Re: >>DVD Recorder Best Buy Where and How much €
Alan Moore:Is now the time to buy a DVD recorder? All this new HD / Blue Ray stuff on the way. Would appear that we are on the verge of a technology leap here. Might be worth waiting a year? Even read that only 1.2% ( i think ) of all plasma tv's on sale are compliant with new HD signal that Sky will be transmitting next year (I think).
True, but there is never a good time to buy new technology.
The first HD-DVD consumer devices are reportedly going to be readers only, due later this year, with rewritable ones not appearing until next year.
Blu-Ray also won't be out until 2006 although this is supposed to be coming out with the recording capability on day 1.
You won't be able to buy a player for less than a grand.
My plan is to buy a HDD / DVD writer combo, and will use the hard disk as the primary recording source, so it doesn't really matter to me that high definition DVD is coming along. The recorder is not going to be my primary DVD player - I have a high end Pioneer for this purpose.
If I replace anything with a HD-DVD or Blu-Ray player it will be the high end model. I am happy to stick with the HDD / Standard DVD recorder for home recording.
High definition TV will be out next year on Sky but it is likely that you will have to buy or rent an updated Sky+ box or else an expensive Pace box to decode it.
I am currently an NTL customer so am going to wait to see what they do with high def. (They are trialling this in the UK at the moment - [broken link removed])
Bottom line for me is I need a DVD recorder and so am willing to spend up to an absolute maximum of €500 (but €300 would be better!) on a solution that will do for a few years and I can hopefully sell on.
My wish list is:
- Minimum 80GB hard disk
- Multi-format capability - DVD+-R/RW
- HDMI output as this will be the standard connection for all AV going forward
- Ideally, upscaling of regular DVDs to high definition over HDMI. Not as good as actual high definition, but does future proof you to an extent.
- DV/iLink input and output for a digital camera
- An Electronic Programme Guide that works in Ireland such as GemStar's Guide+ which picks up its signal from ITV. Some Philips models have this already.
- WMA, AVI and DIVX support would also be nice
One model that might be worth waiting for is Samsung DVD-HR720 ([broken link removed]) .
(Edited to add some more links.)