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The Kitchen Table

alisande, about your vcr to dvd recorder

18 years ago

In another thread, we talked about VCR to DVD recorders.

What did you get?

How much $$ was it?

Do you like it?

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Comments (4)

alisande
18 years ago
I bought the Panasonic DMR-EZ37VK DVD-Recorder/VCR Combo with ATSC Tuner. I needed the tuner feature because I get my TV signal from an antenna, not from cable or dish or other digital source. I paid $230, minus $75 in gift certificates from Amazon, thanks to my Amazon credit card. I notice the price is up to $260 now.

The reviews on Amazon (only four of them) aren't that great, but I saw better reviews on other sites. I researched this purchase ad nauseum because of the antenna thing. I started out at Circuit City, where I discovered some of the salesmen understood my signal situation and others didn't have a clue. I guess antennas are too antiquated for some young men to even acknowlege them. :-)

Not many models can accommodate the antenna signal, and you probably don't have to worry about that feature. I learned in my research that Samsung is rather highly regarded, along with Panasonic and (of course) Sony. And probably others I haven't mentioned.

Yes, I like the unit Â although I haven't tried to record TV programs on it yet. It's not even hooked up to the TV, because I'll ask my DS to do that for me after Christmas. Right now I'm copying VHS tapes on it to give to my kids for Christmas. It's been doing a nice job.

Soooo......are you shopping for one?
okwriter
Original Author
18 years ago
DH and I discussed this morning that neither of us really wants anything for Christmas, so I told him I'd buy us one of those. I have my emails where you told me what you bought, but it seemed easier for you to post so that everyone could see. The subject came up on another thread, and several people were asking about it.
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I'll try to give you some pointers, I have a Panasonic VCR/DVD combo also. Yours is newer so probably a different model. Your machine should take several types of disks. For the DVD-RW, you may have to format the disk before recording. I use DVD+R, which do not need to be formatted, but do need to be finalized after recording. So find your type of disk in the manuel and follow instructions. There should be a section in the manual explaining the types of disks that your machine uses. You will probably push the Functions button on your remote, get a menu and go to Disk Management (that's how I finalize on mine.) ONce you've got the disk ready, it's very easy to record: The record speed (just like on a VCR) has to be set before you start. Push the Mode button and you should get a box on the screen that tells you the recording time on the disk: SP for 2 hours, etc. That's what I use most of the time. If you want to get 4 shows on one disk, you can use the 4 hour mode, the quality will be little worse. Remeber, disks are pretty cheap. Once you have the speed set, and your show is on, just push the Record button. Now, if you're going to record more than one show, you won't be able to finalize the disk until you have everything on it that you want. ONce you finalize that type disk, it's not recordable any more. The exception to this is the RAM disk, which your Panasonic should also use (check manual). You can record, re-record, edit, etc. But they are more expensive. If you aren't saving the shows permanently, you might just buy a few RAM disks and record over them. They don't have to be formatted or finalized. If you want to set the machine to record while you're gone, you have to go through the menus and set it up, just like a VCR. You'll have to read the manual and try going through the menu, can't help you much there. I hope this helps a little, I know that the manual and menus can be confusing, but it's not much different than a VCR once you do it a few times. Good luck.
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Looks like some folks on here no what they are talking about. I have a Samsung TV which my step son hooked up to the Dish box as well as my DVD Recorder and separate VCR. I have recorded programs off the TV to DVD's successfully but I'm unable to record from the VCR and I want to convert my VCR tapes to DVD's. He has it set up currently so that Input selection is "TV" you can watch the VCR. When the input selection is on "VCR" (channel 3) you can watch the DVD or watch what is on the dish. When I tried to record recently I got 2 hrs. of the Dish opening screen. Is it something that I can easily correct....beings as I'm electronically challenged!
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It should be, assuming your DVD/VCR has recording capability on the VHS side (some combo units record on DVD only). Set your converter box to the digital (standard-res digital, not HDTV) channel you want to record, attach the RCA cables (red/white/yellow) from the converter box to the VCR's input jacks (not the similar-looking output jacks), set the VCR for line-in input (sometimes this is done using the channel selector, sometimes with a separate control), and it should work. You can also use the coaxial output from the converter box and send it to the cable input on the VCR, and set your VCR's analog tuner to channel 3 or 4 (whichever you don't get over the air where you live - both the VCR and converter box will probably need to set to know which channel to use - 3 is more common), but the quality won't be as good. You probably will also need to change the default settings on your converter box so it doesn't turn itself off in a few hours. Some DVD/VCRs have built-in digital (ATSC) tuners, some have only the old analog (NTSC) tuners, some no tuner at all. The "can't record digital to VHS tape" may be referring to trying to send the DVD/VCR's digital tuner signal to VHS tape, not the converter box's signal.
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sjarz
18 years ago
Hopefully this is not a DUHHH question, but can you record a tv show onto a dvd from your machine as well?
Suzan J
liz
18 years ago
Dh bought one a year or so ago from Best Buy..It's an Insignia..I don't know how much he paid but it has a DVD Recorder and HD VCR..it went bad...he had bought the extended plan so Best Buy fixed it...in the meantime he bought another DVD Recorder so I took this one cause I want to put some of my VHS Tapes onto DVD..He just plugged it in for me Sunday so I haven't pulled out the book yet...I know it will record from the TV onto DVD and Record a DVD from the VHS tape...I've been using a Sony DVD Recorder for a couple of years...it's still going strong so now it's taking a break while I use this one...

Sjarz...I record from TV all the time onto DVD...but most of the time I record it to TIVO first then onto a DVD...

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