Category Archives: Recorders

Blu-ray blank media

Posted on July 12, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

I’ve got Panasonic’s latest Blu-ray recorder here, the DMR-BW880, and on opening it up was startled to find that there were no blank recordable Blu-ray discs contained in the box. Previous models have included them I think. So I went … Continue reading →

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Philips leads the field with digital TV/DVD recorder

Posted on May 23, 2006 by Stephen Dawson

Well, today was busy. First I went to a Samsung product showing in Melbourne, and then a Philips one in Canberra. Both Samsung and Philips have some interesting new technology to enhance black levels in LCD TVs, and the new … Continue reading →

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TDK Blu-ray recordables arriving

Posted on April 11, 2006 by Stephen Dawson

TDK has commencing shipping recordable Blu-ray discs. Its initial two offerings are a 25GB BD-R (Blu-ray Disc Recordable) and a 25GB BD-RE (Rewritable – so why not ‘RW’?) Australian US prices will be $US19.99 and $US24.99 respectively. Clearly, that’s pretty … Continue reading →

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Is recording from TV worth it?

Posted on March 29, 2006 by Stephen Dawson

The combination of digital TV and DVD recorders can, unlike VCRs and analogue TV, make it worthwhile to record broadcasts for permanent retention. In general, purchasing the DVD of a movie or a TV show is better, quality-wise, but not … Continue reading →

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PVR & DVD player, or STB & DVD recorder?

Posted on December 13, 2005 by Stephen Dawson

John from Canberra writes: I was after some independent advise on the best way to go forward on some electronic purchases, and was wondering if you would help.We currently have a 5 year old Sony Trinitron TV, a cheap unreliable … Continue reading →

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Consumer DVD recorders go dual layer

Posted on August 16, 2005 by Stephen Dawson

Well dual layer recordable DVDs have been around for about 18 months now, without too much happening with them. With their expense (still over $8 each here in Australia), their use has been difficult to justify. Might as well just … Continue reading →

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Philips hobbles performance of DVD+R/+RW DVD recorders

Posted on October 18, 2004 by Stephen Dawson

Some time back I mentioned the aspect ratio limitations of the DVD+VR recording format, as used by consumer DVD+R/RW DVD recorders. I took the opportunity to draw this to the attention of Philips Electronics — the inventor and controller of … Continue reading →

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Forthcoming: Twin Tuner High Definition PVR from Strong

Posted on September 9, 2004 by Stephen Dawson

Yesterday I had a long chat with Trevor Young of Strong Technologies, which currently sells the SRT-5390 digital TV receiver/Personal Video Recorder. He says that the company has a number of new products forthcoming, including a high definition TV receiver … Continue reading →

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Aspect ratio limitations on DVD+R/RW

Posted on September 3, 2004 by Stephen Dawson

Gregory writes: I wonder if you could answer a question that arose from your column “All-write recorder”, a review of the Philips DVDR77 DVD recorder, from The Canberra Times 16/8/2004.You wrote that “… DVD+R and +RW discs, at least when … Continue reading →

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DVD Recorder hard disk drives getting bigger

Posted on August 20, 2004 by Stephen Dawson

Sharp has released the DVHR350X DVD recorder with a built-in hard disk drive (RRP: $AUS1,769). What’s interesting here is that this raises the hard disk size. Previously all DVD recorders incorporating hard disks have used 80GB models, but this one … Continue reading →

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