[quarrymen1]

can i watch another channel during playback or will the dvd record the channel i switched to? im transfering a dvr recording of led zeppelin to my dvd recorder but i dont really want to watch during the transfer..is this confusing? im sure one of you out there can tell me thanx..

 

[Michael D'Angelo]

The DVR will only output one program at a time so whatever you are watching is what is going to record on the DVD recorder.

 

[quarrymen1]

The DVR will only output one program at a time so whatever you are watching is what is going to record on the DVD recorder.

thank you mr d

 

[Rich]

The DVR will only output one program at a time so whatever you are watching is what is going to record on the DVD recorder.

Mike, if you know, does a movie in full 16:9 recorded on a DVD recorder from a 20/21 come out in full screen on the DVD? The reason I ask is that my Sony upscaler DVD players turn regular prerecorded wide screen DVDs into a really good hi-def picture. I waited for years for affordable DVD recorders and have never owned one. Prefer the DVRs. Hard to archive programs on potentially unstable platforms. Would give me an excuse to buy one.

Who is the QB gonna be?

Rich

 

[davring]

I'm not Mike, but I have had great success recording to DVD's. If you record, to DVD, an HD program using S-video out your DVD recorder will record and playback a beautiful 16x9 program. If you play it back on a 4X3 set it gets quite compressed, everyone gets very thin. S-video is a much improved picture over composite. Try to use a two hour or less recording speed for best quality. Have fun.

 

[rudeney]

Rich, I have recorded much 16:9 HD content on my DVD recorder with great success. My advice is to set the HR2x for a 16:9 display. This will cause it to the composite and S-video outputs to carry an anamorphically compressed image (i.e. stretched tall) that fills the 4:3 pixel space recorded by the disc. This is better than having the HR2x set for 4:3 because that actually makes it generate the black “letterbox” bars which leaves fewer pixels for the actual image on the DVD.

Your DVD recorder may have a setting to indicate that it is creating 16:9 anamorphic content. This sets a flag on the disc itself so that other recorders then know how to handle the image. A player connected to and configured for a 4:3 screen will add the letterbox bars itself so the image won’t be distorted. A player connected to and configured for a 16:9 screen will send the image as-is and then the TV will stretch it back to it’s original format. Note that some recorders may not have the ability to set the disc’s 16:9 flag. Even so, many players can still properly handle it with their own aspect and screen settings.

As for overall quality, it’s not too bad. Of course the more you “cram” onto the disc, the worse it gets. I also have an S-video capture card on my PC and use Pinnacle Studio for editing. I have found that its image quality is much better than my stand-alone Philips DVD recorder. Using the PC and compressing to fit two hours on one single-layer disc still looks better than the Philips in 1HR mode.

 

[harsh]

Mike, if you know, does a movie in full 16:9 recorded on a DVD recorder from a 20/21 come out in full screen on the DVD?

This is entirely dependent on the DVD recorder. AVSForum has a lot of guidance on this.

 

[Rich]

Rich, I have recorded much 16:9 HD content on my DVD recorder with great success. My advice is to set the HR2x for a 16:9 display. This will cause it to the composite and S-video outputs to carry an anamorphically compressed image (i.e. stretched tall) that fills the 4:3 pixel space recorded by the disc. This is better than having the HR2x set for 4:3 because that actually makes it generate the black "letterbox" bars which leaves fewer pixels for the actual image on the DVD.

Your DVD recorder may have a setting to indicate that it is creating 16:9 anamorphic content. This sets a flag on the disc itself so that other recorders then know how to handle the image. A player connected to and configured for a 4:3 screen will add the letterbox bars itself so the image won't be distorted. A player connected to and configured for a 16:9 screen will send the image as-is and then the TV will stretch it back to it's original format. Note that some recorders may not have the ability to set the disc's 16:9 flag. Even so, many players can still properly handle it with their own aspect and screen settings.

As for overall quality, it's not too bad. Of course the more you "cram" onto the disc, the worse it gets. I also have an S-video capture card on my PC and use Pinnacle Studio for editing. I have found that its image quality is much better than my stand-alone Philips DVD recorder. Using the PC and compressing to fit two hours on one single-layer disc still looks better than the Philips in 1HR mode.

Well, this post doesn't make me want to buy a recorder. Too much work for me. Rodney, you have to remember, I am almost terminally lazy.

Rich

 

[rudeney]

Huh? What work? You have the HR2x connected to a 16:9 HDTV and have it configured for 16:9 output, right? If that’s the case, then the signal it puts out on the composite or S-video feeds will automatically be horizontally “squeezed”. Record it just like that, then play it back on a 16:9 set and it gets automatically stretched back to the correct aspect. The only worry is if you intend to play the disc on another player on a 4:3 TV. In that case, it might or might not automatically letterbox the picture depending on the setting on your DVD recorder and the setting on the DVD player.

In my case, my recorder (a Philips, can’t remember the model number, but about a year old) did everything correctly out of the box. I hooked the HR2x’s S-Video out and L/R audio out to the DVD-R, then hooked the DVR-R’s HDMI out to the TV. Switch the TV to the correct HDMI input, verify I can see the HR2x’s output through the DVD-R press, select a program on the HR2x, press “Play”, and then press” record’ on the DVD-R, and that’s it.

Come on, Rich, you can do it! It's less complicated than using a Simpson meter!

 

[Rich]

Huh? What work? You have the HR2x connected to a 16:9 HDTV and have it configured for 16:9 output, right? If that's the case, then the signal it puts out on the composite or S-video feeds will automatically be horizontally "squeezed". Record it just like that, then play it back on a 16:9 set and it gets automatically stretched back to the correct aspect. The only worry is if you intend to play the disc on another player on a 4:3 TV. In that case, it might or might not automatically letterbox the picture depending on the setting on your DVD recorder and the setting on the DVD player.

In my case, my recorder (a Philips, can't remember the model number, but about a year old) did everything correctly out of the box. I hooked the HR2x's S-Video out and L/R audio out to the DVD-R, then hooked the DVR-R's HDMI out to the TV. Switch the TV to the correct HDMI input, verify I can see the HR2x's output through the DVD-R press, select a program on the HR2x, press "Play", and then press" record' on the DVD-R, and that's it.

Come on, Rich, you can do it! It's less complicated than using a Simpson meter!

You have to remember I don't want a DVD recorder to play DVDs. If I buy one I want to record in the 16:9 aspect and have my Sony upscalers upscale the picture to Hi-Def. Even if I buy a DVD recorder that upscales I still want to use my upscalers that are scattered thruout the house. And they only upscale wide screen DVDs. Clearer now?

Rich

 

[rudeney]

OK, so you have Sony DVD players that do HD upconverting (I assume 1080p over HDMI?) connected to other TV’s in the house and you want to record 16:9 HDTV from the HR2x to play on those units? No problem! What I previously outlined will work just fine. As long as the HR2x is set for 16:9 (and it should be if you are enjoying it on a widescreen HDTV) then its analog output will be anamorphically compressed. When you play that back on the Sony players connected to 16:9 TV’s, they will stretch the image back out correctly and upscale them. I think the only possible issue is whether the recorder marks the DVD as “widscreen” (i.e. anamorphically compressed) or not. I know mine does this correctly. It’s a Philips DVDR3475. Now, go buy one, hook it to our UPS and surge protectors p ), and enjoy!

 

[dcowboy7]

i want a blu-ray recorder reasonably priced before "black friday" 2010.

 

[Rich]

OK, so you have Sony DVD players that do HD upconverting (I assume 1080p over HDMI?) connected to other TV's in the house and you want to record 16:9 HDTV from the HR2x to play on those units? No problem! What I previously outlined will work just fine. As long as the HR2x is set for 16:9 (and it should be if you are enjoying it on a widescreen HDTV) then its analog output will be anamorphically compressed. When you play that back on the Sony players connected to 16:9 TV's, they will stretch the image back out correctly and upscale them. I think the only possible issue is whether the recorder marks the DVD as "widscreen" (i.e. anamorphically compressed) or not. I know mine does this correctly. It's a Philips DVDR3475. Now, go buy one, hook it to our UPS and surge protectors p ), and enjoy!

Still gotta think about it. Money is not an issue, need is. I'm not sure if I need one. Might get one and play with it for awhile and see if it's worth keeping. Thanx for the help Rodney.

Rich

 

[Rich]

i want a blu-ray recorder reasonably priced before "black friday" 2010.

And the following week someone will come out with a new, better format and you'll have a bunch of worthless blue DVDs. I just gave away a whole lot of pre-recorded VHS movies and have a couple thousand dollars worth of standard DVDs.

Rich

 

[techrep]

And the following week someone will come out with a new, better format and you'll have a bunch of worthless blue DVDs. I just gave away a whole lot of pre-recorded VHS movies and have a couple thousand dollars worth of standard DVDs.

Rich

So, your probably not in the market for a good used HD DVD player. :lol:

 

[rudeney]

Still gotta think about it. Money is not an issue, need is. I'm not sure if I need one. Might get one and play with it for awhile and see if it's worth keeping. Thanx for the help Rodney.

If money is not an issue, I'd skip the set-top box DVD recorders and go with a capture card on a computer. I have an ATI TV Wonder 650 that has S-video/composite inputs. The picture I get by recording on it then using video editing and DVD burning software (Pinnacle Studio in my case) produces far better results than my Philips STB. I still use the Philips STB for quick and dirty transfers (i.e. friend or family missed an episode of something I had saved on the DVR), but for archiving things I want to keep, I put them on the computer. Another advantage is that I really don't have to even burn them to DVD - I can just drop the resulting mpeg file on my server running Tversity and now all the HR2x's can watch it.

 

[Rich]

So, your probably not in the market for a good used HD DVD player. :lol:

I have three Sony upscalers and two Samsung upscalers. The Sony's are better and cost a whole lot less. I'd happily sell my two Samsungs. If I remember correctly, they cost over $300 each and don't have the PQ of the $79 Sonys.

Rich

 

[Rich]

If money is not an issue, I'd skip the set-top box DVD recorders and go with a capture card on a computer. I have an ATI TV Wonder 650 that has S-video/composite inputs. The picture I get by recording on it then using video editing and DVD burning software (Pinnacle Studio in my case) produces far better results than my Philips STB. I still use the Philips STB for quick and dirty transfers (i.e. friend or family missed an episode of something I had saved on the DVR), but for archiving things I want to keep, I put them on the computer. Another advantage is that I really don't have to even burn them to DVD - I can just drop the resulting mpeg file on my server running Tversity and now all the HR2x's can watch it.

Too much for me, Rodney.

Rich