Sony RDR-GX300 DVD Recorder
Let go of the 80s! Burn TV on DVD!
END OF SNOW! No, not Christmas! Snow on the screen! It is all over baby! Now is the time to end your VHS era. A SONY GX is a good deal. For SONY equipment I believe this is cheap. Any working Sony RDR-GX series has been a good buy for me. The RDR-GX is the answer to finally packing away that VHS and the VCR into the family time capsule. Using the port inputs I copied over the collection in a month and a bit at my leisure. Now my shelf has 10 times as much space for more DVDs. DVD recorders are bulky. Don't expect to find anything as small as a VCR or a brand new DVD player on the cheap; however there are relatively cheap RDR-GX recorders still in the shops. Go now. Getting anything, especially above the GX3 model or better, is going to last you a long time because the format is here to stay. The RDR-GX is uncomplicated to operate and set-up out of the box. It is simply - television aerial to aerial in, to SCART out, check the `tech specs' to make sure it has the INS and OUTS you want to use, or else you will have to adapt your system to meet the specs. The test of a recorder is in how it handles formatting, recording and more importantly, finalizing DVDs so that they will work on other DVD players, including PCs. The SONY GX can in theory burn a DVD for almost any type of player. If you do not burn your DVDs for all players then what is point if the recorder breaks or a new model comes out that is not backward compatible for some reason? Problem is that none of these manufacturers want you to find a way to get out of their brand (what you learn next here is not in the manual). The truth is that you got to start learning the recording formatting methods from the word go. When a blank DVD media is inserted into the drive it asks you to choose a format sometimes. Don't worry about big print on the screen during formatting, just switch over to your normal channel and not the one the DVD Recorder uses. VR or Video will appear. If you choose Video the recording is locked into the DVD and can not be moved around, like editing. In VR the video is not locked into the DVD and can be edited in the DVD. Problem is that DVD-VR has trouble playing back on some other drives. Using Video format is much more compatible, however you must `finalize' your DVDs. This is done by using in-recorder software tools that finish the DVD so that it can play on other DVD players. Although not all DVDs need to be finalized to do this, you should be able to burn a format that works on a number of other DVD players. The way to do this is with DVD+RW media. If it does not work then switch media brand a few times before resigning to DVD-RW. +RW may not ask you for a formatting mode (VR or Video), in which case the disk just needs to be finalized and it will work on your other players. Another tip is to complete burn DVD media in this system. That means, do not press STOP and let the system stop when the whole DVD is packed. This helps add integrity to the DVD format and information. Stopping a recording can sometimes corrupt a DVD. If you do stop you can sometimes record another piece, and so on, like chapters. However this can cause some DVD media to fail in other systems. There are several recording modes from high definition 60 minute modes to 3 hour extra long playback modes. Test your media compatibility first before you start collecting anything. Get it right from the start. DVD media is prone to failing. Don't sweat. Just test and test and find the solution. It is usually a four step - brand, type, formatting, finalizing. A good brand DVD+RW should help solve most problems. Test your media on your PC every so often to make sure it is good. This is the key to creating very flexible DVD recordings - Global DVDs.<br /><br />The RDR-GX series can render some PC analogue capture cards useless. This will do all analogue tapes through S-Video or Composite to DVD. Again check specs and you might not have to get a capture board for the PC. As for just sticking with the SONY RDR-GX, well this is why 5 stars. The RDR-GX recorders are rock solid. The media has to be very faulty for this drive to fail. It will burn to almost any DVD media and read from almost any DVD media that it burns. It is 100% reliable as a burner or else it is the media. You can jump in a disc and format it very quickly for a recording you want to make that is a few minutes away from airing knowing safely that you can view that DVD again when it has completely burned to the end (do not trust STOPS). Obviously these DVDs should be backward compatible always with future DVD RW technology recorders, but do the above to be global with your recordings. In that respect this is SONY quality burning on anything and that is very cool. The only reason not to get a RDR-GX is if you want a Hard Drive in the system that can store your video. I have never needed one to be honest. I don't burn DVDs fast enough to need a hard drive. RDR-GX defines faultless DVD technology although takes a bit of working to make it \\"Faultless Global DVD Technology\\".with the SONY RDR-GX, well this is why 5 stars. The RDR-GX recorders are rock solid. The media has to be very faulty for this drive to fail. It will burn to almost any DVD media and read from almost any DVD media that it burns. It is 100% reliable as a burner or else it is the media. You can jump in a disc and format it very quickly for a recording you want to make that is a few minutes away from airing knowing safely that you can view that DVD again when it has completely burned to the end (do not trust STOPS). Obviously these DVDs should be backward compatible always with future DVD RW technology recorders, but do the above to be global with your recordings. In that respect this is SONY quality burning on anything and that is very cool. The only reason not to get a RDR-GX is if you want a Hard Drive in the system that can store your video. I have never needed one to be honest. I don't burn DVDs fast enough to need a hard drive. RDR-GX defines faultless DVD technology although takes a bit of working to make it \\"Faultless Global DVD Technology\\".