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Any opinions on the Sharp DV-HR300?
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EA5E
Newbie
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17. February 2005 @ 21:53 |
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Hi everyone,
Good to see the MR patch is up and running, and we know more about how it thinks. The firmware version information means that there is a way to look inside its brain, and presumably turn options on and off. Perhaps there are handset or panel hacks after all. I would love to be able to turn Macrovision off so I can record all those old kid's VHS tapes and throw the VCR!
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jam62
Newbie
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19. February 2005 @ 23:30 |
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Hi
I have a DVHR300F and I've been following this thread with great interest, and learning a lot from it.
However, after reading that 8X DVD-R's are backward compatible, I figured the same must be true for 4X DVD-RW's. But that's not the case.
Does anyone know if there is a firmware upgrade that makes the DVHR300 capable of writing to 4X DVD-RW's?
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Silver64
Member
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20. February 2005 @ 01:45 |
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Hi EA5E
Don't know if it'll help but have a look at this website http://www.ktvision.com/ . It appears they are offering a Scart to Scart( with RCA Adapter) lead that takes off the Macrovision on VHS tapes. They are UK based but offer delivery to the US and Australia. Only for Back-up's of course!
regards
Silver64
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cristofo
Newbie
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25. February 2005 @ 22:16 |
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I have bought the Sharp DV-HR300 some months ago and I am very pleased with it until now. I read on another site that somebody has changed the HDD to put a 160 Gigas in it, reformat the disc using the Sharp function and that it worked fine. Has somebody tried this ? The idea is interesting but I am a bit scared to break everything.
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Langstone
Newbie
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26. February 2005 @ 02:53 |
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Silver64,
As you are UK based can you tell me what brands of discs you are using I've tried several inc Mirror, Ritek GO4, and Datasafe but the only discs I can finalize without errors are Datasafe DVD-RW 2x.
All the discs I have tried work fine in my Pioneer AO8 writers attached to my PC using Nero or the NEC based Lacie External Laptop Drive.
Regards
Mark
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mannycam
Member
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26. February 2005 @ 03:57 |
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Hi Cristofo,
I'm clueless why anyone would want that much space on a DVD recorder quite frankly. Unless youre away from home for months at a time.
And I do think you being scared is justified. Although some users have successfully made changes to their units, there is always going to be a risk when tampering with electronic and or digital components. A small compact car might fit a larger engine, but it doesnt mean that the rest of the car was designed to handle that much power. But as I said some have made upgrades to their recorders and haven't had any problems. The bottom line is, how bad do you need or want the hardware/software changes? If it outweighs the risks, then go for it.
regards, Manny
MannyCAM
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Silver64
Member
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26. February 2005 @ 04:38 |
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Langstone Hi Mark, Like you I have the Pioneer 108 in my PC which I use to back-up my DVD's. Against all the advice, which I know is probably right I tend to use media at the cheaper end of the DVD-R range. These are purchased from Bigpockets or SVP on the internet. These have usually but not always Ritik 04 or 05 dye.
On the Sharp I have like you recorded to Datasafe 2xDVD-RW's. The brands of DVD-R's I have recorded to from the HDD have been " Budget" 4x yellow, "Bulkpaq"x4 and "Datawrite" x8 (Printable).
Frankly I have never had a coaster (so far).
I tend to use my Sharp for timeshift i.e. record now watch later TV shows or movies. I also record football matches and send these to my son in Australia. In addition I have transferred old VHS to DVD and digital home movies via the Sharp to DVD ( much quicker than via the PC).
I just can't figure out why you are having finalization problems with the 300H though I have seen other forum members with the 300F having this difficulty. Assuming your Sharp is still under warranty I would be inclined to contact Sharp UK and ask them which brands of blank media they recommend.
Maybe other UK members can add to my list of media brands. Cheers Silver
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cristofo
Newbie
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26. February 2005 @ 05:25 |
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Hi Mannycam,
To be honest, No I do not need absolutelly 160 Gigas on my PC but the point is that more space is more confortable. Why do people buy HDD DVD recorder with high space when they could get a cheaper one with less space. Why some people buy the HR350 when the HR300 is cheaper. Actually, my idea was to know whether some people have changed their HDD in order to share experiences. Isn'it the goal of this forum ? " If it outweighs the risks, then go for it." OK but if I can reduce the risk; I feel better !!! Thks.
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norisk
Account closed as per user's own request
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26. February 2005 @ 13:20 |
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Hi Manny, Cristofo
To be honest, Im not sure that the car anology works here, since fitting a larger hard disk - which must have the same tolerances as a smaller one in order to work at all - is unlikely to put any "strain" on the recorder.
The reason I would upgrade my disk is to allow more recordings to be made at the highest quality, in case I wanted to archive to DVD, without worrying about running out of space.
Cheers
Norisk
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mannycam
Member
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26. February 2005 @ 16:42 |
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Hi Norisk, cristofo,
Point well taken guys, didn't mean to sound critical. In some cases more is definitely better. Simply stating my personal views on the issue and am not looking to change anyone elses. Certainly didn't mean to offend anyone.
regards, Manny
MannyCAM
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cristofo
Newbie
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27. February 2005 @ 00:01 |
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Coming back to the change of HDD, the only complete reference I found is a french site: "http://blog.macbidouille.com/archives/dvhr300f" where the guy describes what he did. As it is in french, I can briefly translate. I have no clue whether this is trustable or not. Basically, he purchased a Maxtor ATA 160 Gigas HDD for 85 Euros. He dismounted the sharp and changed the disk. He was able to format the disk using the internal menu. Following this, he was able to record from 34 to 180 hours depending on the quality. I guess the operation is worth.
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norisk
Account closed as per user's own request
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28. February 2005 @ 21:27 |
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Manny
I didnt see anything in your post that was critical or offensive. And you're on the button when you say that the benefits of having a larger disk must be enough to justify the risk of pulling your machine to pieces. For sure, the machine's warranty would be invalidated.
Cheers
Paul
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Silver64
Member
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28. February 2005 @ 23:31 |
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I'd just like to add a word on the replacement to larger capacity hard drives on the 300. Most of us are either reluctant to open up the recorder either Because 1.As was mentioned it would invalidate the warranty. 2. Most of us are afraid to tamper with electronics when we don't know what we are doing and 3. If, after trying to replace the hard drive the machine wouldn't operate any more we then have the cost of replacement!
Against all this I took the plunge and did the "multi-region up-grade" and in the past I've also done simple replacement of components inside my PC. Has any member of this forum had a look inside the 300 and if so was there a manufacturers name on the HDD? If so it might not be a bad idea to contact them and seek their advice on the matter. There must also be fluent French/English members who could contact the guy who was mentioned in Cristofo's post and ask him for a detailed description of just exactly how it was done Cheers Silver64.
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raywong
Newbie
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1. March 2005 @ 00:20 |
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Hi,
This is a very good thread & has been helpful. I'm close to making an order for the HR300 but I'm still a bit unclear about some stuff, so hopefully some of you could shed some light. First is, in EP mode, how many hours can we potentially record? Second, I assume there's a way to transfer the recorded stuff (from the hard disk) to a PC if I wanted to do some editing?
Looking forward to some feedback, thanks!!
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Silver64
Member
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1. March 2005 @ 04:00 |
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Hi Raywong, Welcome to the forum. From my own experience I think you won't be disappointed with the 300 though from some posts you can see there are a few guys have had the odd niggling problem. Reaction time can seem slow after VHS but just remember DVD burning on a PC is slow in starting as discs have to have a lead in before writing and a lead out which is similar to disc finalization on the Sharp.The HR300H has an 80 Gbyte hard drive which will allow approx 100 hrs recording in EP mode. If you are going to transfer recordings from the Hard Drive on to DVD then I would reccommend using the Fine mode for best quality. EP isn't THAT bad but I would compare it to LP quality in VHS. To answer your query on transfer to PC for editing. The Sharp has a somewhat crude editing facility. E.G. It's easy to edit out commercials but It's not possible to edit out single frames as you can on the PC. Video camera footage transfer to the HDD is very easy via the front RCA phono's or the firewire socket. If you want to transfer material you have recorded on the Hard drive to PC for editing then you could burn to a dvd-rw and then use this disc in your PC. As far as I am aware there are no video outputs on the Sharp that can be connected directly to a PC unless the PC has a TV video card with phono or scart input sockets. Incidentally the full manual for the 300H can be downloaded in Pdf format from the Sharp Electronics website Regards Silver 64
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raywong
Newbie
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1. March 2005 @ 04:35 |
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Silver64, thanks for the feedback, really appreciate it. WRT the 'niggling' problems u mentioned, tell me one thing that doesn't have 'em... ;-)
In any case, I got confused myself when I asked about EP mode. I actually meant FINE mode & wanted to know how many hours I can record in this mode. I agree, that generally, it's always better to record stuff in the best possible quality & decide later if you want to 'downgrade' it either to fit a particular media or something like that. I never thought about transfering via DVD-RW, but I suppose it's better than nothing at all. Out of curiosity, how long does it take to transfer a DVD-RW worth of video? Also, how much video can be recorded within this space (in Fine mode of course.. ;-))
Thanks in advance for your assistance!
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mannycam
Member
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1. March 2005 @ 05:35 |
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Hi raywong, Hi Silver,
Exactly one hour of high quality video can fit on the standard DVD-R, or DVD-RW in the "FINE" mode. This is video very close to the master recording made, with no visible loss on digital video such as mini-DVs and a slight visible difference when recording from VHS, 8mm or SVHS, Hi8 masters. I've done extensive testing in this subject. Ive even dubbed my Hi8, 8mm and Vhs to the miniDV format first, basically to see if there was a difference in using the firewire cable with digitally converted material versus running it straight from the master tapes via the SVHS and RCA inputs. I discovered a slightly softer, less contrasty picture dubbing them or (converting them to the mini-dv format first. A visually more pleasing picture but with a slight loss in quality, very slight however.
regards, Manny
MannyCAM
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raywong
Newbie
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1. March 2005 @ 05:41 |
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mannycam,
Thanks for the feedback. One hour sounds very little for something like DVD since that's roughly about 4GB +. Then again, I suppose given that most MiniDV/Digital 8 tapes are about there anyway, it'll probably suffice.
So, therefore, would be fair to assume that the 80GB on the recorder would give rounghly about 20hours of top notch quality recording?
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mannycam
Member
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1. March 2005 @ 05:51 |
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MannyCAM
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raywong
Newbie
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1. March 2005 @ 06:21 |
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mannycam...u are rite... it's INSANE!!! ;-)
I'm not sure if this thought is shared by many, but I often feel that rather than a 'need' produces the technology, very often nowadays, it's the other way round! ;-)
Anyway, thanks for the confirmation... I'm going to put in my order for the HR300... !
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mannycam
Member
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1. March 2005 @ 06:49 |
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raywong,
You will not be dissapointed, I do believe what you will like more than anything.. is the compact size this lil guy takes up. No complaints from this user. It too was a steal when I purchased it. The recordings from digital in particular are flawless. I tend to forget I'm watching the DVD copy of the master. I know video, and I can't tell them apart. The only minus is what Silver pointed out, limited editing capabilities and no thumbnails in the "FINE" mode for your DVD menu listing. An empty space with the picture would be and the assigned title. But hey, it was a steal at the price I bought it for. So like anything you take the good with the bad. Keep in contact with us. Take care, kind regards, Manny
MannyCAM
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Silver64
Member
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1. March 2005 @ 07:36 |
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Hi Manny, Thanks for your usual good knowledge and advice and as you said to Raywong I also don't think he will be disappointed with the 300. I don't know where he is residing but in the UK the 350 is not so much more expensive than the 300 and it does have the larger HDD. If bigger is better then it might be worth while for Raywong to consider the 350.Frankly I have never approached using all the 20 hrs in fine mode on my 300H. If I just want to record a TV show when I am going out or watching another channel, I usually use SP mode. Its only if I want to record e.g. a movie to HDD or my digital camcorder movies to dvd that I will use Fine mode. In transferring a movie of nearly 2 hours from HDD to DVD I either use SP dubbing or adjust the manual dubbing setting to get it all on one disc. Incidentally regarding PC Dual layer DVD burners. Last year I installed a Pioneer 108 16x writer to compliment the existing Pioneer 104 in my PC. The 108 is a dual layer burner and unlike the 104 will burn to Plus and Minus blank media. I have never yet recorded to a dual layer disc due to the price of blanks and in any case the burn speed on to dual layer is only 2.4x. Finally, I paid less than 300 pounds (USD540) summer 2004 for my Sharp 300H I know that is more than they cost in the U.S. but I still think it was a bargain! Cheers
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mannycam
Member
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1. March 2005 @ 08:01 |
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Hi Silver, thats very true, Raywong..at least you might consider it. And Silver, ditto about the program recordings off of TV. I too record in the SP mode for general viewing, therefore increasing my hard-drive space 2 fold. What is really cool is being to record in multiple recording speeds on the same HHD. Just be careful, you need to remember which setting you left your recorder in before making those priceless recordings :) T
In regards to the various discs, that's very interesting. Please let me know when you burn your first dual layer DVD. What brand, and how much? I am considering the E-Machine to replace my current desktop. I pretty much added everything to my current PC, but it never really was powerful enough to handle the rigors of video processing. This new badboy has got it all. The only bad thing is the video card is built in. And as you know the AGP slot is needed for the proper "Graphics" upgrade to a better card. This system only has 2 PCI slots for upgrades.
Manny
MannyCAM
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raywong
Newbie
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1. March 2005 @ 09:16 |
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Silver, Manny,
You might be interested to know that I reside in Malaysia (this sorts of answers the questions that I've seen in this thread about PAL as that's what we use) & I've checked & unfortunately for me, only the 300 is available. Good point about the SP mode. I agree that the 'high quality' isn't necessary any better since TV quality isn't exactly anything to shout about. However, I would assume that the Fine mode would be useful when transferring movies from the videocam, so that's when it should come into play. Perhaps once the warranty is over, I might consider 'upgrading' the hard disk... ;-)
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mannycam
Member
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1. March 2005 @ 09:39 |
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Yes Raywong, if you are anything like most of us here, we do prefer quality when it comes to treasured home movies, vacations, birthdays, baby's first step, etc. You will need to keep it in the "FINE" setting for that. But I'm sure Silver and others will agree that the "SP" setting on this machine is quite remarkable. You really can't compare it to the SP setting on most VHS decks. Its really a lot better in most respects. But the key is the digital signal and not the magnetized wave-form created by the now ancient VHS technology. Of course it will always depend on the televised signal. But if you were to record that same signal with a VHS deck, you would be greatly surprized. The happiest day of my life was when the digital format was available to consumers. It truly was a godsent to a video quality fanatic like me:) And now with DVD, it meant the perfect marriage.
MannyCAM
MannyCAM
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