Anyone thinking of getting a DVD recorder, look here.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

As I mentioned in an earlier thread, Mr. Rilch and I now have a DVD recorder.

This is one of those gadgets that is ultimately going to make life easier, but is initially one big headache until you learn how to use it.

Which I am still in the process of doing.

I’ve learned to record stuff to the hard drive. And to title it. And to dub it to a disk. But I swear to you, the instruction manual was written either by people who do not have English for their first language, or who assume that people reading the manual had a hand in building the machine. There are things they simply do not tell you.

Like how to create a play list. See, first you dub stuff to the hard drive, as I said. Each program becomes one item on a list. In order to dub stuff to a disk, you have to create a play list. They tell you that, but they don’t tell you HOW to create the play list.. I had to find that out through trial and error. Error being recording one program twice because I accidentally put it on the list twice, and was terrified of erasing it because I feared that would erase it permanently from the hard drive. I also found out that once the dubbing process has begun, it will not stop for god hirself.

So. I just spent the last hour or so recording stuff from a video and placing it on the hard drive. Then I created my play list and began dubbing. Once the dubbing was completed, I switched from HDD mode to DVD (you can’t watch the contents of the disk otherwise) to make sure it recorded.

It did.

Great! Now I’ll erase this stuff so it won’t clutter up the hard drive.

Oh my god. I cannot believe what I just did to myself.

Mr. Rilch told me that once you record to a disk, it’s permanent.

He was wrong.

I know he was wrong because I checked the disk, and everything past the point where the little asterisk appeared over my head, was no longer there.

Luckily, the programs were still on the hard drive. And on the play list. I started dubbing again.

Something I noticed while I was erasing: the programs I recorded yesterday, for which I created titles, had titles on the “Direct Navigator” list of the DVD. I wonder if it’s too late to create titles for the stuff I just now recorded. This is another thing that I swear the manual doesn’t talk about: how to create titles for the disk’s program list.

But at least, now I know how to read the chapter listings on the disk.

Which they don’t tell you.

Mr. Rilch has been on my case to create chapter breaks within one of his programs. I’m sure that can be done, and I will try when I get the chance.

The reason I haven’t tried yet is that I was too terrified of screwing up.

I swear, I’m not a clueless dork. My VCR did not constantly flash 12:00, and I know how to set the stations on my car radio. But this is something else again.

2

Have you ever read The Way Things REALLY Work by Henry Beard? There’s a hysterical section on how manufacturers instructions are written that involves non-English speakers, pay phones, and train stations which is priceless and totally accurate, IMHO.

3

See, it’s not a problem with my reading comprehension, or my ability to master complex tasks. It’s the fact that the manual doesn’t have the solicitous attitude I’m used to, guiding me through the process and saying “This is what you want to do if you want to create a disk.” Instead, it lists all the functions separately, like “Playing play lists” and “Using on-screen menus”, as if the compilers think people are only going to read this because they have a clinical interest in what the different features are. None of it’s strung together in a cohesive order; you have to jump around constantly to find out what you have to do to get the results you want.

(The disk turned out fine, and I was able to create titles. Whew.)

4

Tuckerfan: No, I haven’t! But it was already on my wish list!

5

So what’s the deal with these things?

Last week I started looking into upgrading my computer, and went to the Gateway store. They’re putting them into all their higher-end packages, apparently as a replacement for CD burners.

Are they strictly for images? Can you use them like another disk drive? What is their capacity? Is there another type disk they use, and if so what do they cost?

Should I get in instead of, or in addition to, a CD burner?

Inquiring minds want to know.

6

They’re for video. You can record off a videocassette, or directly from the TV signal. Don’t know yet about recording off other DVDs, but I imagine commercial DVDs are copy-protected. Anyway, I don’t care; I can buy a DVD. I’m just interested in preserving my video library, the oldest components of which are already starting to deteriorate. And I’m recording current shows in this manner as well.

They use a blank DVD-R disk. At the moment, they cost roughly $5 a disk. I imagine this price will reduce as more people acquire the machines.

Their capacity is between 2 and 8 hours: you can record at SP (2 hours) LP (4) EP (6) or XP (8).

Don’t know if they copy CDs; I’ll get back to you on that.

7

The slower speeds capture higher resolution?

8

Yes.

9

You can sort of do the same for yourself. Get a Xtasy Everything video card/box which is Tivo for your PC, plus anything else you can imagine,
these are about $89. Then you get Pioneer a04 dvd writer from tigerdirect, $259 & some dvd-r disks & you are all set more or less.

Rilchiam, which model did you get? Did you see if the manf website has english manuals?

10

Panasonic model #DMR-HS2.

What manf website? The manual is in English, but it’s engineer English, so to speak.

11

Manufacturer’s website, you mean?

12

I have a question: First the set-up. I’m going to get a new computer, a dell, anyway I have the option of getting a DVD burner as part of the bundle.

My question is: I have an old DVD player (about 3 years old) and I was wondering, do DVD burnt DVD’s play on old DVDs?

I ask this because CDR burnt cd’s don’t always play on old cds.

13

yojimbo: No. Can’t burn CDs.

14

Meatros: In general, no. There may be some SOTA players that allow that, but ours doesn’t.

15

Rilchiam-So, am I understanding correctly when I say; you can’t play your newly burnt DVDs on regular old DVD players?

Or, and this is what I suspect, I have vastly misunderstood your answer, compounding my own ignorance on the subject…

16

That’s right. Some (as in a very few) DVD players will play burned DVDs, but those are the newer ones. Ours doesn’t.

17

It is irresponsible for computer companies to include DVD burners in a standard consumer-level system.

DVD burners are still new technology. Technology wasn’t always easy. There was a time that if you wanted to use something, you had to sit down and write drivers for it. Nobody expected to open a package and something work. They expected to pay lots of money and put in lots of time learning how to make it do what they wanted it to do.

And every new technology that comes out pretty much has to pass throught that stage. DVD burners are still in that stage. We havn’t really agreed on a format. Easy-to-use software isn’t widely availible.

And consumers ought to be fairly warned about this instead of being shown ads that make it look like burning DVDs is akin to copying on to a floppy.

18

You need a dvd writer that writes dvd-r if you want to play stuff in your dvd player…cause those that write dvd-ram won’t play in your regular player. Another format, dvd+r is more expensive, avoid it. I know its complicated but what you want is a dvd-r format drive. Don’t get stuck with a dvd+R one.

The Pioneer a04 that I mentioned does it well…Dell was suppose to give me the new Sony that does just about every format this is but they are making me wait two months for it…grrrrrr

19

Just thought I’d provide an update. Mr. Rilch complimented me last night on my skills. He asked to see the current Sopranos episode, and freaked a little when I told him it was no longer on the hard drive. Instead, I put in a disk, and the Direct Navigator came up on screen with the two episodes marked with the title and date of broadcast. I have two other disks, one with shows I’ve been recording off TV, the other with video transfers. Both are similarly well documented. I’ve become the master of shortening segments, and I even learned something Mr. Rilch didn’t know about: how to tap the fast-forward button just right so it stays at a consistent 2x speed!

Translation:

Rilchiam has gotten really good at using her DVD recorder.