Hi,
I bought a pioneer dvr-320-s on my last visit to the united states and now i noticed i did quite a mistake cause i cant record any of the broadcasts here since the broadcasts here are in PAL and not NTSC like in america. I did some research on the web and noticed there are converters that will convert my PAL signal coming from my tv to NTSC, would this solve my problem? and if so, whats the best/cheapest converter i should look into?

if there are any other solutions besides the one i thought of, please do share!

thank you.

I just bought the Pioneer DVR-520-S (has an 80 GB HD, otherwise same as the 320). I called Pioneer about just getting firmware updates for new 8X media that came out since the firmware on the machine. The tech said Pioneer does not release any new formwares for thier "set top" recorders. Grrrrr. I should have stuck with Phillips.

I read somewhere that if you open up your set-top you'll see the drive is one of pioneer's burners, you can take it apart and hook it up to ur PC, update its firmware, run some patches if you like - rpc for example, if you like, and return it like nothing happened.

A converter is a solution, it is the cheapest in the US.

Pioneer never releases firmware updates for its standalone DVD players. There are some firms that take it seriously, like Philips. Example: Philips 720SA is one of the newest top models, firmware update will be released in some weeks.

I already called Crutchfeild and I am returning the dvd recorder to them.
Now I need to either buy the european version of this Pioneer or look into something else.

Do you have any suggestions for a high quality dvd recorder?
I am looking for high quality recording, a DV connection for recording as well.
and functionality. need something with video component out in progressive mode.

Im willing to spend around the $500.

To be honest with you, I am a Pioneer fan, be it a car stereo system or a standalone player. The quality and voice of Pioneer is unique, I think. Having said that I have to admit that Pioneer has two disadvantages to other brands: high price and poor support (i.e. firmware) - in case of DVD units.

To answer your question: if you were satisfied with DVR-320s, have it changed, if not, then have a close look at Philips DVDR-730.

Im looking for the Philips DVDR-730 and I cant seem to find it anywhere.
Is it a european version? or american? I obviously need a european version (for PAL recording). You have a link to where I can read or even buy one of em?

One of the other sites showed a DVR-320-S "gutted" and the drive looked almost like a DVR-107 drive. I called Pioneer and they said do not try to remove the drive and flash any new 107 firmware on it or it will break it / won't work. I got the DVR-520-S, had it for 1 week so far. Overall, the machine is nice, but like all set tops I have used, the audio level is too low on recoded DVD's, even with the +6 dB boost on. (most don't seem to even allow boosting the audio level at all). Why can't these things have manual control over audio level ala VU meters / FL meters like the old cassette decks as an option? Also, why does the DVR-520-S have this big "black bar" of no video on the far right side when playing on a PC? I also have a Phillips DVR80 that does not have as big a black bar on the sides, but the audio level is REAL low, no matter how loud I crank up the input audio. Anyone know of any "work arounds" for low audio levels? Thanks.

This may not be close to helpful at all... but perhaps if you would connect your source to an amp/reciever and from there to the dvd recorder the recoring level might be different? or maybe you would have a way to boost the volume from the reciever?
just an idea, i have no idea if it would help at all.

PS
Im still trying to find a link with some info on the DVDR-730 from philips, anyone?

Here you go (not easy to find) :


http://www.p4c.philips.com/cgi-bin/d...D_RECORDERS_SU

looks good, now need to find a place to buy it , or find how much it costs at least.

Thanks for the tip, looks much better than the pioneer features.

what do you think of the toshiba RD-XS32

http://www.home-entertainment.toshib...2?opendocument

Very good unit. When choosing, you have to determine for what other purposes than recording, do you want the Player. Do you need reading of all formats, etc.

My personal experience with Toshiba Players was not the best, to put it mildly, but this is only one view.

well...
lemme explain what my needs are:
I want an I-link connection for recording from my DV camcorder
I want to have a video component output progressive for my projector.
I would prefer having at least one optical and one coaxial output.
I want a good quality image.
and ofcourse, i need support of PAL/NTSC, and Multi-region.

as for reading all formats... I can live with just -R and -RW, anything beyond that will be welcomed ofcourse.
A hardrive is a nice option if the addition isnt such a big price difference.

PS.
can you give some detail on your experience with Toshiba units?
Thank you.

DVD Recorder with a HDD is much more expensive.
My last Toshiba "has lived" for one year. Been in da Service twice, and finally "passed away". I did not find it reliable, but you have to bear in mind that there is a huge diffrerence between the units (low, medium, high class) even within one brand.

Actually it happened to my Daewoo too. I consider it to be one of my best DVD players. Much more features than in any other Player. It "died" of unknown reasons.

Regarding dtog's message on the Pioneer DVR520 firmware update.

You may not need one. I have a european DVR520 and it writes to the new DVD-R 8x discs and the DVD-RW 4x at full speed without any modification. As you can imagine I was pleased to see this with a ful DVD-R disk written in 7.5 minutes. Maybe yours is the same?

Regards,

Lt. Dang

Ah, that would be nice, but what about Ritek G05? I don't wanna buy the first generation (read: expensive) 8X DVD-R's just to ger 8X ability. Plus I use the Ritek 4X DVD-RW for RW use. I just bought it last week, so have not tried any high-speed HDD to DVD yet... Still wish it recorded louder (audio level low, even with the +6 dB setting on). I decoded a DVD to my HD on my PC and ran TMPEG on it and it need 215% boost in audio level to be at 100% normalization.

Hi dtog,

I am new to DVD recording and not familiar with the Ritek media. Are you saying that you don’t need to buy 8x discs to get 8x performance? So far I have used Verbatim 8x –R and 4x –RW and also TDK 8x –R. All of them write ok at the appropriate 8x or 4x speed with no duds. I just buy my discs from local department stores/supermarkets and they seem to be sold at the same price as the 4x or even 2x discs! They do not seem to differentiate much when setting the price. Perhaps they don’t even know what they are selling?

On the question of audio levels, I record an RGB signal plus stereo audio direct from a SKY+ digital sat box. The audio level from the DVR520 sounds about the same as the original sat broadcast with the picture quality indistinguishable from the original too. Both the sat box and the DVR520 are linked to an av amp via a digital optical cable. The sound level direct from the DVR520 to my TV via a scart lead also sounds about right. If you need to boost the sound level as much as you say maybe the unit has a fault?

Regards,

Lt. Dang

Been while since this thread was updated, but i thought I would post scan of an 8x fuji -R i burned on my dvr-320s I have not seen the problem listed above with my unit.

If anyone cares the dvr-320s has pioneer DVD RW DVR 107R as its drive.

I have a Pioneer DVR-320-S, Maxell DVD-RW media, and recored in VR mode. Using the remote, I can finalize the discs to make them readable with other readers. However, when I put a finalized disc back in the DVR-320-S to add to it, the unfinalize menu is greyed out. Can anyone explain what is happening?