Am looking around to replace our failed DVD/VHS combo with a read/writable DVD combo and just wondered - are these thing generally able to record straight to the DVD off-air (ie record the TV programme to DVD as it's transmitted)? Or is that a feature of the "more expensive" models? I've only got £150 for this so is not going to be a rolls royce machine :-)
btw any suggestions for a make-model for that price appreciated - it'll probably be an ebay variety!
you're confusing me with "off air" and then "as its transmitted" If you want it to record to dvd as the program is live (i.e. "on air") most have this feature. cheap ones i've experienced have nightmare menu systems though Best you go look at a few demo and find one you like.
Get something with a hard disc - I reckon the majority of recording TV is merely for timeshifting, rather than recording for posterity, and an HD recorder excels at this.
cheers, clive
Yes I know what you mean but (and this is an OT to my own OT) I believe the correct term *is* "off air" meaning programmes that are transmitted live ie It really means "off THE air" as opposed to locally generated. At least I was told this by a BBC tech many years ago - of course he could have been wrong :-)
I see. I hate those menu systems - so maybe a disc one is the only real answer. Thanks
Get the cheapest piece of crap you can find because it'll be out of date in a year or two. Something that plays divx/xvid might come in handy. Get a hard disc machine if you record a lot and need high quality. Otherwise, dvd+rw discs store up to a couple of hours each
mike wrote in news:vlli631v7cdr0gnrd76sltmipaaskoq2eo@
4ax.com:
The answer's "yes", but just in case make sure they know you require the feature (there's always a joker in the pack!)
As another poster says, go for a hard disc one while you're at it.
Ther's an essential difference between the PVR, with no DVD, but which will always have a buffer of what you've been watching and can record at the press of a button - for technical reasons these rarely (if ever) have a DVD writer; it's a matter of how signals are encoced, another ng wiil tell you more than I know (uk.tech.digital-tv).
But a HDD/DVD recorder _can_ given a little bit of notice, record what you're watching, and catch up if you're called away, and replay while it's still recording further along.
And if you want to keep something it will write it to DVD, top and tail, remove ads, etc.
Lots more like this
HTH
mike
I am about to buy at the bottom of the market, but something that you wrote above makes me ask a question.
Can the low end recorders use DVD+RW DVDs? I thought that the format was DVD-RW etc.
Dave
snip
AIUI; - it could be wrong - ;- once upon a time there were DVD's {that'll stop pirating - nobody can afford a huge machine to copy - not like the cassette recorders ]
Then a manufacturer/consortium produced 'recordable' DVDs - which they marketed as ;- DVD dash R! { it you're accosted by any body calling it DVD minus R demonstrating he doesn't know their history and if its a spotty yoof in a shed - walk away]
A different consortium sneaked around the patents and produced their own recordable DVD; format; what could they call it ? - DVD plus R!
Then other folks produced DVD dash/plus R ..... DVDW/ R etc ... etc..
So; at the low end of the price range; one consortium offers dash R and the other consortium offers plus R. The supermarkets seem to offer packs of both styles of discs for a similar price so IMHO it doesn't really matter which 'style' (dash/plus) your machine uses as you'll only buy the one type.
The capability of using both formats comes at a higher price ...
The capability of using R/W is another price level. BTW, after approx one years usage; I've only used four R/W discs - and that was during the 'novelty phase' . I've archived probably fifty write-once discs.
My recorder uses DVD+RW, and they don't come much cheaper than Alba. I've just bought a new player for £30 just to get divx compatability, and I believe that format is already old hat. In a couple of years there probably won't be any discs, just a port to plug your card in.
I use one similar to
These days even the cheapest machines will record on +RW and +R and play anything that looks vaguely like a disc.
BTW, after approx one
one for my daughter that the specification said would download and burn dvd from a dv camera but it failed to recognise her camera.
AJH
It would need to be pretty clever to remove ads. Doesn't it just insert chapter points where a dramatic change of scene occurs so you can manually skip them? If it's anything like the scene detection on video capture programs, it won't be all that "intelligent" at all.
AJH wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
Frankly, I don't know what that means! I use it mainly as a timeshifter; But being a Sony it prolly does what it says on the label. As for Clive's post below, if something has been recorded on HDD, it can be manually cleaned up adn toppped and tailed, then transferred to DVD to keep. The chaprter markers it inserts (default 6 mins?) don't come into it, but are handy for stepping through a recording to find something, or if I'm just watching a prog, as the first step in removing ads- going to the next chapter may leave you somewhere in the ad break, so FF, or beyond it, so FR. If you're very lucky it may be spot on.
mike
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember mike saying something like:
Argos do the cheap 'n cheerful Wharfedale DVDHDR400 for around 100ukp, slightly more with a freeview tuner. The menu has it's quirks, but it's quite useable.
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