need advice on new entertainment center

[lordmajax]

Hey,

I'm selling my place and leaving the electronics behind. Here's a list of the electronics I'll have in my room: A pc, a lcd tv 27-29 inches, a dvd player, a vcr, a comcast cable box, and a tivo2. I was wondering what the perks of a dvd recorder are? Considering I will have Tivo2 and a dvd burned on my pc, would it be wise to invest in a dvd recorder? Also, I don't really think I want to buy a dvd-vcr combo because I just don't think they would be as good together as separate. Could anyone tell me what the hottest dvd's are right now? I'm so out of the loop. I have a Sony NS725P at the moment. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Any connection issues I should watch out for?

[jman98]

The main reason for buying a DVD recorder is that you want to very simply burn DVDs from sources such as TV, your camcorder, and so on. Remember, commercial VHS tapes are usually protected from copying by Macrovision. In exchange for making DVDs very quickly and simply, you give up control of the process.

I have a good friend who has one. He loves it, but he is a PC-phobe. If you have to click more than 2 buttons on any program, he shuts his mind down and refuses to learn how to do it. A DVD recorder is great for him because he has no interest at all in learning how to make them on his PC. I make them on my PC because I edit out commercials and put chapters on them. The downside for using a recorder is that you can't change the bit rates. The highest quality setting records for 2 hours on a DVD. If you only want to record a 1 hour show, half the DVD will be empty, so you will either have to waste the space or wait to record something else. With me, I could use my PC TV card to capture the video at a high enough bit rate to use up 1 DVD with little extra space. My friend can't do that. It just depends on whether you want to make discs quickly or to go to the trouble of doing it yourself. It takes a lot more time to do it yourself, but you have a lot more control over what gets done.

[lordmajax]

Thank you for your reply. I have 100% decided not to get a dvd recorder. Thanks for helping make up my mind. I have one more question. What are some of the hottest dvd players around right now? I will have a flat panel 26 or 30 inch lcd and I would like a really good dvd player. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I need the dvd player to be able to play dvd+-r/rw and cd+_r/rw.

[lordmajax]

If not, could someone recommend some websites that could give me opinions on products? What are peoples opinions on LG. I don't remember seeing their name on dvd players a couple years ago. I would like a dvd player that is quite. My sony sounds like a helicopter is landing when I put a dvd in.