Please help me decide?

[bad1550]

I am considering the Sharp DV-RW2U and the Panasonic E60 DVD recorders.

I am mainly interested in archiving from my mini-dv camcorder so firewire is very important. Also would like to archive TV shows to DVD from Direct TV.

The Sharp model is much less $$ vs the Panny. Can anyone please offer their comments and advice.

Thanks,

Bob

[Treebeard]

here are comments on Sharp

No comments on the Panasonic

[telemike]

http://www.sharp-usa.com/files/dvd_man_DVRW2U.pdf

manual for sharp

[mrlar]

I am considering the Sharp DV-RW2U and the Panasonic E60 DVD recorders.

I am mainly interested in archiving from my mini-dv camcorder so firewire is very important. Also would like to archive TV shows to DVD from Direct TV.

The Sharp model is much less $$ vs the Panny. Can anyone please offer their comments and advice.

Thanks,

Bob

I compared the machines (Sharp, Panny E50, Sony, Philips/Magnavox, and Apex) and wound up keeping the Sharp. In the end, the two best machines (except the Sony which was twice as much) was Sharp and E50 IMHO. Both had similar excellent video quality (the Sharp really is fantastic, but the E50 was pretty good too). Sharp had more compatibility (I like RW rather than RAM because it's easy to do stuff with on other drives or computers) and more options for stuff I like (ie, chapter marking options, etc). Good unit with lots of features. Drawback is you can't stop recording at the exact spot you want to (as it writes in 30-sec blocks, if you want to stop it at 1:15:22 and press STOP, it won't stop recording until 1:15:30 -- but you can do it so it finishes out in a black screen, so it doesn't bother me. You can START it exactly when you want). There are a few quirky things about the machine, but in the end, it's the one I bought. Quality excellent, price was great, and each machine (incl. the Panasonic) had drawbacks.. for me, the best bet was the Sharp. But to each his own. At any rate, I tried the 5 major ones out there, and went with the Sharp.
By the way, price-wise, it's now as low as $349 with rebate ($399, then a $50 rebate) at "pcmall.com" I have nothing to do with them, and didn't buy mine from there, but that's to give you a good idea of how inexpensive this unit is. I bought mine at Goodguys.com when they were on sale for $399 no tax/no shipping (it's now back up to $450 there), but with a little shopping you can save a lot.
MrLar