STANDALONE DVD RECORDER QUESTIONS FROM A NEWBIE

[Chim Bubba]

Well I am curious as to what most of you experts out there think. I would like to find out what would be the best way to go. Right now I have the Panasonic DMR-E30. I do like it but the editing features are nil when using a DVD-R. I have many many old VHS tapes that I would like to place on DVD. Now I have found that it takes alot to do this because I basicaly have to stand by and watch every movie over again and then stop the recorder to get it right. Now so far I have fell asleep while doing this and well I actually used alot of DVD-R space for nothing. Best case scenario would be copying to DVD-RAM which allows me to do editing like deleting parts of unwanted movie. However, although I can do the deleting of scenes and even making the play lists on DVD-RAM, I can't play DVD-RAM on any other dvd player or give these DVD-RAMS to anyone else to view. Hence my problem. I love what I can do on DVD-RAM but where else can it be played?
So I think from looking around I may have found a solution, but which one to choose?
I can return my DMR-E30 to circuit city and go to bestbuy and get the Panasonic DMR-HS2 with the hard drive. This will allow me to dump as many of my VHS tapes onto the hard drive as will permit and then edit the way I like and then record to DVD-R, which will be compatible with others. Only problem I have with this is that I heard that when you make play list on the hard drive and then copy to DVD-R they dissapear.
or
I can purchase another DVD player actually the Panasonic DVD-CP72 at circuit city, which by the way plays DVD-RAM. Then connect both units and copy the DVD-RAM I created to DVD-R.

What do you guys think???
I am perplexed but since I am so new to this I am learning. I would appreciate all input from anyone that has any of these units or just have any info on them. Thanks to all in advance and man do I need help. 8)

[thxkid]

Ok I have the DMR-E10 and DMR-E20 and I copy back and forth between the 2 all the time with Rams, I also use the timer to fit 30 minute segments on a 2 hour DVD-R 4 times( my dad wants all the Bob Newharts on DVD, so I use the timer and record the shows each day, so no prob for shorter than 2 hours, now for editing I have edited movies down perfect using the Ram discs, keep in mind that the DMR's are seemless between the edited scenes I have no idea how the DVD Players react, I would make a edited ram and take it down and try it in one of these dVD Players,
FYI - the Sampo 631CF player can be hacked so you can copy any DVD to your DMR. of course this would only be for backups on copywrited material. Now also if I had the chance to get the panasonic with the hard drive in it, I would get that one, specially since you got 30 days to try it out to see if you like it.

[resinger]

Keep in mind that dubbing from VHS to the hard drive of the DMR HS2 can only be done in the LP speed, or so it says in a recent review of the HS2 in SOUND & VISION magazine. This may or may not be a problem, depending on whether the HS2 "rips" the stuff from the hard drive to the DVD-R or simply does an analog dub. I'm sticking my neck out here and inferring that it is a digital dub, since I'm told that you can dub from the hard drive to DVD-RAM at high speeds.

It has been my observation that in dubbing VHS to DVD-RAM/R, it doesn't seem to make much sense going faster than the LP speed. I have no doubt that I'll get some argument about this, since I've seen some people declare that below XP speed you get "grain." (Frankly, I don't see it, but maybe I just have bad eyes.)

[oldfart13]

If you want info on standalone DVD Recorders, go here:

http://www.avsforum.com

under DVD hardware or do a search for the machine of your choice. Info from users of the equipment...

[Chim Bubba]

Well I thank you and others that have contributed. I went ahead and
returned my Panasonic DMR-E30 from circuit city and went to best buy
and purchased the Panasonic DMR-HS2. To put it simply I am very very
pleased!!! The main thing for me is that I have a really large amount
of VHS tapes to get rid of. So this is perfect for me because instead
of putting them directly to DVD-R and basically watching every darn
movie all over again, instead I just press play on my VHS and transfer
as many as I can to the Panasonic HDD. Now in the case of recording
mode, most of the tapes I have been transfering so far are old martial
arts movies and believeit or not i have used exclusively EP mode (the
so called worst mode) and the output has been good actually the out
put is far better than the original VHS tape. I have also tried the
better modes and really no difference to me. I think this is because
some of these old movies aren't the best but I seem to see them just
fine. By the way I have a widescreen 65 inch TV so I should see the
junk pretty easily. But I actuall tried some of the DVD-R I made on a
27 inch tv using an older Panasonic A-320 (my first dvd player) and it
looked even better than the 65 inch. The only problem I have so far is
one of the DVD-R I created has problems with one of the movies on the
disk. It plays choppy and there is a stop and go effect to it. The
other movies on the same disk do not have this problem. I took a good
look at the DVD and it appears to have a scratch or some kind of
defect that I cant remove by cleaning. Could it be that this disk was
just bad? The DVD-R I have used so far are Imation. They were going 5
for $9.99 at CompUSA.
So that is it so far I will keep you updated as to my ups and downs
also I am curious as to what people think about the Philips DVD
recorder. I haven't heard much feedback on that one.
Take care and much thanks!

[Chim Bubba]

8)
Just to add on more info about my trials. I have had some problem with
playing my newly created dvd-r in my older dvd player. It is a
Panasonic A-320. So far with 2 disks I created I am unable to choose a
movie from the playlist and there is also pixelation I think that is
what you call it. When fast searching it sometimes freezes or locks
up. Of course it plays perfectly in my Panasonic HMR-DS2.
The dvd-r I am using so far is Imation. I don't know what this could
be. Perhaps the Imation disks are not good for my old dvd player? The
only thing I can do is wait for a shipment of DVD-r coming from

http://store.yahoo.com/cdrdvdrmedia/higqual47dvm6.html

to find out if it is the older player. If anyone has any ideas please
let me know. Or any info on the older Panasonic A-320.
Thanks

[Eug]

Some older machines don't work reliably with DVD-R at all.

Some older machines don't work reliably with some DVD-R, but will work with top tier DVD-R.

My Apex AD-600A falls into the latter group. With TDK and Apple it works consistently. With some generics it may not work reliably, but the same discs will work on other machines most of the time (but not all of the time).

[huntr]

I'm curious about the speed (XP,SP,LP or EP) to be used when dubbing from VHS tapes into HDD of the HS2. I noticed when using the XP mode, you only get about 8 1/2 hours of show in the hard drive. Any difference in quality between XP or SP and LP? After transferring into DVD-R or Ram from HDD, do you see any better or same in term of quality from DVD disc than the VHS tape? I would like to hear your input before I buy HS2.