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  1. So new it is not on the site yet...
    Was told CDN price range....$700-800
    DVD-R/RW
    Connect....camcorder/VCR/Sat. rec./cable/dig. cable tv box.
    Records and plays back simutaneously.
    I plan getting this unit.

    Also...look to Toshiba and others ...all priced to sell for the xmas holiday.
    Hope we can hack some of these.
    Cyberhome recently sold out (10,000) similiar recorders on HSN. Made in China (where else)
    There is a site for Cyberhome users..UK
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  2. I'm getting the 510h in November when it comes out. Check this out:

    http://news.designtechnica.com/article1194.html
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  3. Yes....I just heard after talking to Pioneer last week....I believe this will be my choice as well.. Was told it was similiar to 7000model but with 80gbhd
    and other additions...Check out a thread on redflag..Canada
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  4. I have also been considering the 510h when it comes out--I am very interested in the chasing playback features . I am still trying to understand if that feature on this unit [http://www.avland.co.uk/pioneer/dvr510/index.htm] will be as good as that on the DVD-RAM part of the Panasonic units. If it is this would seem to be the unit for me given the broader compatibility of DVD-RW than DVD-RAM as well as some of the compatibility problems I have read about with Panasonic-authored DVD-R when played on other units.

    Any thoughts on these issues??

    nextlife1
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  5. Withdrawn
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  6. I am trying to decide between the Pioneer DVR 510-HS or the 8100 model. Both have the 80 gig hard disk, the 8100 has TIVO, the other has features which I assume are equivalent to TIVO, but I am not sure. The 8100 is significantly higher price. Does it mean it is a more advanced PVR?

    Any ideas?

    Thanks
    Viktor
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  7. From the TiVo Press Release:
    http://www.tivo.com/5.3.1.1.asp?article=177

    Consumers purchasing devices with the ability to receive the TiVo Basic service will get limited DVR functionality such as pausing live TV, record from guide, manual repeat recording by time and date, and 3 days of program guide data. The basic service will not include the service features that have made TiVo so popular with its subscribers, such as Season Pass™, WishList™ and Search by Title. Easy upgrade and no obligation free trial will give consumers easy access to these much-loved TiVo service features.
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  8. webeye -

    The 310S is now available. Check out the DealTime site.

    If anyone purchases one of these, please let us know if you like it.

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  9. Member
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    I did an extensive read of the manual and played with the unit at the local Futureshop but have decided that the 510H would be better served since I will definitely need to use the HDD for editing. It's a nice techie toy though and all those manual bitrate settings make me want to drool but I can wait til November when the 510H comes out...
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  10. Its going to be a longgggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg month
    I plan getting mine (510) thru the US...
    Candian price will be 1200.....less Future Shop..Cust apprec. 10% prob end of Nov........add on tax....not cheap. Hope to get mine for approx
    $600 US...converted===$900 + CDN. Warranty of course is a consideration.
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  11. Recently I had an opportunity to test drive (side by side) the newest DVD recorders Philips DVDR75, Panasonic DMR-E50/E60, Sony RDR-GX7 and PIONEER -310. These are mine observations:

    Philips DVDR75 (this is DVD+R recorder):
    - Pros: composite, SVHS, Firewire and component(!) input. Nice, slick design. With DVD+RW you can edit recorded video, split titles, insert chapters markers, insert title text and choose frame from video for title picture.
    - Cons: recording quality is not exceptional, oversaturated picture with component input, washed out with SVHS input. Picture in 1 and 2 hour mode is visible softer and with less details then with other recorders. No VBR and FR mode of recording. Recording in 3hr mode is barely usable. Very sensitive to the quality of the incoming signals to all of the video inputs. Poorly designed remote. No Hard Drive.

    I would not consider this model for my profesional work (video production and postproduction, standard video conversions and dubbings).

    Panasonic DMR -E50:
    - Pros: low price, very good recording (much better then Philips DVDR75), VBR and FR recording mode. Easy to use.
    - Cons: no Firewire, average build quality. No Hard Drive

    This is one of the best buys on a market today.

    Panasonic DMR -E60: same as DMR-E50, except:
    - Pros: Firewire and SD card and multimedia slots.
    -Cons: Firewire input works only with DV cameras and DV players, not with computers.

    This DVD recorder is even better value then DMR-E50.

    Sony RDR- GX7:
    - Pros: outstanding recording quality. The quality of the one hour mode is indistinguish from my BETACAM SP master. I could berely see a difference in 90 minutes mode, and the two hour mode is the best that I have ever seen from any other DVD recorder. With its powerful TBC it offers fine picture control on color saturation, color balance, brightness, contrast, as well as noise reduction for chroma and luma and contour enhancement on output and input side of the recorder! Firewire input accepts an output directly from the computer. VBR recording. Excelent build quality.
    -Cons: No FR mode of recording, surprisingly long response time for some operations, no Hard Drive, expensive.

    Pioneer DVR-310:

    - Pros: composite, SVHS and DV (in/out) inputs, FR recording ( in 32 steps, each of 5 minutes), basic editing with DVD-RW discs (chapter edit, inserting chapter markers, title split...), you can view JPEG photos and pictures stored on a CD-ROM/R/RW, video adjustments (3-D Y/C, Detail, White and Black level, black setup, hue, chrome level, noise reduction and automatic white level adjustment) on input and output side of the recorder and audio adjustments (Virtual Surround), good build quality and good price.

    - Cons: no hard drive. I was expecting better recording quality from this second generation of Pioneer recorders, specificly in 2 hour mode. In this regard SONY and PANASONIC are better machines.

    My final, unofficial, top list of DVD recorders:

    1. SONY RDR-GX7 - best recordings.
    2. PANASONIC DMR-E50/60 - best value.
    3. PIONEER DVR-310
    4. PHILIPS DVDR-75

    Too bad that SONY does not have FR mode of recording. For that reason only I bought PANASONIC DMR-E60 ( CDN $899.00). It will fulfill my video production and postproduction needs beter then any other DVD recorder.
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  12. Hi my friends! I am a new member and I just noticed that by mistake I post my message twice. I am sorry.
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  13. Member Capt_Diode's Avatar
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    @ zorankarapancev,

    Any chance you will have an opportunity to test the Pioneer 510. I am curious about the video quality. This model suits my needs the best when it come to features.

    Thanks,

    Captain Diode
    Beep beep, oh no heavy, the coins keep coming out, beep beep, even the telephone hates me, beep beep, I wish there were no machines, and everyone led a pastoral existence, trees and flowers don't deliberately cool you out and go beep in your ear. - Neil
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  14. I am also interested in the 510. I am disappointed to hear that the recording quality of the 310 is not even better and based on what I know about the specicifications I have no reason to believe the 510 will be much different.
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  15. The difference between models 310 and 510 is only - Hard Drive. Unfortunately, recording quality is the same.
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  16. Thanks for comments on 4 recorders.
    Might reconsider my choice.... go with Panny 80h?

    Obsevation...Ram discs seem to be coming down in price. Ram is often used like a Tivo. How many Ram discs would one need? Remember when quality VHS tapes sold for $10 and up. But in this case the Panny 80h can be used to copy onto DVD-R for archiving....therefore -RW might not be all that important.
    The Panny 80h is often well priced. Maybe buy a Panny DVD player that plays Ram.
    Perhaps we can get more tester comments once the 510 comes out.
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  17. Originally Posted by webeye
    Yes....I just heard after talking to Pioneer last week....I believe this will be my choice as well.. Was told it was similiar to 7000model but with 80gbhd
    and other additions...Check out a thread on redflag..Canada
    We have experience with 7000 model for some period of time and I can tell you that two hour recording mode was never spectacular. Indeed, many people that profesionally use this model avoid using that speed as much as possible. Digital artefacts in certan parts of the videos (fast movements, disolves, similar colors, intense red and blue...) can be very visible. That's why I was curios about new models 310 and 510. But, as I said in the previos postings, I did not see any improvement in that regard.
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  18. Member Capt_Diode's Avatar
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    The difference between models 310 and 510 is only - Hard Drive. Unfortunately, recording quality is the same.
    Bummer!

    This model was the first one to meet my needs for home use. So a little surfing on Sony reveals a new model released in Japan. The Sony model NDR-XR1 apparently has the same features as the Pioneer 510 plus more. It will be able to connect to the internet for progaming and has a nice web interface for programing. The only drawback seems to be price. There is no mention of when it might be released to the rest of the world. If it can deliver performance like the Sony RDR- GX7, I'm interested. Anyone else know more about this?

    The link to one of the articles I read.
    http://news.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/0,39020351,2132994,00.htm

    Cheers,
    Captain Diode
    Beep beep, oh no heavy, the coins keep coming out, beep beep, even the telephone hates me, beep beep, I wish there were no machines, and everyone led a pastoral existence, trees and flowers don't deliberately cool you out and go beep in your ear. - Neil
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  19. I got several e-mails about "FR mode" of recording. I think this is very important question that many people do not understand correctly, while they are affected each time they use their DVD recorders.
    In short: The FR(flexible recording) mode determines the most appropriate bit rate(quality of the recording) according to the lenght of the project that you want to record.("FR mode" is terminology used mostly by Panasonic).
    In other words, the FR mode will optimize the recording quality automaticly and will act as a timer for stopping the recording at the exact end of the project without wasting blanc DVD!
    What would you do if recording project needs, for example, 2 hours and 5 minutes of recording? If you do not have FR mode to set exact time (for the best quality of the recording, which in this case will be virtualy same as for 2 hour recording), you will have to switch your DVD recorder to a 3 hour preset mode of recording! And that will affect the quality of the picture! Plus, you will end up with 1/3 unused blanc DVD disc.

    Sincerely,
    Zoran
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  20. Withdrawn
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  21. You are right Phillip. That's why I was curios about new models 310 and 510. I was expecting better recording quality at 2 hour mode with newly supported VBR settings. But, as I said in the previos postings, I did not see any improvement in the picture quality.

    Zoran
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  22. You are right Phillip. That's why I was curios about new models 310 and 510. I was expecting better recording quality at 2 hour mode with newly supported VBR settings. But, as I said in the previos postings, I did not see any improvement in the picture quality.

    Zoran

    P.S. Sorry, I posted this message twice.
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  23. zo -

    Thanks for the test results. I find the info very helpful.

    Has anyone else compared the 310S with the Sony GX7? 8)
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  24. Member Capt_Diode's Avatar
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    @zorankarapancev,

    I too wish to thank you for your observations on these recorders. I have been reluctant to purchase one of these units because they are so new. I don't want to spend a large sum of money for something that has poor quality. My first requirement is picture quality. I have a mini-DV camcorder and wish to skip the tedious process of converting and authoring my home movies. Making VHS tapes for the numerous family members has been awful. Having a hard drive in the unit allows simple upload and editing. Last I'm stuck with having to use DVD-R/RW due to my Toshiba portable.

    I have read several ads saying manual seting of bitrate can be set on the Sony. I agree about the "FR" mode but is it possible the Sony has this feature manually? I have been unable to download a manual or confirm this is indeed a feature.

    Cheers,
    Captain Diode
    Beep beep, oh no heavy, the coins keep coming out, beep beep, even the telephone hates me, beep beep, I wish there were no machines, and everyone led a pastoral existence, trees and flowers don't deliberately cool you out and go beep in your ear. - Neil
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  25. First : VBR (Variable Bitrate) and FR are not the same.

    Variable bitrate (VBR) attempts to give each frame the optimum number of bytes, while still meeting set constraints (such as the overall data rate of the movie, and the maximum peak data rate).
    VBR employs a special motion detector for the incoming video data and dynamically adjusts the bit rate on MPEG2 video over time.
    This optimizes the compression of any given sequence resulting in a much higher quality picture, and reduced file size. Simple picture (color bars, for example) demand a low bit rate, while complex picture require a higher one. When action or detail is increased in the video scene, the variable bit rate automatically increases to provide you with quality video without the loss of valuable information, frames or resolution. When there is little or no change in the video stream, storage requirements are reduced by the automatic lowering of the bit rate. Almost every DVD-Video feature film available today uses variable bitrate encoding. The need to acheive the best possible quality in a given space is important on a 4.7GB disc.

    Second: That means that you can have DVD recorders with VBR and FR,
    VBR and no FR, CBR (constant Bitrate) and FR, and CBR and no FR.

    Third: SONY has VBR recording (IMHO the best one) and Adjastable Recording Times. These are presets only: 60, 120, 180, 240 and 360 minutes and you can not change that duration. In other words, this machine does not support FR recording!

    Zoran
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  26. To date, only the Panasonic machines have flexible recording modes as defined by zorankarapancev above. The Pioneer models come closest with the manual recording (32 steps, each of 5 minutes). I read that the new RCA DVD+RW Recorders have "Fit to Disc" recording mode, which picks the longer recording length to fit the video (ie, a 2 hours and 5 minutes of recording will be bump down from the 2hr SP mode to the 3hr LP mode.

    I wonder if Panasonic owns the patent to the flexible recording mode. It's a great feature and it seems silly not to implement it.

    Zorankarapancev:
    Which of the two is easier to operate, Panasonic's FR mode or Pioneer's MN mode?
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  27. I feel more confortable with Panasonic FR mode.

    Zoran
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  28. Diode - You can a bit more info on the Sony NDR-XR1 by connecting to the Ask Jeeves site and requesting information on the unit. Unfortunately, it appears there will not be a North America release date in the near future. 8)
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  29. Member Capt_Diode's Avatar
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    akc,

    Thanks for the update. Wish there was better news. I would like the quality of the Sony, The "FR" from the Panasonic, and the Hardrive, -r/rw recording and editing in the Pioneer 510.........

    Dare to dream.......


    The sad thing is the features I want won't make it before Christmas. Thanks to zorankarapancev in his observations on this topic. Too bad about the video quality on the Pioneer. I have been keeping tabs on the 510 for months now trying to get more information.


    Does anyone have a crystal ball on the upcoming units? What is the future for Sony and Panasonic. They seem to be the leaders in this area.


    Cheers,
    Captain Diode
    Beep beep, oh no heavy, the coins keep coming out, beep beep, even the telephone hates me, beep beep, I wish there were no machines, and everyone led a pastoral existence, trees and flowers don't deliberately cool you out and go beep in your ear. - Neil
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  30. Member
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    Originally Posted by Capt_Diode
    Wish there was better news. I would like the quality of the Sony, The "FR" from the Panasonic, and the Hardrive, -r/rw recording and editing in the Pioneer 510.........
    Yep, that's the dream unit for me too.
    And adding the "feature" of the $$ from the Panasonic to the list.

    So, are you going to take the plunge?

    I'm going back and forth between buy now and wait. Can't make up my mind because none of the units have everything. If only, the Pioneer had better video quality.
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