DVD Recorders

[Wynn]

I decided to put some cash aside to buy a dvd recorder. I intend to transfer some VHS recordings like my brother's wedding video before the quality degrades. I will wait until later in the year to get it but I have narrowed my choices down to two models. I'm looking at:

Philips DVDR985

Pioneer DVR7000

Is anyone here familiar with these? What would you recommend?

 

[justyxxxx]

I have the Pioneer DVR7000 - it was receommended to me . . . seems like a good unit . . .

 

[bumpo]

pioneer is more flexible model

 

[Testosterone boy]

Phillips is part of Matshushita, the parent company for Panasonic which absolutely dominates the DVD burning market.


Prices are dropping fast, you will save a couple hundred by year end.

I bought a Panasonic DMR20 on ebay. It looks like a tank compared to the new models and works very well. Remeber that sometimes newer models are not better, just cheaper to build.

I've used at least a dozen VCRs and the best one ever was made by Sony about 13-14 years ago. It was the first one they made. Each successive year meant cheaper VCRs but not better ones.

Just a couple ideas. Oh yea.....buy 3' ft of fiber optic cable from Radio Shack if you copy from DVD to DVD burner. Really helps the sound! Use SVHS cable for video whenever possible. Shorter cables lose less data also.

 

[Wynn]

D'oh! Cables are what I forgot to go to the WiZ for during their going out of business sale.

Thanks for the info guys. From the prices I've been following the philips just dropped this month.

 

[***]

i have a nice unit for my PC. it only cost about $450 as an upgrade. the dvd-rw drives for the pc seems to be a lot cheaper than the home units. i don't know much about anything, so i don't know the reason for it.

 

[Testosterone boy]

You can buy new burners on ebay for $400 these days. Look for DVD recorders.

 

[Jeremy Carriere]

I second the Panasonic DMR E20 as I have it. I'd recommend the DMR HS2 from Panasonic since it has a hard drive (if you can afford it, if not get DMR E30) or wait for the new models...

 

[Wynn]

Thanks for the burner suggestion but I have an old pc. It's still good for most of what I bought it for but I'm sure it can't take much more additions. I put in a cd burner last year and found out I have to close all other programs so it can process. It's not stable enough for me to trust it not crashing during a burn. I do intend to replace my computer but not yet(budget issues).

 

[duff_rose]

I own an older version of the Pioneer. It's been great! No coasters yet. I've had it for 6 months and have burned 50+ disks.

 

[***]

dell.com. $499 for a brand new intel pentium 4 pc and $350 or so for a dvd-r upgrade.

 

[Wynn]

Karma for you guys!

 

[Wynn]

Waited 6 months

I wanted to see how the market looked now. The ones I considered in May have become cheaper but new models have also been produced. The recorder that Sears is selling can record vhs onto dvd and from tv or cable. It happens to be slightly cheaper than the other models:

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/prod...ertical=SEARS&com.broadvision.session.new=Yes