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Question about DVD recorders in UK
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Posted by: lakemirror

Greetings from the US. I have a few questions about DVD recorders that I'm hoping to get some help with.

My wife is from England and does her best to stay in touch with all things British. She currently has a friend recording her favorite show on VHS and anytime we travel over there (or her friends come over here) we transport a bucketful of tapes with us. We have a multiformat VCR here that enables us to see the PAL recordings on our NTSC television.

We wish to make a change, and purchase a DVD recorder for her friend to use to record this show for us. Here's where I need your help.

First, will there be problems in playing DVDs on our players that are recorded in the UK? Do we have to purchase a recorder that will record PAL content in NTSC? Or, conversely, do we have to purchase a DVD player that will play PAL DVDs on an NTSC TV? I'm confused, but that's normal.

Second, we wish to find a recorder for as reasonable a price as possible. It should be simple to operate (non-technically-savvy friend) and we need it to record in +R or +RW. If PAL vs. NTSC is an issue that should be a factor as well. Can someone please suggest such a recorder and a source that can do mail or online ordering?

I read the entire "DVD Recorders" thread in this section, and got some info but in a roundabout way. I'm hoping someone can throw me some quick, simple answers here. Many thanks!

Posted by: Sneals2000

Hope this helps.

Domestic DVD recorders almost universall record DVDs as Region 0 - in other words region-free. A DVD recording made on a domestic DVD recorder should play correctly on any DVD player worldwide AS LONG AS THE PLAYER CAN REPLAY THE VIDEO STANDARD

If your DVD player will replay PAL aka 625 DVDs in a format your TV can display, and is compatible with the DVD recording format chosen, then you should be fine with the domestic recordings.

If it would help I could mail you a UK DVD+R or +RW recording made on my Philips DVDR75 - I'm more than happy to.

Some US DVD players incorporate a basic PAL->NTSC standards converter (my Samsung DVD plays NTSC as PAL if needed, but also plays it as PAL 60 or plain NTSC as well). Some DVD players (especially the cheaper ones from China) may well replay PAL material in PAL (which would be suitable if you have a PAL compatible TV, or can feed a PAL output from your DVD player through a multi-standard VCR if the VCR converts from PAL to NTSC), or if you are using component connections you may have no problems (if your TV will sync to 625/50 signals from a PAL VCR)

It isn't clear if your multi-standard VCR is replaying PAL as PAL (and your TV is PAL compatible), or if the VCR is converting from PAL to NTSC on replay. Multi-standard can mean either of the above!

If you want a cheap DVD+R/RW recorder in the UK they start at around Ł200ish (some are slightly cheaper) - and Philips have a couple at this price point via cheap outlets. (I paid about Ł220 for mine)

If you also want to watch pre-recorded DVDs purchased in Europe you also need a multi-region DVD player - as the US is in DVD Region 1 and the UK in DVD Region 2. Many players can be converted - either with hidden menu options, odd remote control sequences, "special remote controls" or hardware modifications. This is only an issue for commercial DVD releases though.

Basically you need to know the following :

1. Does your DVD player replay PAL DVDs (say Region 0) at all?
2. If it does, does it replay them as PAL, or as NTSC?
3. If it replays in PAL does your TV cope with PAL signals via its AV inputs?
4. If it doesn't, does your multi-standard VCR convert from PAL to NTSC, and will it do this for an external PAL signal?
5. Is your DVD player modifiable to multi-region to allow it to play UK Region 2 commercial DVDs?

(There are quite a few British TV fans in the US who know a lot about watching PAL region 2 DVDs in the US - there are quite a few cheap DVD players that will replay PAL material as PAL or convert it to NTSC I believe)

Finally - replaying the discs on a PC may also be an option!

Feel free to PM me if I can help further.

Posted by: lakemirror

Your reply is much appreciated!

quote:
1. Does your DVD player replay PAL DVDs (say Region 0) at all?

Turns out it does. I had a commercial DVD from the UK that didn't play on my old DVD player, but I just tried it on my new recorder and it plays fine.

quote:
2. If it does, does it replay them as PAL, or as NTSC?

3. If it replays in PAL does your TV cope with PAL signals via its AV inputs?

NTSC. My TV won't talk PAL.

quote:
4. If it doesn't, does your multi-standard VCR convert from PAL to NTSC, and will it do this for an external PAL signal?

Yes, and I assume it will convert an external signal as well...but I'd guess that's moot given the answer to number 1.

quote:
5. Is your DVD player modifiable to multi-region to allow it to play UK Region 2 commercial DVDs?

Yes, found a hack and set it to region 0 and all seems well.

quote:
Finally - replaying the discs on a PC may also be an option!

Very low WAF for that option. Gotta be on the big screen.

Thank you so much for your help. I might take you up on the offer of the +R disk, just to be sure. I'll be in touch.

PM sent.

Posted by: TivoUK

Are you all sorted on this? I sent quite a few DVD's of UK TV shows to friends in the States, but they are recorded in the "-" format before being finalised, so if can be of any help please ask.

Posted by: lakemirror

I believe so...Sneals2000 has been kind enough to offer to burn a +R and a +RW and send to me for testing. I have at least one dvd player that can handle commercial PAL dvds in region 2, but I wanted to make sure that it could also handle handrolled dvds of UK origin as well.

Still hoping to source a +R recorder in the UK for under 200. Any ideas?

Thanks!

Posted by: pgogborn

quote:
Originally posted by lakemirror
Still hoping to source a +R recorder in the UK for under 200. Any ideas?

In the current issue of the UK magazine, 'What Hi-Fi', the Yamada DVR8000 gets a good review and falls within your price range.

This seems to be a new product that is not yet widely available for net purchase. The highly reputable Richer Sounds people are currently restricting the supply to personal shoppers >
http://www.richersounds.sv01.net/in...list.php&c=1203

The following sites seems to have them for sale on-line, but I have no idea how reputable the vendors are >
http://pcloaded.co.uk/details-1586-...corder---y.html
http://ukdvdplayers.co.uk/h_GG1586-dvd-player.html

Not all on-line shops will deliver to an address different from the one on the credit card making the purchase.

Posted by: lakemirror

I see that Richer Sounds has a shop in Bournemouth, which is where our friend lives. The Yamada looks like it will do nicely. Thanks!

Posted by: Regor

Wow. I didn't know that shop was there. I must go and take a look as am looking for one myself.

Posted by: lakemirror

Regor - pm sent.

Posted by: pgogborn

At the time of posting, the Richer Sounds price for the Region 2 version is Ł149.95 and for the Multi-Region version Ł169.95

Allegedly, the way to convert a Region 2 version into a Multi-Region version is to open the DVD drawer, and key into the remote 0 0 8 6 0 0 followed by 0 for codefree.

Posted by: lakemirror

Well, that's a quick 20 for the store manager, isn't it? ;-)

Posted by: pgogborn

Looks like it is worth installing the 24th March 2004 firmware update >
http://www.umax.co.uk/support/default.htm

This Usenet thread suggests that you will have a problem if you want to set two timed recordings on different channels that have less than a five minute gap between them (see message number 10) >
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=...26btnG%3DSearch

Posted by: lakemirror

Excellent info. Thanks very much. I see that the 24th March update makes the unit region free.

Posted by: pgogborn

lakemirror - pm sent.