Are any of you using DVD recorder?

Hallo there evryone . I was wondering that if any member of this community is using DVD recorder . I am planing to buy one . I need to know how is the recording quality ? How is the picture quality and sound quality. Is is possible to record from Pre reorded disc.What are the pros and cons and which Brand is recommanded . Thanks in Advance


Jazzartist

 

What Hifi magazine suggest avoiding dvd recorders at the moment, why?
Well there is a format war between the major manufacturers.

Phillips are pushing DVD+RW
Pioneer is supporting DVD-RW
Panasonic and Hitachi are using DVD-RAM.

Not all recordable dvd discs are compatible. Panasonics can't handle DVD+RW discs, Phililps players won't handle DVD-RW discs.

The article also says that most first generation and second generation dvd players were not designed to play recordable dvd discs. So say you record from TV onto the DVD recorder, the disc may not play back on your friend's dvd player. It is a mess i'm afraid!

So i would strongly recommend waiting until the big guns sort it out.

 

You shouldn't always believe everything you read, especially from "look-at-me!!" articles with little technical information....

Unlike the cliched "vhs v betamax" fight, this is a completely different situation. Firstly, media prices, especially between +/- formats seem to be stabilising - and both are getting lower by the day. So if all you want to do is record from the TV/video, the format is actually irrelevant. -R and -RAM have been around for years, especially for video editing users and the more recent +RW machines are readily available in local stores from a lower price point, so none of these formats is disappearing soon.

As for incompatibility with 1/2nd generation machines, true, but we're talking about dvd players from around 1998, whose playback ability will likely be bettered by a current entry level toshiba/panasonic/sony machine.

It seems sony themselves will soon introduce a +R/-R/+RW/-RW (!) PC drive, which covers these bases. But again,with similar media costs and compatibilities for modern players, is this actually such a big thing??

 

Call me a cynic (Hi cynic !!) but this thread starter has already been ticked off on the 'DVD for sale' section of this forum by moderator Desticado for alledgedly trying to sell pirated DVD's through these boards.

Perhaps I'm adding two and two to make five but now he is asking us for our help and opinions as to what is the best way and or recorder to allow him to copy original DVD's.

Is he taking the ****** or are we just far too nice to people who post on this forum ?

For what is worth, I think this thread should be closed with immediate effect.

Canoehq

 

TO Canoehq

I have already lodged formal complain agianst your psoting wherby your trying to malign me . At the same time you instigating others to campaign againt me on the Board.Your attitude is indeed unaceptable . You are being Rude and have racist attitude .



FOR ALL TO VIEW

This is the complain letter I have lodged with the moderator wherin I have expresed my position.


Dear Moderator,

I am writing to you to lodge Fomal complain agaisnt this post . I was not trying to push sale any DVDs in this board .I am writing from Bangladesh which is situated in South East Asia and its perfectly legal in our Country to buy and sell any kindof DVD or CD copyright is non existant and unheard of in this part of the world . No single shop of Tower , HMV Virgin or any other kind exist in our country . For two reasons

1 , There is not enough customers to buy at this high price .

2. The number of Customers are very very limited .

I have no intention to sell any Dvd or other stuff to the forum members. I am writing from another continent you must understand . If you think my previous posting is unacceptable to the Board please delete it with immidiate effect .I am learning a lot and enjoying this forum . I am deeply shocked by the attitude of one of the member for his views.His attitude is Obnoixous and racist.Please take care about this kind of posting in Future .

Jazzartist

 

I'm not even going to dignify this with a response !!


Canoehq

 

Posting on the Board is one kind of response.

 

Thanks Spectre. All is now clear.

Canoehq

 

Spectre,

Jazzartist says he comes from Bangladesh where pirated DVDs are the norm. That may be fair enough in his country...

Pirating might be prevalent in Bangladesh but that sure as hell doesn't make it "fair enough".

Theft is theft wherever it occurs.

Bert
www.bertcoules.co.uk

 

For what it's worth I tend to agree with Berts sentiment. Just because it's the norm doesn't make it right.

 

I agree with both Bert and Lynx . The Pirated Disc as a whole is unacceptable . The disc sold in Bangladesh , India , Pakistan , Sri Lanka, Burma , Thailand Hong Kong , China, Phillipins , Singapore, malaysia , Indonesia , and many other countries are Pirated Disc.
This Discs are mainly manufactured in China, Malayasia, Singapore and sold in many countries. In many countries they are trying hard to stop this but with limited sucess. I personaly never like pirated Disc because of the inferior quality and and the Piracy.Most of my collection is Original ,There is no outlet in Bangladesh selling originals for reasons which Ihave explained earlier in my previous posting . I take great pain in collecting original DVD and Cds , I collect them when ever I go abroad or ask some friend to collect for me . I am agisnt Piracy as strongly as anyone of you . Stoping Piracy in our country and in other country is the task of the Governments and the International Organization . So please I request in future dont assoisate me with any of this .If any one in the community want to discuss about Piracy please open new thread and discuss about it . I hope this will carify everything.

Jazzartist

 

Since I posted a reply to the original question on-topic, I'll post one off too

Obviously this is a very big can of worms, and to me it seems like the enforcement of copyright in the above countries is a bit like the "70mph on the motorway" in the UK - it doesn't exist. The studios could stamp it out tomorrow, and don't seem willing. The absolute price of discs seems about the same in many locations, making the relative cost a nonsense where £16 is a heck of a lot of money. So the distributors seem happy to sit back and let at least 1 person buy, and 10 copy.

 

OK.
As I probably kicked this off, its probably best for me to close it.

Clearly, jazzartist has now confirmed that he is against piracy as are all of us on this forum, so well done to him. Let's allow him the benefit of the doubt and suggest that his comments have been misinterpreted on this occasion, both on this board and on the original post on 'DVD's for sale' board.

Nevertheless, a quick question for Spectre if I may, as I am a little confused.

When you say "Bearing in mind the situation in his country, I would suggest he is less likely to be using the DVD recorder to pirate DVDs than someone in this country" do you really mean that in a country where DVD pirating in rife, people are less likely to be using a DVD recorder to copy discs ?

Interested in your further thoughts on this.

Canoehq

 

Isnt theft defined by thelaw? If the law doesnt exist then neither does the crime. What is the law in Bangladesh on copyright? If there isnt one then copying a DVD is legal and not theft.

There is a difference between a sense of morality and law. If its legal then its fair enough!

 

There is a difference between a sense of morality and law. If its legal then its fair enough!

I was, in fact, speaking in the moral rather than the legal sense. And I stand by what I said: theft is theft.

The law is irrelevant. Just because something is legal doesn't make it right.

Bert
www.bertcoules.co.uk

 

Now theres a philospohical debate that really ought to be another thread.

Unforetunately bert I have to disagree. Law cant be defined by morality. Morality is too subjective and the law has to be objective.

It could be argued that you have stolen ideas and made money from the work of Conan Doyle, morally speaking, but legally you havent. And I for one am glad it isnt theft, excellent radio play!!!

 

It could be argued that you have stolen ideas and made money from the work of Conan Doyle, morally speaking...

I have certainly made money from a combination of the work of Conan Doyle and myself, which is not quite the same thing.

And nothing has been stolen, either legally or morally. Since Conan Doyle's writing was still in copyright while we were making the BBC shows, money was paid to his literary estate for the use of the stories and the characters.

A separate moral question is: "is it right to take one man's creation and rework it for a new medium and a new audience?" In Conan Doyle's case he made it perfectly clear during his lifetime that he positively approved of this being done, and I've no reason to suppose that he's changed his mind just because he's dead. Which neatly disposes of the moral question, I think.

And I for one am glad it isnt theft, excellent radio plays!!!

Thank you!

Bert
www.bertcoules.co.uk

 

Ok Im defeated. But I still disagree, and that was a very bad choice of example. I will sulk for a couple of days whie I think up a better example!!!

 

Ok I'm defeated...

No you're not. This is a discussion, not a fight.

Bert
www.bertcoules.co.uk

 

Ok getting back to the discussion. Surely its morally wrong to have regional encoding and then not use this facility to charge a price thats appropriate to the regional market. If access to original DVD material is restricted and prohibitave because of price, then your morals only take you so far and you end up being exploited by global markets and having a very limited DVD library!!!

If I was in a similar position where I had a good AV setup and no way of getting source material I wouldnt see it as theft as I wouldnt be breaking the law. I wouldnt see it as morally wrong either as the morality issue lies in the hands of the studios and distributers who have made it difficult to get the media in the first place.

Is buying Cheaper region 1 discs theft? It may not be a copy but its providing less revenue to the manufacturer and although its not against the law its doing something that regional encoding was set up to prevent.

 

To Nunew33


I support your view about Regional Coding and Price variation in Different regions. Its unfair to have this kind of pricing policies.I have got DVDs of 3 regions . I have found that in Region 1 and region 3 price is much less then say region 2 . The price in Region 2 is almost 30% more then Region 1. Why the consumers of Region 2 are penalised ?In this scenario if some one living in UK buy region 1 dvd is it morally wrong ? Because he is supposed to buy Region 2 . What is your take on that?


FOR BERT COULES


Dear Sir,

I have two question for you .

1)Take for instance someone living in Third world Country like Bangladesh where people live below poverty level and illitracy is high , the whole country is Foreign aid dependent ,debt ridden, crime rate is high , have one of the lowest per capita income in the world . What an Average person know about copyright or care about it ? The Government has enough problem to look into , this things never get attention of the Goverment or others . Only limited number of people have accsess to Hi Fi or AV in this country .

2) Again if someone have a good AV system and want to buy original movies but cannot find a single store or outlet selling this DVDs.( The Recording Companies or the Companies producing DVDs dont bother for small market like this . The have all the knowldge about Piracy in Far East and South east asia and they are not doing anything to stop this.)
Now would this Guy shut down his system or use Pirated DVDs which is avialable ? What would you do in situation like this ?I want an honest reply.

Jazzartist

 

Jazzartist,

FOR BERT COULES

Dear Sir,

I have two question for you .

1)Take for instance someone living in Third world Country like Bangladesh where people live below poverty level...

I can't actually find a question in your first paragraph.

2) Again if someone have a good AV system and want to buy original movies but cannot find a single store or outlet selling this DVDs... Now would this Guy shut down his system or use Pirated DVDs...?

Obviously I cannot say what your hypothetical "Guy" would do.

However, "stores and outlets" are not the only sources of consumer goods. Can "this Guy" buy legitimate products from abroad? If he has the money and the means to assemble his good AV system he is obviously not living below the poverty level; he should recognise that theft is not an acceptable alternative to paying for things.

What would you do in situation like this?

I'd like to think that I would buy from overseas, if I could.

Bert
www.bertcoules.co.uk

 

Er...there was "What an Average person know about copyright or care about it ? "

I think Jazz has already made it clear that he buys originals from abroad.

But I think its too easy to pontificate on piracy without considering the context of location. In the UK piracy is illegal and here ease of access to original material is high and the prices arent prohibitive, so its too easy to saytheft is theft. In Jazz's context its not a clear cut issue. In the UK I would agree that piracy is unacceptable. I have friends that RIP DVDs and it disgusts me. They also rent CDs from the library and copy them with no qualms whatsoever and I just think its disappointing, so I am not pro piracy in anyway.

However If we take Jazz at his word, the distributers and studios are making it hard to buy original material. In that situation I wouldnt hesitate to use pirated discs and source originals where I could. Look at the hassle Jazz had with this DVD http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=48996&referrerid=13521. Would anyone really depend on solely sourcing original materials?

 

I can't actually find a question in your first paragraph.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Er...there was "What an Average person know about copyright or care about it ? "

Apologies to Jazzartist. I should have said that I couldn't find a question which wasn't purely rhetorical.

I accept that the copyright/theft matter is both broad and complex. But to say:

In the UK... ease of access to original material is high and the prices aren't prohibitive..."

is to introduce a dangerous slant to the argument: pricing has nothing to do with it. There are a great many things which I would like to own, but can't because I cannot afford them. That doesn't justify my going out and stealing them.

Bert
www.bertcoules.co.uk

 

Say for example you wanted a DVD recorder, the panasonic HS2, that you couldnt source locally and pricing (as well as other parameters affecting access) made it prohibitive.

Pricing alone isnt a factor, its a parameter (but you must admit its stupid to have a global pricing policy with the worlds wealth inequity). And if distributers did have regional pricing would you really not abuse the regional coding and simply source DVDs from the cheapest region. In terms of moralit/theft in the context of Bangladesh is a minefield.

Getting back to the example..You are right it would be wrong to break into a warehouse and lift a HS2 without leaving some money.

But would it be wrong to borrow one from a mate take the lid off, see that its basically a hard drive and a PC DVD RAM recorder, and a few PC componants and therefore you could build yourself one for 15% of the cost of an original. SUre, a couple of the features are missing and the quality isnt as good as the original, but as soon as you could source one you would. Is that theft?

 

You are right it would be wrong to break into a warehouse and lift a HS2 without leaving some money.

We seem to be on different wavelengths here. It would be wrong even if you left the full retail price.

Bert
www.bertcoules.co.uk

 

Perhaps we are now veering a little off topic. Jazzartists original question was pertaining to the recording quality of dvd recorders.

Maybe your discussion warrants it's own thread.

 

Lynx,

I think it's pretty clear that the discussion has reached the going-round-in-circles stage anyway. I'm happy to let it drop.

Bert
www.bertcoules.co.uk

 

The thread originator himself strayed into the area of the morality vs theft debate of piracy through having to defend themselves so its not a hijack (I hope) and the thread starter has also contributed to the discussion.

Its a shame that the discussion has fizzled out as I think the issue is "Is Piracy theft in a country where (A) its not against the law and (B) there are few alternatives that provide a satisfactory resolution to collecting DVDs other than taking the risk of buying abroad with no comeback."

For me its not theft even in moral terms, id be interested to know if bert is sticking to his guns!