DVD Recorder suggestions

[tcmultimedia]

Hello,I have a boatload of 8mm tapes, all full at about 2 hrs. 4 min. My dvd recorder only fits about 2 hrs. 2 mins. on each dvd. I do not wanna go to 4 hour option and lose that much quality. Is there a dvd recorder anyone can recommend that can be adjusted to fit 2 hrs. 5 mins., with not losing the quality like in LP recording mode?


I currently use DVD-R discs and would finalize them after to play in various dvd players in the US. Also, would love to get a recorder that makes those thumnail images every 5 minutes, if there is a recorder that does both. Thx for any help.

[usually_quiet]

Hello,I have a boatload of 8mm tapes, all full at about 2 hrs. 4 min. My dvd recorder only fits about 2 hrs. 2 mins. on each dvd. I do not wanna go to 4 hour option and lose that much quality. Is there a dvd recorder anyone can recommend that can be adjusted to fit 2 hrs. 5 mins., with not losing the quality like in LP recording mode?


I currently use DVD-R discs and would finalize them after to play in various dvd players in the US. Also, would love to get a recorder that makes those thumnail images every 5 minutes, if there is a recorder that does both. Thx for any help.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/659769-REG/Panasonic_DMR_EH59GA_K_DMR_EH59GA_K_M...B_HDD_DVD.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/620022-REG/Panasonic_DMR_ES18_DMR_ES18_Multi_Sys..._Zone_DVD.html


Note that these recorders are sourced from PAL countries and do not have a digital tuner capable of working in the US. They do have the ability to record NTSC material as NTSC from line inputs and offer a flexible recording mode. I have no idea if they can make a chapter menu with thumbnails, although in my experience (with an older model) Panasonic recorders do create chapters every 5 minutes and the main menu will provide a thumbnail for each title.

[sanlyn]

Hello,I have a boatload of 8mm tapes, all full at about 2 hrs. 4 min. My dvd recorder only fits about 2 hrs. 2 mins. on each dvd. I do not wanna go to 4 hour option and lose that much quality. Is there a dvd recorder anyone can recommend that can be adjusted to fit 2 hrs. 5 mins., with not losing the quality like in LP recording mode?

4 hours of DVD is the same inferior quality as slow-speed tape, and is slightly worse. In fact you'll get infinitely better quality from 8mm tapes if you never record directly to lossy codecs but capture them losslessly instead, clean them up, and encode to bitrates that don't exceed 90 minutes for DVD. If you need more time on a disc, use double-layer or use multiple discs.

You can't maintain high quality doing what you propose. Considering the source, it's not possible.

[jjeff]

The HDD international Panasonic usually_quiet linked would do exactly what you want, several ways. One is using SP you can fit 2hrs 7 minutes onto a standard DVD(first recording to the HDD and then HS and losslessly copying to a blank DVD). All Panasonics also have a speed setting called FR where you tell the recorder the length of your source and it automatically fits that to a blank DVD. Also all newer Panasonics keep full D1 resolution on speeds through 4hr LP(of FR set to 4hrs) although much more than 3hrs/DVD at full D1 and macroblocking will become a issue.
The ES-18 will only fit 2hrs SP material to a SL DVD(either of the Panasonics will also record to the more expensive DL media although I kind of advise against it) but like the HDD Panasonic you can use FR and get your 2hrs 5 minutes(or whatever you set it for).
You could also look for a used Panasonic, 05' and newer record up to 4hrs/DVD in full resolution and also have FR, Panasonics prior to '05 only kept full resolution to 2hrs 4 minutes using FR or if it were a HDD Panasonic you could get the 2hrs 7 minutes SP by first recording to the HDD and later HS copying to DVD.

Re chapter marks, HDD less Panasonics create chapter marks every 5 minutes, ones like the international HDD Panasonic have 5, 10 and I believe 30 minute settings for automatic chapter creation, of course with a HDD DVDR you can put chapter marks anywhere you want, before HS copying to DVD.

[tcmultimedia]

Thanks for the responses. It does look like the DMR_ES18 will do the trick. Question on the PAL/NTSC issue: With my current DVD Recorder setup, I have a regular analog out video cable connecting directly to a regular old analog monitor, not a tv set. I use this to police/view the tapes being recorded, and also after the recordings to see the menus, edit my titles, etc. Will I be able to do the same with this recorder?

[jjeff]

Yes the international Panasonics have a regular composite(along with S-video, component and HDMI outputs) that can be either NTSC(our system) or PAL, depending on your source. The only thing they don't have is a RF(channel 3/4 output) only line outputs.
Personally I'd go with the more expensive EH-59, again with the ES-18 you can only get 2hrs SP and while you could get your 2hrs 5 minutes using FR but that would be slightly lower bitrate than using SP, probably not noticeable but theoretically less.
The reason the bitrate would be less is when using FR Panasonic reserves a 10% buffer(about 400 MBs) thats not used, when using a canned speed like SP there is no buffer, the machine would totally fill up a disc if you let it run to the end. In one way not recording all the way to the end(the very outer edge of the disc) is an advantage since the edges or outer edge of a disc are the most likely to get damaged but I don't like wasting disc space and like to get the maximum bitrate I can, which is why I like to use HDD Panasonics where I can limit wasted space to a matter of a few MBs. Most others are probably not so worried about bitrate and the 10% hit isn't a big deal to them. BTW what is the brand of your current DVDR, and are you happy with it's SP recordings? just wondering.

[tcmultimedia]

Hmmmm, good point about the one with the HDD. I have never used one of those, how does it work? I currently just play the tape, hit record on the dvd recorder, then finalize afterwards. With the HDD, the tape gets played and copied to the HDD, do you pick the quality to fit before playing the tape? Or use the highest quality setting on the capture, then pick the amount of minutes to fit on the dvd? I'm trying to save time since I have about 200 of these tapes to convert, so just wondering how much time this process will add rather than copying on the fly.

I have a Toshiba D-R410. I like it, works well. But doesn't have the flex options, and no thumbnails, which some customers like.

Also, since I make the DVD's for a wide variety of unknown DVD players, it is very important I get the least amount of problems with the discs (freezes, skips, or cannot read). With either one of these recorders, any feedbacks on success rate using the HDD method, the Flex record method, or the regular old SP option?

[jjeff]

The best method is to record to the HDD in the same speed you want to put on the DVD. Once on the HDD it takes only ~15 minutes to copy a full DVDs worth of material to a blank DVD using HS(high speed) which is a lossless mirror copy of whats on the HDD. The nice thing about going to the HDD first is:
1. it's basically 100% reliable, as apposed to direct to DVD burning that occasionally fails.
2. once on the HDD it only takes ~15 minutes to HS burn another copy.
3. DVDs are made to be burned at speeds other than 1x which is what a HDD less(like your Toshiba) DVDR burns at, because of this I feel the burns are better and really don't have any issues.
4. it's easy to edit(shorten title, remove commercials, etc) on the HDD, then HS burn to DVD and you have a more professional copy.
5. If on a very rare occasion the HS copy to DVD fails, it's easy to just make another, no need to realtime burn the whole disc over.
6. With most brands including Panasonic you can get more time on the disc(for a given bitrate) by first going to the HDD and later HS copying to DVD.
7. Others may wish to add to the +'s but I don't know of anyone who purchased a HDD DVDR and later wished they had bought the realtime burner, once you get to know it and it's features you'll wonder how you got along before.

Negatives of first going to the HDD:
1. The 15 minutes it takes to burn from the HDD to DVD. It may not sound like a lot but if you have 1000s of VHS tapes to convert to DVD and you don't need to do any editing and you use quality media that rarely fails, it adds up. It's the main reason I used several HDD less DVDRs for my very large conversion project, that and I only had so many HDD DVDRs and wanted to have as many machines going at a time as possible. Note even with a HDD DVDR you can just burn direct to DVD it's just many people(like me) believe it's less wear and tear on the DVD drive to only burning 15 minutes vs several hours for a realtime burn. I very rarely do a realtime burn on my HDD DVDRs but have done it on a few occasions and everything came out fine.
2. Cost, HDD DVDRs cost more than their realtime counterparts.

AFA disc compatibility between the various speeds, I've found all speeds to play just as well, the only slight chance might be if using XP(1hr/dvd) where some very old DVD players choked on the high bitrate, that and + discs(for sure ones burned on a Panasonic) may not be as compatible as - media. I always use - media(except for +R DLs since -R DLs are almost impossible to fine) because a older DVD player I had refused to play any + media.