Advice on a new DVD recorder

[JakeAy]

Hello everyone. Firstly, good to see a discussion forum on this topic - what would we have done 15 years ago??! Especially useful are the tests that people have done on various makes and models.

I shoot a lot of sports video - mainly soccer games, that give me about 100 mins (1hr, 40mins) of footage. I'm sick of having to import into my computer and fuss about compressing, authoring, etc. So connecting my camera to the firewire input of a DVD recorder sounds like the way to go.

I use cinemacraft encoder on my PC, which gives good results. However, I'm concerned about the quality of using a DVD recorder because a) it doesn't do a multipass compression, and b) I'm guessing that there isn't much manual control over the compression.)

Can anyone out there advise me on a brand and model which is known to do a great job of compression? (keeping in mind that I use it for sports - i.e. fast moving stuff)

Thanks

[lordsmurf]

Given all you've said, I'd either stick to a computer method with good encoding software, or buy a good DVD recorder (Toshiba is my suggestion) and only do XP mode (1-hour discs).

[ntscuser]

Sorry, I didn't read the original post correctly before replying. Please remove.

[Bjs]

Welcome JakeAy

If you can not find them locally in store , then you might want to check out ebay for standard dvd recorders .

I got the wintal dvdrx250 for under $400 , which includes dvb (watch one channel , while recording another) , and an internal 250gig hd , plus 36 months warranty .

I use it everyday , recording to dvd+rw ... just cant get the picture stable from the xbox360 ... just yet ... I'll get there soon .

You might get an ordinary dvd recorder for under $200 , keep an eye out for LG ... dont touch them .
The last one I bought was made by samsung , as a gift , for about $260.00 , well over 18 months ago .

As for any other brand / model ... before you consider a purchase , search online for any reports by owners reporting major issues with the device .

And when you do get one , remember , these devices are very sensitive to power spikes , so jam it into a good power board with some form of active spike filtering ... such as the POD , made in australia ...

http://www.i-tech.com.au/products/5434_POWERWARE_POD_BLK_6_WAY_FILTER_BOARD.aspx

By the way ... 141minutes , you'd be looking at LP mode when recording to dvd , and some recorders really cant do a decent job in these lower modes .