Best recorder to record Dish Network on a DP301 IRD?

[Mantas]

I know that your basic MPEG-2 satellite IRD's yield crappy recorded DVD's so I was wondering what would be the best option to hook a basic Dish Network DP301 Reciever up to a DVD Recorder?

Is there a model that would handle this specific task better than others (filters)?

What input would yield the best result S-Vid or RCA?

I'm assuming I'll have to get a video enhancer in order to record macrovision protected material such as HBO....I'm I correct? I was looking at the Sima at officemax: http://www.officemax.com/max/solutions/product/prodBlock.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&prodBl...OID=-536907165

Would said video enhancer improve the MPEG-2 compression that the Dish IRD spits out?

I've read that some recorders that have coax inputs are immune to the macrovision nags if you use coax...any truth to this?


Sorry for the list of questions but I've been reading and reading while waiting for my 24 hour posting delay to wear off. Thanks for the help.

[TBoneit]

Funny I just run the Dish video, from a 721 if it matters, into a Pioneer 531H (hard drive model), Use the adjustments in the Pioneer to sharpen etc.

Ididn't see any Macrovision on the HBO preview recently. I don't subscribe, the new shows and movies don not float my boat.

Cheers

BTW the 531h is so I can edit and chapter before burning easily.

[Mantas]

Are you burning in real-time from the IRD video out or are you first saving to the hard drive, then sending it to the 531H? Do you notice a quality difference depending on which way you do it?

This seems to be a bad time for buying a recorder as far as Macrovision is concerened, should've picked up a Lite-On in the summer where I could still get a hackable model on the cheap.

[rroberson]

I have an Emerson recorder that handles the signal well. And I have a Pio 531 that handles it as well. I use it to time-shift. I hanve had problems with copy once protections, though I've heard other have in past.

I'm pretty sure im running on video out, not s-video. I dont think I even tried s-video.

Rick

[wulf109]

I have my Dish311 feeding a Pioneer 220 via the S-video output and get excellent results. I ussually only record things that aren't available on DVD.
Austin City Limits and ROME are example's. The signal quality is so inferior to DVD that I no longer copy movies.

[TBoneit]

I use S-Video, I record to the Hard drive, trim start/end & commercials on TV Shows. Start/end on Movies. I use it with the Basic cable to record PBS from my area (3 Stations) as basic cable gives better picture. I use ti to record non-basic cable channels from the 721. I always record to the hard drive as then I can Chapter easily where i want them or I can use the skip button to chapter in the increments it gives, IE 30Sec. 1 Min. 1:30, 2 Min, 5 Min. or 10 Min. Plus I can choose menu from the 9 templates, Record several things and then put on DVD for best fit without having to have several non-finalized DVDs sitting around waiting to be finished.

No quality difference if sent to the hard drive or direct to disc. The quality settings are applied before I record when I choose flex time setting. IE for a 30 0r 60 minute TV show I can choose 90 minutes quality and know that 4 shows will fi without commercials or to givce a margin for error I usually use a 1:45 settings so I'm not filling up the disk. For timer recordings I use Sp mode. Thing to do in my case is look at the source before recording and tweak the noise reduction (not really needed with dish or PBS, sharpness etc.

On VHS I pass them from my JVC S-VHS through a full TBC , then I need to adjust more settings. Sharpness, Noise reduction, Sometimes color intensity, shift the colors etc.

I had one tape where the people were greenish, I adjusted the color to fleshtones, broought up the sharpness, then adjusted the black level and the white level and so on till it looked decent.

With the Digipure in the JVC and the TBC to stabilize & remove macrovision, and the adjustments in the Pioneer I'm pretty well set now. I also still have a couple of other hardware devices if I need even more adjustment then the Pioneer has, But to be honest I haven't needed them since getting the Pioneer and the JVC.

You might want to look at the 633 with firewire and a larger hard drive.

Good Luck

[Mantas]

^^^ Monster post! What Dish model IRD are you using and I'm assuming since you need a TBC on the JVC to remove macrovision that you do not have macrovision with the Dish IRD.

I've asked around on satellite boards and had a few replies that there are no macrovision issues with older Dish IRDS such as the DP301's. Since it looks like I don't have to buy another device to remove macrovision I should be able to spend more and get a DVR/DVD Recorder instead of just a DVD Recorder.

[TBoneit]

If you look at the message you will see I use a 721. Dual tuner 90 hour DVR with one output. I believe the 721 is even older than your 301.

I'd be sure to get a Recorder with a hard drive it just makes things easy. There are messages here about different brands and models. I like the Pioneer because of the control over the input signal. No experience with others.

[Mantas]

Sorry TBoneit I didn't put two-and-two together on who I was asking.

Anyways, right when I was almost going to buy a DVR/DVD Recorder I noticed my local Radio Shack still had a Lite-On 5006. Since I got a price I couldn't pass up ($70 after $50 rebate) and the fact that there's a macro hack for it I decided to pull the trigger on it.

I think it will serve me well until I can get the cash together to get something big time.

Thanks for your help.

[TBoneit]

Good Luck, The one benefit with a Hard drive model especially with something like the 301 is that you can record something to big to fit on a single DVD.

Example for two more nights TV Globo channel 596 will be broadcasting the Samba School Parade at Rio´s Sambodrome. 8 to 10 hours long. With a hard drive model you could record to the hard drive, edit, split into each parade. then record.

Or or race or sporting even that runs long just leave the 301 running and set a timer on the recorder that will catch any possible overrun. Example: sundays on CBS a 8PM show may not start until almost 9PM and of course all the other shows that follow the sproting event start late and end late, so If you wanted to record a 2 hour movie you might set the recorder to record 3+ hours.

Other thing, the 301 has timers that will autotune? if so withe a hard drive recorder you could set it's timer and have a ersatz DVR without the per month fees Charlie charges on the newer models. Plus OTA recording from cable or antenna feed. giving you a capability to do two channels at once with your 301 (for OTA channels only of course).