Low cost DVD recorder with chase play?

I'm after a low cost (hopefully under 150 pounds) DVD recorder which allows
me to watch the beginning of a programme whilst it's still recording.

I already have a TiVo/Freeview box so I don't really want another hard drive
unit, I just need something I can use as a secondary recorder in case of
programme clashes, and also to copy my videotapes to DVD with.

On-board Freeview would be nice but probably not possible at that price. I
suppose the best unit I've found so far is the Panasonic ES 20D, but that's
around 180 pounds.

Do any cheap DVD recorders have chase play? I'd assumed that this facility
was a characteristic of DVD Ram, but then I noticed on some Sony models
(which don't have DVD Ram) they mention chase play in the spec, so I guess
they use a buffer system.

I'm quite keen on the Lite-On range, but their blurb never mentions chase
play, so I assume its not offered.

Any recommendations welcome!

try

http://uk.aldi.com/sunday_special_buys/index.html

Paul D wrote:
I'm after a low cost (hopefully under 150 pounds) DVD recorder which allows
me to watch the beginning of a programme whilst it's still recording.

I already have a TiVo/Freeview box so I don't really want another hard drive
unit, I just need something I can use as a secondary recorder in case of
programme clashes, and also to copy my videotapes to DVD with.

On-board Freeview would be nice but probably not possible at that price. I
suppose the best unit I've found so far is the Panasonic ES 20D, but that's
around 180 pounds.

Do any cheap DVD recorders have chase play? I'd assumed that this facility
was a characteristic of DVD Ram, but then I noticed on some Sony models
(which don't have DVD Ram) they mention chase play in the spec, so I guess
they use a buffer system.

I'm quite keen on the Lite-On range, but their blurb never mentions chase
play, so I assume its not offered.

Any recommendations welcome!

Paul D wrote:
I'm after a low cost (hopefully under 150 pounds) DVD recorder which
allows me to watch the beginning of a programme whilst it's still
recording.
I already have a TiVo/Freeview box so I don't really want another
hard drive unit, I just need something I can use as a secondary
recorder in case of programme clashes, and also to copy my videotapes
to DVD with.
On-board Freeview would be nice but probably not possible at that
price. I suppose the best unit I've found so far is the Panasonic ES
20D, but that's around 180 pounds.

Do any cheap DVD recorders have chase play? I'd assumed that this
facility was a characteristic of DVD Ram, but then I noticed on some
Sony models (which don't have DVD Ram) they mention chase play in the
spec, so I guess they use a buffer system.

I'm quite keen on the Lite-On range, but their blurb never mentions
chase play, so I assume its not offered.

Any recommendations welcome!

Panasonic DMRES15 - £147 on the Dixons website.

In message , Paul D
writes
I'm after a low cost (hopefully under 150 pounds) DVD recorder which allows
me to watch the beginning of a programme whilst it's still recording.

I already have a TiVo/Freeview box so I don't really want another hard drive
unit, I just need something I can use as a secondary recorder in case of
programme clashes, and also to copy my videotapes to DVD with.

On-board Freeview would be nice but probably not possible at that price. I
suppose the best unit I've found so far is the Panasonic ES 20D, but that's
around 180 pounds.

Do any cheap DVD recorders have chase play? I'd assumed that this facility
was a characteristic of DVD Ram, but then I noticed on some Sony models
(which don't have DVD Ram) they mention chase play in the spec, so I guess
they use a buffer system.

I'm quite keen on the Lite-On range, but their blurb never mentions chase
play, so I assume its not offered.

Any recommendations welcome!


My Lite-On LVW-5045 does do 'chase play'. However, you have to be
careful not to terminate the recording accidentally. Practice is
advised!
Ian.
--

On Sat, 2 Sep 2006 20:36:00 +0100, Ian Jackson
wrote:

I'm quite keen on the Lite-On range, but their blurb never mentions chase
play, so I assume its not offered.

Any recommendations welcome!


My Lite-On LVW-5045 does do 'chase play'. However, you have to be
careful not to terminate the recording accidentally. Practice is
advised!

Do you mean the relevant buttons buttons aren't locked out during
recording? Like a Humax?

You need to get a Panasonic PVR. A bit expensive, but properly
interlocked controls. There is a way of stopping a timed recording,
but I've needed it so rarely I have to get the book out every time.
All the usual things like the power button, and the playback controls
for previous HDD recordings and DVDs, are prevented from having any
effect on a recording that is already under way. As they should on any
good user-friendly domestic recorder.

Rod.

On Mon, 4 Sep 2006 18:00:59 +0100, Alan Pemberton
wrote:

On my Panny I had to go through hoops to stop a recording that was
initiated by pressing the Rec button

Huh? The Stop button works for me.

The message . co.uk.invalid
from lid (Alan Pemberton) contains
these words:

Roderick Stewart wrote:

You need to get a Panasonic PVR. A bit expensive, but properly
interlocked controls. There is a way of stopping a timed recording,
but I've needed it so rarely I have to get the book out every time.

I just press 'Timer' on my Panny, so that the hardly visible timer red
blob in the display goes out and the machine stops recording.

All the usual things like the power button, and the playback controls
for previous HDD recordings and DVDs, are prevented from having any
effect on a recording that is already under way. As they should on any
good user-friendly domestic recorder.

On my Panny I had to go through hoops to stop a recording that was
initiated by pressing the Rec button - then I discovered that simply
pressing Standby does the trick, when you'd expect (and want) it to have
no effect.

How utterly non-intuitive this far-eastern software is.

If you think that's bad, you should see the abysmal quality software
that's typically bundled with most PC DVB-T adapters. :-(

--
Regards, John.

Please remove the "ohggcyht" before replying.
The address has been munged to reject Spam-bots.

On Wed, 6 Sep 2006 18:00:56 +0100, Alan Pemberton
wrote:

Paul Ratcliffe wrote:

On Mon, 4 Sep 2006 18:00:59 +0100, Alan Pemberton
wrote:

On my Panny I had to go through hoops to stop a recording that was
initiated by pressing the Rec button

Huh? The Stop button works for me.

Only if you happen to be sitting in the bit of the menu that the stop
button works in. The problem with the Panny is that althought there are
short-cut buttons galore on the remote, you have to navigate first to
somewhere they will work from.

Well I kind of assumed you were not "in a menu" or trying to do something
else at the same time. The Stop button has other functions depending on
where you are.
If you want to stop a recording, it is safe to assume that you can't be
doing something else at the same time. If you are (what? there's not a lot
you can do it seems), then you need to exit it first.
None of this would seem to be unreasonable and I would hardly describe it
as jumping through hoops.

On Sun, 10 Sep 2006 12:37:19 +0100,
lid (Alan Pemberton) wrote:

Well I kind of assumed you were not "in a menu" or trying to do something
else at the same time. The Stop button has other functions depending on
where you are.
If you want to stop a recording, it is safe to assume that you can't be
doing something else at the same time. If you are (what? there's not a lot
you can do it seems), then you need to exit it first.
None of this would seem to be unreasonable and I would hardly describe it
as jumping through hoops.

That's cos you're a pro. It still hurts my brain that pressing pause
when recording pauses the recording, but then trying to restart the
recording by pressing play instead starts it playing from the beginning.
And *then* pressing stop stops the playback, not the recording. At that
point I just press standby and start again.

Yes, a lot of modern control software has its own logic which is
unrelated to that of the real world. How many meanings can there be
for the word "stop"? And it always worries me when I want to cancel
something from a list of things to be done to a recording, and the
screen uses the word "delete", which suggests to me I am about to
delete the recording itself. Mobile phones can offer similar
confusions when I want to remove messages or entries from lists of
calls, and I am offered something like "delete Fred Bloggs?" as if it
means to delete the name from my list of contacts. Words like
"delete", "cancel", "erase", "remove" etc. seem to be used quite
indiscriminately with no thought of standardisation.

I have always found the safest way to make television recordings is to
program them in advance. I have more time to think about the details,
and there are usually more control lockouts to prevent accidents
during the recording itself.

Rod.