DVD Recorder Recommendations

[Jtap2000]

Hi;

I am looking to purchase a DVD Recorder to hook up to my Sony Trinitron CRT. I mainly want to use it for playing audio cd's, dvd movies, digital TV etc.

These two models i have found locally.

Panasonic DVD Recorder EX85
https://www.cnet.com/reviews/panasonic-dmr-ex85-review/

Sony RDR-HXD870
https://blog.lhyeung.net/2009/02/20/son ... er-review/

Does anyone know which one is better? Also if you have recommendations for recorders?

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I'd recommend the Sony RDR-GX7 dvd recorder deck as it was the very last dvd recording deck that one could hook up a SD based DirecTV box to it & record anything to a blank dvd-r disc without any issues. If you record in HQ mode, the resulting video playback will look at it's best (and razor sharp) but that'd be only a hour's worth of recording to a blank dvd-r disc anyways. SP mode is 2 hours of recording, LP mode is 4 hours of recording & lastly SLP recording is 6 hours (resulting video recorded footage appears to take on a film-like appearance & isn't recommended imho).

Hooking up a Sony Mini DV Handycam via firewire cable to a RDR-GX7 deck is quite simple & easy to do.

Nowadays, if you want to record from a hdmi source, a Tendak AV-068 Hdmi to RCA Composite Video/S-Video downscaler is necessary & hooked up to a dvd recorder deck via S-Video input (it'll downconvert a 1080p/1080i/720p/480p signal to 240p). It's available on amazon.com.

Unfortunately, the a/v manufacturers never released/sold dedicated blu-ray recording decks for the North American a/v market. I would've gladly bought one if they did. For the Japanese a/v market, dedicated blu-ray recording decks were sold indeed.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[kitty666cats]

(it'll downconvert a 1080p/1080i/720p/480p signal to 240p). It's available on amazon.com

Before anyone new to the whole 'CRTs/retro games' hobby potentially sees this and gets excited, I am pretty sure they meant 480i here, haha

[Galgomite]

I own and use Toshiba XS52 and similar from Toshiba. Good interface, HDD, powerful editing options.

[energizerfellow‌]

Why a DVD recorder when you can get a Blu-ray player for playing either DVD or Blu-ray over either SD or HD? Built-in downscalers are a thing for Blu-ray if you set the player's output to SD and DVD will play as-is. If your Sony CRT is new enough to have a DVI input, all you need is a simple HDMI to DVI cable/adapter. S-video was vanishing industry-wide by 2010, but both composite and component survived until surprisingly recently (with the component being limited to downscaled 480i/576i SD on 2011+ models).

If you you need HD over analog component, however, you'll need to get a pre-2011 unit due to the AACS Analog Sunset. From a gaming hardware angle, you'll want a CECH-2xxx model slim PS3 for its uncapped YPrPr component, which depending on who you ask, was one of the best Blu-ray players anyways. For a conventional player, you're looking for something like 2009's Sony BDP-S560.