DVD RECORDER RECOMMENDATION

[Boomstick]

Can anyone recommend a DVD recorder that is compatible with a DV camcorder. ( without having to link to pc) Priorities being: Easy to understand and use and preferably non- linear editable. Budget around �300 so I guess a hard drive facility is out. ( PS the cam corder is a panasonic NVds60.) Thanks

[romko]

try the philips units with firewire ports. I think your panasonic camera will have this, enabling you to connect directly and transfer material. Dont recall the exact model number but I think there was a dvdr 700 without firewire (which you neeed to avoid!) and the dvdr 750 with it.

[Boomstick]

Thanks Romko.Are the panasonics any good?

[Ralph]

I got a Toshiba DR-1 which has a firewire DV input. It was �320 from John Lewis. It uses DVD-RAM which gives it the "pause live tv" facility which is very cool. It'll also record onto DVD-R(W) for easy transfer to your PC. I tried this once, where I transferred footage shot in widescreen on my Sony DCR-PC105. It looked fine on the telly and seemed to record fine, but only played in 4:3 aspect ratio on the PC. It might be a Windows thing, I might investigate by recording something off the digibox tonight. Are you in a hurry? Dual layer DVD recorders will do 4 hours a disc but they might be a while in coming. Blu-Ray is worth keeping an eye out for, but not for a while yet!

[Boomstick]

Thanks for the answer Ralph.Yes I'd rather get one now than wait. Do you edit your camcorder footage on pc then after burning it on the Toshiba? And if so, what software do you use to edit it? Cheers-Paul

[Ralph]

Yeah, I try to do all the fancy stuff on my PC but I've got that strange 4:3 limitation when recorded on the Toshiba that I haven't sorted out yet. I use Pinnacle Studio 9 which is pretty powerful, fairly easy to use and if you compare it to Adobe Premiere, cheap at about �60. I think there are cheaper ones out there, even a free one in WinXP. If/when I get a bonus, I'm off to buy a nice new hard disk for my PC, then I can rip straight to disk without dropping frames all over the place, then my Toshiba will just be a (good) VCR!