Well it has come time to finally invest in a hard drive recorder or a combo HDD/DVD recorder. Our VCR has finally shat itself and we have no way of recording stuff from TV to watch later. I was originally going to just replace it, but why bother. I cant stand the quality of video now that I’ve had DVD for so long and I cant remember the last time I watched a video anyway. I dont want a standalone DVD recorder as I dont want 10,000 DVD’s that will never be watched again so I figure a HDD recorder is the way to go where you can delete stuff you dont want and burn off what you do.
My biggest problem is that I love my gadgets and I have been in a gadget black hole for some time now so I have got cravings for toys. The problem is that I have not been keeping up on my home entertainment technology like I used to so I dont know who or whats good anymore and thats where you guys come in. I need some help from people in the know or other people who like their home theatres as well.
What brands are currently the better ones, which major features are MUST HAVES in HDD recorders, which features really make life easy and which recorder is the easiest for my wife to use but has the flexibility for me to really get in amongst its nitty gritty’s?
Thats the start of it I guess so come on peoples let me know.
In the mean time for those of you in the same situation I have compiled a small list of starting resources for you:
- CNET - Seven tips on buying a DVD recorder
- Smarthouse - DVD recorder Buyers Guide
- The Age - Hard Drive Value - Good beginners guide to Hard Drive Recorders
- PC World - PVR and Hard Disk Video Recorder Buying Guide - A bit more in depth and a good read
- Choice - Test DVD/HDD Recorders - A free test for mid market hdd/dvd recorders
I am open to suggestions as well as sponsorship of products for testing and review.
3 responses so far ↓
1 Matt Packer // Jun 18, 2008 at 9:18 pm
We’ve got an LG dvd HDD recorder, it’s pretty awesome.
Worked solidly for the last 3 years, never missed a beat. Easy to record on, easy to transfer off of, and as a bonus it has a built in CF reader which can be pretty handy when it comes to doing quick presentations off photos on when you’ve come back from shooting.
Highly recommend it Tim, and LG is pretty reasonably priced as well compared to some of the bigger brands..
2 Tim // Jun 19, 2008 at 5:12 pm
LG seems to be a popular brand. It has mixed reviews though, some see it as great and others arent that fussed on it.
I plan to go down to Harvey Norman Later this week and check some out in the flesh. Hopefully that should give me a better idea of whats out there. I will definitely keep LG in mind though
3 rod // Jul 26, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Hi Tim,
I found your site while trying to google some fixes for my current LG HDD/DVD recorder. I have had none of the problems that many others have had with DVD recording, lip syncing, repairs etc. However I have become frustrated with the inability of my LG recorder to put photos from the hard drive back to DVD.
Also there have been lots of problems with recording TV channels. If there has been a change to the TV guide it will not record unless this has been acknowledged (and if you’re around to do this then you probably don’t need to be recording!).
I would be very cautious with LG.
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