Advice needed; DVD Recorder? or a HDD recorder?

blurr · 09-07-2005, 8:58 PM

After the palava of the who DVD player incident - of which has been sent back (collected) for a refund. My mums decided she wants to ditch the Video recorder too, and get a DVD recorder or a HDD recorder which must have a DVD playback function as well (so a DVD/HDD combo), to replace it.

Now I don't know much about either, so not sure what to go for. But I have a few problems/queries;

1) Record programs at ease, shes not really a technophobe and I hate having to show her how to do something repeatedly as she never understands it to begin with. So it has to be simple.

2) She doesn't want to store the programs she records, just wants to record things if she's not in and wants to watch it at a later date. So I'm guessing a HDD recorder would be more ideal?

3) Storage. How much can you store on a HDD recorder? Kinda on a budget, so can't really spend a lot on one which has a huge Harddrive... But I've read/heard you can replace them anyway? So how many hours of Television (at a decent quality) can you fit on say a 80gb HDD?

4) Price. On a bit of a budget, perhaps £250 max? not sure what you can get with that kind of budget... Not really looking into 'budget' brands like Alba, Bush, Goodmans etc, more along the lines of say Sony, Panasonic, LG something like that. So inturn would a DVD recorder be cheaper? but then more expensive in the long run as you have to buy DVD media for it? but would be more complicated to use than a HDD recorder?!

Sorry for all the questions! but like I said, I'm not expert in this kind of area.

Rasczak · 10-07-2005, 4:51 AM

Have a look through the 'Which DVD Recorder?' link in my signature - that should answer most of the FAQs associated with DVD recorder purchase.

Quote:

Record programs at ease

Most DVD recorders are quite basic in operation although it might be better to avoid models from Toshiba though as these tend to be complex. If you are after 'very easy' then consider a model with an EPG. For example the Sony GXD500 (DVB DVD recorder) or the new Pioneer range (DVR-433, DVR-530).