DVD Recorder - worth it ?

[Steviey]

Been browsing in Currys and the like today and my eyes just can not stop catching the glare of those recorders. I believe there are only two out of the moment, Panasonic and a Philips. Has anyone got one of these babies and can anyone recomend them. I believe you can record upto 4 hours but I imagine this is at it's highest compression...Views would be appreciated..

Thanx all.

[threadkiller]

I'd leave it a while, for prices to drop. Buy a Tivo instead :)

[Ridcully]

Seconded. Get a TIVO or Sky plus. Any stuff you really want to keep archive to VHS or by the DVD.

When all the DVD recording standard war has finshed then it will be worth getting one but that's at least a year away. By that time all the stuff you archived will be shown again so you can record it on DVD recordable

[richie99]

Saw an advert for a new JVC machine yesterday :
One half is a 40gig hard drive and the other half is a S-VHS deck.
Ideal for recording stuff and archiving the best bits !
Unfortunately it didn't have a price, so I bet it's a lot....

[Ron Hill]

I bought a new VCR (a Thomson VTH7090) in August and after it had to
be returned because of a dodgy load/eject mechanism the repaired
player has just jammed AGAIN on eject.

I HATE VHS!!!

Crappy analog, too many moving parts to go wrong, horrible space
wasting cassettes that degrade easily. Bleeuchh old technology
rubbish.

My ideal box would be a sky+ with an integrated DVD recorder but
I need a recording solution NOW so as soon as I get this VCR refunded
i'm going for Sky+

DEATH TO VCR's!

[Neon]

Ron, don't wait, get one now. People like me (poor) need people like you (rich) to buy these things and bring the prices down :)

[Justin]

Originally posted by Steviey
Been browsing in Currys and the like today and my eyes just can not stop catching the glare of those recorders. I believe there are only two out of the moment, Panasonic and a Philips. Has anyone got one of these babies and can anyone recomend them. I believe you can record upto 4 hours but I imagine this is at it's highest compression...Views would be appreciated..

Thanx all.

The panasonics worth a look at (been using one at home for a while). Unlike the philips and upcoming sony / pioneer models it offers tivo / sky+ features. Other half uses it a lot currently to achive all her seinfields / etc from sky+, and I use it a lot for home movies, as its got some nifty video editing features compared to SVHS edit decks:)

However, if you are only wanting one for timeshifting, rather then compiling discs or home editing, you`d be better off buying a tivo or upgrading to sky plus (even though its bug ridden currently!).

[keoma]

I've got both the Philips and Panasonic machines.
Bought the Philips first and was happy archiving stuff recorded
off Tivo and Sky but things changed when I went to do stuff off VHS.
Documentaies and series were fine but when I went to do music
stuff I got the occasional slur in the audio. After some investigation it turned out to be the fault of the Philips.
This ********* me off no end so when I found out that the Panasonic didn't do this I tried one out and once I saw the price of DVD-R was under £4 I just had to get one (especially as you get an extra hour in LP which is perfectly acceptable quality).
Both machines have their advantages but in hindsight I wouldn't have bought the Philips but what the hell, I've got the DVD+RW base covered.