Sick of having to deal with the problems of DVD recording (slow start and stop time, playback problems on players that couldn't handle DVDs recorded with non-continuous recordings or discs made in DVD-VR mode, an inability to re-record something without losing disc space, etc.), I decided to bite the bullet and buy a deck with a hard drive in it, too.
I was aware of problems with hard drive recorders, as well (they still can't edit like you can with tape, hideously convoluted operating procedures, etc.), but took the plunge anyway, buying a model like one that I've already had a play with, since I knew it produced discs that played well on all the players I've tried (including fussy ones), and it had a reasonable set of features in its favour. On the plus side, there's:
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So far, every recording I've made on this plays nicely on every other DVD player I've tried. It's the first machine I have that manages to do this.
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The picture quality seems quite good.
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Built in analogue and standard definition digital tuners, so I don't need an external receiver box.
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There's separate antenna sockets for the digital and analogue tuners, which means you can easily use separate antenna feeds, if you have to. Though that's probably not likely, and more likely to be a nuisance.
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Reasonably easy to use, for the basic features, and some of the more fancy ones (such as editing things out of a recording, splitting recordings into multiple files, etc.).
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Reasonable decent remote, in that must things you want to do there's a button for, so you don't have to hang onto buttons for second functions, or have buttons which change functions depending on what else the player is using. And you don't have to play target practice, carefully aiming the remote at the deck, like many other devices are like, these days.
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Allows you to watch a recording while making one, so that you can watch a movie after it's start time, playing catchup.
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It supports RGB input and output, component output, S-Video input and output, composite video input and output.
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Very basic editing (remove some portions, merge some parts together, chapter editing, etc.), and basic title menu creation (pick one of six templates).
And, of course, there's some things not in its favour. On the negative side, there's:
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Input selection is somewhat bizarre. It's a logical, to a point: You choose between analogue audio–video input sockets, or analogue tuner, or digital tuner, all separately (e.g. To go from analogue channel nine to digital channel seven requires first changing tuner inputs, then channels.). Logical, technically speaking, but convoluted for anybody who's not technically oriented, and none too quick to do.
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There's separate antenna sockets for the digital and analogue tuners, which means needing a patch lead (between them) if you're going to use both tuners with the same antenna.
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I still can't watch or view high definitition digital television, it can't receive it directly (which is still unforgivable, giving how many years old high-def has been around). I'd have to use an external decoder box, which I don't have. I couldn't see any alternative DVD & HDD decks that I could buy that had high-definition digital tuner, either. And the high definition recorder boxes without a disc drive were far too expensive. Not to mention that, without removeable media, you wouldn't be able to watch any recordings somewhere else (e.g. if you recorded something in the lounge, you can't easily watch it in bed, unless you unplug the box and cable it all up, elsewhere).
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The remote control buttons are very small, and can be difficult to press with large fingers for three reasons: Small buttons, the buttons being close together, and the buttons needing to be pressed down deeply. This means I end up resorting to using the corner of a finger or thumbnail to press the buttons I want to, and I don't even have large fingers. I eventually had to buy a new remote control as the plasticiser leaked out and went sticky & gooey.
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If you want to copy something from the hard drive to a DVD it can only do it in high speed if it's going over using the same compression. If you had to recompress a movie to fit on a disc, the dubbing will be in real time (i.e. it'll take three hours to dub a three hour movie). This will be a nuisance if you're recording something that you don't know how long it'll last for.
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Some of what ought to be basic features don't exist (e.g.the ability to mark a chapter point while making a recording), or the features work in wierd ways: Auto-chaptering of HDD recordings are based on where it thinks a scene change has occurred, rather than at preset time intervals. Chapters, and other edits, mayn't stay consistent when dubbed over to a DVD. You must choose between compatibility, or slightly more accuracy, for any dubbing that you might do later on, before beginning a hard drive recording. And the behaviour is different, depending on whether you use DVD-R or DVD+R discs. And the behaviour is different when you dub in high speed mode (chapters may transfer across where you set them), compared to normal speed mode (your chapters will be ignored, and chapters will be made every ten or fifteen minutes, instead).
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Dratted SCART connectors on the back panel. They're somewhat rare, here, so you'll probably need adaptors. It came with a couple of basic ones. But having to use adapators reduces the reliability of connections, and SCART connectors are rather bad, in themselves.
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RGB input, despite having an input selection menu specifically for RGB, requires a source which supplies power to the SCART connector. Else it uses the composite video input. Unfortunately there's no component input.
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Yet another recorder which cannot automatically handle the difference between 4:3 and 16:9 television signals. The “playback” configuration option for your television type connected to the deck doesn't affect the playback of recordings you make yourself, it affects the recording of them. i.e. You have to set this, according to the type of signal that you're going to record, ahead of time, assuming that you know it, else you're going to be watching a picture-framed or centre-zoomed picture, with no way to change it. Obviously, you're stuffed if you want to make timer recordings and they're in different formats. This is just wrong. All recordings should be made with full picture (either 4:3 normal or 16:9 anamorphic), and the player should leave it alone or squeeze it, depending on how you want to watch the recording. What's even worse is the menu fiddling around you have to go through to change the option. Like many of these badly designed devices, the only way that you can watch different 4:3 and 16:9 video programmes, without changing options all the time, is on a 16:9 television screen. How hard is it for manufacturers to get this right? I haven't seen one manage it, yet. And with digital television, there's several ways to identify whether a program is widescreen or not. There's no excuse for it.
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Editing is quite inaccurate. In compatible mode, you can only move the edit points around in half second (approximate) increments. You can't put them exactly where you want to, unless you go into accurate mode. Yet, whichever mode you take, your edit points might move into different spots when you dub a hard drive recording to a disc.
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You can't preview the disc menu creation, unless you're separately finalising a previously recorded disc. When you're making a disc that you will finalise at the finish of making that disc, you can only see thumbnail previews of the six menu options, with no idea how it'll fill the text in (it has no concept of wrapping text properly). Some of the menu templates have bad colour choices (combinations of colours that are hard to read). And you can't put your own custom backgrounds into the menus.
What's inside it
Whipping of the top to have a look inside the unit reveales very little circuitry, other than the power supply. There's a few modules, and that's about all you can see. There an unenclosed DVD drive, and an ordinary SATA hard drive.