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Poll: Which type of standalone DVD Recorder do you own?

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  1. This poll indicates that most people have dual format DVD burners.

    But what about standalone DVD recorders?

    If you own more than one type of DVD recorder, please pick the one you use the most since you can only vote once. If you have a Sony dual RW recorder, which doesn't write to DVD+R, please pick the "DVD-R/-RW/+R/+RW" option.
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  2. Panny dmr-e30. Love it. Records in RAM and -R although I do all my capping onto Ram and then put it in the computer, rip it down, and use TMPGENC DVDauthor to make menus, etc.
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  3. sony rdr-gx7 here (-R/-RW/+RW) and so far I like it alot - I am really amazed by the the quality of the recordings...mostly just for straight transfer & leave the default menu on..
    "As you ramble on through life, brother, whatever be your goal - keep your eye upon the doughnut and not upon the hole."
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  4. Keep the votes coming
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  5. Member FulciLives's Avatar
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    I have a Panasonic DMR-E20 that a friend gave me because he no longer uses it. For me it is a paperweight. I used it all of twice. Not only does it have the "black level" bug but there are issues with the TBC causing discolorization across the top of the screen. I thought I could at least pass a video signal through it and take advantage of the TBC for my computer based capturing but even that doesn't work right.

    If I were to buy a stand alone DVD recorder now it would probably be the DMR-E50 or the DMR-E80 because of the HDD addition. No black level bug and I've never heard anyone complain about the Panny units built-in TBC so either I have a crappy defective DMR-E20 or it is just a DMR-E20 error (seems most people didn't get into it until the DMR-E30 was out).

    - John "FulciLives" Coleman
    "The eyes are the first thing that you have to destroy ... because they have seen too many bad things" - Lucio Fulci
    EXPLORE THE FILMS OF LUCIO FULCI - THE MAESTRO OF GORE
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  6. I got the E-30 and the E-80H, and love both of them. There is nothing like recording on the hard drive ,editing it,and recording it to dvd without the loss of quality.
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  7. Member FulciLives's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by unclelukes2000
    I got the E-30 and the E-80H, and love both of them. There is nothing like recording on the hard drive ,editing it,and recording it to dvd without the loss of quality.
    The E-30 has the dreaded "black level bug" whereas the E-80 does not. Haven't you noticed that? Of course it doesn't show up until you play on another DVD player.

    - John "FulciLives" Coleman
    "The eyes are the first thing that you have to destroy ... because they have seen too many bad things" - Lucio Fulci
    EXPLORE THE FILMS OF LUCIO FULCI - THE MAESTRO OF GORE
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  8. I went with the DVDR75 for price, record modes, and iLink. Working great and lovin it.
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  9. Zero vote for "none" so far. Does that mean that everyone owns a DVD Recorder? :P
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    i have a philips dvdr70 recorder, records dvd+r/+rw and does so with great ease and quality. has some good editing features and easy to use. have plugged just about everything that i can record from as an input and it has recorded flawlessly.
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  11. I own a DMR-E20. What is the dreaded black bug? The only problem I have with mine is that when I make a backup copy of my dvd movies, the movie breaks up time to time like a bad satellite signal. Any comments on why it does that? But on my Sony standalone dvd player, I have NO problems with playback of backup movies.
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  12. BLB: your recording shows up a little lighter playing on other recorders.

    I have not noticed this with my e30 & this is probably because Panasonic corrected this in their next batches. People don't even look at the back of their machines to see the manf date to know if their batch was affected or not. Mine is Oct 2002.

    However, e50s+ brought in a cheaper design & higher price for some reason. They took out some input/outputs (I think this e30 has a whopping 4 inputs & 4 outputs if you include RF) & buttons off the front panel so you are very dependent on the remote control. e.g. my e30 has a 'enter' button on front & the next ones do not, which is like a real important button

    With 4 outputs you could make another 4 copies @ the same time. Three of them are a/v/svideo.
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  13. I use DVD+RW in my Sony RDR-RX7 (-R/-RW/+RW) and edit it in my Pioneer DVD+RW/R drive to produce DVD+R. I love the quality of the analog picture capture. It is better than Panasonic E50. I had both to compare using the same VHS and same VCR.
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  14. This poll has garnered 49 votes so far. That means there are 12 DVD recorder owners who haven't voted here yet.
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  15. One thing is sure. There is not too many of them.
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  16. Philips DVDR80. +R/RW recording. Multiple format playback. I record a few TV shows (nice GuidePlus feature) and have transferred old analog tape home movies to DVD+RW for subsequent editing on PC. Very happy with it. Two observations:

    (1) When playing back DVD+RW disk recorded on DVDR80 in Windows Media Player 9 using PC's DVD drive, there is a vertical blue line to the far left beyond the image (other owners have noticed it too). Don't notice it when playing back on a standalone DVD player attached to TV. Comment from Philips:

    "The blue line that shows up when playing the disc using Windows Media Player is called the overscan area and it only shows up on computer monitors and not on TV screens. The only way to get around this problem is to either zoom the video so the line doesn't show or use another DVD playback software because the blue line doesn't show up in all programs."

    I don't know if that is unique to Philips recorders. Doesn't bother me since I watch DVD disks on TV not on PC, but may bother others.

    (2) I have two titles on the DVD+RW disk. There are VTS_01_*.* files in the VIDEO_TS folder on the disk, but no VTS_02_*.* files (which would correspond to second title according to DVD file structure standards as I understand them). Yet, both titles still play fine -- but not sure why, and not sure if this would be a problem for some players or software.
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  17. Wow, DVD+RW only trails DVD-RAM by 4 votes (as of 12/26/03). If I started the poll a year ago, I bet DVD-RAM would have garnered over 70% of the vote.

    Sony's dual format (more like "Dual RW") recorder doesn't seem to be doing as well as its PC counterpart however. Sure the RDR-GX7 is expensive, but so was the DRU500A when it first came out and it sold like hotcake. Maybe it's the lack of DVD+R support, maybe it's the crippled DVD+VR functionality, who knows...
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  18. Member
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    I bought a Philips DVDR890 about 8 months ago. The recording quality is not the best that I have seen, even in the so called HQ mode. Alot of blurring, although have not had any artifacts.

    The playing of DVD video (pressed disks) WAS not so good either, sometimes dark picture, sometimes colours are either exaggerated or very dull. Note that I said WAS- Player now says no disk when I put one in and I have tried many!

    Also it erased two +RW disks all by itself!!!???????

    It is a piece of crap.
    Glaonn gach coileach go dána ar a atrainn fhéin.
    (Every **** crows boldly in his own farmyard.)
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  19. Member
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    I bought a Samsung DVDR4000 cheap. $250 The deck is essentially the same as a Panasonic E50, but it is not the same. I have already returned one, and plan to do the same with the second one. It keeps resetting itself after burning one or two discs on it. I thought it was an overheating problem, or a power problem, but I have moved the deck, and have used different power sources. They are crap. vvStay away form them.
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  20. Well I just ordered the Sony RDRGX7 online for $495 seemed like a good deal and all the reviews I've read said the image quality from the recordings was top notch. I have a 80 hour Tivo upgraded to 240 hours (88 in Best quality) so for what I'll be doing with it, VHS transfer and Archiving from the Tivo I did'nt need the HD. I Own two DVD+R burner and I wanted to at least get the option for either DVD+RW or DVD-RW. I'm not a beleiver at all in DVD Ram. I'll probably use some DVD-R's but might just end up transferring alot of my +RW's to DVD+R on my PC.
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  21. Originally Posted by Gil T Pleasure
    Sony's dual format (more like "Dual RW") recorder doesn't seem to be doing as well as its PC counterpart however. Sure the RDR-GX7 is expensive, but so was the DRU500A when it first came out and it sold like hotcake. Maybe it's the lack of DVD+R support, maybe it's the crippled DVD+VR functionality, who knows...
    I don't feel that "dual" is that important in DVD Recorders world as it was in pcworld when price difference between + and - was bigger than it is now. Anyway.... you record to RW media to get all the editing functions and than you can burn it on PC to R (+ or -). That is why I think it is not that critical.
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  22. True. But then I've also seen plenty of posters (here and there) looking for standalone recorders that support DVD±R/±RW. I wonder if the GX7 would have been more popular if Sony had not removed support for DVD+R. Owners of the GX7 seem to think it has the best picture quality and easiest to operate.

    Btw, DVD+RW only trail DVD-RAM by 3 votes now (as of 12/27/03).
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  23. Actualy when you count all RAM options and +RW options situation is like this

    RAM - 23
    +RW - 24
    -RW - 11
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  24. i have just bought the Mico R311, my first dvd recorder. I am really happy with the picture quality and its functions. My main aim is to back up my old VHS tapes which so far it is doing with excellent results.
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  25. Originally Posted by bulldog2108
    i have just bought the Mico R311, my first dvd recorder. I am really happy with the picture quality and its functions. My main aim is to back up my old VHS tapes which so far it is doing with excellent results.
    RICHARD- strange meeting you here! e-mail me about a trade, i have just purchased a recorder as well.

    Panasonic DMR-E80: works excellent. clear sharp pictures, and discs work on all my players...amazing!
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  26. I returned a LiteOn LVW5001 dvd recorder to Bestbuy.com because (after 25 days use) the drive would not spin up when a DVD was inserted. I wanted an exchange unit, as it has a great picture in 1 and 2 hour mode when using a high quality input (eg, DV through EEE1394 input). The unit seems to have a decent time base corrector with good noise reduction circuitry.

    I then purchased a Sony RDR-GR7 for $474 from a local Best Buy store.

    What a difference in build quality. For one, unlike the LiteOn, the Sony unit has a fan and runs cool to the touch. And the Sony recordings are clearer and sharper, which is most noteable on 2 and 4 hour recordings. Perhaps because the Sony time base corrector and noise reduction circuitry seems markedly better. For one, the Sony circuitry includes *record and playback* control of brightness, contrast, hue and color intensity. Very useful in cleaning up VHS tapes digitally.

    My vote above goes to the Sony RDR-GX7 unit. Best picture. Easy for wife to use. Quality build. And if ever needed, great support organization.

    The LiteOn unit has great promise. Unfortunately, it seems to be a unit rushed to market. Cheap construction and/or design limitations I suspect were necessary in order to sell the item for $199. The LiteOn unit can only get better over time. I still have much respect for the LiteOn name, and will watch their new entries into this market closely.
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  27. Member
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    I have the e80H I copy to HDD and edit and burn to dvd-R
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  28. Two dual format standalone recorders -- Liteon LVW-5005 and LG 5810-MJC -- will be competing against the Sony units. Do you think they will fare better than the Sony models?
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  29. I own the Lite-On 5001. I like it fine, though I wish it had more recording modes and better editing features.
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