What Quality do you use for recording on a DVD recorder?

[Brian]

I'd be interested in some feedback from DVD Recorder owners on the
quality chosen for a recording.
Most DVD Recorders seem to have a choice of 1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours
and 4 hours (some have 6 hours) for the quality setting.

If you were to record a 2 hour movie off Television what speed are you
likely to choose?
If you record a 1 hour serial from television what speed would you
choose?
If you want to copy a VHS tape what speed would you use?

I record movies onto a 4 hour tape using LP speed and can fit at least
4 movies onto VHS tape. The quality is still good.
Would the 4 hour quality be close to the quality of recording at LP
speed onto a VHS tape?

I don't own a DVD Recorder but are thinking of buying one.

Regards Brian

[Jon Purkey]

Post by Brian
If you were to record a 2 hour movie off Television what speed are you
likely to choose?
If you record a 1 hour serial from television what speed would you
choose?
If you want to copy a VHS tape what speed would you use?

If it is a movie that I want to keep then I will record it using
Flexible Recording so that it just fits on the DVD at the maximum
bitrate possible. I may however record two similar movies (a movie and
its sequel for example) on the same DVD for convenience provided the
total time is not over 3 hours. I'd also do this for non-movies,
recording about 2 to 3 hours per disc.

For VHS, although I'm still experimenting for best results, I've been
recording VHS-SP at about 3 hours and VHS-EP at between 4-5 hours per
DVD, with the exact rate based on the total length of the tape(s) I
want to put on the DVD.

If I'm just recording to time-shift then the speed depends on how many
programs I'm recording during the time that I'm unable to change the
disc. I have a bunch of DVD-RAM discs so I always have at least one
with nothing on it. I will pick and chose which programs get recorded
at SP, LP or EP based primarily on how much I like the show. :)

-
-Jon Purkey - <***@aol.com)
For a quicker reply by email please use the
address found here: http://tinyurl.com/o8ka

[Brian]

Post by Jon Purkey

Post by Brian
If you were to record a 2 hour movie off Television what speed are you
likely to choose?
If you record a 1 hour serial from television what speed would you
choose?
If you want to copy a VHS tape what speed would you use?

If it is a movie that I want to keep then I will record it using
Flexible Recording so that it just fits on the DVD at the maximum
bitrate possible. I may however record two similar movies (a movie and
its sequel for example) on the same DVD for convenience provided the
total time is not over 3 hours. I'd also do this for non-movies,
recording about 2 to 3 hours per disc.
For VHS, although I'm still experimenting for best results, I've been
recording VHS-SP at about 3 hours and VHS-EP at between 4-5 hours per
DVD, with the exact rate based on the total length of the tape(s) I
want to put on the DVD.
If I'm just recording to time-shift then the speed depends on how many
programs I'm recording during the time that I'm unable to change the
disc. I have a bunch of DVD-RAM discs so I always have at least one
with nothing on it. I will pick and chose which programs get recorded
at SP, LP or EP based primarily on how much I like the show. :)
-
For a quicker reply by email please use the
address found here: http://tinyurl.com/o8ka

Thanks for your reply Jon.
Out of interest what is the brand and model of your DVD Recorder?
I suspect it might be Panasonic as they support writing to DVd-RAM
disks.
When copying a VHS tape recorded in LP do you find that a DVD
recording speed of 4 hours do you find on playback of the DVD that the
picture quality is the same as the picture quality of the VHS recorded
in LP or lower in quality?
If you don't have VHS tapes recorded in LP speed then is the Quality
of a VHS recorded in SP the same picture quality when copying the VHS
tape using 4 hour speed on DVD?
I'm hoping that it will be cheaper to record in DVD compared to
recording in VHS so the more I can fit on a 4.7 gig DVD the better
with reasonable picture quality.
Also I have a lot of VHS tapes that I want to keep so I need to copy
them to DVD. If I can fit a lot onto a DVD then the cost reduces.

Regards Brian

[Jon Purkey]

Post by Brian
Thanks for your reply Jon.
Out of interest what is the brand and model of your DVD Recorder?
I suspect it might be Panasonic as they support writing to DVd-RAM
disks.

Yes, it's a Panasonic E75, VCR/DVD combo. I'm all but certain that the
DVDR in it is the same as the E55. At least the features listed in the
manuals are the same, mainly them both having an 8 hour recording mode
that some earlier Panasonic Recorders did not.

Post by Brian
When copying a VHS tape recorded in LP do you find that a DVD
recording speed of 4 hours do you find on playback of the DVD that the
picture quality is the same as the picture quality of the VHS recorded
in LP or lower in quality?

In detail/resolution VHS-LP and DVD-LP/4 hour looks about the same to
me, though the DVD recording is sharper with less color variation.
Even when I make a recording of a tape the DVD in some ways looks
better, maybe because the DVD recorder has noise reduction?

However, at the longer DVD recording speeds (especially over 4 hours)
there is more MPEG blockiness(sp?). How much of those effects from
compression you can tolerate is probably something you'll have to
judge for yourself. I'm willing to tolerate more when copying a tape
recorded in LP/EP mode than one recorded in SP, but that's just me.

Post by Brian
I'm hoping that it will be cheaper to record in DVD compared to
recording in VHS so the more I can fit on a 4.7 gig DVD the better
with reasonable picture quality.

I'm trying to balance quality vs. the cost/space savings. DVD-Rs are
not that expensive when bought in bulk and using slim-jewel cases I
can put about 5 of them in the same space taken by just one videotape.
I figure that even if I recorded only 2 hours per DVD I could still
cut in half the amount of space I'm using.

-
-Jon Purkey - <***@aol.com)
For a quicker reply by email please use the
address found here: http://tinyurl.com/o8ka

[Brian]

Post by Jon Purkey

Post by Brian
Thanks for your reply Jon.
Out of interest what is the brand and model of your DVD Recorder?
I suspect it might be Panasonic as they support writing to DVd-RAM
disks.

Yes, it's a Panasonic E75, VCR/DVD combo. I'm all but certain that the
DVDR in it is the same as the E55. At least the features listed in the
manuals are the same, mainly them both having an 8 hour recording mode
that some earlier Panasonic Recorders did not.

Post by Brian
When copying a VHS tape recorded in LP do you find that a DVD
recording speed of 4 hours do you find on playback of the DVD that the
picture quality is the same as the picture quality of the VHS recorded
in LP or lower in quality?

In detail/resolution VHS-LP and DVD-LP/4 hour looks about the same to
me, though the DVD recording is sharper with less color variation.
Even when I make a recording of a tape the DVD in some ways looks
better, maybe because the DVD recorder has noise reduction?
However, at the longer DVD recording speeds (especially over 4 hours)
there is more MPEG blockiness(sp?). How much of those effects from
compression you can tolerate is probably something you'll have to
judge for yourself. I'm willing to tolerate more when copying a tape
recorded in LP/EP mode than one recorded in SP, but that's just me.

Post by Brian
I'm hoping that it will be cheaper to record in DVD compared to
recording in VHS so the more I can fit on a 4.7 gig DVD the better
with reasonable picture quality.

I'm trying to balance quality vs. the cost/space savings. DVD-Rs are
not that expensive when bought in bulk and using slim-jewel cases I
can put about 5 of them in the same space taken by just one videotape.
I figure that even if I recorded only 2 hours per DVD I could still
cut in half the amount of space I'm using.
-
For a quicker reply by email please use the
address found here: http://tinyurl.com/o8ka

Hi Jon, thanks for the information.
I managed to see a demo of a Sony DVD Recorder.
The 6 hour mode seem to contain a very degraded picture.
The other modes such as 2, 3 and 4 hour seem to be watchable. The 4
hour was less sharper but the picture didn't break up with large
pixals
The 1 hour mode was great for sharpness for subjects such as flowers,
landscapes etc.

Regards Brian