Advice on Combi recorders please!

[patacake]

We bought a Panasonic Model number DMR EZ45VEBS DVD/VCR recorder 2 years ago and just when it's guarantee expired the video part wouldn't work. As we bought it primarily to transfer our many videos to DVD this was a blow and we need to replace it. Can anyone recommend another combi? Suggestions gratefully received.

[Carl V]

Sony used to do one but I think they've stopped. However, Panasonic still appear to make them (if you're happy to stick with Panasonic, that is):



DMR EZ48 and the DMR EX98V. The second one has a 250GB hard drive.



I've tried putting a link onto them, but it didn't work so I suggest you go to Panasonic UK's website and just enter the model numbers into the search box.

[Stevie Gee]

I use a Toshiba which is reliable, but I have on occasions got confused and wiped the VHS recording accidentally much to my annoyance.

[Wolfgang]

Toshiba combis have good reputations, and if I were going to buy one I would go that way. If you have pre-recorded tapes you need to make sure they do not enforce macrovision otherwise you will not be able to copy.

[patacake]

Thank you all for the imput, we will certainly investigate the ones you mention and the Toshiba sounds particularly interesting. A lot of our videos are ones we've recorded and cannot bear to lose, of programmes never to be repeated.

[Stevie Gee]

name='patacake']Thank you all for the imput, we will certainly investigate the ones you mention and the Toshiba sounds particularly interesting. A lot of our videos are ones we've recorded and cannot bear to lose, of programmes never to be repeated.

I know same here, so practice with some duffers until you get the hang of it. Might sound daft, but you'll avoid accidentally wiping your films.

[johng]

Why not use an ordinary video recorder and a DVD recorder? There are crates of second hand quality video recorders around which you can pick up for next to nothing.. This also has the benefiots of allowing you to deal with Macrovision if necessary and the DVD recorder is also available for other purposes.



I have bever found "combis" to be very efficienr in any walk of life and are usually something of a compromise on quality as against something designed for a specific job.



As for accidentally deleting a valued tape, since tapes are unlikely to now be used for re-recording purposes why not go over every single tape and remove the recording protection piece of plastic from the case?

[frame69]

[quote]name='johng']Why not use an ordinary video recorder and a DVD recorder? There are crates of second hand quality video recorders around which you can pick up for next to nothing.. This also has the benefiots of allowing you to deal with Macrovision if necessary and the DVD recorder is also available for other purposes.



I have bever found "combis" to be very efficienr in any walk of life and are usually something of a compromise on quality as against something designed for a specific job.



We've had two in our resturant both of which failed terribly so we now have a video and dvd recorder,much cheaper way to go,and less confusing.

[Carl V]

For what it's worth, when I bought a DVD recorder about 5 years ago, all I did was connect my VCR to it with a good quality scart lead and then transfered all my videos onto the hard-drive. I was then able to edit out what I didn't particularly want to keep, such as adverts, before dubbing them over to a DVD. The results were just as good as watching the original tapes. I've never used a combi so I can't say how the results compare I'm afraid.

[essaljay]

I had a JVC combi for a few years and I transferred all my VCR's to disc. It finally died on me about 3 months ago and I bought a Panasonic DVD recorder with hard drive. My only regret is that I didn't do it years ago. I have since used it to transfer VCR's via another VCR player connected with a scart lead. The recorder is connected to the T.V. via an HDMI cable and the results are great.