Quote:
Originally Posted by
Mike_S 
My wife wants something very simple.
She married you, didn't she?
The process goes like this:
Load the tape and position it to where you want to start copying from.
Load new disc.
Depending on how careful you like to be, you might want to play the disc to make sure it's blank or has material you want to erase or add to.
If you're using -/+RW you'll have to format the disc. If you're reusing a RAM, you'll have to format or do a Delete All. No formatting necessary for -/+R.
You need to know how much material is on the tape and how much of it you want to fit onto one disc. Press the REC MODE button until the desired recording mode appears on the display. You have to know the recording times that correspond to each mode:
XP: 1 hr
SP: 2 hrs
LP: 4 hrs
EP: 6/8 hrs
If you need to use the 6 or 8 hour mode, you'll have to go into the Setup menus to select between them.
The copy can be initiated from the machine or from the remote. To initiate from the machine, press and hold the Copy to DVD button for about 3 seconds. (The machine will display a prompt on the TV when you can let go.) To initiate the copy from the remote, Press FUNCTIONS, arrow down to "Copy", press OK.
The machine will display a prompt on the TV asking you to press Record to copy with finalizing or Play to copy without finalizing. You can press either of these buttons on the machine or the remote.
Even if you initiate a copy with finalizing, the disc may not be finalized depending on a number of factors. You can still finalize the disc after the fact. When you try to eject the disc, the machine will prompt you if you want to finalize it. Hit Record to finalize. Finalizing is not an issue on +RW or RAM discs.
If you really want to create chapters, you'll have to use RAM. That's not necessarily such a bad thing. A lot of people like RAM discs. They're more reliable and longer lasting. The downside is that they're more expensive and not as compatible with other DVD players. You cannot, however, create the chapter marks while the copy is in progress. After the copy is finished, you can review the disc and add chapter marks wherever and whenever you want.
To clarify jjeff's response, it does take the machine several seconds to end one title and start the next, but while the machine is doing this, it runs the tape back and pre-rolls into the next title. When you play the disc, you can actually see the same few seconds of video from the end of the previous title repeated at the beginning of the next title.
You can adjust the tracking during a copy.
I don't know if the 485 is exclusive to Costco, but my understanding is that the only difference is that the 485 comes with an HDMI cable. I would be interested to find out if the machine in the 485 box actually says "485" on it or "48".
