Suggestions for DVD recorders?

2007-07-29 12:25:35 am

Haven't really had much experience with them, considering I've done all my capturing through USB capture devices so far.

Anyone have any suggestions as to the best to get just for the sole purpose of recording? I've got no need for another DVD player, just need to be able to record at as high a quality as possible with no dropped frames.

Thread title:

nate

2007-07-29 02:51:17 am

i've never heard of any dvd recorder dropping frames. having said that you should check out the videohelp.com forum for recommendations. beware of fanboys though.

i had one panasonic that had great picture but was incompatible with virtually everything i put in it. now i have an lg that has a much darker picture (and no way to adjust it) but is compatible with everything including dvd+rw in no-finalize mode.

should research the chipset in the one you want to buy and see if it sucks or not. media compatibilty is less important imo as you can just buy taiyo yuden media online and not worry about compatibility.

carlmmii

2007-07-29 03:14:17 am

>> i've never heard of any dvd recorder dropping frames <<

I was referring to the USB capture devices. I know DVD recorders don't drop frames -- that's why I worded it like I did. :p

As far as framerates go, I take it it's not possible to do progressive 60fps, considering it's not in the DVD MPEG2 spec. Correct?

Considering this, do you know of any way on a mac to deinterlace 480i @ 29.97fps to 480p @ 59.94? I know it's a synch in virtualdub, but if I can keep from doing things through windows, it's all the better.

nate

2007-07-29 11:09:41 am

ah sorry, a bit sleep deprived these days. as for deinterlacing on unix, you most certainly can, with results rivaling those of mvbob. i'm showing this to grenola now who is an expert in that area.

arkarian

2007-07-29 11:15:38 am

red chamber dream

I have a Panasonic DMR-ES35V. Never used any others, but that one works great for recording. It takes DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD+RW, and DVD-RW, as well as DVD-RAM discs. I've tried them all, and they work great, so that's my recommendation.

DJGrenola

2007-07-29 11:18:05 am

mencoder -vf-add tfields=1,mcdeint=3:0 -fps 59.94 -ofps 59.94

I'd advise against using mencoder (it's part of mplayer) to do the final multiplexing step as I've had some problems with A/V desync. If you're using an mp4 container just keep the video and audio separate and mux using mp4box. If you're making DivXs you're probably best doing the final mux using ffmpeg, or you can also use avidemux.

edit: screw you, ark.

carlmmii

2007-07-29 07:15:09 pm

Excellent, thanks. Now I just need a source to test things with.

*looks through speeddemosarchive discs*

UchihaSasuke

2007-07-30 05:49:14 am

my umbrella goes directly to Bankai

i have an additional question:

is it worth it to get a DVD recorder with an internal HDD? i'm planning to buy one by year end and i'm eyeing some models atm. want to be sure if it makes a big difference or if i can do just as good with no-HDD recorders.

nate

2007-07-30 11:40:26 am

it means you don't have to record on shitty rw media (taiyo yuden does not make rw media as of this writing so you can never be sure about compatibility) as well as meaning you don't have to pause and waste time in ss runs > 2 hours switching discs. so yes.

carlmmii

2007-08-02 10:02:16 am

I know this is completely n00bish, but I can't for the life of me figure out how the hell you're supposed to pass arguments to mencoder through the terminal. Everything I've seen says to just type in mencoder <src_file_here> <args>, and yet it just gives me:

"-bash: mencoder: command not found"

... when it's right there in my current directory.

DJGrenola

2007-08-02 11:01:11 am

./mencoder

carlmmii

2007-08-03 12:31:40 am

Wow. Can you say, "retarded execution method"?

nate

2007-08-03 01:07:03 am

lol, i don't think you'll be able to argue with that aspect of unix much at this point. have to go back in time about 30 years.

Yoshi348

2007-08-03 03:43:20 am

PAGE BREAKER

Ready and willing.

I think you can manually put the current directory in the path variable to avoid that shit, but I'm not sure I remember my UNIX class enough to remember if there were any security dangers or other issues that stemmed from doing that.

DJGrenola

2007-08-03 07:43:39 am

yeah, there are.