Time for a standalone DVD recorder but which one ?

[Dr_Fruitbat]

As title, It's about time I got rid of the VHS and bought a new
standalone DVD recorder. Price not important but
do want value for money and preferably a DVD-R type
recorder.

Any recommendations or ones to avoid ?

TIA

[Fozzybear]

Will you be using it to record from a Sky box? A large majority of recorders only record in S-Video at best, which sky boxes normally don't output (unless you've a Sky+ box), so you could end up having to use composite. The Sony and Panasonic recorders use -R and can record from RGB.

Recommendations? Well I've got an E50 so I'm biased, but I reckon the Panasonic E55 would be a good choice unless you want to lend out recordings on re-writable media as the Pannys use DVD-RAM which is not compatible with most DVD players (but is very robust).

If you do a search in this forum you should see lots of discussions on this topic.

[JamesThomson]

The E55 is available for £215 which seems good value.

[Dr_Fruitbat]

Ta for advice, I will check that one out :)

[agnetha]

Depends if you want a standard recorder or one with a hard drive.

Having seen both the Panasonic HS2 and E85 in action, I can't receommend them enough. If you already have a Tivo or Sky+ then you may not require the HD facilities, but otherwise I'd go for one. It makes editing and recording onto DVD an absolute doddle and without disc wastage, it works pretty much just like a VCR but better and more flexible and is a fabulous piece of kit :)