burning camcorder video to humax tivo/dvd recorder

[allysmom]

I am in the market for a camcorder. The newer camcorders have dvds that only hold about 20-30 minutes worth of recording. So, I thought maybe I could use the tivo to burn my camcorder video onto regular size dvds, which hold about 4 hours worth of recordings (i think). Will this work? I have the Humax DRT800 tivo/dvd recorder.

I have a few additional questions:

1) Do I have to play the recorder and watch what's on while it's recording? or can I watch tivo'd programs or live tv while it's doing this?

2) Does it go straight from the camcorder to the dvd in the tivo?
Or does it record it to tivo, then you go through and choose the selected recordings to record onto dvd (the way you would record a tivo'd program to dvd)?

3) How long does it take from start to finish to transfer the recordings from the camcorder on a regular size dvd in the tivo?

4) What kind of accessories would I need to do all this? Does it come with the camcorder or would I need to purchase something extra?

Thanks for your help!
Christy

[stevereis]

1) Yes, you have to play the camcorder. You also cannot record TV while it's recording. In fact, it will warn you if you have an upcoming show scheduled. Not sure if you can watch something else, though, haven't tried.
BTW, you can do the same thing with a VCR and archive VCR tapes to TiVo then DVD. I just did that with some old tapes my youngest daughter discovered.

2) It gets recorded to the HDD, like anything the TiVo records. Then, you create the DVD after that. You can mix/match camcorder stuff and TV on a DVD.

3) Transferring to TiVo is 1x time. Writing to DVD depends on the DVD speed you use. I don't think TiVo can write anything more that ~4x speed.

4) Lots of camcorders come with the cables needed to hookup to a TV/VCR. With the Humax DRT800, you can buy a 1394/Firewire cable and transfer to digital date to the TiVo. Not sure if this results in any higher quality. Note to others that the DRT400 lacks the Firewire input.

I personally do not like the quality of anything less than HIGH on my Humax. With that, you can fit 2 hours on a DVD. Even with BEST, you can get an hour per DVD.