For those VHS to DVD collectors - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

RoseNylund · 02-08-2004, 02:45 PM

Hi,

I have read a lot of info on DVD recorders here. Just out of curiosity, when you trade with folks who have their shows on DVD, what is the most popular format you receive? Does it make a difference what format you accept. I want to buy a DVD recorder, and the prices are lower than ever now, but I still don't know which one. I was told that I should find one that makes DVD-R discs because that seems to be the format. People don't want DVD-RW or DVD+RW, do they? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

quest-for-eternity · 02-08-2004, 05:44 PM

DVD-R has the best compatibility with dvd players at about 92%.
DVD+R about 87%, and DVD+RW/DVD-RW about 76% compatibility. You can always get a recorder that can burn any format that way your always covered.

Agent 13 · 02-08-2004, 05:53 PM

A trader I've worked with has a recorder that does both DVD+Rs and DVD-Rs. Since I can only play DVD-Rs, he made them that way for me, though he admitted that it was the first time he did as most of the other traders he'd dealt with wanted DVD+Rs.

I got them in the DVD-R format, and they play cruddy on my DVD player, like the shows are 4th generation or worse. When I mentioned this to the trader, he was surprised because he'd always gotten high praise for his DVDs.

I don't know what the deal was with his recorder, but after that experience, I'm not too interested in having a DVD+R recorder. Do I make sense?

y2k3Joker · 02-08-2004, 09:27 PM

I just got my Panasonic DVD Recorder. Made my first couple of DVDs this weekend. Everything went ok. Mine has a hard drive built in so what I did was transfer my tapes onto the hard drive and then edited out commercaisls.

I too work with DVD-r
RW discs won't work with my machine - I don't think DVD recorders accept RW format at all. (not sure about this).

The only thing I wish it had was more options to create picture menus.

tdubel · 02-08-2004, 10:54 PM

I have both Plus R and Minus R and have actually found Plus R are the best quality and play on the oldest dvd players, I have not had any incompatibility issues, I like both machines and have done well with either. The only discs that are not compatible as much are the read/write from either PlusRW or MinusRw. Those are the only ones that caused me any issues.
Tom

vashti1999 · 02-09-2004, 10:15 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by y2k3Joker
I just got my Panasonic DVD Recorder. Made my first couple of DVDs this weekend. Everything went ok. Mine has a hard drive built in so what I did was transfer my tapes onto the hard drive and then edited out commercaisls.

I too work with DVD-r
RW discs won't work with my machine - I don't think DVD recorders accept RW format at all. (not sure about this).

The only thing I wish it had was more options to create picture menus.

Pan E80? I have the same one. It's a good machine, use it everyday. I agree about the menu, only nine different color backgrounds for text menus, but other than that, with the hard drive I've been able to do all I hoped. The machine works with dvd-ram, which comes in handy for me since I already had a portable Panasonic player that I use at work. I record something to the ram disc, watch it the next day, erase that program, record something else.

y2k3Joker · 02-09-2004, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Pan E80? I have the same one. It's a good machine, use it everyday. I agree about the menu, only nine different color backgrounds for text menus, but other than that, with the hard drive I've been able to do all I hoped. The machine works with dvd-ram, which comes in handy for me since I already had a portable Panasonic player that I use at work. I record something to the ram disc, watch it the next day, erase that program, record something else.

Yup! the E80 great machine.

One question maybe you can answer for me ....?

When you edit something you recorded on the hard drive (a playlist), Can you dub it to DVD-R in high-speed? I haven't been able to do this?

I have the "DVD-R compatible REC" set to "ON" and it won't dub playlists in hi-speed. Am I doing something wrong? or is this how it is.

Stuff I don't touch (no edit) I'm able to dub to DVD in hi-speed.

Beavis · 02-09-2004, 12:44 PM

DVD-R and DVD-RWs all the way!

vashti1999 · 02-09-2004, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by y2k3Joker
Yup! the E80 great machine.

One question maybe you can answer for me ....?

When you edit something you recorded on the hard drive (a playlist), Can you dub it to DVD-R in high-speed? I haven't been able to do this?

I have the "DVD-R compatible REC" set to "ON" and it won't dub playlists in hi-speed. Am I doing something wrong? or is this how it is.

Stuff I don't touch (no edit) I'm able to dub to DVD in hi-speed.

Off the top of my head, I don't remember not being able to dub in high-speed something that I edited first. Now that I think about it, I have made a number of discs of music video collections where I edited out stuff, set chapters marks and dubbed at high speed with no problem. I'll have to check out my machine once I'm home, I forget what setting I have it on, but it is possible to do that.

y2k3Joker · 02-09-2004, 03:34 PM

Quote:

Off the top of my head, I don't remember not being able to dub in high-speed something that I edited first. Now that I think about it, I have made a number of discs of music video collections where I edited out stuff, set chapters marks and dubbed at high speed with no problem. I'll have to check out my machine once I'm home, I forget what setting I have it on, but it is possible to do that.

I figured it out .... the editing has to be done with the function "shorten segment"

Everything's cool now, taking me 47 minutes to burn a DVD (LP mode - 4 hours of programming)

Dogma66603 · 03-03-2004, 09:17 PM

Is it possible to make custom menus?

For example, if I made a couple DVDs with The Simpsons Season 4, could I make a menu that actually says "Simpsons: Season 4" and then have all the episodes accesible underneath or something like that?

And are DVD recorders easy to use? Is it easy to switch VHS tapes into DVD and does the quality increase?

y2k3Joker · 03-03-2004, 09:35 PM

Menus can only be text with a one of nine different color backgrounds. Some examples below.
Transfering tapes to DVD is simple. If you can operate a VCR you can operate a DVD recorder.
+ it has built in TBC (time base corrector) so it does improve the quality of tapes a little bit.

cp32 · 03-03-2004, 10:35 PM

You can use RW + with the philips plus capture and image from any episode for a title menu.

I ve heard of Time base correction. Never actually used it. Is it a built in video enhancer?

stabilizers can boost quality a little among other things

Dogma66603 · 03-03-2004, 10:36 PM

Thanks! Do those menus come with every kind of DVD recorder, and if not what kind do you have?

Also, does it have to say "Episode #__" or can you actually write the title of the episode?

And I noticed there's 8 spots there. Can you fit 8 1 hour episodes on a disc or is that just the amount it gives?

y2k3Joker · 03-03-2004, 10:50 PM

I have the E-80 model with the 80 gig hard drive.
I'm not sure if all the models have the 9 menu screens. I think the older models only have 1 (bit I'm not sure)

You can write whatever you want. There is a screen with an alpha-numeric menu where you can write whatever you want.
I just used Episode #1 because for "Survivor" most people just refer to them as episode 1, episode 2 etc ....
You can write any title you want.

There is more room for extra episodes. Each page contains 8 entries. That's why you see "NEXT" at the bottom of the screen. That's to flip to the next page.
If there were 2 or more pages, in the top right hand you would see a note like .... "1/2" (page 1 of 2 )

Hope this helps.

02-08-2004, 05:53 PM	#3
Agent 13 Member Senior Member Join Date: Feb 02, 2003 Location: Good ol' USA Posts: 1,510	A trader I've worked with has a recorder that does both DVD+Rs and DVD-Rs. Since I can only play DVD-Rs, he made them that way for me, though he admitted that it was the first time he did as most of the other traders he'd dealt with wanted DVD+Rs. I got them in the DVD-R format, and they play cruddy on my DVD player, like the shows are 4th generation or worse. When I mentioned this to the trader, he was surprised because he'd always gotten high praise for his DVDs. I don't know what the deal was with his recorder, but after that experience, I'm not too interested in having a DVD+R recorder. Do I make sense?
	__________________ It often requires more courage to dare to do right than to fear to do wrong. Abraham Lincoln

02-08-2004, 10:54 PM	#5
tdubel Member Forum Regular Join Date: May 08, 2002 Posts: 677	Comments I have both Plus R and Minus R and have actually found Plus R are the best quality and play on the oldest dvd players, I have not had any incompatibility issues, I like both machines and have done well with either. The only discs that are not compatible as much are the read/write from either PlusRW or MinusRw. Those are the only ones that caused me any issues. Tom

02-09-2004, 12:44 PM	#8
Beavis Member Forum Regular Join Date: Sep 19, 2003 Location: TVLAND Posts: 725	DVD-R and DVD-RWs all the way!
	__________________

03-03-2004, 10:35 PM	#13
cp32 Member Frequent Poster Join Date: May 26, 2003 Location: Wintersville Oh Posts: 385	For those VHS to DVD collectors You can use RW + with the philips plus capture and image from any episode for a title menu. I ve heard of Time base correction. Never actually used it. Is it a built in video enhancer? stabilizers can boost quality a little among other things

02-08-2004, 02:45 PM	#1
RoseNylund Back in St. Olaf... Frequent Poster Join Date: Jan 19, 2003 Posts: 248	For those VHS to DVD collectors Hi, I have read a lot of info on DVD recorders here. Just out of curiosity, when you trade with folks who have their shows on DVD, what is the most popular format you receive? Does it make a difference what format you accept. I want to buy a DVD recorder, and the prices are lower than ever now, but I still don't know which one. I was told that I should find one that makes DVD-R discs because that seems to be the format. People don't want DVD-RW or DVD+RW, do they? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

02-08-2004, 05:44 PM	#2
quest-for-eternity Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Feb 07, 2004 Location: Southern California Posts: 14	DVD-R has the best compatibility with dvd players at about 92%. DVD+R about 87%, and DVD+RW/DVD-RW about 76% compatibility. You can always get a recorder that can burn any format that way your always covered.

02-08-2004, 09:27 PM	#4
y2k3Joker Why So Serious? Senior Member Join Date: Aug 28, 2003 Location: Arkham Asylum Posts: 1,256	I just got my Panasonic DVD Recorder. Made my first couple of DVDs this weekend. Everything went ok. Mine has a hard drive built in so what I did was transfer my tapes onto the hard drive and then edited out commercaisls. I too work with DVD-r RW discs won't work with my machine - I don't think DVD recorders accept RW format at all. (not sure about this). The only thing I wish it had was more options to create picture menus.

03-03-2004, 09:17 PM	#11
Dogma66603 Banned Banned!! Frequent Poster Join Date: Dec 24, 2003 Posts: 330	Is it possible to make custom menus? For example, if I made a couple DVDs with The Simpsons Season 4, could I make a menu that actually says "Simpsons: Season 4" and then have all the episodes accesible underneath or something like that? And are DVD recorders easy to use? Is it easy to switch VHS tapes into DVD and does the quality increase?

03-03-2004, 09:35 PM	#12
y2k3Joker Why So Serious? Senior Member Join Date: Aug 28, 2003 Location: Arkham Asylum Posts: 1,256	Menus can only be text with a one of nine different color backgrounds. Some examples below. Transfering tapes to DVD is simple. If you can operate a VCR you can operate a DVD recorder. + it has built in TBC (time base corrector) so it does improve the quality of tapes a little bit.

03-03-2004, 10:36 PM	#14
Dogma66603 Banned Banned!! Frequent Poster Join Date: Dec 24, 2003 Posts: 330	Thanks! Do those menus come with every kind of DVD recorder, and if not what kind do you have? Also, does it have to say "Episode #__" or can you actually write the title of the episode? And I noticed there's 8 spots there. Can you fit 8 1 hour episodes on a disc or is that just the amount it gives?

03-03-2004, 10:50 PM	#15
y2k3Joker Why So Serious? Senior Member Join Date: Aug 28, 2003 Location: Arkham Asylum Posts: 1,256	I have the E-80 model with the 80 gig hard drive. I'm not sure if all the models have the 9 menu screens. I think the older models only have 1 (bit I'm not sure) You can write whatever you want. There is a screen with an alpha-numeric menu where you can write whatever you want. I just used Episode #1 because for "Survivor" most people just refer to them as episode 1, episode 2 etc .... You can write any title you want. There is more room for extra episodes. Each page contains 8 entries. That's why you see "NEXT" at the bottom of the screen. That's to flip to the next page. If there were 2 or more pages, in the top right hand you would see a note like .... "1/2" (page 1 of 2 ) Hope this helps.