DVD recorders vs DVD burners

ronrosa wrote on 5/11/2002, 8:58 PM

Am I missing something ? With all the problems associated with MPEG2 render times, dvd burners, authoring, etc.., what does everyone think about DVD recorders ? We can print our videos back to DV tape, then connect/record to one of these DVD recorders. I believe they are going for $700.

Comments

BillyBoy wrote on 5/11/2002, 10:34 PM

Depends on what you want to accomplish. AFAIK a DVD recorder will just record. With a DVD burner you can finish the editing process you start in Vegas Video and add a menu/sub menu system commonly called chapters so you can immediately jump to specific points on the DVD disk.

If you plan to only have one video per disk, I can see why a DVD recorder may be attractive. However I would think most people making their own videos would want to have a bunch of comparatively short videos per DVD disk or at least be able to jump to specifc scenes, so having some kind of a menu system allowing jumps would be a nice touch.

Remember a single sided DVD disk holds 4.7 GB. I doubt many have or would want a home brew single DVD movie that long and have no way to jump around other than sit on fast forward and reverse.

Burning your own DVD disks with DVD editing software* allows your videos to approach the ease of use found in commerical releases. My two cents. :-)

* That's what it is called, but misleading. All you're adding is some kind of menu system and depending on which package you buy perhaps re rendering, which is something I don't want to do again after investing hours and hours rendering a good copy in Vegas.

dcrandall wrote on 5/12/2002, 10:54 AM

I use a Philips DVDR1000 Stand-alone DVD Recorder. After I finish editing a video, I write it back to DV tape, then I use the camcorder firewire port to input to the DVD recorder. (The hardware MPEG2 encoder is fast and, depending on the quality mode chosen, gives decent video quality). The recorder will automatically make a menu with a thumbnail for the 1st frame (You can pick any frame within the video to be the thumbnail) The recorder also has limited editing features: You can split a video, add new chapters, etc. It is so much faster and easier than having to render an MPEG2 file and use an authoring program to write it to DVD. I would not hesitate to recommend a DVD recorder over a computer DVD writer.
Note: I do have a DVD writer on my computer. I use it to make copies of the "Master" DVD I made on the DVD recorder

ronrosa wrote on 5/12/2002, 12:12 PM

Are the DVD's compatible with other DVD players ? Are you using DVD-r or DVD-rw ? My main reason for DVD recording would be to distribute to others.

dcrandall wrote on 5/12/2002, 12:33 PM

I'm using DVD+RW or DVD+R (Note: DVD+R will probably be more compatable than DVD+RW). As far as I can tell, none of the DVD recorders currently available will work with 100% of the home DVD players (DVD+R and DVD-R will work in about 90% of the players). In my opinion, DVD+ is technically superior to DVD-R recorders.

SonyDennis wrote on 5/12/2002, 5:48 PM

The Recorder sounds like a quick way to archive video or provide disc that "just play". The Burner would be great for when you want to author menus, have multiple chapters, etc.

Maybe they should make a combo unit that does both! I don't know if this would look like a recorder with a Firewire input and drivers, or a burner with a video input and an on-board MPEG encoder.

If I had to choose one, I'd use a burner, but that's me. I've been known to scan documents and print them rather than find a copy machine :)

///d@

ronrosa wrote on 5/12/2002, 6:44 PM

Burners sound great, but I hear of a lot of problems with authoring, bitrate settings, long MPEG render times, etc.. I guess that is to be expected with a relatively new technology. I am sure CD burning went through the same when it first came out.

dcrandall wrote on 5/12/2002, 6:52 PM

SonicDennis,

You CAN add menus and chapters, (with thumbnails of your choosing), using a DVD recorder. You DON'T have to use a PC DVD burner to accomplish this!

BillyBoy wrote on 5/12/2002, 9:26 PM

Maybe so, but isn't the price difference about $250 or so between a second generation DVD burner (I paid $499 for my HP 200i, had to get it, didn't shop around for price) and DVD recorders where entry level is about $700-800 or so?

Can someone post info on specific models of DVD recorders, for us to check out?

dcrandall wrote on 5/12/2002, 11:42 PM

Yes, they are more expensive. But they are being marketed as a replacement for the VCR and as such they include a TV tuner for recording "off-the-air" broadcasts directly to DVD. They also have the advantage of being a high quality, progressive scan, (at least for the Philips), DVD player for your TV.

Check these web sites out:

Philips DVD Recorders (DVD+RW/+R): http://www.consumer.philips.com/global/b2c/ce/catalog/category.jhtml?divId=0&groupId=VIDEO&catId=DVDRECORDERS

Pioneer DVD Recorders (DVD-R/-RW): http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/Pioneer/CDA/HomeProducts/HomeLearnAboutDetails/0,2647,21531,00.html

Panasonic DVD Recorders (DVD-R/-RAM): http://www.panasonic.com/consumer_electronics/dvd_recorder/default.asp