I apologise beforehand if you feel these questions have been covered numerous times in different threads. I have however searched through enough threads to realise that the Panasonic, Pioneer and Sony DVD HDD Recorders seem to be the most popular on this forum. I plan to buy one of these models over the next week or so, and hope that any forum members who regularly operate one (or perhaps more than one) of these machines can spare the time to answer my list of questions.
To help best answer the questions, perhaps I should give details of my set-up and explain what I will primarily be using the DVD HDD Recorder for. I still have an old fashioned JVC AV-28RT5EKS CRT Television and have qualms about strengthening Rupert Murdochs media empire through monthly payments, so Sky and HD viewing can wait for the time being. My current Panasonic NV-FJ710 VCR and Pioneer DV-656A DVD Player are connected to the TV with SCART leads and are also attached to a Sony STR-DB1080 AV Receiver with stereo interconnects and a coaxial cable respectively.
I will mainly be using the DVD HDD Recorder for everyday recording and have little use for features such as a Digital Music Jukebox, Photo Album, etc. I also have a backlog of videos that I would like to shift to DVD, so I would favour a Recorder that can perform the most unproblematic transfers. While it would be useful to have both an analogue and digital tuner on the Recorder, it would also be kind of pointless as the digital changeover is happening in my region before the end of the year. DivX playback is not essential and I dont own a Camcorder so features relative to this equipment are also superfluous. Knowing my TV habits, I can imagine the Hard Drive will become occupied sooner than I think so models with a larger storage capacity are important. My budget is around the £300 mark, so the cost of replacing one of the Sony models with a larger Hard Drive would need to be taken into consideration.
Anyway, now you are equipped with that information here are my questions:
- Considering I own a CRT TV, can you recommend a cable to connect the DVD to the TV? Can you also recommend an S Video cable (if that is the best connection) for recordings from the VCR?
- I want to retain my current DVD Player as part of my set-up for playing SACD and DVD-A titles. Am I correct in thinking I will need to connect the DVD HDD Recorder to the AV Receiver via the optical input (for multi-channel surround sound) and via the audio inputs for general sound?
- I dont currently own a PVR but is it relatively straightforward to record from the PVR to the DVD HDD Recorder?
- I realise that Video to DVD transfers need to be performed in real time, so would it be possible to let a tape run and record to DVD (or HDD) overnight? In other words, do you have to manually stop the DVD from recording once the tape (or DVD) has run out or can you specify the length of recording time before the Recorder will switch off automatically?
- Having transferred a recording overnight it would be nice to spend little fuss removing adverts and unwanted footage and adding chapters the following day. Which Recorder has the best or most intuitive editing features to allow me to perform these actions?
- When creating a DVD is it possible to use an imported JPEG of your choice as the background for the top menu? Which model features the best choice of menus?
- Im aware that some forum members copy footage onto a DVD+RW and import this into DVD Authoring software on a PC. Am I misinformed in that finalising a DVD in this manner can cause the visual and audio tracks to appear out of sync on some DVD Players? Has anyone experienced this problem on the models I have listed?
- Are there any particular makes of disc that a specific machine will not record on?
- Having noted my requirements is it worth waiting for the release of the 2009 Panasonic, Pioneer and Sony models, or with the arrival of Blu-ray Recorders do you feel that DVD HDD Recorder technology may have already peaked? Should I maybe even try to find an earlier model in the specified range that already has all the necessary features I have detailed?
Thanks for your time, and I look forward to any replies.