dvd - buy series2 or keep DirectTV and get standalone

[kkline]

Hello -
I got that tax refund and want to spend it on something critically important - like a new DVD recorder! I'm hoping someone can give me some advice.

I have two DirecTV Tivo units (oh and one of the first 14 hour Tivos w/ lifetime service but it's not hooked up). I'm wondering whether I should a) keep these and just get a basic DVD recorder or b) switch to a Series2 setup.

Seems like the second option would cost more (esp. monthly fees), but I just can't tell if there would be major recording benefits (having never used a DVD recorder).

Don't know if this makes a difference, but I'm a popular media scholar and I'll be recording lots of episodes from a number of series for use in my research.

Any suggestions? Thanks! Kim

[Budget_HT]

I get excellent results recording from my HD and SD DirecTiVo boxes to a stand-alone Pioneer 520H DVD recorder. Best results are when I keep the DVD total length to 2 hours or less.

My DVD recorder is a last-year model. The newer x3x-number models provide even better results for some scenarios.

One bit of advice: Definitely get a DVD recorder with a hard drive, to enable editing and high-speed copying and more. I made the mistake of buying a non-hard-drive unit, and upgraded to a hard drive less than a year later.

Over on the AVSForum.com DVD Recorder threads, there are plenty of folks doing the same with DirecTiVo's and stand-alone DVD recorders.

I would never give up my dual tuners and direct digital recording from DirecTV, especially for HD programs.

You would be amazed at the commercial-DVD-equivalent video quality of a DVD recording from a high definition source.

I have no experience with an integrated TiVo/DVD recorder, but I am completely satisfied with my DVD recordings from DirecTV sources.

[petew]

Don't know if this makes a difference, but I'm a popular media scholar and I'll be recording lots of episodes from a number of series for use in my research.


One of the combined DVD-RW Tivo's might be your best solution. 20 minutes to save one DVD's worth. I use Medium quality so it takes 20 minutes to save 4hrs to DVD.