dvdrecorder

Panasonic DMR-E500HS DIGA DVD Recorder review

Panasonic's DMR-E500HS high-end DIGA DVD-R/DVD-RAM recorder features a built-in 400 GB hard-disk drive (HDD) with a recording capacity of 709 hours of video (yes, that's more than 4 solid weeks) in EP mode and 89 hours in XP (best-quality). It offers high-speed dubbing from HDD to recordable DVD-RAM media at up to 40x normal speed and onto DVD-R at up to 64x (in EP mode). This means you can archive a 1-hour program to DVD-R in as little as 56 seconds.
DVD-RAM is perfect for instant chapter access and for multiple rerecordings, while DVD-R is regarded as the most widely compatible of the many DVD formats. DVD-RAM offers high storage capacity, high-speed data transmission, exceptional picture and sound quality, fast random-access memory, and rewritability up to 100,000 times.

With its Ethernet port and a broadband receiver, the DMR-E500HS provides a great way to enjoy your home and mobile networking. You can stream MPEG-4 video and JPEG photos from your PC without having to first burn them to optical media. And, with a networked pair of DMR-E500HS decks used in tandem, you can even view full MPEG-2 video from one device on the other unit in a separate room. Broadband Internet access lets you schedule home recording through such mobile devices as cell phones and PCs while you're out and about or away on travel. You can even transfer pictures between the DVD recorder and your mobile device.

The DMR-E500HS has an SD Memory Card slot and a PCMCIA card slot to transfer MPEG data at high speeds for storage or use in other devices. Using an SD Memory Card (or CompactFlash Card, MultiMedia Card, Smart Media Card, and Memory Stick), it's easy to transfer video and still photos recorded by other audio/video products, such as digital still cameras, to the DMR-E500HS for editing or storage on the hard disk or on DVD media. The recorder can simultaneously record MPEG-4 image data to a flash-memory device while recording MPEG-2 data to its hard disk. You can then transfer the MPEG-4 data to an SD Memory Card and play it back on a Panasonic D-Snap SD video camera.

The DMR-E500HS is also a progressive-scan DVD player for use with standard and high-definition or HD-ready TVs. It handles your DVDs, CDs, and homemade MP3 discs, as well as high-resolution DVD-Audio discs (2-channel only). DVD-Audio media offer super high-fidelity (192 kHz/24-bit) sound and provides unique bonus materials not available on regular audio CDs.

Panasonic DVD recorders

DVD recorders

LG LRM-519 DVD recorder review

As well as having 160 gigabytes of storage capacity, the LG Digital Media Recorder has two USB ports, so the user can plug in an external hard drive if needs be, so long as it’s compatible. Storage to DVD is compatible with DVD+R Dual Layer recordable discs, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R and DVD+RW.

Connected to the home wired or WiFi network, the LG Digital Media Recorder means TV shows can be sent to the home PC. Further, JPEG photo files, MP3 and WMA music files stored on the PC can now be accessed through the LRM-519 for slideshow playback.

"LG strives to bring to market groundbreaking, innovative products and services that address evolving consumers' needs and improve their daily lives. With the launch of the digital media recorder category, we believe we have done just that, and in turn, we are changing the landscape of the consumer electronics industry," said Robert A. Perry, vice president, consumer electronics sales and channel marketing, LG Electronics USA, speaking for the benefit of high-end retailers at the CEDIA trade show in Indianapolis.
The Microsoft Program Guide service can search up to 14 days of programs by title, keyword, actor, director or category. Any scheduled recording can be configured to record only once or for an entire season of shows. There’s also up to 90 minutes of "live" TV pause, and even the ability to jump forward 30 seconds.

Available in USA in October, the LG LRM-519 Digital Media Recorder has a RRP of $599. The Microsoft Program Guide service subscription is available for a $249 one-time fee, $99.99 for a one-year subscription, or for $9.99 for a one-month subscription.

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Toshiba networked DVD recorder

The bad news for people who have only just learnt how to programme their existing video recorders is that Toshiba has developed a networked DVD recorder boasting advanced features such as the ability to set up and record TV programmes via email.

Toshiba's newly developed RD-XS54 Multi-Drive (DVD-Ram, DVD-R and DVD-RW) recorder, which ships with a 250GB hard disc drive, can be connected to other devices over a home Ethernet network.

"Home networks are rapidly increasing," said Jodi Sally, vice president of marketing at Toshiba's America Consumer Products Digital A/V Group.

"With our network-capable DVD recorder we enhance the functionality of the unit. Whether it is being able to schedule a recording via email or by using your home PC to program new recordings, the RD-XS54 makes recording and playback easier and more flexible for consumers."

The RD-XS54 DVD recorders can be connected to a PC, allowing users to stream recorded content or even live programming to the computer. Users can also add and edit title information to personal home videos from a PC, and upload custom menu backgrounds for creating DVD-R/RW discs.

Additional features include High-Definition Multimedia Interface with up-conversion capability to 720p or 1080i. This up-conversion will be performed for all sources whether they are playing back content encoded on a DVD or the HDD, including the tuner and inputs.

In addition, the DV input allows the transfer of camcorder recordings directly onto DVD media.

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Sony says HD DVD will dominate the market

Entertainment industry giant Sony has claimed that the delay in the launch of HD DVD standard from the Toshiba camp would help them overcome the rival standard and become a popular format for the masses within 12 months of the launch. One of the major advantages Sony would have is the upcoming next generation gaming console Sony Playstation 3 which would feature a Blu-Ray compatible drive.

The company believes that the popularity of their PS3 gaming console would help them leapfrog the competitive standard in HD DVD. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment president Benjamin Feingold said: “I think in 12 months it’s going to be clear. The combination of Blu-Ray and PlayStation 3 machines is going to overwhelm any HD-DVD presence and all studios will have to support Blu-Ray.”

Microsoft has yet not confirmed whether they would be adopting the HD DVD format for their Xbox 360 console to allow gaming developers to provide even better gaming experience to their consumers. Toshiba has recently admitted that the HD DVD based drives might still take sometime to arrive in the market as they have suffered some delays.

Toshiba on their part still say that the lower manufacturing cost for the developers of these drives would make them a better and more popular standard for the retail market. Sony has the advantage of having a format, which provides more storage space.

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Samsung to offer HD DVD and Blu-ray

Samsung is to harness consumer confusion over which next-generation optical disc standard to back by offering a player that supports both HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc (BD).

The machine will launch sometime next year, said Choi Gee-Sung, Samsung's consumer electronics chief, in an interview published by the Financial Times Deutschland.

"We would welcome a unified standard but if this doesn't come, which looks likely, we'll bring a unified solution to market," he said.

"It won't be simple but you'll see our solution in the coming year. Consumers will be too confused otherwise," he added.

With talks held between the two camps to find common ground in order to yield a unified format having broken down, consumers much now choose which format to support. Backing the wrong format could leave buyers with access to less content and, over time, more expensive hardware. That risk may persuade them simply to ignore both formats until a clear winner emerges.

Dual-play machines could break the deadlock. Both BD and HD DVD use blue laser light to increase the storage capacity of a DVD-sized optical disc dramatically. However, the two formats have very different capacities, optical specifications and file structures. Samsung's machine is likely to require at least two different read heads for the blue-laser discs, not to mention another, red laser-based head to read today's DVDs and CDs.

To date, Samsung has favoured BD over HD DVD, but today's statement suggest it doesn't believe its favoured format will quickly establish a clear lead over HD DVD. ®

DVD format war gaining pace

Chances looked slim that consumers will be spared a DVD format war, as the backers of one standard said on Friday there was no common ground for a unified format and it was on track for a market launch within a year.

"If we want a unified standard, it has to be better than the sum of the parts. We would like to find something that's better in the other standard than ours, but we haven't found it," said Frank Simonis, a spokesman for backers of the Blu-ray standard.

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Speaking on the sidelines of the IFA consumer electronics trade fair, Simonis said the Blu-ray association was ready to lay down the specifications of the higher-capacity DVD format in the spring of 2006.

The rival HD DVD camp has recently had to push back its launch into the New Year. "We're no longer lagging behind," said Simonis, who is also strategic marketing director at the optical storage unit of Philips Electronics.

At stake is the multibillion dollar market for DVD players, PC drivers and optical disks. Blu-ray promises higher capacity DVD disks (up to 50 Gigabytes) that can store high definition films and better interactivity and security.

The HD DVD camp, on the other hand, claims it has a cheaper technology compatible with current DVD and CD players.

Blu-ray is backed by the majority of electronics makers, including Sony, Matsushita, Samsung, Philips, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Apple and Hitachi.

The HD-DVD camp consists of Toshiba, NEC Corp and Sanyo Electric as main hardware vendors.

The battle between the two camps has become intense after a failed attempt this spring by several of the main Japanese electronics companies to bring together the two standards.

HOLLYWOOD PICKS ITS WINNER

The support of the Hollywood studios and television producers, crucial partners who will have to print pre-recorded disks with movies and TV series, has been more evenly spread and many have held their options open.

However, studio owner 20th Century Fox said at IFA it had chosen Blu-ray after its backers improved security features that will prevent DVD piracy hurting the industry.

"We talked to both formats and asked them: 'What are you going to do about content protection?' We asked them to step up their content protection in a serious way, and the members of Blu-ray association won," said Andy Setos, president of engineering at the studio which is owned by News Corp.

He also said that production costs of Blu-ray are "competitive" and that the format is interoperable with existing DVDs and CDs formats.

Hollywood is suffering from rampant piracy, because the initial DVD standard that was put together exactly 10 years ago had been rushed to market and lacked features to prevent unauthorised copying and playback.

"DVD is not good. It isn't secure, the capacity is too low, the bit rate is too low," Simonis said.

In China in particular, many films are reproduced on DVDs illegally and sold at a dollar apiece on street corners. "We sell 20,000 DVDs a year in China, and they're priced at just $4.99. Just to prove a point," Setos said.

Yet, even the piracy underlines the success of DVD. It has been the fastest-adopted technology in consumer electronics history and has generated billions of euros in royalties for the inventors, a broad base of consumer electronics companies including firms now divided over its successor.

The fight for licence income may yet hurt the interests of consumers who face two disk formats which do not play back in all devices, invoking memories of the VHS-Betamax war for the VHS standard, or more recently the rewritable DVD standard.

On top of that, consumers should expect punishment for tinkering with their Blu-ray players, as many have done with current DVD players, for instance to remove regional coding. The new, Internet-connected and secure players will report any "hack" and the device can be disabled remotely.

"A hacked player is any player that is doing something it's not supposed to do," Setos said, adding the jury was still out if regional coding would be maintained or scrapped.

The controversial regional code prevents DVD disks that have been bought in one continent to play on devices elsewhere.

Info from Yahoo/Reuters