Comments

jrazz wrote on 3/10/2006, 7:31 PM
I have a sony DRU 710 which has something wrong with it (it is quirky). The latest firmware helped somewhat. I also have an external DRU 810 that works great. The 710 used to work great, but one afternoon it just decided it didn't want to read DVDs. If you leave the disc in long enough, it will eventually read it but it sure does take it sweet time doing it. It still burns just fine.

No problems with the 810.

j razz
Opampman wrote on 3/10/2006, 7:46 PM
I've had a lot of luck with the pioneers - 108's and 109s lately.
corug7 wrote on 3/10/2006, 8:10 PM
I had a Liteon 5005b until about a week ago. I did a firmware update on it and the flash memory didn't like it, so my deck died. It offered a ton of recording options, and the quality was very good, but it recorded in DVD-VR, so not all playback decks liked my discs.

At work we use Pioneers. We have an older somethingsomething 2000 imported from Japan that we use for "consumer" transfers, and a PRV-LX1 that is an excellent piece of equipment, if you can afford it. I have only a few caveats with the LX1. The menu system is not user friendly by any means. That isn't to say it is difficult, it will just take you some time to figure out where everything is. Also, it cannot do several things that some of the newer HDD recorders can do, like mend together VOB files (it can still trim, however).

I just purchased a new Panasonic DMR-E85HP HDD+DVD for my home business. I'm awaiting its arrival, so I'll let you know how it works out for me when I get it.

Corey
DGates wrote on 3/10/2006, 8:25 PM
I think he's talking standalone recorder? I have a Pioneer standalone from back in the day (2002). I paid a whopping $1300 for it.

So it kills me to see all these standalone's so cheap. I'd say any name brand should do the trick, Panny, Sony etc.
ScottW wrote on 3/11/2006, 10:39 AM
I can tell you that a lot of these cheaper standalones don't produce totally compliant dvd's. The Liteon I had claimed to do AC3 - nope, MPEG2 audio - which not all players can handle.

The Samsung I'm currently using is pretty good but you can't easily duplicate the disks it creates. Something is wrong with the VOB structure; 95% of the time my duplicator tower won't touch the disks (read error) but they seem to play on most players - dup with Nero and you end up with an unplayable disk; CopyToDVD is the only thing I've found so far that will duplicate things (and it claims that it must fix a problem with the VOB's).

The JVC units I started out with both died after 6 months.

--Scott
krew wrote on 3/11/2006, 10:55 AM
"I have a sony DRU 710 which has something wrong with it (it is quirky). The latest firmware helped somewhat. I also have an external DRU 810 that works great. The 710 used to work great, but one afternoon it just decided it didn't want to read DVDs. If you leave the disc in long enough, it will eventually read it but it sure does take it sweet time doing it. It still burns just fine."

Wow how weird! That is the EXACT same issue I have with my DRU 710. I also have the external DRU 810 and it is a fantastic burner. I've burned hundreds of discs with it and really love it.
beerandchips wrote on 3/14/2006, 10:49 AM
FYI,

We ended up going with a consumer model. It is the Pioneer DVR-633H-S. It is well rated and should do us well (at least for two or three years).

Thanks.

Steve