DVD Recorders.....Recommendations???
 

The local new news did a segment on my son tonight on the eve of the state wrestling championships (actually it's this weekend) and I wanted to download the clip from my DVR (Direct TV) and send it to my family. I've looked at a few (Sony 1080i Upconvert DVD Recorder for $150, Philips DVD Recorder with HDMI, DVDR3475/37 for $100, or a Magnavox DVD Recorder/VCR Combo, ZV420MW8 for $140) but before I ran down to Wallyworld or Target, I wanted to see if anyone else has a comment or a good/bad experience with recording from a DVR to a DVD. Thanks in advance!

I have a Phillips, horrible remote, gawky menu. I think none of then are all that user friendly.

Thanks.....The Phillips must have been designed by engineers that graduated from USC!

Seriously, I'll take a harder look at Magnavox or Sony (if they have a cheaper).

M

Our LG DVD recorder failed on us after less than a year. It was sent back for repair, and started to fail again in less than a year. Not recognizing blank disks, or even brand new pressed disks....
We haven't used it since it started to fail again...

my dad has our tivo hooked up to our computer so that he can send recorded programs back to the computer and burn dvd's from there. Not sure if DirectTV dvr has similar capabilities, but perhaps it is something to look into.

Just went through this not too long ago...

I'd check out the Panasonic units. I got a DMR-EZ47VK combo VHS/DVD recorder, and have been pleased with it so far. I picked it up on flea-bay for under $200 shipped, but you can find refurbished ones there for much cheaper. I needed a VCR section as I had a bunch of tapes I wanted to convert to DVD, otherwise I would have just opted for the non-VCR model. It was great for transfering stuff off of my DVR too. If you don't need the VCR section, check out the DMR-EZ27K (should be a little cheaper too).

:D:D:D

I'm giving up on buying the DVD recorder since it would only be used a few times. So I looked at the back of the DVR and found an S-Video plug that I'm assuming can be plugged into the back of my lap-top's S-video port. Will I need any special software if I try to download the video from the DVR to the PC????

The s-video port on your laptop is most likely video out, not in.

If you have a laptop with video in then you need some capture software and enough disc space.

If the laptop has a 5400 rpm drive as most do it probably will not keep up during the recording process.