groink wrote:
Without further review of these DVDR/VHS combo units, I expect the mainstream companies like SONY and Panasonic to have the macrovision detection enabled out of the factory to prevent their products from being used for bootlegging or backing up macrovision-protected VHS and DVD products. What you'd then need to do is wait until someone on www.dvdrhelp.com posts a macrovision hack for any given make/model. Like I mentioned in an earlier message on this topic, SONY says their products can be used for dubbing -- they just won't tell you for copyright reasons.
--- groink
yes the panasonic standalone dvd recorder that i have has macrovision protection. but i dont record anything from tape that has macrovision, so its not much of a problem for me. :mrgreen:
there are ways to bypass macrovision, you just have to experiment.. :hehe:
groink wrote:
Without further review of these DVDR/VHS combo units, I expect the mainstream companies like SONY and Panasonic to have the macrovision detection enabled out of the factory to prevent their products from being used for bootlegging or backing up macrovision-protected VHS and DVD products. What you'd then need to do is wait until someone on www.dvdrhelp.com posts a macrovision hack for any given make/model. Like I mentioned in an earlier message on this topic, SONY says their products can be used for dubbing -- they just won't tell you for copyright reasons.
--- groink
No where in your message did I see that you were thinking about transfering copy protected/macrovison tapes to a dvd. I don't think there is any standalone dvd recorder out that will let you copy copy protected tapes or dvds. I have a panasonic and pioneer dvd recorder both with hard drives and both will not let you. Of course there are ways around it by having a dvd player that has been macrovision hacked or other boxes that hook up between the dvd player or vcr and the dvd recorder. As for copying dvds that it is better just to use a dvd burner in your computer and the right free/shareware software.
groink wrote:
Is there a such animal as a DVD-writable/VHS combo unit? Didn't know if one does exist.
They exist. When I was in Japan last summer, they were just coming out over there (by Panasonic). It was in a lot of magazine ads. I don't remember the exact price but it was at least 50,000 yen.
Scorpion wrote:No where in your message did I see that you were thinking about transfering copy protected/macrovison tapes to a dvd.
Hehe... That's because I'm not! I only mentioned about macrovision because everyone else here is concerned about that. As for me, all of my VHS tapes aren't protected. However, in the past I had a couple I wanted backed up, so I ended up buying a $20.00 doo-dad from mainland China that absorbs the macrovision before it gets to my PC. So I'm already covered on that.
As for the DVDR recorders... I'm waiting for the 80GB units to drop in price. Right now, the Panasonic model retails for $2000! :(
groink wrote:
As for the DVDR recorders... I'm waiting for the 80GB units to drop in price. Right now, the Panasonic model retails for $2000! :(
--- groink
Not sure where you got that $2000 figure from. Retail price for the Panasonic E-80H is $699 and the new E-85H is $799. Some places on the net carry last years E-80H model for just under $500. I also have heard others are getting them from Best Buy for about $350. The newer E-85H model just hitting stores and the internet now with a 120gig hd is going for about $575.
Not sure where you got that $2000 figure from. Retail price for the Panasonic E-80H is $699 and the new E-85H is $799. Some places on the net carry last years E-80H model for just under $500. I also have heard others are getting them from Best Buy for about $350. The newer E-85H model just hitting stores and the internet now with a 120gig hd is going for about $575.
I was looking at the Panasonic model a friend of mine owns... The price was from the Panasonic web site, more likely the full retail price and seeing she bought it about one year ago. A unit like this is #127 on my list of things to get, so I never looked into anything else. Right now, I'm using a Windows PC to do the exact same thing, and I have a lot more flexibility in the editing and customizing department (someone told me DVDR stand-alone recorders don't save the DVD content to ISO-formatted discs, therefore you can't edit them directly a Windows-based video editor.) Of course, that may have changed as well.
120GB unit for $575?????? This I gotta look into! Thanks!
TLCy wrote:Does the Lite-On LVD-2002 player read soft subs like smi or srt? TIA!
No, that model doesn't support subs. :( But there are other makes/models that do, so I'd look into those rather than trying to hardsub your stuff just to stay with the LVD-2002 (of course if you already bought the unit, then...)
groink wrote:
No, that model doesn't support subs. :( But there are other makes/models that do, so I'd look into those rather than trying to hardsub your stuff just to stay with the LVD-2002 (of course if you already bought the unit, then...)
--- groink
i think with the older model it did support soft subs. i've read that the lvd 2002, with a firmware upgrade supported soft subs. but of course it was just a beta firmware, and liteon was quick on discontinuing the lvd 2002, and took the firmware off their homepage. :(
Guess I should've researched more before I bought this player.
Other than the lack of softsub support some things that I wish were present or better:
1. Playing divx/xvid during high speed scenes it skips frames and the blockiness is a bit unbearable.
2. Sometimes when it failed to play a disk it will freeze and the only way to do anything is to plug the power cable out then during the next startup I have to quickly press eject before it tries to load again.
So what's the best stand alone player out there right now?
The best option is probably a customized PC, but I don't have the money for that and I haven't really found a slim inexpensive casing that'll look nice.
TLCy wrote:So what's the best stand alone player out there right now?
Best in terms of what? Being able to play al formats? Picture quality? Sound quality? Ease of use? Features? Price to performance?
I doubt that you'll be able to find one standalone player that can meet all those requirements... You have to decide what's important to you, then you can filter out all the player that don't meet your criteria...
Oh, I'm not sure the exact ratio but it said somewhere on dvdrhelp that I think dvd-r plays on 93% of the DVD players and DVD+R plays on 90% or something? Odds are both will be ok for you.
EDIT: Not sure if this will help....
DVD-R is a non-rewriteable format and it is compatible with about 93% of all DVD Players and most DVD-ROMs.
DVD+R is a non-rewritable format and it is compatible with about 88% of all DVD Players and most DVD-ROMs.
eltinator wrote:Oh, I'm not sure the exact ratio but it said somewhere on dvdrhelp that I think dvd-r plays on 93% of the DVD players and DVD+R plays on 90% or something? Odds are both will be ok for you.
EDIT: Not sure if this will help....
DVD-R is a non-rewriteable format and it is compatible with about 93% of all DVD Players and most DVD-ROMs.
DVD+R is a non-rewritable format and it is compatible with about 88% of all DVD Players and most DVD-ROMs.
Well, I kinda think this doesn't belong here. :sweat: I'm moving this to general and renaming it a bit so people know what it is about....sorry :sweat:
darn, iguess i waited too long to get the liteon models. i was thinking if i waited long enuough, the prices will drop a bit. who knew that they'd discontinue it so fast?
I guess to get one that is equivalent, i'm looking in to the Philips DVP642. it has MOST of the requirement that i want:
-- cd-r/cd-rw/dvd/dvd-r/dvd rw/+, -.
-- regionfree hackable (by doing this, from vcdhelp:)
- Open the tray.
- On your remote press '0000'.
- Press '0' to make it region free or whichever zone you want to set it to.
- The newly selected region will appear on the top left corner of the screen.
- Close the tray
most importantly, it plays divx 3 to 5.
My only grip is that this doesn't seem like it plays any xvid avi's, or any ogg support.
BM, if you see this let me know what you think. if you know of any other that does all those things, let me know plz.
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