Page 1 of Selecting a Budget DVD Recorder from Dixons

Hi guys!

New here, and looking for advice. It`s quite specific, as you`ll see from the thread subject.

The background is that I have a credit note for Dixons for £200, and I want to choose a DVD recorder to spend it on. However, I don`t know much about this market, so I`d be very grateful for some opinions. It would be especially helpful if you could explain the reasons behind your opinions, to help me choose.

Models currently available from Dixons in the £200 or less bracket are:

MATSUI DVDR100 £120
LITEON LVW5002 £150
PHILIPS DVDR610 £200
PANASONIC DMRE55EBS £190

I`m particularly interested in reliability, and also in compatibility between the disks these machines record, and other DVD players in general (i.e. if one of the recording formats is less likely to work on other players, that would be useful to know). If you have experience of any of these machines, please pitch in - I`d be delighted to get a couple of opinions on each of them, not necessarily all within a single reply.

One more thing - I don`t mind waiting a month or two if this range is likely to be superseded by a much better choice.

Thanks very much in advance for any advice you can give!

Quote:
One more thing - I don`t mind waiting a month or two if this range is likely to be superseded by a much better choice.
Then sit on your hands for a couple of months.
Even if the range doesn`t increase, the price will drop substantially....although I think the new Panny`s should be out soon.

Jimbo : oÞ

"Making Teenagers depressed is like shooting fish inna barrel"

Thanks, Jimbo!

I`d still be very interested in opinions on the current range, though - partly to educate me about these things.

Its a pity only those 4 are offered.
Matsui and Liteon are cheap and cheerful but may have multiregion remote hacks if you need one.Philips record on reliability is awful and best left alone.Panasonic offer no compatible rewritables,so you are best waiting for the new Panny range so you can get quality with compatibility as -RW is added to the new lot

MATSUI DVDR100 £120 - Don`t touch on principle.
LITEON LVW5002 £150 - Get a 5005\6 with NICAM tuner.
PHILIPS DVDR610 £200 - Don`t touch troublsome crepe.
PANASONIC DMRE55EBS £190 - Good machine\name & possibilities for editing or timeslip modes.

Budget machines elsewhere

Yamada\Cyberhomes were @ some branches of WHS about £150 mark.
Mico R311 & Technosonic (similar\same chassis?) last seen about £99 in Sainsburies & Boots. The Mico has proven itself as a solid budget machine (I have 2).
Avious at Superdrug was @ £129, but I think the price may have gone up.



If we don`t take care of the customer, maybe they will stop bugging us.

I`d imagine passing off a Dixons credit note in Sainsburys/WHS would be good going Rassillon ;)

I suspect the £149 LiteON 5002 does have a NICAM tuner-it has pretty much the same spec as the 5006 (apart from the "All Write" feature)

PS If you go for one of these.........get them to do a pricematch with your local ARGOS-they`re only £129.99 there!

This item was edited on Thursday, 24th February 2005, 23:16

Thanks for all advice to date.

* I take the point about reliablility.
* I don`t (think) I need to do any hacking.
* I probably won`t have the neck to cross out Dixons and write Jas. Sainsbury in, in crayon.

More views would be very welcome - particularly specific advice on the Lite-On & Matsui models, given what`s already been said.

Thanks again, guys!

Didnt spot the credit note bit. :(



If we don`t take care of the customer, maybe they will stop bugging us.

Of those you mention, I suspect that only Philips and Panasonic have RGB input, which I reckon makes quite a difference to recording quality if you`re recording from a digital box.
I haven`t experienced problems with my Philips 610, but I sometimes feel I must be the only person on earth who hasn`t!
I recently saw that my local Comet were selling the Philips DVDR80 for £199 in store, and I would definitely go for that over the 610, which feels a bit cheap and tacky by comparison.