Best HDD / DVD recorder?
Discussion
I'm possibly in the market for a combined Hard disk / DVD recorder.
1. I have no digital signal / freeview / sky, but I understand this doesn't matter.
2. Looking for about 80-120gb drive, not bothered about the DVD format.
3. Need digital optical out and DTS.
4. want to spend about £250-300.
Do any PHers have any suggestions?
Thanks in advance! :thumbup:
1. I have no digital signal / freeview / sky, but I understand this doesn't matter.
2. Looking for about 80-120gb drive, not bothered about the DVD format.
3. Need digital optical out and DTS.
4. want to spend about £250-300.
Do any PHers have any suggestions?
Thanks in advance! :thumbup:
I've just invested in the Sony RDR-HX510, which comes with a 80Gb hard drive and can be had for about 280.
So far I'm very impressed with it. Took a couple of hours to get it set up to my liking, but now it's great. Added bonus of writing dual layer discs.
So much better than a VCR.
Kelvin
>> Edited by popey on Saturday 9th July 19:51
So far I'm very impressed with it. Took a couple of hours to get it set up to my liking, but now it's great. Added bonus of writing dual layer discs.
So much better than a VCR.
Kelvin
>> Edited by popey on Saturday 9th July 19:51
tvrbob said:
What ever you buy make sure it's DVD-R. DVD+R is the Betamax of DVD recording.
Personally and after a fair amount of research I bought a Panasonic DMR E85H. It's been with me for a couple of years and has been fine.
Bought an E85H a few weeks ago. Nice piece of kit. Mate bought one as well 2 weeks ago.
www.dabs.com/uk/channels/homeentertainment/homeaudiovideo/productView.htm?quicklinx=3Q1K
bought it a month ago. Never needed the instuction manual. Superb piece of kit, makes all the others look like a waste of money.
bought it a month ago. Never needed the instuction manual. Superb piece of kit, makes all the others look like a waste of money.
Julian64 said:
www.dabs.com/uk/channels/homeentertainment/homeaudiovideo/productView.htm?quicklinx=3Q1K
bought it a month ago. Never needed the instuction manual. Superb piece of kit, makes all the others look like a waste of money.
That was one I had my eye on yesterday in a shop. Nearly just went and bought it, but wanted to do some more research beforehand.
If you are thinking of it, It has some nice features I recently discovered.
It can easily be switched to multiregion through a secret menu system. So simple to do its as if they were trying to tell you.
It has a firewire port on the front that you can connect your camcorder to, to record or play, or make a DVD/CD of home videos complete with menu. You can store 191 hours of video on the 160GB HDD!!!!!
Didn't know it did this before buying, maybe I should really read the manual?
It can easily be switched to multiregion through a secret menu system. So simple to do its as if they were trying to tell you.
It has a firewire port on the front that you can connect your camcorder to, to record or play, or make a DVD/CD of home videos complete with menu. You can store 191 hours of video on the 160GB HDD!!!!!
Didn't know it did this before buying, maybe I should really read the manual?

Julian64 said:
www.dabs.com/uk/channels/homeentertainment/homeaudiovideo/productView.htm?quicklinx=3Q1K
bought it a month ago. Never needed the instuction manual. Superb piece of kit, makes all the others look like a waste of money.
Can it use DVD- , after the previous post is this a problem?
juk said:
Julian64 said:
<a href="www.dabs.com/uk/channels/homeentertainment/homeaudiovideo/productView.htm?quicklinx=3Q1K"><a href="www.dabs.com/uk/channels/homeentertainment/homeaudiovideo/productView.htm?quicklinx=3Q1K">www.dabs.com/uk/channels/homeentertainment/homeaudiovideo/productView.htm?quicklinx=3Q1K</a></a>
bought it a month ago. Never needed the instuction manual. Superb piece of kit, makes all the others look like a waste of money.
Can it use DVD- , after the previous post is this a problem?
Yep, uses both without a hiccup, and CDRW, very useful for photos. Recently a friends daughter was on the local news for five minutes. I recorded the program, edited it to just the five minutes and put it on CDR all in less time than it took to record.
The only problem I had was that a few people came back with the CDR and asked for it to go on DVD as their DVD players couldn't play CDR!
But the best thing about it, and I don't think this is common to all. If you decide to record a film you can delay the start and then watch it before the film has ended. You can do this both for just delaying to watch, and recording it.
>> Edited by Julian64 on Monday 11th July 11:55
Julian64 said:
If you are thinking of it, It has some nice features I recently discovered.
It can easily be switched to multiregion through a secret menu system. So simple to do its as if they were trying to tell you.![]()
....
Go on then, tell all. Mine has just arrived to the office, I can't wait to get home and start playing around with my new gadget...
Julian64 said:
www.dabs.com/uk/channels/homeentertainment/homeaudiovideo/productView.htm?quicklinx=3Q1K
bought it a month ago. Never needed the instuction manual. Superb piece of kit, makes all the others look like a waste of money.
Sorry to dig up an old thread, but the URL no longer works.. what was the make & model? thx!
Thanks, I'll check it out. I'm mostly interested in the increase in quality of recordings over VHS, and the saving in storage space. Although I can already archive VHS to DVD with my Iomega DVD burner, which has a built in capture card.. actually it also handles DV cameras and can record from my TV service (Homechoice) but it's a little more hassle, requiring to capture to the PC's hard drive first, and doesn't have a timer etc. Shame that blank dual layer DVDs are 5 times the price of single layer ones though.
I still see a problem though, in order to record from a digital TV channel, the set top box will need to be set to that channel in advance, thus it isn't much good for recording anything other than channels 1 to 5 whilst on holiday. Same with the VHS of course.
I still see a problem though, in order to record from a digital TV channel, the set top box will need to be set to that channel in advance, thus it isn't much good for recording anything other than channels 1 to 5 whilst on holiday. Same with the VHS of course.
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