Page 1 of DVD recorder...Sony or Panasonic?

The GX300 and the E55. I`ve just seen them both at a decent price (Sony only slightly dearer) and both have had rave reviews in the press, though the Sony had the edge it seems. Which would you go for?

Neither.... get the new Panasonic DMRES10, got mine from here for £189.99 ... p+p included in that price https://www.discountaudiovision.co.uk/store.asp/c=14

Why did I go for the E65 which as far as I can see is almost just the same as the E55 (others will put you right if I`m wrong on that) but has a few more bells and whistles.

I came from the Philips DVDR70 which suited me fine, which apart from not having a DVD-Ram, offered me more than the E65, in that it had +rw and +r. So long as the r disc was not finalised you could add/remove chapters on it and the +rw disc`s as much as you liked. You can only change chapters with the E65 on the DVD-RAM disc and I would presume the same goes for the E55.

The sony model I looked at was the GX210 which went from 2hr record to 4hr record with nothing in between. When it came to recording a film, the setting I used often on the Philips was the two and a half hour record setting, both the E55 and E65 have a flexible record system that lets you do similar. Thereby guaranteeing quality.

I still am no fan of DVD-RAM, two rw discs are just as good as one DVD-RAM disc despite what others may say, and are still a fair bit cheaper. e.g.
10 DVD-RAM discs £15,
10 rw discs for under £4.

In the end it was the flexible recording system of the E65 combined with a great reliability record which no one else seems to have that did it for me.

EDIT
Laughing Gravy has a good point, the Panasonic DMRES10 was not avalible to me, or I would have gone for that over the E65.

I gonna kill that firefox spellchecker, and enjoy doing it.

This item was edited on Monday, 11th April 2005, 14:51

I have the Sony GX300 and am very pleased with it, and would certainly recommend it.

The recording quality is excellent, as is the playback - you won`t need a seperate DVD to play back your recordings, or prebought DVDs (some DVD recorders are not so hot when it comes to playing back DVDs).

Plenty of useful modes - 1 hr, 1.5 hrs, 2 hrs, 3 hrs, 4 hrs and 6 hrs.

The 1.5 hour mode is very useful - and is still of high quality. I have even archived episodes of 24 at 4 hour mode - and it is still perfectly watchable (better than VHS quality).

Plus it records onto both +R / +RW and -R / -RW discs - this was very useful for me as I found out that my portable DVD player only supported +R discs!

JSG
How noisy is the Sony when recording? The review I read picked this out as its only drawback.

I haven`t noticed any noise myself - but mine is locked away in a glass fronted cabinet (to stop the 3 year old son from messing with it!)

Having + & - is no advantage, if a player doesn`t play -R -R/Ws it`s faulty, however, is the Sony the one with Freeview, if so that is an advantage if similar price.

Paull,you`re at it again.I really don`t want to be seen as picking on you but I must correct your mistakes ...again.
The Sony 500 is the one with Freeview.
Sony are usually overpriced so if its comparable with an E55 then thats a first.
I agree with Paull that having + aswell as - is no advantage.Its a marketing ploy .Any dvd player could have a preference for one or the other so if you are playing discs on many other players you might get some benefit,however to say that if a player does not play -R or -RW its faulty is complete crap.Some players will play + or - and some may play both or neither.
But if I had to choose I would say unless you need a reusable disc to play elsewhere go for the E55,but if its not well below the £190 asked for the new ES10 which adds -RW and +R then go for that

As the minus system is the declared standard, any player that won`t play it is faulty or a non standard player. We are talking DVD. As for the Sony I was ASKING if it was the one with freeview. If it is not then the obvious thing to do is to buy either the present Panasonic or wait until the higher spec ones come out.

Sorry Paull,but there are many dvd players that will not play -R discs,just as there are those that won`t play DVD+.
If you take any player back as faulty just because it won`t play -R you will rightfully be laughed out of the shop.
The DVD player standard was set long before the recordable standards were decided.RAM is also an official standard,but you would not take a player back because it won`t play RAM