[gold23]

Ok. Child number 2 is on the way over the next week, and I have TONS of HI 8 digital tapes from my digital Sony camcorder from child #1. Tons. I've maybe moved one to VHS, but it is so time consuming to do so.


I have a DVD burner on both my laptop and desktop, but moving them with Firewire to the computer is tedious and seems to lock up the computer (and my hard drives are large, so that shouldn't be an issue).


Anyway, you can already sense what I am looking for in my DVD recorder- the best way to transfer from my Firewire camcorder to the recorder, do some (basic) editing, and burn quality DVD's.


Through research and other threads on this topic, I have decided a HDD is important. Want to be able to store some of this on the drive, and possibly combine some of my tapes into one DVD.


Also, the advantage of being able to use this to store and later burn tv show, movies, etc. is nice.


So.......most of my research has led me to the Toshiba RD XS32. Some of the Panny's look good, but it seems they are more expensive for my needs- or do not have the IEE capability. My budget is $500 TOPS, which I can sneak in under with the Toshiba.


Thoughts, suggestions?

 

[gold23]

One more question-


I have a Tivo Series 2. Can this be used in tandem, or do I have to set them up totally separate?

 

[richard-p]

There's a fairly lengthy thread here about the Toshiba which may answer some of your questions:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...0&pagenumber=1


The Pioneer 510 has the DV connector, but it's about $100 more online than the Toshiba.

 

[jmscott42]

As long as the black level issues with the XS32 aren't an issue (i.e., you won't be making tons of copies for other people) it would be an excellent choice. I love mine; it gives a ton of flexibility and makes a very nice end product. I haven't used the firewire ports although that's on the list of things to try.


The black level issue is basically that the Toshiba recordings *may* look a bit overly bright depending on the player that they are played back on. Depending on the source material, what "overly bright" means can be anything from "unnoticable to most people" to "hey, why is the picture washed out?". If you have a DVD player with "enhanced black" mode, or play back on the Toshiba itself, you won't even notice the problem as it is corrected. I don't know how the fact I've read DV camcorders normally record in 0IRE affects the Toshiba.


I personally think the black level issue is a bit overstated but still important to understand. There are LOTS of threads here about it if you want more info. (and I'm sure some people will come running screaming "AVOID THE XS32 AT ALL COSTS!!!") The Toshiba XS32 is an excellent recorder, with an incredible amount of features for the price. I personally think its capture quality blows the Panasonic units away [I only have an E80 so I can't speak for their firewire-enabled models], and you get a lot of editing capability in the unit, which would be perfect for your needs.


As for the Tivo, what do you mean "in tandem"? You can hook the Tivo to the Toshiba and record from it, but they are totally separate components (i.e., no high speed dubbing from Tivo to Toshiba, you need to play everything in real time to record it, like you would to a VCR).


I think the Pioneer units also have firewire, and the 510 is coming down in price, so that may be one to look into if you stumble across it cheap.

 

[gold23]

Thanks a ton, jmscott.


My main concern will be mostly home videos (and I'll be performing this function not only for my own family, but my extended family as well!). The black level has been a concern, but my usual complaints with camcorders are sometimes the darkness of the picture. We're all kind of used to the old, analog pictures- so my guess is that it isn't going to be a major problem.


The question regarding the Tivo was just that- I know you can't have it act "in tandem", but I wanted to know if I would be able to hook it up and record directly from it. That would essentially give me an additional 80 mb of hard drive (sort of).