 2 hr 20 min in video mode and 2hr 0 min in VR mode. I try to stay at or above this.

Sports can be a problem, though, because of the fast action and the generally poor picture quality being transmitted to your home. It appears to me that the extreme digital compression by the cable company (or whomever is doing the digital encoding) makes picture detail very poor. This blurriness is made even worse by the Pioneer's MPEG encoding. I don't have a solution, though, except to look forward to when more of the games are shown on the HD channels.

As for side-by-side comparisons of the SP and MN 18 modes, you may see a slight difference in fast-action segments. The picture should be less sharp and there may be more artifacts (blockiness) with the lower resolution. But MN 18 is still a very good quality for video DVD.

[Razortceps]

Ha ha ha...good ol' Rasheed...man dont let that idiot ruin it for you man. You gotta start watching again. I mean I know as of right now its not going to be as fun as watching Drexler, Porter, Ainge, Duckworth, Robinson, Kersey...but their will be more stars to come eventually :0) I mean we all have are own bad apples...I mean crap...I even had to deal with Ron Artest for a couple of years....granted not as bad as Rasheed, but still a retard nonetheless. So yea man hope you dont let an idiotl ike that spoil things for you. And yea its funny how a fan said that Clyde isnt as good as Jordan...I mean lets face it.....yea Jordan was the best of the best....but on any given night....guys like Clyde and the like could be just as good if not better in their own moments. Jordan just had a couple of more memorable moments along with the help of Scottie...and then once Rodman came in the later championships....how was anyone suppose to dethrone them. I honestly kinda got bored of watching them for a while...it was like going to a park and playing against a stacked team of players that you know no one is going to beat...whats the fun. But yea I could ramble on and on about that era is basketball....but Ill just leave it at saying those were some good times.

Back to the MN 18 yea its still in 720X480 mode. In fact its staying in that mode until MN9 which is the 4hr mark. I still see SP mode written by MN 21 (2hr mode) and its like....man Im not getting SP mode....I just getting really good LP mode hahaha I know its lame...I mean were those markers just randomly selected and make no difference thus saying that one should just pay attention to the resolution modes instead and not be so concerned with where you are at on XP-SEP range? I wont bother you on this anymore I swear...I just want to make sure its just a psychological thing and I am over worrying about matters. Thanks Frobozz both for the help and going down memory lane with me :0)

[Frobozz]

It was the attitude of too many NBA players during the decade between the Jordan era and recent times that the game was a bore, but one must get sweaty because of the stupid fans and because the players are stuck with multi-million-dollar contracts requiring them to attend practices and games. The influx of highly skilled international players who have fun playing basketball seems to be kicking the U.S. players in the butt and we're seeing entertaining basketaball played again -- even in Portland.

Back to the Pioneer. As the bit rate drops the picture quality drops with it. So bit rate matters as does resolution, but just not much at the 2 hr 20 minute setting which retains a good average bit rate.