DVD Recorders: Who's using them with Voom?

I'll start by posting some of my experience...

We brought home a DVD equiped Tivo SD-H400 a month or so ago to test with Voom. We were pleased with the image quality AND Tivo functionality. We were not excited about paying $13/mo for service. With rumors that the Voom DVR was going to hit streets in November or sooner, we returned the Tivo.

With the delay of Vooms DVR, I wanted to start looking at options again.

Found a JVC DR-M10S at eCost for $246 shipped so I made the jump and purchased one. The JVC is a Non-HDD model but has been praised for image quality. When it arrives, I'll post up the pros and cons.
 
im using a Phillips DVDR-75 , hooked up via composite and s-video, I get good quality burning in 2 hr mode. very reliable have used it for 4 months, recording by composite i have to kick down the red button on the stb to i think 480i (i think), i usually just use the s-video ( no messin with button and it does rec in wide-screen), also i have a Tivo hooked up to it. it records from it just fine.

Mr. C

B000093US1.01._SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg
 
im using the pioneer model dvr-810h-s model does an excellant job of recording, it has an 80 hr built in hard drive, plus has a dvd recorder to put the recorded stuff on dvd, it has the tivo basic service for free, then you can upgrade to the plus service if you want, but i stuck with the free version, the only thing the recorder lacks is wont play back in dd, has the optical out for it which i use, all it does is playback in surround sound, but i also have 2 directv/tivos with the plus version on them as well, still waiting on the dvr from voom to appear, i gave 600.00 for it at best buy with a 100.00 rebate on it.
 
I'm using a Pioneer DVR-7000 Elite. The recording quality is very good, but this is an older model Pioneer, and I believe there are better recorders available today that are far less expensive. There is no internal hard drive, no firewire connection, and recordings of HD materials are downrezzed to 480P. Your TV must also have progressive scan in order for this recorder to work properly.

Of course, it also a DVD player. Images are good, and there are a lot of nice features when playing a DVD. Also plays CD's. Overall, this is a very solid player/recorder, but I think there are newer models with more updated capability for less money.
 
I have a Panasonic E50 and it works fantastic, I can also use DVD RAM and it works like a PVR, Pause or rewind live tv while it records at the same time. It records on DVD-R or DVD Ram and the PQ is real good for SD. When I asked the CSR if it would work they told me they did not know if it would I called them and told them that it did and they did not seem to care. :cool:
 
Mr. Cheap

Okay go ahead... I'm using the ILO dvd recorder with HDD. It works great!!! The SD PQ is wonderful. The HD PQ is on par with 480p.
 
Just got a Panasonic DMR-HS2 for $265 shipped on eBay. Much of what the HS2 has to offer has already been covered but I'll try to bring more to the party if I can. Maybe some detailed pics and sample video recordings.
 
I have been happy with the HS2 but it has a problem with black level that Panasonic never was willing to fixed. The newer models have the problem fixed. All in all I find it to be very good.
 
Panasonic DMR-E55

I use the Panasonic DMR-E55 model & record from VOOM using s video & it works great. Its also nice that I can also record on this from my HD-Adelphia cable as it allows 3 video inputs. Use Component to go to the TV & works well & cheaply till some better comes along.
 
I love my E85H. It has a 120 GB HD and I have burned over 200 DVD's so far and the results are excellent. With a good source, the resulting image is as good as a store bought DVD (better than some I've seen).

A great plus of the E85H is being able to shorten segments and/or create custom Playlists. I go through each of the network shows I record and edit out the commercials, it takes me about 5 minutes to do so then I can watch the show without interruption in 42 minutes and don't have to bother with skipping through the commercials. I can also add thumbnails for the menu and arrange the order of the shows on the disc prior to burning. It also gives me the option of going to the menu or autoplaying from title 1.

Some people bitch about the TV guide built in for the analog tuner, but I love it. It gets the guide OTA and so far has been very accurate. I prefer watching the analog recordings I get from this tuner vs. a digital SD signal. You guys know how picky I am about PQ on my PJ, so this is really saying something about the quality of the analog tuner in this puppy.

Another advantage of a hard drive: my daughter loves Tom & Jerry so I record it every day, it's one hour long and I record it in the LP mode (4 hours/DVD). I can then put 4 episodes to a DVD and she can watch it uninterrupted, commercial free on the weekends.
 
MNHTUG said:
Has anyone tried the iLo (DVDRH04) hdd equipped recorder yet? For $278 it's hard to pass up.

iLo Recorder w/ HDD

Sorry if I sound like an idiot here, but...

What's the advantage to having the HDD in the recorder? It doesn't look like this model has TiVo functionality, so what benefit is the HDD? DVD+Rs are cheap anymore, so for the $128 difference, you can buy a LOT of DVD+Rs.

-John
 
How does the PQ look during play back?

Users with HDD DVD Recorders:
Panasonic DMR-HS2: Sean Mota, snidely, xtc, mnhtug
Pansonic DMR-E85: DarrellP
Panasonic DMR-E80: martincva
 
Acerone said:
How does the PQ look during play back?

Pansonic DMR-E85: DarrellP
Depends on the source. Shows I record from HDNET, HDNET Movies, DiscoveryHD on Dish, and OTA HD looks incredible, almost as good as a commercial DVD, while the only channels I get decent results from on Voom are Rave and Monsters. Even my Dish 6000 gives me better results OTA than the Voom stb, the Voom seems to be inherently noisier. :(
 
I'll take a swag at some of these questions...

Question: What's the advantage to having the HDD in the recorder?

1) Ability to record more content in XP mode.
2) Edit content before archive to dvd media.
3) Temporary content can be deleted without wasting dvd media.


Question: It doesn't look like this model has TiVo functionality

1) Models with Tivo functions do not allow editing of content.
2) No Tivo subscription cost.


Question: How does the PQ look during play back?

Recordings of HD content on our HS2 look superb on our 41" Mitsu. They are not HD quality but they do look many times better than content recorded with our Dish PVR501.
 
MNHTUG said:
Question: What's the advantage to having the HDD in the recorder?

1) Ability to record more content in XP mode.
2) Edit content before archive to dvd media.
3) Temporary content can be deleted without wasting dvd media.

OK, this will save a few DVD+Rs. Looking thru the manual, it looks like you can also put custom chapters in with HDD recording before copying it to the DVD+R., which is cool. :)

MNHTUG said:
Question: It doesn't look like this model has TiVo functionality

1) Models with Tivo functions do not allow editing of content.
2) No Tivo subscription cost.

I didn't know about #1. So maybe that is a good model? I still haven't seen the iLo HDD version at any WalMart yet, tho...

[UPDATE: I have seen it. Looks nice, but I'm still not sure if its worth the extra $$$]

Maybe they'll be a good after Thanksgiving special!

-John
 
How do you have the Ilo DVDRHD04 connected to the voom receiver i 'm using the dvi to tv and s video to recorder but i get no picture when i record. I also connected video with composite and was able to record but the picture was grainy.

MIKE!!!!!!!!
 
Ripped some Voom Promo DVD recordings from my Panasonic HS-1. Smallest mpg file was 17mb so I tried doing some WM9 encodes. Not sure how well they turned out.

Take a look and let me know what you think.

voom4.wmv (1.41MB)
voom3.wmv (1.80MB)

NOTE: Right click and do a "save as"

EDIT: Bad encode, files removed. Anyone here have much experience with WMV9 encodes?
 
MNHTUG said:
Ripped some Voom Promo DVD recordings from my Panasonic HS-1. Smallest mpg file was 17mb so I tried doing some WM9 encodes. Not sure how well they turned out.

Take a look and let me know what you think.

voom4.wmv (1.41MB)
voom3.wmv (1.80MB)

NOTE: Right click and do a "save as"


Very jumpy. Sound was ok, but got about 2 frames a second, some speeded up in the middle

Using Pentium 4 3g xeon, ati card, wmp 9
 
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