Page 1 of Dvd Recorder Recommendation Please

Going to buy dvd recorder next week and need some help picking one

1 - has to have dvd-ram for general recording (tv progs for watching once)
not interested in dvd-rw

2 - whats the best format dvd + or - r (for archiving ) (no editing would be required
afterwords)

3 - does not have to multi-region (i have a player for that)

4 - macrovision disabled (don`t know if players do this ,or would it have to be a special
cable)

5 - less than £300 or round about that price ( plus i live in the uk)

I would recommend Panasonic DMR-E55. It records on DVD-R as well as DVD-RAM & is recommended as a best buy by most video Magazines including "Which online" and you can buy it for £199 or less in most high street shops & on-line retailers including Dixons & Comet. Panasonic DVD recorders have got an excellent reliability record.


If you can wait till late March, then I would recommend the new Panasonic DMR-ES10.

The ES-10 is the first Mainstream recorder than can playback in all current DVD formats as well as record in DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, DVD-R, DVD+R.

It is the only recorder that can record at DVD quality for 4 hours (LP mode), it has lightening-quick response time of 1second for recording & playback as well as the usual DVD-RAM features of unmatched on disc editing , simultaneous recording & playback, Time Slip, Quck View at 1.3 times playback speed.

At a predicted price of £199 it will be flying off the shelves when it`s launched in late March. I`ll be adding the ES10 to my E50 & E55.

This item was edited on Monday, 21st February 2005, 10:35

You won`t get the option of formats as the only machines that use RAM discs are -r

Panasonic is about your only choice, though you will need a special cable for disabling Macrovision

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You won`t get the option of formats as the only machines that use RAM discs are -r

Why would you need the option. The Minus - is more versatile than +. It`s like having a car with four wheels (the main option for most people) & offering 3 wheel`s with less options. Pointless.

GCXBoy,is correct in stating that to wait a short time for th Panasonic would be best, but so far I see nothing about Freeview tuners, & I won`t buy another without a Freeview tuner.

This item was edited on Tuesday, 22nd February 2005, 13:13

He`s back.
Paull you have been very quiet since the announcment of Panny completely ignoring your ideas and adding -RW.
-R is no more versatile than +R.However,-RW can perform all the same tricks that RAM can,so one wonders why you insist on RAM.You are obviously not up on the formats as you ask about +/- differences.
If you need a machine now,get a Pioneer or Toshiba.These do all your editing and unlike Panny,allow you to watch rewritables elsewhere.
Best idea is wait a few weeks to get hold of the new Panasonic which will have RAM,-R,-RW and +R aswell.

JVC are to add RAM to there new machines. :)

Panasonic are hardly ignoring my ideas. The Ram system is second to none & nothing comes close to the RAM for flexability & RELIABILITY. They are putting on R/W just to cover all angles from the point of sales. I will just ignore it & will know I have paid extra for something I don`t need. As for my being quiet, there are enough people who can see the advantage of RAM on this & all other sites of this nature to carry on my good work. In the meantime phellings keep trying to get over your pointless ideas & sarcasm, as YOU know it falls on deaf ears on this, & ALL OTHER FORUMS you go on.

Seems that most of the mag reviews still give all the `best buys` and `recommended` flags to the Panasonics. They knock the comparatively priced JVC DRM10 (which has -R, RAM and a RW format) because it does not have RGB in.

If you get the same problems on DVD Recorders with RW as you seem to on PC`s - I wouldn`t bother! It`s generally accepted that RAM is the most robust and reliable format because it works differently to the other formats; it works like a hard drive ie it`s non-linear - so if it comes across a bad sector, it won`t mess up anything after that point like RW formats, it simply moves on to the next good sector.

Once you use RW in VR mode anyway, they become just as incompatible as RAM. RW is just more common because it`s cheaper. Give me reliability and quality over cheap and common any day!

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You won`t get the option of formats as the only machines that use RAM discs are -r


Why would you need the option. The Minus - is more versatile than +. It`s like having a car with four wheels (the main option for most people) & offering 3 wheel`s with less options. Pointless.

I can think of several good reasons why you might want both formats on a recorder, but that`s not the point that was being made-the point was that you can`t get +R machines that have RAM on as well, so you are not given that option -should have known if someone was going to mis-interpret it, it would be you!!

Anyway, as far as `end product` recording goes, there is absolutely nothing to choose between +R and -R, the - format can have advantages over + but only on RW, and as Panasonic have not got that on any of their current machines, it`s a non-issue.

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Once you use RW in VR mode anyway, they become just as incompatible as RAM. RW is just more common because it`s cheaper. Give me reliability and quality over cheap and common any day!

Not true-VR mode is readable on most DVD drives, RAM is not. You also get the option of a `Video` mode to make it compatible with DVD players-you don`t with RAM.

RW (In both formats) became more popular because of the lack of compatibilty that the RAM format has. They`ve become cheaper because so many of them are manufactured compared to the lower selling RAM systems