DVD Recorders
alright, so here's a question for all of you out there in f-list land......
1. Do you own a DVD recorder (connected to a TV, not a computer)?
2. What brand is it?
3. Does it work more often than it doesn't?
i have owned a toshiba dvd recorder for nearly 2 years now (almost as long as the technology has been out there at the consumer level). it worked great when i first got it, great for about a month after that, then sometimes (still greater than 50% of the time) for about another month, then it basically stopped recording any discs OR recognizing previously recorded discs. unfortunately i've been too poor up until recently to consider replacing it. besides, it still played normal discs alright........or at least it did. 2 weeks ago i put a normal dvd into the recorder to watch a movie which played for about 3/4 of the time then abruptly stopped and an error message was displayed.
grrrrrr!
okay, so flash to last night. i realized i have a little extra money to spend this month (even with having to replace the hard drive in my desktop that mysteriously decided to FAIL yesterday morning!). so i figured it was time to get a new dvd recorder. surely the technology has improved and the price has gone down. right? well, yes and no.
so i go to amazon to read the user reviews, which i usually put a fair amount of stock into. all of the recorders are getting shitty reviews of one sort or another. i finally decided on a panasonic model that got the least number of shitty reviews and the most good reviews and i could afford. i didn't even read about sony or philips. i read about samsung. everyone said they sucked!
so, fast-forward to today. i'm at target. i briefly look at their selection. nothing jumped out at me.
i move on.
i stopped at tigerdirect.com.....yes, we have an actual store of the website here.....its really hit and miss on a good day......great place to go for random parts and cables......annoying as all shit if you need real technical help.....and organized in a fashion similar to a warehouse club....aka....stacks of things. anyhow.....in addition to their lack of organization, when i finally did find the dvd recorders, only ONE of the 6 different models had a price and dammit if there wasn't a soul in a blue shirt to be found! i gave up on my internal hard drive quest too when i realized i would have to talk to customer service as they keep them behind the desk(?!?!?!?).
i move on.
i make my way to the brand new, pretty best buy. you can still smell the fresh blacktop in the parking lot. anyhow, so i make my way in and wander towards the hugemongous wall of flat screen tv's calling like a beacon......successfully avoiding a trip into the magnolia home theater department that i most certainly couldn't afford (but the lights were dimmed and the leather couch looked comfy!). i finally made it to the recorder section and the only panasonic they had in stock was a combo dvd recorder/vcr and it cost like $260. WAY above my budget. so i decide to ask the helpful worker dude, who incidentally had what looked suspiciously like a gang tatoo on his neck, for help. i ask him which system he recommends, to which he answers.....the sony. the second most expensive at $170. more than i'd intended to spend. so he tells me why he thinks its better and i make him describe the 2-year service plan in detail. i decide to wander the store and think about it. too much pressure with the guy standing right there. so i wander. look at their hard drives......way over-priced. wander more. consider buying dvd's i don't need. don't buy them. make my way back. helpful gang member is now nowhere in sight. i start looking at all the players and comparing them to the sony. i finally come down to a philips at $140 vs the sony. they look to have almost identical features except that the philips has a usb drive so i could plug in a flash drive and burn media from there. why i'd want to do that versus just doing it on my computer is beyond me. why i'd waste an expensive dvd-r to do that versus a cheap cd-r is even more confusing. anyhow, i let the allure of this damn usb port cloud my vision and i decided to go with the philips. so then i get it home and decide to go back and look it up on amazon. out of 14 reviews, only two people liked it (4/5 stars). everyone else said don't buy it.....it sucks.
so now i don't know what to do. do i return it and get the more expensive sony or do i keep it and see for myself? i burned a disc tonight that seemed to go okay.....until that is....the fucking digital cable went off due to the storm and it still hasn't come back on. anyhow.....i'm going to go see if the burned disc works in another player in the house as one reviewer said he couldn't get the discs to work in other players.
so, if you've read this far, what do you think? any advice?
1. Do you own a DVD recorder (connected to a TV, not a computer)?
2. What brand is it?
3. Does it work more often than it doesn't?
i have owned a toshiba dvd recorder for nearly 2 years now (almost as long as the technology has been out there at the consumer level). it worked great when i first got it, great for about a month after that, then sometimes (still greater than 50% of the time) for about another month, then it basically stopped recording any discs OR recognizing previously recorded discs. unfortunately i've been too poor up until recently to consider replacing it. besides, it still played normal discs alright........or at least it did. 2 weeks ago i put a normal dvd into the recorder to watch a movie which played for about 3/4 of the time then abruptly stopped and an error message was displayed.
grrrrrr!
okay, so flash to last night. i realized i have a little extra money to spend this month (even with having to replace the hard drive in my desktop that mysteriously decided to FAIL yesterday morning!). so i figured it was time to get a new dvd recorder. surely the technology has improved and the price has gone down. right? well, yes and no.
so i go to amazon to read the user reviews, which i usually put a fair amount of stock into. all of the recorders are getting shitty reviews of one sort or another. i finally decided on a panasonic model that got the least number of shitty reviews and the most good reviews and i could afford. i didn't even read about sony or philips. i read about samsung. everyone said they sucked!
so, fast-forward to today. i'm at target. i briefly look at their selection. nothing jumped out at me.
i move on.
i stopped at tigerdirect.com.....yes, we have an actual store of the website here.....its really hit and miss on a good day......great place to go for random parts and cables......annoying as all shit if you need real technical help.....and organized in a fashion similar to a warehouse club....aka....stacks of things. anyhow.....in addition to their lack of organization, when i finally did find the dvd recorders, only ONE of the 6 different models had a price and dammit if there wasn't a soul in a blue shirt to be found! i gave up on my internal hard drive quest too when i realized i would have to talk to customer service as they keep them behind the desk(?!?!?!?).
i move on.
i make my way to the brand new, pretty best buy. you can still smell the fresh blacktop in the parking lot. anyhow, so i make my way in and wander towards the hugemongous wall of flat screen tv's calling like a beacon......successfully avoiding a trip into the magnolia home theater department that i most certainly couldn't afford (but the lights were dimmed and the leather couch looked comfy!). i finally made it to the recorder section and the only panasonic they had in stock was a combo dvd recorder/vcr and it cost like $260. WAY above my budget. so i decide to ask the helpful worker dude, who incidentally had what looked suspiciously like a gang tatoo on his neck, for help. i ask him which system he recommends, to which he answers.....the sony. the second most expensive at $170. more than i'd intended to spend. so he tells me why he thinks its better and i make him describe the 2-year service plan in detail. i decide to wander the store and think about it. too much pressure with the guy standing right there. so i wander. look at their hard drives......way over-priced. wander more. consider buying dvd's i don't need. don't buy them. make my way back. helpful gang member is now nowhere in sight. i start looking at all the players and comparing them to the sony. i finally come down to a philips at $140 vs the sony. they look to have almost identical features except that the philips has a usb drive so i could plug in a flash drive and burn media from there. why i'd want to do that versus just doing it on my computer is beyond me. why i'd waste an expensive dvd-r to do that versus a cheap cd-r is even more confusing. anyhow, i let the allure of this damn usb port cloud my vision and i decided to go with the philips. so then i get it home and decide to go back and look it up on amazon. out of 14 reviews, only two people liked it (4/5 stars). everyone else said don't buy it.....it sucks.
so now i don't know what to do. do i return it and get the more expensive sony or do i keep it and see for myself? i burned a disc tonight that seemed to go okay.....until that is....the fucking digital cable went off due to the storm and it still hasn't come back on. anyhow.....i'm going to go see if the burned disc works in another player in the house as one reviewer said he couldn't get the discs to work in other players.
so, if you've read this far, what do you think? any advice?