This may have been discussed before but keeping in mind that technology changes so fast, I thought it would be worthwhile asking.

I'm in the market for a hard drive recorder (partly for next retro season). What type would you guys recommend.

Personally I'd prefer one that is still a DVD player and recorder (as some models I've seen online appear to only have a hard drive?). I'd like to be able to record material onto the hard-drive and then edit and burn it direct on the machine to DVD-R and have them compatible for all other DVD machines.

Also I need one with the capacity to convert old 4:3 tv to full screen aspect ratio so I don't get the bars I've always been dissatisfied with on the picture through the stand alone tuners I have.

Other features like twin tuning and expandable hard-drive capacity are optional.

I've tried downloading some manuals but the companies seem to get a bit precious about it.

Can anyone help. We had an alert not to buy Panasonic machines recently. What about the LG HDD DVD RH397D model or the OLIN HD Personal VR SB2014? Soes anyone have a preference from a recording classic 4:3 tv perspective.

If anyone has some advice or could recommend a unit I'd appreciate it.

Cheers,

Kyron

Hi Kyron, I have two 2009 model Panasonic units. One is the Blu-Ray recorder, twin tuner with 500gb HDD, and the other is the DVD recorder with twin tuner & 250 gb HDD, they both get a fairly hard work out & both have been excellent and very user friendly with lot's of cool features. Never had any problem with either, as I did have with an older model Sony DVD recorder. But, I guess like nearly all electronics these days, they are made in China, so you really would imagine that what's inside these is cheap components.

Whatever you do, DO NOT buy anything made by LG, which I refer to as Low Grade. Everything I have bought from them has either broken down within a year or so or has major design faults.

In 2005 I bought an LG DVD/video and it couldn't handle recording more than ten titles to a disc. When you tried to finalise the discs it would malfunction and display a message saying "Finalisation has failed". You then had to throw the disc away. Also the timer could only store 8 presets. I paid $799.00 for it and ended up selling it for $200.00 on eBay.

A video/DVD player we bought broke down and was replaced free under warranty. The old and new ones lost all information in a blackout or if unplugged meaning everything had to be reprogrammed.

Since then I have only bought Panasonic equipment which has always been reliable and durable.

I'd definately go Pioneer! Never had an issue with them, aside from overuse! They have nice menus unlike alot of others also.

I've used a Pioneer HDD/DVD-Recorder (albeit SD and not HD) since March 2005, and have never had a problem with it, other than mistakenly wiping its contents twice :(

Hi John,

I've found LG to be rather hit and miss. I have an older DVD burner which I refer to as my work horse. I bought another (slightly different model) and it has been nothing but a pain in the arse. It's got four repair stickers on the back and now its recently developed another problem with the head in the video part of it. I find it hard to believe they were made by the same company.

I fear that LG might be a company to avoid. 4-500$ is a massive amount of money for me and I want to make the right choice.

Thanks to all of you for helping. I'm also thinking of renting for a while to test a model out and help improve my credit rating. A pioneer might be the go?

I'm like Nathan - I've had a Pioneer HDD/DVD multi-region player/recorder since March 2005 and it hasn't given me any problems at all.

Really simple to use and works very well - would recommend that brand for sure.

Eerie similarities!

The only problem I had initially was (back then when 8x discs were the standard), I would often get coasters when burning at full speed. But if I reduced the burning speed to 4x, it would usually burn OK. Now that I use 16x discs, it automatically encodes them at 4x speed, so usually not resulting in any problems.

Also, at the time I got an 80GB HDD thinking it would be ample, rather than opt for the slightly more expensive model with double the space. In hindsight I should have gone for the more data storage option.

One of the best things about the model that I have is that I can increase the audio input up to 6dB - so if encoding a quiet VHS tape or something, I can increase the volume of it.

I'm going to rue the day my Pioneer HDD/DVD Recorder goes kaput, because I don't really want to "upgrade" (sic) to HD/widescreen yet.

Hi people

I would recommend going for a HDD recorder instead of a DVD/HDD recorder. I have never come across a DVD recorder combo (DVD-R, VHS/DVD-R or HDD/DVD-R) that is honestly worth having. The units I have come across, Panasonic, LG and a few no-names none of which I could trust to successfully finalize disc or play a disc in a years time. I remember one LG which had more menu screens than the Best of Blur DVD. I have seen 2 different model LG recorders stacked together reprogram themselves such that both remote controls worked with both recorders at the same time. You have no idea how annoying that is.

Personally I use a Beyonwiz DP-P1 with 250GB hard drive, not the cheapest PVR going around but the extra cost was worth it. Intuitive menus and controls (albeit slightly Chinese), it happily runs non-stop for days on end and recordings are easily downloaded though its network connection. Only main issue I have with it is the clock looses time like mad, it lost 2 minutes over the past month. It also has a habit of failing to start a timer if there is many qued up one after the other.

Things I would look for:

Hard drive 250GB or bigger.

Network socket but NO wireless capability.

Lots of video and audio output plugs. MY DP-P1 will output everything in PAL and NTSC.

simple menus that don't have deep sub menus.

The ability to press a button after entering a channel to make it switch faster. In the case of my PVR I press '2' then 'ok' it switches instantly not in 4 seconds time as it waits for all 3 numbers.


I'm partial to Beyonwiz and Topfield personally but Panasonic, Pioneer and *maybe* Sony are certainly reliable brands.

I Hope this is helpful, I have lost count of the times I have fixed DVD-R/PVR issues for others in the past. All of them because they were just poor quality.

Most importantly, TiVo need not apply.

WARNING TO EVERYONE REGARDING LG = DO NOT BUY ANY OF THEIR PRODUCTS, THEY MAY WELL BE RUBBISH, BUT THEY OFFER THE WORST EVER "CUSTOMER CARE" YOU WILL EVER, EVER COME ACROSS. DON'T GET ME STARTED ON THEM, WE HAVE HAD SO MANY DRAMA'S WITH OUR FRIDGE AND THEY HAVE BEEN USELESS.

Kryon Panasonic would be okay for their new models if they have fixed the 4:3 problem they were having....being that it does not work.They dont convert from letter box to pan and scan.

Anyway I have a 2007 model pioneer.

BLOODY FANTASTIC machine way ahead of Sony.Even the one Nathan has is more advanced in operating features and editing features than a 2011 model Sony.Sony is way behind.Sony is like a beginner machine compared to the pioneers.

UNFORTUNATELY Pioneer no longer make hdd/dvd recorders.But I would highly recommend buying a second hand one if you can.

If you want any more information just ask

Just get a "set top box" that can record to a USB device.

OLIN HVBTR-1200K can be purchased at K-Mart for $69

Strong sometimes have models that can record to USB (they've had two or three models)

Vivid AT-STB500 can record to USB for $59 (from ALDI I think)

and currently ALDI is selling another Vivid unit with DVD player built in that can also record to USB device.

You'll also probably find that nothing badged as "Freeview" will allow you to record to external devices. (not that free IMO).

"Since then I have only bought Panasonic equipment which has always been reliable and durable."

Yes, their digital still cameras are great.....if you like un-natural looking skin tones in your photographs.

I'll give that a go. I just bought a set top box the other day with a usb port in it.

Cheers,

Ron

WOW John, Pioneer have stopped making them? That's TERRIBLE!

*Runs off to finalise as many discs as possible in case mine breaks and I lose everything!*

I have a Panasonic DVD Recorder. I had my original one I bought in 2008 which I connected to the Set Top Box. That didn't finalize anymore as Panasonic's do after awhile! I had it under Warranty and it's in getting fixed now BUT since then I have a Panasonic with built in Digital so I don't need my set top box anymore. Though I still have it of course....

The hard drive in my latest one didn't finalize anymore either so my friend put a new drive in it and it burns again now! :-)

I hope this lasts as I REFUSE to get a new DVD recorder that don't have a 4.3 ratio!

DO ALL NEW DVD RECORDER'S ONLY HAVE 16.9????????
I HOPE NOT!!! :-(

I like my Panasonic DVD recorder and would NEVER buy a Sony as apparently they are VILE and LG wouldn't even get a look in as I hate cheap s h i t e.

All my equipment is Panasonic as I like them. I know Pioneer is GREAT and would love to get a Pioneer DVD Recorder if I can find one of Ebay to see how it works :-)

There are quite a few Pioneer dvd recorder's on EBay. They are all analogue though :-( I like the fact my Panasonic has a built in set top box as I find having the extra set top box on top of my dvd recorder bad as to many chords and heat. Can you get a Pioneer with built in set top box???

I've never heard of a set top box being built within any of them, but I'm not the most tech savvy person.

Panasonic make built in set top boxes and I have one which means thankfully I don't have to use the set top box anymore!

If you must store things on optical disc, wouldn't it be more sustainable to just to have a PC with a DVB-T card? Attach your TV antennae, record to PC Hard Disk, edit, store to Optical Disc.

Then you don't have to worry yourself with trying to replace obsolete hardware.

Buyer beware with Set Top Boxes. Sometimes, having a USB port != ablity to use that USB port for recording.

Sydney yes sad story that Pioneer no longer make recorders.I already have bought 3 spare machines.

Jason yes you can get them(Pioneer with built in set top box....second hand of course) but only the last two models they made have sd set top boxes in them.If you want to know more just ask.

I could not believe when I tried a Sony machine and found out how far behind the pioneer machine they are.

I have heard that Sony hdd/dvd recorders will no longer be made after this round of models finishes(but who cares)....this came from sales person at Clive Peters.

Also a sales person at JB Hi fi told me that LG will no longer be making vhs machines after the latest models finishes....so if you need a vhs machine to copy those tapes you have to dvd now is the time to put one away.

Also In response to..... DO ALL NEW DVD RECORDER'S ONLY HAVE 16.9????????
I HOPE NOT!!! :-(

Jason they do have 4 to 3 ratio but as I said earlier the one on the latest Panasonics did not work....hopefully this will be rectified but it could take 6 months or more.

They did not know about this until I told Panasonic about it.It affected the 480 and 380 models plus I would imagine the latest blue ray models as well as they all most likely have the same software in them

Jason also Panasonic is meant to release new models of hdd/dvds recorders this month Im told by Jb hifi so I hope they will have the 4 to 3 ratio problem fixed.....crosses fingers firmly..

I just hope Sony have fixed a weird issue I had with my HXD890 the other day.

Had recordings set up for March 31st - believe it or not, the DVD recorder for some bizarre reason recorded those shows but then marked them as being recorded on April 1st! As a result, the friday ones didn't get recorded.

Checked the settings and all is well - so just wanted you guys to be aware of it if you settle for a Sony recorder. It MIGHT have the same issue across all of their models but I'm not sure.

If you're into collecting music videos like me, I suggest you migrate to a PC-based solution. I use the Eye-TV digital tuner which records the broadcast MPG stream unaltered - no further compression or transcoding. You can then slice, dice, convert, export, edit etc the resulting files to your heart's content.

Then other things like aspect ratio are irrelevant. Just about any decent digital video software can chop black bars off a digital recording to leave you with just the image content. I use MPEGstreamclip to do basic edits and conversions. You can also fix correct mistakes where rage (sometimes) plays a 4:3 clip stretched to 16:9 - simply squash it back to the right ratio.

Music videos often have "irregular" aspect ratios anyway - the source tape may be 4:3 but with faux-letterboxing, you can end up with anything from 13:9 to 21:9 or more. Chopping off all black borders is recommended practice when exporting for display on non-TV devices (eg computer, iPad, smartphone, etc) or indeed Media Players, which will then present the video correctly on a TV, maximising the image size on the screen, regardless of source aspect ratio, by adding black bars to the sides or top as required.

I used to be a big believer in physical formats but I have now eschewed them completely. I watch all my music videos on PC, iPad, or from my Media Player. I don't do DVDs any more. I could still make DVDs from my digital archives if I really wanted to - but I don't want or need to.

I do have a Sony HDD recorder (HDD only - no DVD) which I bought about 5 years ago (Sony only had them for about 2 years). I only use it for time shifting broadcasting material which I usually will only watch once and hence very unlikely to want to keep. The only way to export from it is analog realtime playback onto a digital recording device.

To see the results of my work, go to my YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/stereomusicvideo

That's all I have at present - digitview brand that was literally cheap as chips - but plan to get a DVD/HDD recorder in the near future. Problem is when I transfer some shows to the PC to burn onto DVD I often get black bars on all sides which are a pain to remove.

"Problem is when I transfer some shows to the PC to burn onto DVD I often get black bars on all sides which are a pain to remove."

i) Bars are easy to remove. Just re-encode the MPG video data and apply a filter (the objective is to remove the top and bottom borders and resize the remaining content to fill the void, e.g. resize back to 720 x 576 pixels)

ii) Why bother burning to DVD? Just play the videos direct from your PC.