Sometime in the next few months I'm probably going to get a DVD recorder. My main projects will be to transfer some old videotapes to DVD and to transfer some old audio cassettes and vinyl to CD. In addition, there will be some occasional "taping" of live television I probably want to keep for a while.

I drop in on the AVS forum on this topic, and it's been somewhat useful, but I'm really interested in what other Outlaw customers have done in this area. Any favorite DVD recorders? Any criteria for DVD recorders I should pay special attention to? Any successful strategies for recording old media? Any wiring gotchas I should think about? Anything else?

The recorder I've used to archive old VHS and S-VHS tapes is a Panasonic DMR-E80 (my lengthy notes about it are here ). I've had it for about two years, so it's far from being a current model. If you are thinking of making more than one DVD copy of any of the VHS tapes or if you are going to try to do some editing and organization of the contents, a recorder with a hard drive will be a huge help. The hard drive is also handy for time shifting TV, which is what we use it for the most these days. As far as I know, the Panasonic recorders won't write to CD-R media, so it wouldn't help with the cassettes and vinyl - on the occasions when I've transferred cassettes to CD, I've done it on a PC.

Gonk, many thanks. My STB has a fairly good hard disk that we use for time-shifting, and I don't plan on much editing--just one-to-one transfers, so I think I'm still looking for a good recorder only. Anyone else have any luck with doing this?

Mike,

If your SA8300HD uses the SARA firmware vs Pioneer Passport you may be able to use the firewire port to connect an external recorder. That's certainly something I would want to verify if I was shopping for a recording device. Check out the avsforum for more info.

Tekdredger,

I didn't know that the SA 8300 could run multiple software sets! My box has a firewire port, but the manual says it's for future use. I'll check it out. Many thanks for the tip.

Mike

My dog house has the same issue with cleaning stuff that's been on the Master's first generation TiVo with only 14 hour capacity in some cases for three years. (!) on my first generation TiVo with the small 14 hour capacity. He was looking at the Cyberhome $99 special, but it just seemed too cheap. Looking around at the local Circuit City he found a Centrios DVD +/- Recorder for $75 (!). It's a full width (440 mm) chassis and seems to be better built than the widely advertised Cyberhome for $25 less. Interface isn't the best, but recording quality is just fine -- and after all, what do you want for $75. Look around for it if you want a simple recorder (with tuner!) and don't want to spring for something more expensive.

But what do I know, I'm only a dog!

Arf, Arf says Iggy

The firmware you get depends on your cable service provider and the particular market area you are in. The SARA version is Scientific Atlanta's own. The program guide and other operational features aren't quite as nice as the Passport but it seems SARA versions get the edge for hardware implementation. The SATA port for connecting another hard disk, for example, is working on the SARA boxes. And it sounds like if the Firewire port isn't enabled yet it will be soon. This of course would give you the ability to archive non copy protected HD material to an external recorder. This usually means a D-VHS machine or PC since DVD recorders are not yet HD capable.