Hi all,

I want to buy a DVD Recorder toi start transfering my tapes to DVD. I have the $ now to buy one, but am utterly confused as to which ones to buy. We actually bought a couple of them to test out, but they only seemed to play on the specific recorder and not any other DVD player. I don't know if I was doing something wrong.

I would love to know what the best model is out there that will play on most if not all DVD players. I am really new at this, so if you could just go into detail, I would really apprciate it. I literally have at least 600 videos, and it's taking up too much space. Your comments and help are greatly apprciated. I really want to hear from those who actually own and operate one, rather than those who have heard what is good and not. Thanks again.

I've got 2 Philips recorders (75 and 80, + format) and 1 Panasonic (80, - format). Here's what I've concluded:

Generally speaking, I find the Philips provide better picture quality (less pixelation), but to me, the real issue depends on exactly what you're going to use it for.

Are your tapes old and maybe not so great quality? If so, you definitely want the Panny as it will accept weak signals, whereas the Philips just stops recording temporarily till the signal quality improves. With a Philips, you'd need to buy some sort of video stabilizer in order for it to recognize a valid signal.

Are you recording music concerts? The Panny does a horrible job when strobe effects are used, Philips handles them very nicely. Also, if you want to be able to add chapter markers at specific points of your choosing (ie. each song) then you'd have to go with Philips as Panny does not offer this feature. Actually, the Panasonic E100 does have this feature but is one of the more expensive recorders available.

Are you recording tv shows and wanting to remove the ads? The Panny wins that one hands down as you can do to-the-frame editing. With the Philips you can only edit on every 12th frame. Lots of stations don't broadcast 12 frames worth of "black space" between shows/ads so you often end up having to cut out some of the show or including some of the ads.

The Philips has component input, the Panny does not, which is a shame.

Do you need PAL and NTSC capabilities? If so, you need a Philips.

The - format is probably most compatible with other formats, I read somewhere recently that 97% of players will read -R, compared to 84% for +RW. (Personally, I've never lent a +RW disc to anybody who couldn't play it.)

I love both brands as each has their uses. But if I had to choose only one, I would buy the Panasonic E100 with 120GB hard drive, picture menus, personalized chapter inserts, flexible time recording... the works.

Good luck!

Originally posted by lazygrae
I've got 2 Philips recorders (75 and 80, + format) and 1 Panasonic (80, - format). Here's what I've concluded:


Are you recording music concerts? Also, if you want to be able to add chapter markers at specific points of your choosing (ie. each song) then you'd have to go with Philips as Panny does not offer this feature. Actually, the Panasonic E100 does have this feature but is one of the more expensive recorders available.


You can put in manual chapter marks on the Pan E80, it's just that they won't show up as chapter selections on the dvd's main menu screen. Manual chapter marks on the E80 are saved to disc if you're dubbing at high-speed.

I'd suggest above all you pick a unit with a hard drive built into it. I had an original panasonic e30 and sold it to purchase one of the 80's with a hard drive built in a few months ago. I record everything in XP mode (the 80 gets roughly 18 hours at this speed) and then "edit" it using the playlist feature, burning it to DVD in "Flex" mode usually which I've found offers excellent quality.

The hard drive is great if you plan on recording TV shows off-air and editing them to DVD later like I'm doing, or if you like archiving sports events. The black fade space nearly all stations use when going from a program to a commercial can be used to edit out commercials PERFECTLY on the panasonic unit, as one of the other posters described. I've done this with many tv show episodes, tv movies and espn broadcasts. it looks great this way, and you never lose any of the program.

Originally posted by Chad Palmer
I'd suggest above all you pick a unit with a hard drive built into it. I had an original panasonic e30 and sold it to purchase one of the 80's with a hard drive built in a few months ago. I record everything in XP mode (the 80 gets roughly 18 hours at this speed) and then "edit" it using the playlist feature, burning it to DVD in "Flex" mode usually which I've found offers excellent quality.

The hard drive is great if you plan on recording TV shows off-air and editing them to DVD later like I'm doing, or if you like archiving sports events. The black fade space nearly all stations use when going from a program to a commercial can be used to edit out commercials PERFECTLY on the panasonic unit, as one of the other posters described. I've done this with many tv show episodes, tv movies and espn broadcasts. it looks great this way, and you never lose any of the program.

I agree with this, though I've gotten into the habit of taping so much stuff, I tape in SP mode because I wouldn't be able to catch up quick enough in terms of burning to disc what I've stored on the hard drive. Space gets taken up pretty quickly, and I always record to the hard drive first for the purpose of editing. I've been trying to make my own "Different World" dvd collection from the episodes broadcast on Oxygen, but unfortunately they're kinda stingy with that black fade space leading into commercial breaks.

You can put in manual chapter marks on the Pan E80

How? Please.

Say you have a program on the hard drive you're about to dub to dvd-r. As you playback (or fast-scan) through the program, at each point you'd want a new chapter to start, you'd press the button that says "marker" on the remote. Do this for each point throughout the program where you want your chapter marks. Your personal marks are definitely saved if you use high speed dubbing, but I don't believe it works with other dubbing modes.

Originally posted by vashti1999
I agree with this, though I've gotten into the habit of taping so much stuff, I tape in SP mode because I wouldn't be able to catch up quick enough in terms of burning to disc what I've stored on the hard drive. Space gets taken up pretty quickly, and I always record to the hard drive first for the purpose of editing. I've been trying to make my own "Different World" dvd collection from the episodes broadcast on Oxygen, but unfortunately they're kinda stingy with that black fade space leading into commercial breaks.

I've never dropped below 6 hours of free space on mine & I record everything in XP so I've been doing pretty good. It all depends on how much you record.

This is basically the scenario I've been following though, anything I have on tape & want to go to DVD I always record to the hard drive in XP, edit, then burn to disc. I've run into the same problem with editing out commercials though, sometimes you don't get any black space between the commercial & the program. That drives me crazy when it happens. I'm a perfectionist ;-)

Originally posted by Chad Palmer
I've never dropped below 6 hours of free space on mine & I record everything in XP so I've been doing pretty good. It all depends on how much you record.

This is basically the scenario I've been following though, anything I have on tape & want to go to DVD I always record to the hard drive in XP, edit, then burn to disc. I've run into the same problem with editing out commercials though, sometimes you don't get any black space between the commercial & the program. That drives me crazy when it happens. I'm a perfectionist ;-)

Same here, 98 times out of 100, I'll record to the hard drive first, for editing purposes. I like setting the cut off point at the exact perfect spot. I'd do what you mentioned in terms of recording in XP and dubbing in FR, but I've had my machine for just two months, so the newness and excitement of being able to record and save to dvd anything that I have the slightest interest in hasn't worn off yet. I have it set to record a bunch of stuff daily when I'm at work, then once I'm finally through editing, I'm too tired/lazy to burn to disc. That's what i meant by not being quick enough to catch up. I always want to leave a certain amount of hours available on the hd just in case there's something else to come along I might be interested in.

My head is spinning! :happyface

Originally posted by RoseNylund
My head is spinning! :happyface

Try the Panasonic E80. For transferring your old vhs tapes to dvd or recording tv shows to the hard drive to watch or dub to dvd later, the E80 can do it for a relatively inexpensive price, and disc compatibility hasn't been a problem for me yet. If you're willing to spend more $$$, there's other models with more features.