Hi,

I'm looking for a DVD Recorder/Player with Divx play and HD Upconversion capability and have found a few models from Samsung (DVD-R160, etc.), Toshiba (D-VR600, etc.) and Sony (RDR-GX355, etc.).

It does NOT need a Hard drive since I don't plan on saving any video/data onto the DVD recorder.

However, I'd like to be able to Connect this to my laptop (IBM T42, Win XP) to do the following:

1) Burn MPEG2, MPEG4, .avi, .wmv, .divx files STORED in my laptop PC directly to this DVD recorder

2) Burn Data (ANY files e.g. .doc, .pdf, .ppt, etc.) and Picture files (.jpg, .bmp, etc.) stored in my laptop directly to this DVD recorder

I could not find ANY DVD recorder out there that has a USB2.0 port to be able to do this. My laptop does NOT have any IEEE 1394 firewire port or any component/composite/DVI outputs.

So, is there any way to accomplish 1) & 2) w/o having to invest a fortune? I'd think the old fashion way is to connect my laptop to my new Sharp 52D64U LCD 1080p TV via a RGB (PC) - RCA (vid/aud) converter cable to display whatever the PC screen is playing onto the TV, then record that stream to the DVD via Component or DVI/HDMI cable & std audio cables from the TV.

But this would compromise the video quality since my RGB - RCA converter connection does not upscale at all to 720p or above. And, I can ONLY record Video real-time (i.e. takes 3 hours to record a 3-hour MPEG), and still CANNOT do 2), burning data files.

In essense, I'm looking for some way to get a DVD recorder which can function BOTH as a DVD/Divx player connected to my HDTV AND a DVD burner (just like a PC DVD burner) connected to my PC.

I'd really appreciate your expert recommendation on any DVD recorder model, equipment, cable/connection set-up, or software needed. Many thanks!

I don't believe there is a DVD recorder that will do what you want it to do. You do have options though.

I would pick up an external DVD burner to accomplish your burning tasks. Hook it up via USB to your laptop. Somewhere around $50 - $100 for an external DVD burner.

Then for playing your a/v files from your laptop to your television I would go with a media streamer. They are cheap and can do what you are asking. They run anywhere from $100 - $300 to do what your are asking. You can connect your laptop via USB or even ethernet or wifi depending on the media streamer. These streamers play a wide variery of a/v file formats.

There are many choices. I went with a Mediagate 350HD. Here:

http://www.mediagateusa.com/

I use DVI out from the 350HD to my HD television (1080i) and digital audio out to my surround sound amp. It works great. These media streamers will also typically upscale over component. Something you won't find with a DVD player or recorder.

The MG35 offers an eithernet connection for streaming files from a laptop. The 350HD has both wifi and an ethernet connection plus a USB host port. The host port let's you stream via USB.

They also have the ability to install a HDD into the unit. In this case you can play the a/v files directly from the unit to your television.

nextoo,

Thanks a Million for your elaborate advice! I will certainly go look for a USB ext. DVD burner to hook up to my T42 Thinkpad laptop. It does have a USB2.0 port.

I see that you're essentially suggesting that I just use my laptop DVD player/burner to accomplish my 1) & 2) tasks then just play video files on my laptop and use an media converter like HD350 to connect btw laptop and HDTV. So, I'd think that it's important to make sure that what's playing in my laptop gets upconverted to 1080i (or 1080p) via this converter into the HDTV so as to view the highest quality video on my Sharp TV.

Now, I DO already have this media converter called "QuickPlay" from AVerMedia.
http://aver.com/ppd/quickplay.html
It does have a RGB PC serial port (data interface) / USB2.0 (for power) that connects to my laptop and the other end connects to the TV via Component (R/Y/Pb) or S-VHS. I don't think it has the "HD upconverting" capability though. Would this device be enough to do the trick?

I'll try playing a DVD .mpg from my laptop via this AVerMedia converter on to my Sharp HDTV to test this.

Lastly, do you have any recommendation for the ext. DVD burner via USB2.0?

Thanks again for your advice!

Actually the mediagate MG-350HD is an external burner [edit: it is an external hard drive enclosure not burner] enclosure that can be hooked up to a PC with USB ports or to a TV with composite, S-video, component video inputs, along with streaming capabilities.

So with this hooked up to your computer you store video files onto it from your computer. Then you can hook it up directly to the TV to play back the files, if you want with no connection to the PC. It has its own built in media player that plays the files like a DVD player, playing files from the internal hard drive you install.

So all you need with this is to buy a internal hard drive of the size you think you need (500 GB drives are getting cheap now).

If you have not already, read the PC Magazine review they have linked to on the website link given above by nextoo.

I have the non HD version of it, the MG-35, and it works great as stated above. :) Although file transfer by Ethernet is dismal at best. Better to use just USB. Hopefully the MG-350HD does better.

Just make sure you check out it's specs that it will play back the file formats you want to use, to use it separate from the computer.

[Edit: again, a media server/player/storage unit like this is also a hard drive enclosure unit that can be used to store files (even DVD files and other video formats) to play back from, not a DVD burner - but you can copy your DVD files to it to play from instead of shuffling a stack of DVDs.]
:)

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Falco63 - I agree the media servers/streamers do a great job. But I don't think you'll get them to burn anything. The are essentially external storage devices that add the ability to play a wide range of video and audio codecs. Right now I use mine for storing and playing DVD ISOs.

The 350HD adds a DVI connection in addition to the ones you mention and resolutions up to 1080p. The next model should offer HDMI. I know the new Mvix model coming out soon will - the 780HD.

You are right the ethernet connection can be slow for moving files to the unit. They use a software emulated NDAS approach and as a result performance takes a hit. I use USB to move files to the HDD of the 350HD as you suggest.

But the same ethernet connection works great for streaming files. I have no problems playing ISOs via ethernet that are stored on a PC on the network. Using a centralized network storage location is an approach many people take. As a matter of fact you don't have to install a HDD into the unit. You can just use it as a multimedia interface between storage on your network and a television. And the PQ is excellent.

Great stuff. These media servers/streamers offer more than I had anticipated.

Falco63 - I agree the media servers/streamers do a great job. But I don't think you'll get them to burn anything. The are essentially external storage devices that add the ability to play a wide range of video and audio codecs. Right now I use mine for storing and playing DVD ISOs....

Sorry, this is what I meant in replying to the other poster. I must have had burner on the mind when I posted that line. This is of course just storage with the hard drive installed, for playback, as I described in detail in the post. But if he gets this or similar media storage player/streamer, he will also have an external storage drive if he puts a hard drive in it and can also use it independently of his computer if he needs to at times.

I was thinking that he can still use his computer's DVD burner, maybe saving him from buying an external DVD burner, and getting the full use out of the media storage player like the MG-350 :)
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