New Sony HDD DVD-Recoders (better than hx900)

G

grumpy42

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HX50, HX70, HX90, HX100 (160GB, 250GB, 250GB, and 400GB!!!! respectively)

http://www.sony.jp/CorporateCruise/Press/200409/09-0915/
http://www.sony.jp/products/Consumer/dvdrecorder/products/rdr_hx100_hx90.html

translator at http://www.worldlingo.com/products_services/worldlingo_translator.html

They also have HDD playlist editting and IPGs (interactive program guide)

The HX90 seems to be the same price as the HX900.

I fear, however, that we will never see these devices outside of Japan. I could not find any reference to the HX900 or HX1000 on the Japanese site, indicating that these models are not newer versions but rather Japanese counterparts.

I have been really wanting to get a HDD DVD recorder. The Sony has the most compatible drive and the best image quality; however its HDD editting really, REALLY SUCKS. I have yet to find a recorder with a good balance between media compatibility, image quality, and editting capabilities.

Perhaps I am paranoid, but I wonder if companies are intentionally releasing crippled devices to appease the TV and movie industries.
 
grumpy42 said:
I have been really wanting to get a HDD DVD recorder. The Sony has the most compatible drive and the best image quality.
Huh?? You think it does?? :confused:

however its HDD editting really, REALLY SUCKS.
No argument there :laugh:

I have yet to find a recorder with a good balance between media compatibility, image quality, and editting capabilities.
What’s wrong with the Toshiba XS32, Panasonic E85/E95 or Pioneer 510/520 ? :confused:

Perhaps I am paranoid, but I wonder if companies are intentionally releasing crippled devices to appease the TV and movie industries.
Well in the case of Sony it also IS the movie industry! But I don’t think that’s what’s preventing them from releasing units with similar features to those of its peers.
 
OARDVD said:
Huh?? You think it does??

According to everything I have read regarding the gx and hx line. Plus the hx 2 pass encoding during dubbing provides superior results.

OARDVD said:
What’s wrong with the Toshiba XS32, Panasonic E85/E95 or Pioneer 510/520 ?

Toshiba/Panasonic - no dvd-rw support (only rewritable media is DVD-RAM which is beyond useless)

dvd-r/w is the most compatible format so at a minimum a dvd recorder should support these.

Pioneer - correct me if I am wrong but the pioneer does not seem to support HDD playlist editting (at least I can't find it in the manual). Also, it has a smallish hard drive.

My first choice was the JVC DR-MH30, but it seems to have problems


OARDVD said:
Well in the case of Sony it also IS the movie industry! But I don’t think that’s what’s preventing them from releasing units with similar features to those of its peers.

Which doesn't explain why they are releasing much more capable recorders in Japan.
 
grumpy42 said:
According to everything I have read regarding the gx and hx line. Plus the hx 2 pass encoding during dubbing provides superior results.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big Sony fan but I think that with DVD recorders they are a bit behind the competition in terms of features. Higher-than-DVD bit rate encoding on the HDD & 2-pass encoders are all well and good but when limited to Europe’s “standard” definition instead of HD I would rather have FR any day.


Toshiba/Panasonic - no dvd-rw support (only rewritable media is DVD-RAM which is beyond useless)

Pioneer - correct me if I am wrong but the pioneer does not seem to support HDD playlist editting (at least I can't find it in the manual). Also, it has a smallish hard drive.

The Tosh does –RW in Video mode. I happen to think that RAM’s fantastic (but then all of my DVD kit is RAM compatible including the drives of my PCs).

No, I don’t think that the Pioneer does support playlists on the HDD (an omission certainly).

Which doesn't explain why they are releasing much more capable recorders in Japan.
Well you could say that’s true of all the Japanese manufacturers. We tend to get only a subset of the goodies available in Japan and usually 6-12 months after they get them!
 
Higher-than-DVD bit rate encoding on the HDD & 2-pass encoders are all well and good but when limited to Europe’s “standard” definition instead of HD I would rather have FR any day.

But what about camcorder footage - doesn't HQ+ and 2-pass encoders help on this?
 
howardmg said:
But what about camcorder footage - doesn't HQ+ and 2-pass encoders help on this?

Yes.

But it still has to be re-encoded to DVD.

So then you can record over to DVD at say 9.2MBps

Unless your footage is 61 minutes long in which case you're looking at nearer 6.5 MBps and losing all of that advantage.
 
DV has 25 mbps (although it's still "standard definition") and the new Sonys can capture at around 15 mbps to the HDD so in actual fact in this case I would expect the 2-pass encoding to produce a superior picture despite the re-encoding.

Has anybody had the chance to do a comparison?
 
OARDVD said:
No, I don’t think that the Pioneer does support playlists on the HDD (an omission certainly).

No - it does not, but it does support a copy list system, which allows one to do everything (more or less) that can be done with a playlist. Problem is, there can only be one active copy list at any one time (although it does store the copylist until either deleted or the orginal title is deleted).

Barzo
 
Barzo said:
No - it does not, but it does support a copy list system, which allows one to do everything (more or less) that can be done with a playlist. Problem is, there can only be one active copy list at any one time (although it does store the copylist until either deleted or the orginal title is deleted).

Well that doesn't sound too shoddy. Can they be High Speed dubbed to DVD?
 
OARDVD said:
The Tosh does –RW in Video mode. I happen to think that RAM’s fantastic (but then all of my DVD kit is RAM compatible including the drives of my PCs).

My Bad. I was looking at the XS52 (larger hard drive). According to the listing on Amazon, This model does not have -RW support. However, this could just be an error in the listing since it is not yet released.

Also, I have read some reports about the toshiba having difficulty reading some recordable media as well as the finalized disks having some problems in other drives.

Barzo said:
No - it does not, but it does support a copy list system, which allows one to do everything (more or less) that can be done with a playlist. Problem is, there can only be one active copy list at any one time (although it does store the copylist until either deleted or the orginal title is deleted).

Actually, I just checked out the copy list functions in the manual, and it seems fairly versitile (does all the editting that I would want). I may have to reconsider the Pioneer.
 

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