Please read this and comment. I am very disappointed in Sony !

[SystemBlack]

Just got a GX210 and although it seems an ok machine, I am very disappointed with the edit facilities.
DVD+RW discs cannot produce a playlist from the chapter menu so I have to divide the title into several smaller titles and then delete the unwanted titles to skip adverts. The edit points are erratic so I sometime get a flash of unwanted scenes, unlike the Philips DVDR75 which was accurate to within two frames.
When played in my Schneider DVD player, it won't play all the titles one after another, I have to press play to see the next title. DVD-RW's will produce a title playlist but it isn't compatible with the Schneider, it won't even recognise the disc in VR format, even if the disc is finalised. I am at the moment trying a DVD-RW in video format but I suspect the same thing will happen as with the DVD+RW.The reason I am disappointed is that my recently dead Philips DVDR 75 (18 months old) which has locked up with the record light on even when powered down for a week, was brilliant. Divide titles into chapters, select chapters to hide, make compatible, insert into Schneider DVD player, record from Schneider onto a blank DVD+R in the Philips. Hey presto, edited video on a disc and plays in any DVD player. I am trying to source a new Philips machine to replace the DVDR 75 but according to a source, Philips are about to release new models so supply is pretty thin on the ground. Playback in the Sony is ok as they probably assume you are going to use their machine exclusively so what the hell if it don't work properly in other players.
I am a great fan of Sony but in my opinion, their DVD recorder sucks in the edit department, BIG TIME !!
I could always edit the chapters on the Sony, copy to DVHS and then back to DVD-R/DVD+R but the loss of quality would be too much. I think that the Sony will have to go back and I'll wait for a new Philips model to come out, what a bummer...

[ArtS]

Hi SystemBlack

My advice - you should buy DVD Recorder with HDD.
RDR-HX510 would be a good choice.

There are some explanations:

DVD-RW in VR mode is less compatible with DVD Players by the nature. Only newer DVD players can accept DVD-RW in VR mode. This is not Sony fault.

As you probably know, if you use DVD-RW in VR mode, you can do almost everything on it.

If you use HDD/DVD recorder, you can edit on HDD as on DVD-RW in VR mode. You can use playlist, divide, merge, cut and so on. Then, finally, you can copy your artwork to DVD without quality loss in most cases. HDD provides evidently much more space for your job.

I'm afraid, edit capabilities for DVD-RW Video Mode are probably the same or even worse then for DVD+RW.

Anyway - can you tell me - what about frame accuracy in VR mode on your Sony 210?

ArtS

[SystemBlack]

Totally awful, might as well guess where you want to hide chapters. I did a test record in VR mode. I also did an A-B erase, selected the start point, then the end point, pressed erase and when I played it back the A point had moved at least two seconds backwards so I missed the last few words of the phrase I was hoping to keep. The chapter edits on my Philips were accurate to two frames.The best way I have now found to edit is to use a DVD+RW as in my Philips machine, split the recording into titles and erase the unwanted bits. Then I put the disc in my player and program the sequence of titles to form a playlist which seems to play ok, although the pause between titles is at least half a second.
I will have to try and see some other recorders in action to see which is best for my requirements but it's looking as though a hdd machine will be the way to go.

[nwgarratt]

The frame accuracy is also not that good on Pansonics. If editing is done on RAM then any leftover frames are not seen. However, put the editied recording onto -R or a computer and there are leftover frames which are seen. From memory, the Pansonics only see 12 frames from every second (like TMPGEnc DVD Author does on a PC). It has something to do with only seeing the I frames of the MPEG video.

I now edit on the computer from RAM and use MPEG-VCR or MPEG Video Wizard which has frame accurate editing. This then goes into DVD Author for chaptering and menus.