Burner for Newbie

[Poke]

I have been using the Toshiba 400 for the last couple of years (actually one in the bedroom and one in the family room. As you probably know the Tosh comes with lifetime Basic.

I saw that the $150 rebate just came back and want to buy another unit with a burner.

(1) I know Humax makes a unit with a burner. Does Toshiba make one with a burner?

(2) How much time can be burned on one DVD at medium quality?

(3) Can I A/B off the same cable line and add the new unit in my family room?

I hope these questions make sense

Thanks Nu Bee

[dfreybur]

I have a Humax and can't say if Toshiba currently offers one.

Best - 1 hour per disc
High - 2 hours
Medium - 4 hours
Basic - 6 hours

I'm sure you can split the signal. It's just like any other box that way.

[Poke]

do you usually burn at basic?????

[Johnny Quest]

Toshiba does make a tivo burner,

http://www.ritzcamera.com/product/DH00004620.htm

[dfreybur]

do you usually burn at basic?????

Most shows I record from live TV, I record at basic. Since that's what it was recorded at that's what it gets burned at.

If there's a show I REALLY want the best quality possible, I'd need to record at better. When the Sci Fi channel did a Firefly marathon a few weeks ago, I set that one to High and made sure there was plenty of space. So two Firefly episodes per disk. If Babylon 5 or Crusade comes on, that will get High as well.

For dubbing from VHS to tape I tried each level. My opinion is 6 hour SLP to Basic came out more grainy than it started on the VHS. Medium I might have been able to tell. High or Best I couldn't tell any loss. So now my dubbing is done at High and each SLP VHS tape takes 3 DVDs.

So generally - Live TV at Basic, VHS at High, exceptions by hand. That's my system.