DIGITREX GKX 900

[stackner]

hey,
i am thinking of buying my first dvd recorder. due to my budget i am looking at the digitrex gkx 900 unit. just looking for a few opinions on it? there is no info on it in the dvd player section. what is the recording quality of it?

cheers

[lordsmurf]

You must be down under. The Digitrex GKX-9000 is the Aussie version of the Apex DRX-9000. www.digitrex.no-ip.org (I think that's the site).

The APEX 9000 had the same quality level as the JVC DRM1/DRM10 series.

Tge fatak flaw of the APEX was exploding power supplies. I saw that firsthand with a friend's. There were a few other minor flukes with discs not being seen or refusing to eject (not often), but since I use these for business, it was enough to piss me off after a while. I sold them for those 2 reasons.

The DIGITREX may or may not have the exploding PSU issue. I have heard they do not, since the PSU's are not the same Chinese import parts.

I'm most happy with the JVC. The Sanyo my friend got is decent, and my LiteOn has some awesome options, especially now that it's been hacked. Pioneer is another safe recorder, but not the quality of LSI chips, though still quite nice.

[dilligaf]

I just bought a Magnavox dvd recorder, I had previously looked for reviews on the Digitrex recorder & found some not-so-good reports

http://www.productreview.com.au/showitem.php?item_id=1284

http://www.lemis.com/grog/digitrex.html

Here's my quasi 1st impressions review of the Magnavox just posted over at austech.info

Picked up one of these low-end recorders for $397 at K-marts 15% off sale yesterday. I was basically looking for a cheap VCR replacement that would make reasonable quality backups of free-to-air TV shows, mostly docos & old movies.
I had been capturing to a PC via a Canopus advc100 box, then encoding to mpeg 1/2. This produced good quality, but was very much a 'hands on' effort.
The Topfield STB hdd based recorder would have been a Rolls Royce solution but it would still mean having to transfer the mpeg stream to the PC for demux & burning for permanent copying or even to play on other TVs.
The Magnavox recorder will play all disc formats the cheapo Chinese players will (after all....it is one) but will only record onto +R/RW type discs. There may be technical reasons for this but mostly 'cause Philips (the company behind Magnavox) spearheads the +R format.
The OSD menu is effective enough, though Im still getting used to it. It differs from the usual VCR selections in that you are able to rename or delete/overwrite any recording session on the disc.
The recording length/quality is selectable in 5 steps from 1 to 6 hours. Ive tried 1, 3 & 6hours. The 6 hour copy was above vcd quality, 1 & 3 hour quality was higher than I have been getting capturing direct off air to DV avi then 2 pass tmpgenc encode to dvd compliant mpeg2.
As well as RF in/out antenna connection, the I/O is. 1 x S-video in/out, 1 x comp video in/out, 1 x stereo audio in/out. No Scart (like its English cousin) or RGB. Also of note is a front panel firewire port.
Once recorded, the recorder generates a menu on the disc, here you can navigate to the program you wish to play.
The recorded disc was playable on my PCs & Digitrex Gk 1020 (plays anything) standalone. It would start up but soon freeze on a Magnavox MDVD 100. Im thinking that the recorded +RW may need to be finalised for this player to be happy as this is very +RW friendly unit. The instruction book outlines the finalisation steps but Im stuffed if I can find that option (so far).
The hunt for more info for this machine and the possibility of some value-adding firmware lead to

http://www.micoelectric.com/products/DVDR.htm

the DVDR310 recorder looks to be a clone of the magnavox (or visa-versa). The instruction book download of the 311 model

http://www.micoelectric.com/downloads/MiCO_espejoR311i.rar confirms

its similarities to the Magnavox manual

http://www.mistral.com.au/InstructionBooks/DVDs/MDVDR500+RW.pdf

There is some feed-back available on this machines abilities/faults on a UK based forum http://www.dvd.reviewer.co.uk/forums/thread.asp?Forum=211&Thread=230068&Page=1&Type=1 some 44 pages long

So far Im happy with the Magnavox/Philips/Mico recorder, the quality of the recording was a pleasant surprise. Once the programming becomes 2nd nature & I find that !@#$% finalise feature, I'll be even happier......

dilligaf

[stackner]

I'm most happy with the JVC. The Sanyo my friend got is decent, and my LiteOn has some awesome options, especially now that it's been hacked. Pioneer is another safe recorder, but not the quality of LSI chips, though still quite nice.

thank you for your help after reading the reviews i am most definetly not getting the digitrex now.

however i am now looking at a liteon. just wondering what modem yours is LORDSMURF? is it by any chance the.... LiteOn LVW 5001 this is what i am looking at.

cheers and thanx again

[lordsmurf]

I'm using a LiteOn 5001 using the hacks found here on my site http://www.digitalFAQ.com/reviews/liteon.htm

Pros:
- LSI chips
- awesome 1-hour and 2-hour mode
- great 3-hour if it works (added by a hack)
- adaptive deinterlace on 6-hour, so very decent quality
- can be hacked to ignore macrovision
- will play ANY disc I've given it, even hard-to-play PAL low-res discs
- remote code can make it region free
- DVD+RW
- LiteOn support forums, with active users and LiteOn posters
- simple remote and simple on-screen interface ... not hard at all

Cons:
- hacks can cause jitter (I only see it on 3-hour mode sometimes)
- CVBR instead of true VBR quality (CVBR is essentially low max bitrate VBR)
- 4-hour is okay, but CVBR makes it lesser than other LSI recorders
- it will sometimes turn on by itself, so I tend to unplug mine when not in use for long periods of time. Gremlins or something.
- heat problems ... see next

EDIT: Don't really care, but things to note:
- mono tv tuner audio, not stereo (composite RCA still stereo)
- MP2 audio instead of AC3

Heat concerns .... the ones with no fans can cook an egg. I removed the case lid and drilled a dozen small holes in the side for air to pass through. Put it back on. This took 10 minutes. I added a small fan in the case, plugged into the y-split of the DVD+RW drive power, angled it towards one of the new holes, and it blow air across the motherboard and out the unit through the new holes. It sucks air in the other side. I took a RAM Thermaltake heatsink, and took a hacksaw and cut it down to 1-inch square. Sanded it down smooth. Used the thermal tape, and stuck that sucker onto the LSI chip. Again, maybe 10 minutes. I got fancy and added an on/off switch to the fan, took a few minutes of soldering, pushed switch through an air hole I drilled. Less than an hour, about $30 in parts. My fan also has a heat alarm if it gets too hot, does a test beep when it's turned on.

The 5001 with a fan (Gateway version, Daytek version, new LiteOn version) or the 5005 should be fine. I personally think my mods are better anyway, much more effective cooling. And it was cheaper than the 5005.

[stackner]

THANK YOU. you have been a lot of help.

i will probably get the liteon unit now.

tha last question is how do i tell what chip other units use? is there a good site with this info anywhere?

cheers

[lordsmurf]

THANK YOU. you have been a lot of help.

i will probably get the liteon unit now.

tha last question is how do i tell what chip other units use? is there a good site with this info anywhere?

cheers

No. You can't.

What I know some from reading press releases, reading spec sheets, and then tearing apart any machine I can get my hands on.

I was dedicated to finding a good machine. I still look around, but not as much recently. The JVC gave me almost everything I wanted. The LiteOn has been very nice too, special uses for me, mainly with 2-hour, 6-hour and MV. Awesome player too.

I gave it a hefty workout this weekend. Even right this moment, I'm transferring some things on the LiteOn.

I have to say ... it's REALLY nice to have a machine that won't choke on MV or something it thinks is MV. No TBC required, though I do have a SIMA SED-CM to partially correct the signal (just in case, and it helps keep color properly saturated). My sources are pretty much perfect though (S-VHS).

[lordsmurf]

BTW
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000DIX25/002-2386418-7664863

$206 with free shipping

[stackner]

thanx again. i am definetly gona buy this unit now.
wish i lived in america but unfortunatly i live in australia so the amazon does not help. still not the cheapest here

[dilligaf]

$AU399 here
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=32864&item=5707733979

[lordsmurf]

$AU399 here
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=32864&item=5707733979

Not a bad price. The AU is about 50-60% of the USD, right?

[dilligaf]

Yeah the $AU is ~ $US0.70 atm, so about $US280 for the Lite-on.

[stackner]

well i ended up buying the digitrex gkx 9000 after all. i am now waiting for it to be delivered and have a small question about dvd recorders in general.

what audio format do they record to? pcm/ mpeg/ ac3?

thanks
cheers

[lordsmurf]

256k AC3

To exit a menu, hit the same button to exit. It'll give this error if you hit another button to exit. Took me a month to figure it out.