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Pioneer and Panasonic DVD/HDD recorders are largely similar. There isn't any particular advantage in going from a Panasonic to a Pioneer unless the availability/price situation suddenly reversed and Pioneers were easier to get than Panasonics. Both keep D1 resolution from XP down to the LP speed. Pioneers have a much more logical and controllable FR speed range than the Panasonics, thats their biggest advantage if you're a heavy user of in-between speeds. The remaining minor differences are confined to the user interface: Pioneer is a little easier to edit with while Panasonic has a couple extra options in the copy list, chaptering and title naming systems. I like the Pioneer PQ a little better, but that could be my imagination. If you love one you could probably learn to live with the other without hating it.Originally Posted by joecass
It was a bit different four-five years ago when both Pioneer and Panasonic sold USA-specific models instead of the current somewhat generic "global" units. The older USA-specific Panasonics drew a crowd of fanatically dedicated owners primarily due to them having the only really usable and reliable version of the "TVGOS" TiVO-knockoff timer system. Those who loved that feature kinda lost their friggin minds over it for a few years, they'd practically burn your house down if you said the slightest critical thing about Panasonic. For awhile there it got truly ridiculous, one could not have an intelligent discussion of the merits of various brands/models without a Panasonic EHxx owner starting a pointless flame war. Now that a few years have passed since Panasonic bailed on the US market, and the TVGOS signal system went moribund, tempers have cooled and many owners of worn-out Panasonics have grudgingly moved on to Pioneers, Magnavoxes, TiVOs, or HTPC systems. Once they realized life did not end with the demise of TVGOS, forum civility returned and we can usually now discuss recorders without inciting a religious war. While Panasonic EH owners might have coped with losing TVGOS, very few were willing to lose the HDD feature, so when Panasonic began selling only non-HDD "EZ" models they turned to other options.
When their older EH models broke down, most Panasonic owners took advantage of the company's uniquely affordable "flat fee repair program", paying about $140 total for factory repair of any problem, even if it required a total rebuild. This was less than half the $350 charged by Sony, Toshiba XS, or Pioneer for similar service, so you can imagine those Panny owners were a happy bunch. Unfortunately for them, Panasonic made the program increasingly difficult to access, then recently dropped the flat fee program and is on track to drop service altogether for their old HDD models. The stranded Panasonic owners began migrating faster and in larger numbers to the Magnavox and many snapped up Pioneers while they were still cheaper than the global-import Panasonics. Thats what dried up the final supply of leftover Pioneers last fall.
Pioneers are fairly simple to work on if you have the tools, which are now far cheaper than they used to be. The service remote Pioneer once charged $100 for has been reintroduced by Sony for $23, and the Pio service discs are available for download from several Pioneer fan sites. You can install any standard SATA HDD in them in about five minutes. The burners cannot be user replaced but are very durable on the later models, about the same as a Panasonic thats disassembled and spindle-cleaned regularly. The power supply in Pioneers 2006-2008 models is much sturdier than in some of the popular Panasonics like the EH50 or EH80. Overall they're a draw for longevity.
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Last edited by orsetto; 10th Feb 2011 at 23:04.
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Well, then I expect the next step...... is for you to go and buy the Magnavox and make a full report here.....Originally Posted by usually_quiet
I own a DMR-ES10 It's in my profile. LOL It's under computer details because when Baldrick upgraded the website, all our electroncs-related details were lumped together there.Originally Posted by joecass
[Edit]Most user reviews are written by people without much expertise in the product category they are reviewing.
If a DVD recorder can make a noob or non-expert happy, it's a good sign. Aside from the issues with the DVD drive tray, only a few were written by someone who couldn't figure out how to use the machine, and returned it for that reason. A couple more of the negative reviews were written by people with unreasonable expectations about their DVD recorder being able to offer the exact same tuning functionality as a cable DVR.
Had no idea about the 'profile' icon, mine hasn't been updated in quite a while. I actually have 3 desktops
and 2 laptops, going from Win ME to XP to Vista to Win 7 Ultimate
Strangely enough, an Athlon X2 II 250 is what I was planning to use for an upgrade, just can't seem to find
a motherboard compatible with old peripherals such as floppy and serial ports, which I need to run legacy
software and ancient files.
If I see the Magnavox 500gb model as a refurb, I'll definitely pick one up, assuming they become available again
The Philips 3505 was a refurb puchase for $89 @ J & R, am totally satisfied I got my money's worth -
You may have to wait a while for that report. I have some other expenses that have to come before a new DVD recorder. Fortunately my old Panny is working for now.Originally Posted by joecass
There are still quite a few motherboards around with connectors included to support 1 floppy and 2 IDE drives.
Although an external USB floppy drive may be something worth considering.
Parallel and serial headers (1 of each) are more often provided than the ports themselves. Internal cables connected to the headers and ports mounted in expansion slot covers or punchouts in some older chassis provide the external connections. I added a serial port that way. However, if you need to run an OS that predates Windows XP, you may be out of luck. There may be no suitable drivers for the motherboard.Last edited by usually_quiet; 11th Feb 2011 at 23:31.
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Pioneer and Panasonic DVD/HDD recorders are largely similar. There isn't any particular advantage in going from a Panasonic to a Pioneer unless the availability/price situation suddenly reversed and Pioneers were easier to get than Panasonics. Both keep D1 resolution from XP down to the LP speed. Pioneers have a much more logical and controllable FR speed range than the Panasonics, thats their biggest advantage if you're a heavy user of in-between speeds. The remaining minor differences are confined to the user interface: Pioneer is a little easier to edit with while Panasonic has a couple extra options in the copy list, chaptering and title naming systems. I like the Pioneer PQ a little better, but that could be my imagination. If you love one you could probably learn to live with the other without hating it.
So, using Pioneer, Panasonic & Magnavox, how does the Magnavox PQ compare to the others ? -
Member
- Jul 2005
- drifting, somewhere on the Sea of Cynicism
I have a similar situation with one desktop system I still plan to build. Actually bought a MB for it (at low cost, on eBay -- seller said it was a spare that had never been used) that meets those specs. It's a Tyan from the K8 series. The #s that stick in my mind are "2865", but I'd have to go to the storage facility to verify that. The downside is that its dual core tops out at a 4800, and I don't think it includes e-SATA, which is something I would miss. Since we are now in the time of quad core (or more) and i7, I have to wonder if that X2 4800 still offers the kind of horsepower I'd want for some video apps. I don't know if the cpu for the one you had in mind might be faster or not. OTOH, I've found the X2 6400 -- which was the fastest cpu I could put into my Shuttle SNP-27 -- to provide decent performance. For example, I can do a typical conversion / encoding job in AVStoDVD in about an hour, although that does not include the DVD burning time. I'm guessing that a current, fast multi-core might cut that time in half (?)Originally Posted by joecass
The Shuttle XPC line of small-form-factor desktop computers is one I have favored for several years. Not at all cheap, but they are around the size of two stacked shoeboxes, pack a whole lot into that compact space, and are quiet enough that you barely notice them running, which I find a real plus. Several of their models have provided the sort of headers and punchouts you mentioned, if no longer the actual ports. (You'd have to go back a number of prior models to find the actual full ports still on them, but then you'd be back to something limited to a much less powerful cpu.)Originally Posted by usually_quiet
[EDIt: I think I've seen one eBay dealer who sells hybrid, customized Shuttle models, combining some legacy ports with faster CPUs, although probably not the top-line CPUs available today. That dealer failed to answer an email query, so I kind of dropped him from consideration.]
In this thread
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/329007-CPU-horsepower-etc-as-it-relates-to-video-pr...25#post2043225
I inquired about a Shuttle model I had determined might be a good next option for me, and one responder said be sure to get one socket type of i7 and avoid another, but never said why.
I would need to re-check those specs, but I think that model had at least some of the legacy headers -- plus the e-Sata I've really come to regard as a must-have feature.
Re what usually_quiet said about running a pre-XP OS, a virtualized older OS running inside XP or Vista or W7 might take care of that . . . and finesse the drivers issue. (?)When in Las Vegas, don't miss the Pinball Hall of Fame Museum http://www.pinballmuseum.org/ -- with over 150 tables from 6+ decades of this quintessentially American art form. -
Seeker 47:
If Win 7 or Vista were backward compatible, it would make my life a lot easier..... I thought about using
the pre-XP OS in a virtual environment, but only certain types of CPU's support those options, and there's no
guarantee that any of it would work.... that's why I maintain different computers with different operating systems
As far as I7 or quad-core CPU's, I posted a similar question here regarding conversion time reduction, the
consensus seemed to be that a fast dual-core CPU would be the least-expensive option
I use VSO ConvertX to DVD, it usually takes me an hour or so too, not including burning time, with a single core CPU running @2.167Mhz. Strangely enough, conversion times are longer with Vista than with XP Pro
A site like Tom's Hardware usually gives the rundown on CPU frame rates and compares Intel with AMD on
a regular basis
Unusually_quiet:
I've seen motherboards with the headers for legacy peripherals, however most of these boards only have
one or two legacy PCI slots, I need at least 3 to 4 PCI, beside the PCIe and PCI Xpress slots
I want an AM3 board rather than AM+2, that will support the latest AMD CPU's, and have things like USB 3,
Firewire and eSATA....... seems like an impossibility, though -
Unless you need to run multiple video cards, this has everthing on your list except 3 to 4 PCI slots and e-SATA, which can be added with an internal cable and slot-cover bracket. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128431 It does not have SATA 6 Gb/s, but there are darned few products availble at this point that require it.Originally Posted by joecass
You can't have it all. There is only so much real estate available, and only 7 expansion slots allowed on an ATX motherboard. A lot of new add-on cards are PCI-E, so when one of your current PCI cards dies, you may need a PCI-E slot for its replacement.
Keep the old stuff you can't use on your old systems, and replace it if you can with something more modern in the new system. There are also ways to add some of the extra ports in unused external bays in the front of the case if there is no room in the rear of the case.
[Edit] Somehow I missed this one the first time http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128443
It has everything but the kitchen sink, though just parallel and serial headers.Last edited by usually_quiet; 12th Feb 2011 at 22:54. Reason: added more info
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Have been using a Panasonic Recorder since 2007 (DMR-EZ27), the play back picture seems to be the best out of all my DVD players using HDMI outputs.
The Digital Tuner seems to do a good job with HD feed, and records it pretty nice.
It is also never out of sync with Audio & Video and don't get any dropped frames.
For some reasons have seen a lot of other machines were the sync is off.
To my eyes this machine gets a better picture than some of the other recorders that I have tested for digital recordings.
In SP mode tend to get macro blocking, found a big difference when using XP mode or FR mode set to 1 h and 25 minutes. FR mode works pretty nice getting a pretty good picture with the HD feed.
The machine does not like burned created DVD's of Duel Layer disks they tend to not play at all.
Tend not to use this machine to record VHS material, however to me it seems to get a better picture result using it as a passthrough device.
I think it helps improve the VHS tape playback.
The machine will crop the screen a tad bit different.
On some tapes were u have tracking lines on the bottom, running it thru the EZ27, you will have no tracking issues.
On the downside, if you have rips or tears in the VHS video, the EZ27 will make them worse. It seems to make the picture stronger. You tend to see the tears.
When working with PAL material, use it again as a passthrough and record it to NTSC (using another recorder), it converts it perfect, no motion or jitter problems.
Sometimes with the NR filter it may shred or streak the video with unwanted lines. The output black levels change the picture lighting. (can either use light or dark)
--- This feature also sometimes helps
--- If I don't like the lighting on either one, will use a color corrector before the input of the signal.
Another nice feature about this machine it has S-Video inputs and outputs.....
This Panasonic machine tends to record a pretty sharp picture.
The machine itself is 4 years old and has done hundreds of recordings, it has never gone bad. Will use a CD or DVD cleaner and a hair dryer set to no heat to clean out the insides from time to time.
Here are three pictures of HD feed on this Machine, the frames are .jpg export files from a video, of TV commercials, recorded in FR (1h 25minute) mode. Saving it to .jpg you do get a little bit of loss of compression.
Last edited by Deter; 13th Feb 2011 at 05:02.
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Member
- Jul 2005
- drifting, somewhere on the Sea of Cynicism
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I would be curious to learn if there might be i7 versions of these MBs.Originally Posted by usually_quiet
A need for multiple expansion slots will definitely take one in the opposite direction from the Shuttle sff line I mentioned. While there might be some possibility to rig up an external expansion chassis, that is not a solution with any appeal for me. I'm not sure what need I could have these days for a serial port. Hooking up a 56K dial-up modem, on a temporary emergency basis ? In any case, I've had pretty good luck so far with PS/2 to USB converter / cables for older mice & keyboards, and Parallel to USB converters to support older printers. (You just need to find the right ones to support your particular legacy hardware, because a fair portion of them won't. When in doubt, try ones from SIIG, or maybe Belkin.)
Things like NICs and controllers have been chips built into the MB for some years now, cutting down on how many expansion slots we need. But -- given the option -- I'd still like to retain a few expansion slots.When in Las Vegas, don't miss the Pinball Hall of Fame Museum http://www.pinballmuseum.org/ -- with over 150 tables from 6+ decades of this quintessentially American art form. -
A few minutes with Newegg's advanced search produced some similar Gigabyte i7 motherboards:Originally Posted by Seeker47
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128425
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128412
Although, firewire would require an add-on card and e-SATA would require internal cables plus a bracket.Last edited by usually_quiet; 13th Feb 2011 at 14:30.
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Thanks ! I looked at motherboards on New Egg, Micro Center, Circuit City, Computer Geeks, and EBayOriginally Posted by usually_quiet
Unless you need to run multiple video cards, this has everthing on your list except 3 to 4 PCI slots and e-SATA, which can be added with an internal cable and slot-cover bracket. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128431 It does not have SATA 6 Gb/s, but there are darned few products availble at this point that require it.Originally Posted by joecass
You can't have it all. There is only so much real estate available, and only 7 expansion slots allowed on an ATX motherboard. A lot of new add-on cards are PCI-E, so when one of your current PCI cards dies, you may need a PCI-E slot for its replacement.
Keep the old stuff you can't use on your old systems, and replace it if you can with something more modern in the new system. There are also ways to add some of the extra ports in unused external bays in the front of the case if there is no room in the rear of the case.
[Edit] Somehow I missed this one the first time http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128443
It has everything but the kitchen sink, though just parallel and serial headers.
This last one seems to fit the bill. I'm not entirely familiar with the most recent hardware required in building a new system, it's been a good 6 years since I built the two I use now.
I was leaning toward ASUS, until I read quite a few comments about DOA boards and BIOS problems
Also recently read about an AMD chip, Phenom II X2 550, supposedly a dual core with the potential to unlock two
more cores and turn it into a quad-core Phenom ( don't know if the info is accurate)
The problem with keeping the old systems running...... is the constant updates to Microsoft's Internet Explorer
You can run legacy Win98/ME/XP systems, but eventually Microsoft discontinues support, as will be the case
soon with Windows XP. Makes things difficult to download necessities on the old systems when the browsers
don't work properly anymore -
OK guys, forgive me for going out on a limb here...... I recorded a CBS HD CSI Miami (repeat) show using
seven of my video recorders, set up as follows
!. Toshiba RD SX-32, using HDTV tuner Component Output, slight picture adjustments (brightness & edge
enhance)
2. Panasonic DMR-EZ27K using internal ATSC/QAM tuner
3. Philips DVDR 3575H/37 using internal ATSC/QAM tuner
4. Philips DVDR 3505 using internal ATSC/QAM tuner
5. Sony RDR HX-715, using cable box Component Output (Sony +1 3 step pic enhancements)
6. RCA DRC 8030, using Composite Video Output of HDTV tuner
7. LG RC 897T using internal ATSC/QAM tuner, in 4-hr LP mode
All were recorded in standard SP 2-hr mode, (except for the LG RC897T) onto DVD+RW discs, with the
exception of the Toshiba RD SX-32, that required a DVD-R disc
All were played back using Power DVD, set to Snapshot 720 X 480, and converted to .jpeg
IMO, the Sony and Panasonic pics look best, the two Philips machines look darkest & not as clear.
The LG RC 897T LP mode uses the same D 1 as Panasonic's LP mode
The Toshiba is set using slight picture adjustments, brightness +2 and edge enhance =on
The RC DRC 8030 is the only unit recording a composite video out signal from an external HD tuner
The Sony & Toshiba units are recording using their respective Component Inputs
More picture variants are visible on an actual HDTV, that I'm unable to reproduce here -
Member
- Jul 2005
- drifting, somewhere on the Sea of Cynicism
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Internet Exploder is a lousy browser, though needed for the automated Win Update of patches. However, there are manual download & update alternatives, for which you could use the better browser of your choice -- FireFox, Chrome, or Opera. On one older system, I messed up and allowed it to go to IE-8. (Yecchh !) On another, I kept it at IE-7. I don't care about IE in-security, because I almost never use it, and won't allow it to be the default browser. The business about MS discontinuing support appears overblown to me: one older desktop and one older laptop system of mine continue to get Win 2000 updates, even though W2K supposedly had its support dropped some time ago.Originally Posted by joecass
Re the next post, #42: Your first sample is the one where the right side of the actor's face does not fall away into shadow. If I understood you correctly, the Sony and the Toshiba recorders have component inputs ? That would be news to me, as I thought that this feature was exceedingly rare.When in Las Vegas, don't miss the Pinball Hall of Fame Museum http://www.pinballmuseum.org/ -- with over 150 tables from 6+ decades of this quintessentially American art form. -
I figured with all the legacy components you wanted on your motherboard that you would be one of those hanging on to XP for dear life. The Professional and Ultimate versions of Windows 7 include the ability to run XP Mode virtualization, which might solve some hardware and software incompatibility issues, but get one of the 32-bit versions unless you presently use a 64-bit version of XP.Originally Posted by joecass
Your old peripherals and add-on cards will not work with Windows 7 itself, unless the maker has released Windows 7 drivers, or they work with generic Microsoft drivers. Much of the time, Vista drivers will work too, but not in every case. I didn't re-use any of my old cards in my new system so I'm not sure whether incompatible add-on cards could cause annoyances when running Windows 7 itself. If so, you may prefer to keep some of your old stuff with your old systems.
When you read the user reviews you will see that the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink motherboard has some issues, in spite of being made by Gigabyte. Unless using particular pieces of old hardware or software is essential to making a living, or you have a modest budget for this project, it would be much simpler to resign yourself to just starting fresh with the new system, and build accordingly.
The story I read said AMD turns some of its 4 core CPUs with 1 or 2 bad cores into 3 or 2 core CPUs. If they don't have enough rejects, they use perfectly good 4 core CPUs instead. Getting one of the perfectly good ones is a matter of luck.
The Firefox and Chrome browsers work fine for web-browsing and downloads on an XP system. Relatively few websites require using IE. After MS stops releasing XP updates, it will be even less of a necessity. At this point, anything older than XP should be used only when necessary and preferably offline, plus software updates are pretty much moot. -
Some of the very old DVD recorders had Component Inputs..... Lite-On, Polaroid, Toshiba, Sony and maybe a few other models. My original Sony RDR-GX7 circa 2003 also had Component inputs, a slight improvement over Composite videoOriginally Posted by Seeker47
Internet Exploder is a lousy browser, though needed for the automated Win Update of patches. However, there are manual download & update alternatives, for which you could use the better browser of your choice -- FireFox, Chrome, or Opera. On one older system, I messed up and allowed it to go to IE-8. (Yecchh !) On another, I kept it at IE-7. I don't care about IE in-security, because I almost never use it, and won't allow it to be the default browser. The business about MS discontinuing support appears overblown to me: one older desktop and one older laptop system of mine continue to get Win 2000 updates, even though W2K supposedly had its support dropped some time ago.Originally Posted by joecass
Re the next post, #42: Your first sample is the one where the right side of the actor's face does not fall away into shadow. If I understood you correctly, the Sony and the Toshiba recorders have component inputs ? That would be news to me, as I thought that this feature was exceedingly rare.
The reason the first sample in the pics is lighter and has less contrast than the rest..... this old Toshiba model has picture
adjustments = for pre-recording, I had it set to adjust brightness and edge enhancement when I used it frequently.
The older Sony machines also have similar picture adjustments, only theirs are both pre and post recording
I had Firefox on one of my laptops.... didn't really care for it much, got rid of it and used I E 7 instead
Maybe because Win 2K is based on NT file system ? I know for sure Win 95/98/ME are no longer supported by Microsoft -
Definitely appreciate the advice..... however it's not XP I'm worried about..... I have legacy programs which only run onOriginally Posted by usually_quiet
I figured with all the legacy components you wanted on your motherboard that you would be one of those hanging on to XP for dear life. The Professional and Ultimate versions of Windows 7 include the ability to run XP Mode virtualization, which might solve some hardware and software incompatibility issues, but get one of the 32-bit versions unless you presently use a 64-bit version of XP.Originally Posted by joecass
Your old peripherals and add-on cards will not work with Windows 7 itself, unless the maker has released Windows 7 drivers, or they work with generic Microsoft drivers. Much of the time, Vista drivers will work too, but not in every case. I didn't re-use any of my old cards in my new system so I'm not sure whether incompatible add-on cards could cause annoyances when running Windows 7 itself. If so, you may prefer to keep some of your old stuff with your old systems.
When you read the user reviews you will see that the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink motherboard has some issues, in spite of being made by Gigabyte. Unless using particular pieces of old hardware or software is essential to making a living, or you have a modest budget for this project, it would be much simpler to resign yourself to just starting fresh with the new system, and build accordingly.
The story I read said AMD turns some of its 4 core CPUs with 1 or 2 bad cores into 3 or 2 core CPUs. If they don't have enough rejects, they use perfectly good 4 core CPUs instead. Getting one of the perfectly good ones is a matter of luck.
The Firefox and Chrome browsers work fine for web-browsing and downloads on an XP system. Relatively few websites require using IE. After MS stops releasing XP updates, it will be even less of a necessity. At this point, anything older than XP should be used only when necessary and preferably offline, plus software updates are pretty much moot.
Win 98/ ME, going back over 10 years, some of them FAT, FAT 16 and FAT 32, incompatible with every O.S. after that.
I'm a handicapped senior citizen on disability, I have hundreds of medical files I need to maintain and add to monthly that
are crucial to my existence. Only my old peripherals will read and write to them correctly, using Win 7 is out of the question.
XP and Vista Compatibility Mode help somewhat, but don't do the job as well as the original file systems. -
Member
- Jul 2005
- drifting, somewhere on the Sea of Cynicism
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Happened to check eBay this morning, and they had both a model 2000 (maybe the same one, which didn't sell the last time ?), and a rather similar-looking model 7000 for sale, both of these being for the Japanese market. Also an Elite 57, a model I was aware of but not familiar with. Feature wise, the Elite sounds like a cross between the 53x and 810, since the description mentioned something about Tivo.Originally Posted by orsetto
When in Las Vegas, don't miss the Pinball Hall of Fame Museum http://www.pinballmuseum.org/ -- with over 150 tables from 6+ decades of this quintessentially American art form. -
I've been following this thread from time to time RE DVD recorders but this paragraph just doesn't match my observations of the ATSC-DVB tests. The ATSC 8-VSB modulation technique was chosen primarily to provide similar coverage contours for the major dominant (ex VHF) TV stations in an effort to keep the game competitively even. Most of these large market TV stations had to move to UHF to preserve their coverage area post digital conversion. True they had their NAB lobbyists representing them but why should they be denied representation in the decision? Cable had nothing to do with ATSC. Coax cable is a lower interference, higher signal to noise medium completely different to terrestrial OTA RF packet broadcasting. Cable uses QAM modulation and packs over twice the data (TV sub-channels) in an equivalent bandwidth. DVB-T is a cable standard very close to what US cable companies use.Originally Posted by orsetto
As for DVB broadcasting, most of the formerly "PAL" countries have traditionally offered fewer over the air channels, instead using spectrum to replicate the few channels available with more closely spaced lower power UHF transmitters (almost like a partial cellular model but the user must choose a tower to point the antenna). Add to this the smaller geographic coverage areas vs. vast North America. ATSC made sense for the USA, Mexico and Canada markets in particular which required 100 mile or more transmission contour radius. The DVB broadcast standard came after ATSC and was optimized to smaller country needs, primarily Europe.
Again cable had nothing to do with ATSC. So far OTA broadcasts are not encrypted. Cable can't encrypt OTA retransmission or PBS direct feeds but can do what they want with their own channels.Last edited by edDV; 10th Apr 2011 at 00:15.
Recommends: Kiva.org - Loans that change lives.
http://www.kiva.org/about -
The PC route allows you to do most of what you want. You haven't explored the IEEE-1394 MPeg2-TS recording option. All locals, including PBS can be recorded in full HD without signal loss. Selected cable channels (at the option of the local cable provider) can also be recorded in SD or HD.Originally Posted by joecass
Exceptions of course are the Premium channels (like HBO) which are always digitally blocked. In most cases, you can still record analog S-Video by one means or another.
Face it, the cable operator doesn't want you to do what you want to do with their premium content. Delete the premium services and use Netflix instead.
If cable gets to the point they block all recording of their channels, I will fire them and take my $100/mo (~$36,000 over the last 30 years) to Netflix and other online services.Recommends: Kiva.org - Loans that change lives.
http://www.kiva.org/about -
I have the Magnavox 513 (with a 320MB hard drive) that I bought from Amazon in February (the price was the same as Walmart, but I got free shipping + no sales tax).
I record everything in HQ, which I can get approx 63 hours on the HD. The output from the unit, although upconverted to 1080i, is outstanding.
I DO wish that it would give me a way to off load things that I want to keep via a network output, but all it gives me is a record to DVD+-R output.
The tuner on my 513 is as good as the tuner on my TV. All in all, I would happily purchace the 513 again if I had to.
Magnavox also has a 500GB model that is about $50 more - same specs, same everything, but I concluded that the 513 was more cost effective for my needs.ICBM target coordinates:
26° 14' 10.16"N -- 80° 16' 0.91"W -
The PC route allows you to do most of what you want. You haven't explored the IEEE-1394 MPeg2-TS recording option. All locals, including PBS can be recorded in full HD without signal loss. Selected cable channels (at the option of the local cable provider) can also be recorded in SD or HD.
Exceptions of course are the Premium channels (like HBO) which are always digitally blocked. In most cases, you can still record analog S-Video by one means or another.
Face it, the cable operator doesn't want you to do what you want to do with their premium content. Delete the premium services and use Netflix instead.
If cable gets to the point they block all recording of their channels, I will fire them and take my $100/mo (~$36,000 over the last 30 years) to Netflix and other online services.
EdDV
Au contaire..... I tried the PC route briefly using the firewire output of the cable box..... first, my cable signal is rather weak
due to the number of splits in the incoming cable line; the HD pic continuously broke up, making it impossible to record anything reliably. Second, only the broadcast channels are available, even non-premiums like A & E or TNT were blocked.
I had gotten the necessary software and info from Videohelp members.
I do have several DVD recorders attached to the cable box where I record the standard-def pic either to hdd or dvd, but
the std def cable pic is horrendous..... looks like VHS compared to ATSC hi-def recordings.
Recording std def to a PC to me is a waste of time, when the task can be accomplished easier using a dvd recorder.
I also experimented recording Hi Def to a PC using an ATI Wonder 650 USB tuner..... it was quite annoying and time
consuming. Converting 1920X1080 to 720X480 to make a dvd of two shows took forever. So unless I decide to get a
Blu Ray recorder and start spending money on Blu Ray discs, I will stay with what I have......
BTW, I don't subscribe to premium channels, just have basic digital cable, which now costs me $70 a month. -
Member
- Jul 2005
- drifting, somewhere on the Sea of Cynicism
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The only thing that might provide the network out connection (that I've heard of) is a Tivo box. But it doesn't cover DVDs.Originally Posted by SLK001
PBS has a huge bullseye on its back, hunting season is ON, and the marksmen are closing in. If you like their fare, enjoy it while you can.Originally Posted by edDVWhen in Las Vegas, don't miss the Pinball Hall of Fame Museum http://www.pinballmuseum.org/ -- with over 150 tables from 6+ decades of this quintessentially American art form. -
There are only a few options in the US for recording HD cable: Cable company HD DVR, TiVo HD, Moxi, or computer. Complain all you want, but that is the current reality.Originally Posted by joecass
If the FCC's new interface works out as planned, there could be more kinds of consumer HDD only recorders someday, but recordings will mostly be encrypted and locked into the unit that recorded them. ..and there are no guaranties this will happen. Cable companies have so far successfully found ways of changing things to make a 3rd party recording device an inconvenient or overly expensive option for digital cable.
Will there be a BD burner on any of these? That is unlikely, given the expense of adding one, the limited number of copy-freely channels available in most digital cable systems, and the limited interest here in the US for saving recordings on optical media.
If the limitations for CableCARD tuners and clear QAM PC tuners aren't acceptable, use an HD cablebox plus a Hauppauge HD PVR or Hauppauge Colossus HDPVR, or one of the AverMedia HD capture devices.
Pioneer BD burners can be purchased for ~$110, others are ~$80. ...or go to file-based media players instead, and skip BD or AVCHD DVD authoring for HD recordings made with a PC. At present, storing recordings on an external HDD is cheaper than doing the same with BD media. -
First, if the cable box is displaying the signal, there is no breakup on IEEE-1394. It is the same MPeg2-TS used for display. It could be be a problem at your computer end.Originally Posted by joecass
If your cable levels are low, it is the responsiblity of the cable company to give you an acceptable signal.
Channels available on IEEE-1394 vary from just locals to many. Here I get most of the channels, at least half including Dsc, Hiistory, all the NBC/FOX/Viacom/Disney networks and even the Comcast/ESPN/MLB/Fox sports. NBA does block. All this can vary locally.
I record most in HD now that hard drives are cheap. Any blcoked channel can be recorded off the analog outputs. There are now over 45 subchannels available over clearQAM. All the locals and PBS can be recorded that way.
I rarely put programs on DVD anymore. Just record to hard drive with LAN access to any TV in the house.Originally Posted by joecass
Recommends: Kiva.org - Loans that change lives.
http://www.kiva.org/about -
To address the original post if I may, as far back as I can recall, the early 1970's when I started to visit North America, the notion of archiving stuff is so foreign.
For the longest time there have been so many channels and no offence but it is well acknowledged that UK TV was the best in the world and mostly only PBS was seen as showing BBC productions without the horrible commercials.
With the advent of region free DVD players the previous barrier of playing DVD's from the UK has been removed, do you know with UK sales tax being 20% if you can get a DVD into USA/Canada you end up paying less even with shipping than if you lived in the UK !
Now with DVD's of TV shows coming out so fast and the average Joe (not James) does not see the "value" in having his own collection.
The VHS rental market in the UK was also not as big as in the USA/Canada.
Watching TV in North America was/is not seen as such a "hobbY' as it is the UK, as with attention spans of 3 minutes people switch channels so much, its hard for my age group (50's) to relate to how folks in their 20'3/30', even younger view all of this these days.PAL/NTSC problem solver.
USED TO BE A UK Equipment owner., NOW FINISHED WITH VHS CONVERSIONS-THANKS -
[QUOTE=edDV;2070761]
First, if the cable box is displaying the signal, there is no breakup on IEEE-1394. It is the same MPeg2-TS used for display. It could be be a problem at your computer end.Originally Posted by joecass
If your cable levels are low, it is the responsiblity of the cable company to give you an acceptable signal.
Channels available on IEEE-1394 vary from just locals to many. Here I get most of the channels, at least half including Dsc, Hiistory, all the NBC/FOX/Viacom/Disney networks and even the Comcast/ESPN/MLB/Fox sports. NBA does block. All this can vary locally.
I record most in HD now that hard drives are cheap. Any blcoked channel can be recorded off the analog outputs. There are now over 45 subchannels available over clearQAM. All the locals and PBS can be recorded that way.
Not true..... the std def channels recorded just fine, the HD channels is where the break-up occurs. My cableco, which happens to be Time Warner of NYC, is constantly adjusting bandwith to accomodate the digital packages they are forcing on customers, i.e., home phone, Internet & digital cable all on the same incoming line. Not to mention the fact that TWC uses
Switched-Digital video transmission, which allocates bandwith differently during peak or non-peak hours.
I have a pretty complicated system set up in two rooms and have tested the incoming cable line with signal strength meters on my equipment, the signal continues to degrade especially when they decide to change QAM channel numbers.
I've been using Clear QAM for 5 years now, I don't record much from the analog outputs when I have enough machines
with QAM tuning capablity, which gives a superior recording. Maybe in your area of the country you're able to receive numerous cable channels over QAM, but that's not the case here. Ask Mr. Orsetto, he's also a NYC cable-cave-dweller. -
Originally Posted by usually_quiet
There are only a few options in the US for recording HD cable: Cable company HD DVR, TiVo HD, Moxi, or computer. Complain all you want, but that is the current reality.Originally Posted by joecass
If the FCC's new interface works out as planned, there could be more kinds of consumer HDD only recorders someday, but recordings will mostly be encrypted and locked into the unit that recorded them. ..and there are no guaranties this will happen. Cable companies have so far successfully found ways of changing things to make a 3rd party recording device an inconvenient or overly expensive option for digital cable.
Will there be a BD burner on any of these? That is unlikely, given the expense of adding one, the limited number of copy-freely channels available in most digital cable systems, and the limited interest here in the US for saving recordings on optical media.
If the limitations for CableCARD tuners and clear QAM PC tuners aren't acceptable, use an HD cablebox plus a Hauppauge HD PVR or Hauppauge Colossus HDPVR, or one of the AverMedia HD capture devices.
Pioneer BD burners can be purchased for ~$110, others are ~$80. ...or go to file-based media players instead, and skip BD or AVCHD DVD authoring for HD recordings made with a PC. At present, storing recordings on an external HDD is cheaper than doing the same with BD media.
No one is complaining about anything..... I've explored my options, I don't feel it's necessary for me to invest money in
cable cards, Hauppage tuners or anything else. My cable box is HD, but it's another $12 per month to get an HD DVR,
it's not worth it. Plus the fact of how it operates, after a certain period of time it goes into "standby" mode, where
there's no picture output, contrary to the HD cable box I have now, which is essentially always on. My cableco charges
$2.50 per month for cablecards, and a $45 installation fee.
Why people on this forum continually assume the poster has limited knowledge of what they're doing, is beyond my
comprehension. I know all about every which way there is to record OTA, TIVO, HD Tuner cards, HD cable, QAM
analog, MOXI, and everything else in between. It's all a matter of preferences and economics.
There's even been an introduction of a new OTA unit called the Sezmi DMR 1000, similar to the DTVPal DVR or
Channel Master CM 7000PAL. Initially it included a few cable stations besides OTA digital TV, but for some reason the
cable tuning was dropped. Sezmi charges $5.00 per month, and is available only in certain parts of the USA, mine is
not one of them....... -
Everybody has limited knowledge to some degree. We don't know everything you have tried or already know.Originally Posted by joecass
However, since you profess to be so well-informed in this area that it is insulting to tell you anything on this subject, I will not bother to share anything new that I might find out in the future. Hopefully others will also realize that no help is needed in your case. You are just posting questions here to be sociable.
-
Also, there is a tradition here of covering the basic background tech so the newbies or topic searchers can get the context of the question.Originally Posted by usually_quiet
Everybody has limited knowledge to some degree. We don't know everything you have tried or already know.Originally Posted by joecass
However, since you profess to be so well-informed in this area that it is insulting to tell you anything on this subject, I will not bother to share anything new that I might find out in the future. Hopefully others will also realize that no help is needed in your case. You are just posting questions here to be sociable.Recommends: Kiva.org - Loans that change lives.
http://www.kiva.org/about -
Well I'm afraid I'm not posting to be 'sociable', there are many many things I don't know, and do not profess to be an expert on anything. It's the overwhelming attitude of condescension that bothers me, I've seen and read it too many times. Maybe it's just a generation gap thing...... most people over 50 are generally polite and unassuming in their responses and attitudes toward others, whether it's on line or in person. Here, automatic assumptions are made not based on fact, just braggadocio.
There's no need for that...... if I wanted to, I could act like an asinine teen-ager and say " Hey Dude, u don't know what
the f*ck ure talkin about, stop blowin' it out ure butt hole ! " ........ if that's what you people prefer......
The only member here that consistently provides seemingly accurate and non-biased opinion is Mr. Orsetto.
The flaming seems to originate from the same bunch of people, who are apparently more interested in bickering with
each other as opposed to giving helpful info for newbies, or are tired of seeing the same old video-related questions.
The very beginning of my post involved questioning the picture quality of the latest Magnavox/Funai-made machines,
and how they compare to older Philips recorders, and other name brands. How it got to this point, I don't know, however
I seriously suggest some of you look yourselves in the mirror and ask yourselves why you respond the way you do.
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