OK, let me rephrase my question...

[Number9]

Hello all, Is it possible to buy a good or even great DVD recorder for around $1k? What features should I look for? Should it have HD capabilities because I'm going to buy an HD TV someday? I don't know anything about them (I'm still using a VCR). Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, Michael

[woodman]

Hello all, Is it possible to buy a good or even great DVD recorder for around $1k? What features should I look for? Should it have HD capabilities because I'm going to buy an HD TV someday? I don't know anything about them (I'm still using a VCR). Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, Michael

Michael:
What you're asking about is - to put it mildly - a "can of worms", which is probably why you haven't been getting much response so far. It's still an emerging technology with lots of "ifs, ands' and buts" attached. The movie industry is totally paranoid and all bent out of shape at the very idea of consumers being able to make "perfect" copies of their movies, and have gone to great lengths to try and prevent such a thing from happening.

To answer your questions:

1. Yes, it IS possible to buy a good DVD recorder for <$1K. There are many models from a handful of mfgs. that would qualify ... but ...

2. IMO, the main feature that anyone should want, is the inclusion of a hard-disk drive in the machine in addition to the DVD recording capability. This narrows the field down considerably in today's market to only a couple of units (that I'm aware of). Panasonic and Pioneer each have a machine that would fulfill your needs.

3. HiDef recording capability in a DVD recorder is not available at this time - we're probably a year or two away from such a thing, but IMO that's not a reason to wait for that to happen.

Any DVD recorder will give you picture quality that far surpasses that available from a VCR. They can produce recordings that are virtually indistinguishable from the source signal - something a VCR can only dream of.

Hope this answers your questions and gives you what you need to know to proceed

[Woochifer]

Can't fully answer the question since I've got very limited knowledge of DVD recorders, but I can tell you right off the bat that if HD resolution's one of your prerequisites, then your ONLY option right now is D-VHS. The DVD format is limited to 480 lines resolution, whereas HD is a 720/1080 line format. I believe that some HD DVRs will also be available soon, but in those cases your storage is limited to whatever hard drive space those units provide. The material available at HD resolution is similarly limited -- you're basically stuck with whatever you can pull in via antenna, what your satellite/cable service provides, and the limited selection of movies in D-VHS format.

[Number9]

...........

[AVMASTER]

Hello all, Is it possible to buy a good or even great DVD recorder for around $1k? What features should I look for? Should it have HD capabilities because I'm going to buy an HD TV someday? I don't know anything about them (I'm still using a VCR). Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, Michael

yes it is possible to buy a GOOD dvd recorder under $1k
a tuner, payback of as many as formats as possible, recording on as many as formats available, easy of use, progressive scan
there are currently none with HD capabilities
check out the latest Home Theater magazine for a listing of current dvd recorders with features, pricing, formats, etc...

[nightflier]

Consider one with a built-in hard drive. I bought one of these a year ago and have never looked back. I record all my TV shows and use the 30 sec forward skip to breeze through commercials. I usually watch a typical 1 hour show in less that 45 minutes. It doesn't skip through the commercials exactly like Tivo, but I also don't have to pay a monthly fee.

I also don't really care to keep the show once I've watched it, so I just overwrite the old stuff. Most Panasonic recorders will have your basic features like pausing real-time shows, watching one while recording another and the like, which are handy, but I don't use them much. If there is anything I want to keep I burn it to a DVD. Id' say, read the posts about good DVD players and follow the same recommedations for HDTV, Component connections, etc.

P.S. I don't use the Panasonic for DVD-viewing, but when my DVD player was on the fritz and off to the repair shop, the Panasonic was a fine substitute.

[Ogeez]

Hello all, Is it possible to buy a good or even great DVD recorder for around $1k? What features should I look for? Should it have HD capabilities because I'm going to buy an HD TV someday? I don't know anything about them (I'm still using a VCR). Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, Michael
Hey there
Just a thought but if you have a PC why not get a DVD Burner for about $150? Make sure it is DVD-M (DVD-R/DVD+R/DVD-CD/DVD+CD) which means capable of reading and encoding all media codex and incription. I would also recommend DVD Shrink which is free and with one click of the button it will copy a hum Backup of a DVD and burn it to disk in one go.
Of course I use mine for creating Data Burns for my PC as it can hold up to 7gigs of Data, soon they will release 14 gig DVD+R, <ooooh shivers down my spine>, hehehe. :cool:

[vivisimonvi]

Hey there
Just a thought but if you have a PC why not get a DVD Burner for about $150? Make sure it is DVD-M (DVD-R/DVD+R/DVD-CD/DVD+CD) which means capable of reading and encoding all media codex and incription. I would also recommend DVD Shrink which is free and with one click of the button it will copy a hum Backup of a DVD and burn it to disk in one go.
Of course I use mine for creating Data Burns for my PC as it can hold up to 7gigs of Data, soon they will release 14 gig DVD+R, <ooooh shivers down my spine>, hehehe. :cool:


hmmm, I don't think ANY burner on the consumer market is capable of burning a 7 gig data disc (not dual-layered at least, like most commercial DVD videos.... not yet). I would WAIT for dual-layer compatible burners to become available, more storage capacity provides more and/or better video quality. It's also possible to make a perfect back-up of your commercial DVD videos, and not a compressed version you can cram onto a 4.7 Gig single layer DVD recordable disc...

www.dvdrhelp.com has TONS of information and just about everything up to now and the near future regaring DVD recording...