Please recommend a good DVD Recorder

[Jonathan]

I am trying to decide on a DVD recorder and will be doing some dubbing from my camcorder. I looked at the Panasonic ES20, but it does not have the auto chapter function.

I also read that it's touchy about playing burned dvd's, but am not sure. Maybe the ES10 would be a better choice.

Has anyone looked at the Lite-on models?

I am really stumped and would greatly appreciate any help or suggestions.

Thanks!!!!!!

[Jonathan]

Sorry, I forgot to mention that I already have a hard drive recorder from the cable company, so I only need a recorder.

[lordsmurf]

JVC DR-M100 recorder. Check out pricegrabber.com for locations to buy, and best prices.

It does what you want, chapters every 5 minutes. It will also give you the cleanest video quality compared to other DVD recorders.

The JVC also has a firewire connection (DV input) if your camera is a DV camera.

[handyguy]

others that you might like to look at:
https://www.videohelp.com/dvdrecorders

[hech54]

Also...the auto chapter function you are seeking may not be/do exactly what you are thinking of.....especially when not recording via firewire.

[samijubal]

Toshiba beats the crap out of Panasonic or JVC for recording quality, at least from high quality sources. I don't record from poor quality sources like VHS, so I don't know about them. Chapters can be set at 5, 10 or 20 minutes. They have an abundance of input/output settings to tweak the picture to your taste.

[lordsmurf]

Toshiba has random IRE errors. It also has some mediocre filters, which work alright, but the JVC is better off VHS. Strictly for off-air work, it may not work as well as others. For DV work, it's probably fine.

[ejai]

I own both the JVC M10S and the Panasonic ES10 and I prefer the Panasonic over the JVC. I must admit that I have issues with both machines and I am currently looking to see what other recorders have to offer.

[Jonathan]

You guys are making this very difficult. I was all set to try the JVC, not I'm not as sure. How is the Panasonic ES10??

[lordsmurf]

The Panasonic ES10 is discontinued. It was not better than previous models. It's best used as a boat anchor. The only redeeming value of a Panasonic ES10 is it has sync filters that work great on passthrough, to fix a certain rare VHS error. Of course, it has ghosting and posterization errors, but the error it fixes is more severe, so you trade a harse error for a more mild one. All Panasonic chips record like trash beyond 2-hours worth of video per disc. It gets all blocky. Even 2-hour isn't all that good, posterization problems. The ES20 that succeeded it is a hack job, with poor use of the LSI, and sync filters nowhere to be seen, very sad.

I've been recommending JVC models to people since I got mine in April 2004. I've probably had a minimum of 50 people contact me with how pleased they are with the unit as compared to their experiences on other inferior models (usually Panasonic or Philips).

At the end of the day, to hell with reviews. You have to go buy one and try it for yourself. That's the only review that matters, right?

[Jonathan]

You're right, and I just found it through Pricegrabber for $209, which looks like a great price. Most of my recording will either be from the Camcorder(firewire), or straight from the HD recorder from the cable company, and I usually only record the hi-def channels.

I'll give it a try, and let you know!!

Thanks...

[samijubal]

I own both the JVC M10S and the Panasonic ES10 and I prefer the Panasonic over the JVC. I must admit that I have issues with both machines and I am currently looking to see what other recorders have to offer.

Try the Toshiba D-R4. I've used 4 Panasonics and that crappy JVC, the Toshiba is far better than any of them. The picture quality is stunning. Sharper than the JVC, with far better colors. Doesn't have the compressed look of the Panasonics. Plenty of input/output picture settings and lots of options for recording/playback/menus. They are supposedly sensitive to copy protection, but I haven't had any problems. I record from a c-band and 4DTV satellite, it's pretty hard to see the difference if there is any between watching the sat and the recordings. It was easy to see the difference with Panasonic and JVC. I prefer the Panasonic recordings over JVC too. Bought the Toshiba on e-bay for $65, I don't think it was ever even used, the remote and manual bags hadn't even been opened.

[Jonathan]

Thanks for the info on the Toshiba. My deal on the JVC fell through, and for the price, I may grab on on ebay. They are dirt cheap. I'll let you know how I make out. I just hope it will play my backups.

[ejai]

Hi samijubal, it's great to hear from you again. I will try the Toshiba because I've heard great things about it. I only use the JVC recorder to make copies of things that I will erase in a day or two.

[trhouse]

Here are some test results for the ES10. Gshelley61 provided some JVC M10 comparisons.

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/archive/t263530.html

An ES10 was available at the local Best Buy last night for $79 ( store return ). A JVC DR-MV1 was $99 ( missing the remote ). ES20 store returns were $140 ( 30% off the last marked price of $199 ). Some real bargains are out there.

Why do you say the ES20 does not do auto chapters? The manual describes auto chapters exactly the same as in the ES10. The manual is at the link below. The auto chapters are described on page 31.

http://service.us.panasonic.com/OPERMANPDF/DMRES20.PDF

Here is the excerpt,