I know, I know...Don't laugh about this old machine! It may be old, out-moded, difficult, downright stupid, but I'm attached to it. Anyway - I'm interested in knowing about recording modes. On my old Sanyo I get about 89 minutes of time in the HQ mode, 148 minutes in the SP mode, etc. This is using +R discs of several different brands. Is this true of other makes of recorder? We also have a rather dreadful Cyberhome machine [bought because it was very, very cheap]. This recorder stops at exactly 120 minutes in SP mode, doesn't matter how the timer is set - it stops. This is one reason I'm attached to the old Sanyo - it gives a nice window of time for messing up with timer recordings - it saves those shows that run over just a bit, those movies that are 121 minutes, 124 minutes, etc. I'm going to be needing another recorder one of these days and, alas, the old Sanyo is no longer available. Some upgrades would be appreciated also, of course. Any answers?
Each company is a bit different in the actual compression ratios chosen. That's why one XP mode may be 61 minutes and another recorder will provide 63 minutes in XP. The general divisions are: XP - 60 minutes SP - 120 minutes LP - 240 minutes EP - 360 minutes SLP - 480 minutes SEP - 600 minutes all of the above are NTSC format. The most impressive recorders I've seen are Pioneer models with hard drives. It's very easy to edit on the hard drive then make a DVD copy. Unfortunately, I only see on model left in the U.S. market for Pioneer. Panasonic models are also excellent choices, and most now have ATSC tuners for reception of digital video over the air. Both Pioneer and Panasonic also offer dual format and DL recording. I have been less impressed with other recorders I've tested.
Thanks for the info. I'm also looking for a new digital camera, so I'll just put the two searches together and start gathering info as I go. I would love to get one of the machines with a hard drive, but I don't know that I want to spend the dollars on them at the moment. There wouldn't likely be any problem with the time of recording on one of those. Thanks again from a newbie!
