modern technology, help!

[Thermo]

After our vcr finally died at the end of last year we decided to plump for a dvd recorder. Heres the list so far that have broken down on us

Lg with hard disk, faulty on first use staright back for a refund

Sony with hard disk, kept recording blank pictures after arguing with shop for two weeks unit came up with hard disk error code proving us right so another refund.

Philips with no hard drive, dead again, spoke to philips confirmed fault and guy on help desk actually said most of them are still a pile of shiite and very susceptible to dust etc.(no we are no dustier than anyone else before you say it!)

So now we are in the position of what do we buy? Do we go back to the good old tried and tested vcr (a dying breed) or does anyone have any other recomendations? don't want to spend a fortune either!

 

[breezer]

get waht we have

video plaer / recorder with dvd player recorder all in one (no hard drive to wear out

mate has similr thing but uses some funny disc, clever bit is if you delete ads it shuufles it all up.

 

[FredFlintstone]

A PVR. Personal Video Recorder. Just a Hard Disk, no DVD recorder built in. If you have Sky with 2 or more premium channels you can just buy the SKY+box, the recording features are free. If you don't have 2 or more premium channels then you need to pay £10 per month to be able to record.

If you don't have Sky then a freeview PVR is your best bet. Humax are good. Get one with a twin tuner so you can record one channel while watching another or record two channels while watching something you've already recorded.

They're great. Really simple to use. To record a program you simply select what it is you want to recird from the on screen TV guide and it will record it for you.

regards

Fred

 

[JohnD]

I got a "Lite-On" DVD recorder with hard disk.

The hard disk is great, I would never again buy a recorder without it. Stores heaps of stuff, and eventually you have to decide whether to delete them,or copy then to DVD. It has a lot of Timer settings for weekly, daily etc recordings, and as it doesn't need to have tapes or disks poked inside it can record during a long holiday. Sound and vision quality are excellent.

I've seen Lite-On drives on computers, not seen their Consumer stuff before, so I was a bit suspicious, but it had a 2-year guarantee and was a lot cheaper than the Panasonic equivalent.

p.s. I also got the late model Panasonic Video recorder,which seems to be the best you can get. I believe VCRs will soon be off the market as DVD recorders will take over.

 

[Trazor]

Hard drives are sealed and impervious to dust.
Dvd,s and vcr,s are likely to be more prone to such problems.

I would say you have just been very unlucky to have 3 successive units fail on you.

Don,t know much about electrics, but might you have a dodgy mains supply, spikes etc. Were all 3 units powered from the same socket ?

 

[empip]

Bin the ferkin lot and get down the Plough-Inn !
Bad enough watching it all once never mind repeats !

 

[Thermo]

unlucky or not we went for two £31 vcrs from tesco today, back to old technology thats tried and tested!