DVD recorders

Posted by: Steve O on 28 October 2006

Hi all,
Today I was looking at a DVD/VCR recorder combo to replace my ageing VCR. I rarely bother with VHS tapes now but need something to play old tapes on, should the urge take.
One thing I noticed when looking at the recordable DVD discs is that 120 mins is the largest size I could find in store.
So now comes the stupid question.
How do you record something over 3 hours long? Are there longer discs available or is that a stumbling block with this technology?
Any help and pointers to good machines most gratefully received.
Many thanks in advance,
Steve O.

Posted on: 28 October 2006 by Tony Lockhart

I might be wrong, but I think you can vary the quality, thus the recording time, of the discs.

Tony

Posted on: 28 October 2006 by BigH47

I have a Liteon 5606 it records 6 hours in SLP. I got half of I Clavdivs on one 4.7GB S/S S/L DVD-r.Quality is pretty good too.Mind the machine is a bit slow to function,reading discs and such like.

Posted on: 28 October 2006 by oxgangs

hi have a look at hard drive dvd recorders which
give yoou the choice of watching on the hard drive the electing to record on dvd

you need high speed dubbing i can redord a 2 hour movie on to a dvd in about 10 minutes

I have a panasonic but check argos currys etc youll find loads

mike

Posted on: 29 October 2006 by Steve O

Thanks for that guys. The Hard drive ones seem interesting, though a little more than I was hoping to pay.
Have been looking on the internet at various sites selling them.
Any advantage in getting an integrated freeview tuner? I currently have a Phillips box that keeps crashing.
Thanks guys,
Steve o.

Posted on: 29 October 2006 by Tony Lockhart

Do a search on the subject of Freeview and hard drives, there was a thread quite recently.
We have a Topfield that has a 160Gb (80 hours) HD and twin Freeview tuners. It is quite customisable and it's even possible to copy recorded programmes to DVD via its USB connection to PC.
Loads of features and everyone that has one loves it. A lot of money at £250-ish but if mine caught fire tonight I'd buy another tomorrow.

Tony

PS. Best feature is 'chase-play'. I haven't seen an advert on telly for nearly a year!