Bye, Bye VHS tapes.

joe6pak · September 2003

I got a dvd recorder a few weeks ago. The Panasonic DMR-E100H. I have not had the chance to spend a lot of time with it, but I think it is a keeper. It is more complicated than a vcr, but I am starting to get more comfortable with it.

I really like the hard drive feature. It would be great for someone who is into recording a tv show and then erasing that show after viewing. A unit like this looks like it would be ideal for archiving tv shows to dvd. I have been transfering all my Hi-8 wildlife tapes to the hard drive. I will then edit them, then record to a dvd.

After I get a few vhs tapes transfered to dvd the vcr is going to be unplugged!

joe

PETERNG · September 2003

I have 3 S-VHS decks sitting "duck" and collecting dust ever since I obtained the Panny DVD recorder about a 9 months ago. Now I do a lot of digital recording via computer than the pany deck, a lot faster, various oprions for editing and also the ability of making back up copy of commercial DVD discs including the new MP4 format for those compact HDD players. I'm still using the VCR tuners when watching and record live TV since they have the DNR features, very useful, other than that, they're pretty much history...:)

GZ · September 2003

'It is more complicated than a vcr'
How so? Been thinking about one. Will probably wait until the holiday sales to buy one though.

Tour2ma · September 2003

Joe6,
How ya been? Long time no post...

phoneisbusy · September 2003

Originally posted by PETERNG
I have 3 S-VHS decks sitting "duck" and collecting dust ever since I obtained the Panny DVD recorder about a 9 months ago. Now I do a lot of digital recording via computer than the pany deck, a lot faster, various oprions for editing and also the ability of making back up copy of commercial DVD discs including the new MP4 format for those compact HDD players. I still using the VCR tuners when watching and record live TV since they have the DNR features, very useful, other than that, they're pretty much history...:)

Peter,

What sort of program/hardware are you using on the computer?
That's always been one of those "I'd really like to do that" items.
Now that I got the new computer set up. Well, copying all the data from the old computer over...

Well, after that, it's something I'd like to look into.

regards

Dave

organ · September 2003

One day I'm going to need a DVD recorder. I have too many dirty movies on VHS that are taking too much space. How many hours of VHS transfer can you get into one DVD?

Maurice

mantis · September 2003

DVD recorders are really coming down in price.Now is the time to jump.There are alot of great models on the market right now.Sony's being the leader.

Burn away I say

brettw22 · September 2003

I just have a problem with anything from Sony. I've had a few Sony things, and generally speaking, I've found their build quality to be slightly above **** level........

polkatese · September 2003

Brett, it's true to a point, until you get to their Elevated Standard (ES) series, which I found to be "the way to go" when it comes to Sony. I have the two Analog XBR ES directview TV that are still performing perfectly, and a regular analog TV that even the repair shop got sick of trying to repair it and failed miserably. It's still working, but has a temper on its own. when it decides to act up, then it will, nothing I can do about it.

joe6pak · September 2003

Peter.

I don't have a computer so all those advantages that the computer has over the stand alone recorder don't pertain to me. Maybe I should have bought a computer instead of the Panny?

GZ

What I ment by being more complicated is that The dvd recorder has a few more features than vcrs. More choices in the set up and more options, like watching a show from the start while it is still being recorded, editing recordings and creating play lists. It just does more stuff, so there is more to learn. If an old **** like me can manage this machine, most others should be able to handle it.

Tour

I have been O.K. You are right long time no post. That was probably good news to some.

organ

That depends on the recording speed you use. I have not tested this yet but the info on my blank dvd-r says lp speed holds 240 minutes, sp is 120 min, xp is 60 minutes. I do know that the faster the better. If you have some high quality dirty movies you would want to go with the best. I wonder if they are copy protected tapes.

mantis, brettw22 & polkatese

Sony, Panny, or others? I guess I will stay out of the brand debate for now.

joe

Tour2ma · September 2003

polka,
So basically Sony proudly proclaims that they have at a double standard when it comes to home AV equipment? Hell of a marketing plan there.

BTW, I own/ owned Sony SSS (sub standard series) gear, a CD carousel (bit it) and a DVD carousel (still in operation). Decent, user friendly performers when they work, but the CDP was only two years old when it went down.

And I hear you on their TV's. They've regularly clocked in with one of the highest repair rates in CR's reviews.

PETERNG · September 2003

The DVD burner in the computer does have a lot advantage features than the DVD recorder deck. It will record faster (4x). I can copy of a entire commercial movie DVD for less than 30 minutes (burn to HD then rip it back to blank DVD, you can't do this on DVD-R deck, must be done via computer), for making copy from digital video tape, is a lot faster, but it also depends on how extensive you want to edit your tape...before burn it to DVD. And yes...for computer, Sony drive is rated the best drive, second is the TDK Indy..., burn faster, more reliable, and the DVD copy works in most DVD players.

Dave:

Depend on how extensive editing you want, there are many commercial software available, a list of those softwares are available on the videomaker magaginze.com.

Joe:

You're doing fine, Panny deck is great (Panny offers more HD space than any other DVD-R and the firewire IEE 1394 input...), but you're going to need the computer soon if you want to do better...

How complicate is the DVD-R?, it's more simple than the operation of your current VCR...very easy to use...

madmax · September 2003

Just the other day at Best Buy I asked a salesman if you could record audio only on a dvd and he said you can record the full dvd with audio only which would include all of the video space. Is this true?
madmax

PETERNG · September 2003

Yes, you can Madmax, and pretty much depends on the software you use also. Depend on the source that you make copy from: digital or analog, they will be convert to Dolby digital track in DVD, and sometimes you may have to rip them to the HDD before you copy them back to the blank DVD. I haven't make copy of audio only DVD but I know with the software I'm using, I can. I made copy of a DVD-Audio sample disc and it works...:)

madmax · September 2003

So that means you could put like 16 CD's worth of music on one disc?
madmax

PETERNG · September 2003

You can put a lot of music on 4.7 gig of data space:) :cool:

madmax · September 2003

If you recorded analog music what format would it be on the disc? 24/96? CD quality? Maybe it's selectable?
madmax

Frag_em · September 2003

Originally posted by brettw22
I just have a problem with anything from Sony. I've had a few Sony things, and generally speaking, I've found their build quality to be slightly above **** level........

Tell that to my '91 Sony VCR, and my '91 Sony ES receiver, my '85 Walkman, '94 car stereo and the '00 Sony VCR. I've put many, many hours of use on all these pieces without so much as a glitch from any of them. Note only one bit of ES gear in the above list

The newest VCR does not inspire awe at its build quality (no worse than other current VCRs), but the '91 is incredible.

Everyone I know has gone through component after component in the period I've owned the Sony stuff. I have not been unhappy with any Sony product. I'm sorry your experience was not as satisfying as mine.

Elton

Bye, Bye VHS tapes.

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