dvd-rw recorders

We're new to HDTVs. The dvd-rw recorders I saw at Circuit City had
one touch recording, but did not appear to have a timer feature like
one would find on a VCR. Do they sell them with timer features, and
how good is the dvd-rw "on-the-fly" recording and playback?

The reason I ask is I had a CD device that did great with CD-R but had
skipping problems with CD-RW.

"Tim923" wrote in message ...
We're new to HDTVs. The dvd-rw recorders I saw at Circuit City had
one touch recording, but did not appear to have a timer feature like
one would find on a VCR. Do they sell them with timer features, and
how good is the dvd-rw "on-the-fly" recording and playback?

The reason I ask is I had a CD device that did great with CD-R but had
skipping problems with CD-RW.

I have a Philips DVD-RW recorder with a tuner and VCR like timer recording that
I use regularly. I've had it for a few months and have not had the skipping problems
you describe. Since I use an antenna I do occasionally suffer the usual drop-outs
and pixelation due to the flaky reception.

--

Rick Evans
---------------------------------------------------------------
Lon -71° 04' 35"
Lat +42° 11' 07"

"Rick Evans" wrote:

I have a Philips DVD-RW recorder with a tuner and VCR like timer recording that
I use regularly. I've had it for a few months and have not had the skipping problems
you describe. Since I use an antenna I do occasionally suffer the usual drop-outs
and pixelation due to the flaky reception.

what is the model number?

On Wed, 16 Apr 2008 18:37:38 GMT, "Rick Evans"
I have a Philips DVD-RW recorder with a tuner and VCR like timer recording that
I use regularly. I've had it for a few months and have not had the skipping problems
you describe. Since I use an antenna I do occasionally suffer the usual drop-outs
and pixelation due to the flaky reception.

We have DirectTV (satellite dish and a directTV box). If I wanted to
record something from an HDTV channel (HBOHD for example), what would
I connect to the DVD-RW recorder?

And is the quality good DVD 480p quality if the programming is 480 or
greater?

On Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:16:42 GMT, Tim923 wrote:

On Wed, 16 Apr 2008 18:37:38 GMT, "Rick Evans"
I have a Philips DVD-RW recorder with a tuner and VCR like timer recording that
I use regularly. I've had it for a few months and have not had the skipping problems
you describe. Since I use an antenna I do occasionally suffer the usual drop-outs
and pixelation due to the flaky reception.

We have DirectTV (satellite dish and a directTV box). If I wanted to
record something from an HDTV channel (HBOHD for example), what would
I connect to the DVD-RW recorder?

And is the quality good DVD 480p quality if the programming is 480 or
greater?

Why aren't you considering a DirecTV HR-20 or HR-21 HD DVR? Your HD
content recorded to a SD DVR is not going to approach the quality of a
real HD recording.

--
Charlie Hoffpauir
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~charlieh/

On Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:49:20 -0500, Charlie Hoffpauir
Why aren't you considering a DirecTV HR-20 or HR-21 HD DVR? Your HD
content recorded to a SD DVR is not going to approach the quality of a
real HD recording.

I'd like to be able to:

1 record a directTV program to a standard DVD (none of my friends or
family have blue-ray or hddvd yet)

2 convert some old VHS tapes to DVD

3 record some directTV program by timer (like a VCR) for viewing later

It looks like my directTV box is just a basic leased box. It has
component-out. I'm new to the HDTV scene, so I'm trying to figure it
out. (I'd like DVD quality on my recordings and not VHS quality. I
already have a VHS VCR.)

On Thu, 17 Apr 2008 16:22:29 GMT, Tim923 wrote:

On Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:49:20 -0500, Charlie Hoffpauir
Why aren't you considering a DirecTV HR-20 or HR-21 HD DVR? Your HD
content recorded to a SD DVR is not going to approach the quality of a
real HD recording.

I'd like to be able to:

1 record a directTV program to a standard DVD (none of my friends or
family have blue-ray or hddvd yet)
Yes, but why? You aren't allowed to sell or give it away then, so if
it's just for "time'shifting" then #3 is better.

2 convert some old VHS tapes to DVD

Well, you don't need component inputs for that. Composite is fine.

3 record some directTV program by timer (like a VCR) for viewing later

This is done much better and easier with a DirecTV DVR.

It looks like my directTV box is just a basic leased box. It has
component-out. I'm new to the HDTV scene, so I'm trying to figure it
out. (I'd like DVD quality on my recordings and not VHS quality. I
already have a VHS VCR.)

I haven't seen any DVD recorders with component inputs. Component
outputs, yes, but not input. If you use composite imputs on your DVD
recorder (as I have many times) you'll get "good" recordings, By good,
I mean as good as VHS, but not "DVD" quality (like you get from a
purchased or rented DVD).
You don't say, but I'm assuming that you have HDTV and a HDTV DirecTV
receiver. If that's the case, your DVD recorded this way is still no
better than good VHS (in my experience).
If you do find a DVD recorder with component inputs, then you could
probably expect to get real DVD quality recordings to a DVD.

--
Charlie Hoffpauir
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~charlieh/

On Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:53:36 -0500, wrote:
what is the model number?
MODEL:H21-200

might as well just be happy with VHS if they don't have a DVD recorder
to record at DVD quality.

"Tim923" wrote in message


We're new to HDTVs.

The dvd-rw recorders I saw at
Circuit City had one touch recording, but did not appear
to have a timer feature like one would find on a VCR.

Traditionally, DVD recorders have had NTSC tuners with a timed event
feature.

Of course, NTSC tuners are going to be a lot less useful in the near future.
You'll still be able to use them with cable systems, or if you have a
HDTV-to-analog converter. However, if you use an outboard converter, you
will likely loose the ability to program its selection of channels.

Do they sell them with timer features,

See above.

and how good is the
dvd-rw "on-the-fly" recording and playback?

A little worse than NTSC, because there is an addtional generation of
analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversion and lossy compression
(usually some flavor of MPEG).

The reason I ask is I had a CD device that did great with CD-R but had
skipping problems with CD-RW.

Presuming that the recorder is of average quality or better, such skipping
problems as you may encounter would relate to discs that are dirty or
damaged, or a poor/broken disc reader.