Hello

I'm about to buy a DVD recorder in the UK and am looking for a machine which will record Secam L in colour (as well as Pal and NTSC). I will be record French satellite tv and and transferring old French VHS tapes to DVD so I believe I need a unit that can record Secam from an external source. I don't think I need a Secam tuner as I don't receiver as I no longer receive French terrestial tv.

The machines I am looking at are the Panasonic DMR E-50 or the Philips DVDR 70/75 - though information about other models would be appreciated. I would rather get the Panasonic but there is no mention of Secam L capability, whereas the Philips literature does state this, though it does not specify which format. (I have some Secam tapes recorded from Soviet tv which replay in colour on Pal vcr/tv, whereas the French tapes come out black and white, so the distinction is important to me).

Is it correct to say that there is no difference between Pal and Secam when converted into digital video and that therefore any DVD recorder with Pal capability would automatically record all forms of Secam ? Therefore all I need to transfer Secam VHS to DVD is a Secam L video connected to the DVD recorder? Would an S-VHS connection make any difference?

I have seen posts here saying some kind of standards converter is necessary but apparently others elsewhere have recorded straight from vcr to DVD and the dvd recording plays back as a normal Pal disc.

If anyone has any experience of recording Secam L from external sources with UK model DVD recorders and can answer these questions I'd be much obliged.

Thanks for your interest