DVD Stand-Alone Recorders...

[Alex]

In the U.S. DVD recorders typically sell for between $500-900 dollars and they work like a conventional VCR.

My two biggest complaints are the main page titling options that I have seen are PATHETIC, and sometimes DVD's recorded in the 1 hour speed won't play in other DVD machines. (although the 2 hour speed seems to playback fine in other DVD machines)

Is anyone using stand alone DVD Recorders?

Have you run across a stand-alone DVD Recorder that records in the one-hour speed AND plays back fine in most other DVD players and also has nice titling capabilities for the main page?

[vt220]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="verdana, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"><font size=2 face="verdana, sans-serif">Originally posted by Forum-405:

Have you run across a stand-alone DVD Recorder that records in the one-hour speed AND plays back fine in most other DVD players and also has nice titling capabilities for the main page?</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

we've got a philips here that works fine. the titling options stink, but for getting a quick real-time DVD to a client, it's cool. compatibility is fine, although i use the standard mode, not the HQ mode. i suspect it would have compatiblilty issues.

it's also got a firewire port on it, and it detects 16x9 signal and auto letterboxes, which is cool.

anyway, i don't use it much, but it has paid for itself just by virtue of being able to provided ultra quick DVDs.

for real authoring, i use a computer with a burner installed.

[Alex]

That's very interesting. It seems that if you purchase the stand alone DVD Recorders and record in the highest speed, it won't play on other DVD machines, but if you record in the second highest speed, also known as the standard speed, it will play in most other DVD machines.

[nahie]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="verdana, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"><font size=2 face="verdana, sans-serif">Originally posted by Forum-405:
That's very interesting. It seems that if you purchase the stand alone DVD Recorders and record in the highest speed, it won't play on other DVD machines, but if you record in the second highest speed, also known as the standard speed, it will play in most other DVD machines.</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

I think the "highest quality" mode records the DVD at 8mbps, which is a really high bitrate. A lot of DVD players that play DVD-R won't play higher than 6mbps or maybe up to 7 without skipping and/or locking up...something about DVD-R being harder to read than DVD silvers. The "standard" setting is probably around 4-5 mbps (would have to be to fit 2 hours on a disc) so that is why other players will play it. I have a few DVD players that won't play higher than 6mbps on DVD-R though the DVD spec allows up to 9.8 mbps I think and all commercial (non-DVD-+R) discs play fine in these players.

You want good titles you'll probably have to stick to computer drives and real authoring software.

[cameraguy]

<font color="#a62a2a"><font size="1">[ August 29, 2003 06:15 AM: Message edited by: cameraguy ]</font></font>

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For 6 months I waffled over getting on of these (Panasonic E30K) but all the negative issues made me give up. Quality is suspect, compatability is hardly ideal and most of all the next technology (HD) jump is coming fast. Hopefully some day they can standardize an optical video format.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ September 21, 2003 02:31 AM: Message edited by: Alex ]</font>

[Alex]

Excellent info everyone! I have been taking a Final Cut Pro Class and the instructor also mentioned that if you set the bit rate too high, the finished DVD won't play in many machines. I think the bit rate could be set as high as 9 plus, but he suggested not going higher than 7.5 or 8.0. (I'm giving approximate numbers)

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ May 26, 2003 01:27 AM: Message edited by: Forum-405 ]</font>

[Mike Buckles]

I think I'll try your suggestions about the lower bit rate..I was burning mine at the higher end, and of course, hardly anyone could watch them...if you burn it at 4-5, will the quality suffer? I have DVD-R, which is supposed to be the most compatible with dvd players...yeah, the compatibility issues **** , but of course they don't mention that when you're buying the burner/computer!!

[Alex]

Wow, this topic keeps getting better with all of the input it is getting!

Mikey B can be our guinea pig!

the claim is that the "standard" speed shows no noticeable loss in quality. Since the standard speed doubles the play time from 1 hour to 2 hours, perhaps we can assume that it would at a rate 1/2 of the speed of the 9 bit speed, alas, in the 4-5 range.

Definitely worth a try.

Another thing that may surprise you Mikey B. If you take your higher bit DVD recordings (the ones that aren't playing in other peoples DVD machines) to a professional DVD mastering company, they can probably use your "unplayable" DVD [img]graemlins/rain.gif[/img]
[img]graemlins/umbrella.gif[/img]
as a Master and make playable DVD's from the unplayable one!
[img]graemlins/sun.gif[/img]
[img]graemlins/rose.gif[/img]


Pretty weird huh?

[Mike Buckles]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="verdana, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"><font size=2 face="verdana, sans-serif"> </font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>Another thing that may surprise you Mikey B. If you take your higher bit DVD recordings (the ones that aren't playing in other peoples DVD machines) to a professional DVD mastering company, they can probably use your "unplayable" DVD

as a Master and make playable DVD's from the unplayable one!
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="verdana, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"><font size=2 face="verdana, sans-serif"> </font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE> Yeah, i wonder why that is? With the prices they want to make dvd's, I probably would want to make my own..i will try lowering the bit rate, and let you know what happens. I am in the middle of writing my movie script, so i haven't had much time for dvd burning lately.

[cameraguy]

<font color="#a62a2a"><font size="1">[ August 29, 2003 06:16 AM: Message edited by: cameraguy ]</font></font>

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A friend just got an APEX DVD recorder. Had a chance to play with it this weekend and I was impressed by it. Picture quality is great in the HQ, SP and even the EP 4 hour mode was very good. The SLP 6 hour mode is no good if you want a good picture. No menu just a title page with a small image of each title on the disc but hey, this recorder only costs $378 at Walmart [img]cool.gif[/img]

It records in the DVD+R/RW format.

No firewire input on this model but I heard that another APEX is comming out soon that will have it.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ September 21, 2003 02:34 AM: Message edited by: Alex ]</font>