ELTAX DVR-555HD, DVD RECORDER WITH 250GB HARDDISK
ELTAX DVR-555HD, DVD RECORDER WITH 250GB HARDDISK
FEATURES: -BUILT-IN 250GB HARDDISK FOR MORE THAN 300 HOURS RECORDING. -DVD-RECORDING ON DVD+R/RW MEDIA. -PLAYBACK OF DVD,DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD+R, DVD-RW, VCD, SVCD, CD, CD-R,CD-RW,CD-WMA, MP3, JPEG. -PLAYBACK OF DIVX5, DIVX4 AND DIVX3. TIME SHIFT FUNCTION -WATCH THE BEGINING WHILE YOU RECORD THE END. -USB INPUT FOR MP3 + MP4 PORTABLE PLAYERS.
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Philips DVDR 3380 DVD Recorder 
Region 2 MP3 and Picture CD compatible iLink/firewire connection
Used Price: ?59.99
Customer Review: Philips comes good
I received this DVDR as a replacement for a previous Philips model DVDR which had crashed after a couple of years with a known software glitch. I was somewhat hesitant to deal with Philips after this bad experience, especially as I had to pay approx ?80 for the privilege, but I have no regrets. A new DVDR of this quality would have cost much more and the old one was not repairable. This uprated DVD is a faultless performer, is more user-friendly than its predecessor and can be changed to being region-free in a few easy moves (at no cost and without CDs or software downloads). Soooooooooo simple, I’d need to have been a moron not to be able to do it. Now I can watch films I’d waited half a lifetime to view because they’re only available for Region 1. I have it linked to a freeview box also with its own recordable hard drive and think I have the best combo without selling my soul to Sky+.
Customer Review: Superior DVD Recorder
Well first off this is my first ever DVD recorder, so I knew I was in for a learning curve upon reading the instructions. I know the fundamentals of DVD authoring, but had to read the instructions nonetheless. Luckily they are written out so well, I was recording DVD’s within the first day of operation. And it only took a few practice goes on a DVD-RW to fully learn all the most essential of operations. The good: - One touch recording. In other words, press the REC button several times for getting it to record for 30, 60, 90, 120 mins… and so on, as opposed to continuous recording (When you go to bed, go to work etc) which fills up the whole DVD. Very handy feature which I’ve never seen on a VCR before. - Great (and simple) system and disc menus. The default (and only) disc menu is a little bland and boring though. - Comes with 1, 2, 4 and 6 hour recording modes. 2 is DVD quality and 4 is VHS quality. I use 4 for everything I copy from videotape and many TV shows I record. - Ability to split titles on RW discs. Means you can trim the (unwanted) start or end bits off recordings on these discs. - You can append recordings. Ie- record at the end of an existing title rather than record a new title. Can be done on both R and RW discs. The bad: - The recorder occasionally hangs. Often this happens when you’re disc editing and choose a new index picture. (The thumbnail pic shown in the disc main menu) - No fast forward/rewind ability while in edit mode. Edit mode is used to split titles, add chapters etc. This is more a nuisance than a problem. - “Hiding Chapters” doesn’t work with other DVD players despite what the manual says. Ie- you use the hide chapter feature to “hide” commercials you have recorded, with the intent they don’t show up during playback. Unfortunately, they still do on other DVD players, even though the manual says otherwise. - Automatic chapter creation is ONLY set to 5 mins, rather than being customisable. Ie- a 21 minute TV show would be better with 7 minute chapters which would line up closely withy commercial breaks. - Says that new recorder software can be downloaded via the Philips website, but at the time of this review writing, it can’t. No such new software exists yet. Conclusion: I really do love this recorder despite the cons listed here. The pros do definitely outweight them due to quality rather than quantity. The main gripe I have with this recorder is the chapter functions. On RW discs you SHOULD be able to edit them by removing commercials rather than just hiding them (which doesn’t really work anyway). And it would be nice to be able to do that on R discs by virtue of making the “recorded commercials” into unretrievable space on the R disc since R discs can only be written once anyway. There also exists a need to be able to choose from different disc and system menus rather than the bland default one, and be able to set chapter length rather than settle for 5 minutes only.
Daewoo DF4150 Multi-region Capable DVD Recorder +RW & VCR Combination with MP3 and JP 
A friendly menu system with graphical element, 6 hours recording, Video Plus +, NTSC playback on PAL TV, 430 x 91 x 354
Amazon Price: ?204.80
Customer Review: Daewoo DF4150 Sucks
I have read all the review on this lemon and can agree with most comments, good when it wanted to work but bad when it did’nt. It stopped recording on DVD and even eraused discs after recording,takes an age to start up,i have to press start walk away for 10 mins press off,then play and 30 secs later it should come on.Sent the machine to only authorised repair dealers in Cornwall to be told it would cost about ?200 to have a new chip board or something like that,basicly useless.Now only good enough as grainy VHS recorder or DVD player not what i got it for. Oh and the repair shop said Daewoo knew about these faults with the software but are prepared to do diddly, THANKS Daewoo and -V- who i bought it from.
Customer Review: Top Quality DVD/VHS Recorder
1 have owned one if these units for over 12 months now and haven’t had any problems, its very user friendly, it took less that 10 mins to set up. The DVD recording picture quality gets abit dodgy if you record from SKY/Digital and go over SP, for copying VHS,Analogue tv or B&W you cant use the full SLP. The only thing that annoys me about this is that it takes about 3 weeks to start up so if you every see yourself on TV and think “I’ll record that”……….Don’t even think about using this. As i have SKY+ this isn’t an issue for me but it may be for others. Definitely highly recomended though.
LG RH278H DVD Recorder - 250GB HDD 
Amazon Price: ?223.60
Used Price: ?198.30
Panasonic DMR-EZ47 - DVD Recorder & VCR Combination - With 1080P Up-Conversion & Freeview - Black 
By combining intelligent i/p Conversion and 1080p Up-Conversion____________ technologies, DIGA’s 1080p technology renders high-resolution 1080p images from DVD movies and TV broadcasts. Also they are equipped with a new digital tuner that achieves stable signal reception even under poor signal conditions, such as when signals are reflected by surrounding buildings. The new tuner also prevents the generation of block noise.
Amazon Price: ?219.99
Used Price: ?179.99
