|
Any opinions on the Sharp DV-HR300?
|
|
|
jatadwn
Newbie
|
16. September 2004 @ 08:08 |
Link to this message
|
|
I purchased a DV-HR300U back in May 2004. I immediately ran into four main problems with the unit: (1) the inability to timer record cable channels 55 thru 61, (2) the VCR+ program screen was not able to translate a +code into a channel number, (3) two timer recordings that immediately followed each other in time played back as one continuous recording, and (4) the DV-HR300 remote when used to control my TV caused the DV-HR300U disk to spin up and down even when the DV-HR300U was off! I sent the unit into Sharp for repair, but after sitting on the unit for a month it became clear that Sharp could not fix it. I eventually got my money back. This product was premature, the software was buggy. Too bad, because the basic design etc. was quite good. If the model has indeed been discontinued after so short a time on the market, it must be because Sharp could not fix the software problems in a timely manner.
|
|
Advertisement
|
|
|
|
|
Silver64
Member
|
17. September 2004 @ 07:02 |
Link to this message
|
|
Got my Sharp DV-HR300H from Comet UK online 4 days ago. At £299 this machine was a real bargain! Have tried several makes of blank DVD-R and RW discs and not a problem. I am currently using Datawrite Red DVD-R that cost less than 20p each and not a coaster. Setup to my ntl cable box, Sony TV and Videologic digitheatre 5.1/DTS sound system was a doddle!
Those prices mentioned in the forum (don2blues) for the new Sharp 350 (with 120Gbyte Hard Drive )were in Australian Dollars not U.S.! Everything else apart from the colour of the casing and the larger Hard Drive seems to be the same as the Sharp 300.
|
|
mannycam
Member
|
17. September 2004 @ 08:44 |
Link to this message
|
|
Then how much is the 350 in American dollars Silver64? Thanks for the info.
MannyCAM
|
|
Silver64
Member
|
17. September 2004 @ 12:09 |
Link to this message
|
|
Hi Mannycam
At todays rate of exchange that's US$1100 approx. Still expensive but as you know online and specialist electronic store prices tend to be much cheaper. Quite frankly for another 40 Gigs storage I can't see a big advantage. Can you? Incidentally today I was trying to record a TV program onto an old DVD-R disk which I had already initialized. All appeared to be OK. However the disc turned out to be faulty! ( scratched). Expecting to have lost the program, I was pleasantly surprised to discover the 300H automatically switched to record on to the HDD! What a clever machine!
I agree with all other posts to this forum that unlike a VCR the 300H is more like a computer ie it does take it's own time to "boot" and to change modes etc. Just be patient, It's a cracker!
|
|
mannycam
Member
|
17. September 2004 @ 12:44 |
Link to this message
|
|
Yes Silver64, I love my 300, but it really depends on what youre doing with it...I dont record alot of television, an occasional show here and there. Its usually after hours so I simply tune the station into the channel I want to record from and the 300 does the rest. I bought mine to archive vhs, digital, and hi8 tapes period. So things like firewires and consistent flawless high quality disc burning was a must. I have all of my decks and cameras connected and ready to go, I simply switch inputs on my 300 and as you aussies say it "its all a walkabout after that..":) The more succesful discs you burn the more you are going to appreciate this lil honey. But I do agree let the machine do its thing, you can't rush a computer and you can't rush the 300. More malfunctions are caused by impatience than anything else.
Nice to have your voice in the forum mate:)
MannyCAM
|
|
Silver64
Member
|
17. September 2004 @ 14:00 |
Link to this message
|
|
Hi again Mannycam
Just to keep the record straight. I'm in Scotland -not Australia. I am also interested in trying to transfer my old VHS Tapes to DVD and DV from my Sony TRV 33 to DVD using the Sharp 300's firewire connection. Previously I have used my PC for transfer of DV tapes from video camera (using Firewire) to PC then using Pinnacle 8 program for editing and final burning to DVD. I haven't had a problem using the PC for DV movie work so the Sharp is really a back-up. I think the Sharp's editing facility may be a bit too crude for proper home video editing as it doesn't have any scene transitions or control over sound but for basic editing may be OK and certainly for VHS conversion to DVD should be excellent. I found this forum excellent in making up my mind to buy the 300H (UK version of the 300U). Mine won't play US region 1 DVD's but then as I always back-up using DVDShrink on my PC this makes my copy DVD's ALL region and thus WILL playback on the Sharp! So far the 300H has exceeded all my requirements and I have consigned my old Sony VCR and Pioneer DVD Player to storage.
|
|
wiersbr
Newbie
|
21. September 2004 @ 11:06 |
Link to this message
|
|
Love my DV-HR300U! I am using it to record Satellite Classes from Bob Jones University. I am recording over 80 hours a week in EP with High Speed Dubbing Set (feeds come on blocks, 5 classes each). Then chaptering them and putting most of it of it to DVD. Also recording some Cable broadcasts and it makes the transition of input modes seemlessly.
However, it has been starting to produce some random disk errors and occasionally does not start a timer recording. Also, I have been having random trouble producing a DVD. I keep the hard drive under 80% full so I figure that's not the problem. Could the disk be getting fragmented from all the recording and deleting? Do I need to start reformatting on a regular basis? Will I lose my programming if I reformat?
Thanks!
wiersbr
|
|
nickie745
Newbie
|
22. September 2004 @ 07:28 |
Link to this message
|
|
Silver where do you buy your Datawrite Red Dvd R to get them so cheap?
|
|
Silver64
Member
|
22. September 2004 @ 08:15 |
Link to this message
|
Hi Nicky
SVP Blankdiscshop http://www.blankdiscshop.co.uk/ have these for £4.49 for 25 ( £17.96 per 100) Postage is extra of course.
I have also used Budget brand DVD-R which I bought from them. Haven't had any bother with these either!
|
|
Silver64
Member
|
22. September 2004 @ 08:30 |
Link to this message
|
Sorry Nicky seems like SVP have sold out the Budget brand DVD-R's. However Big Pockets http://www.bigpockets.co.uk/ have 50 Budget white tops @ £8.79 per 50. The discs I used were Yellow tops so I can't comment on the performance of Budget white tops. Cheers
|
|
Silver64
Member
|
22. September 2004 @ 08:38 |
Link to this message
|
I back up my dvd's ( region 1,2,3,4,etc using DVDshrink 3.2 and Nero on my PC. These play without any problems on my Sharp 300H. However has anyone had any luck dubbing a back-up copy they've done( as above) to the HDD of the Sharp? When I tried this I get a message
" Can't Dub this disc"
|
|
mannycam
Member
|
22. September 2004 @ 12:20 |
Link to this message
|
|
Hi Silver to your question concerning dubbing discs. The only way you can dub from a disc in the dvd tray is if the dvd in question hasn't been finalized. Even discs made on the 300 once finalized you cannot dub it back to the HHD. The only way is to connect a second dvd player using of course analog cables, svhs or rca. Naturally you would lose quality in making the copy this way.
MannyCAM
|
|
mannycam
Member
|
22. September 2004 @ 12:31 |
Link to this message
|
|
"However, it has been starting to produce some random disk errors and occasionally does not start a timer recording. Also, I have been having random trouble producing a DVD. I keep the hard drive under 80% full so I figure that's not the problem. Could the disk be getting fragmented from all the recording and deleting? Do I need to start reformatting on a regular basis? Will I lose my programming if I reformat?"
wiersbr, I havent heard of any other users having so many errors in their recordings, could it be the brand of discs youre buying? Try using different brands. Ive found Verbatim pretty consistent. Or is your unit in a very hot location? Proper ventilation is essential. Just like a PC...
As far as reformatting, you shouldnt need to. I too have recorded a great many hours and havent needed to reformat at all.
And yes you will lose all of the HHD contents once formatting is iniciated. One more thing dont rush this machine, its more like a pc and less like a vcr. The timer issue, in most cases I havent found any problems with mine...every blue moon if the timer is set to bridge from one day to the other that is 11PM to 12AM it might fail to iniciate. Ive noticed this twice, but again not always...Hope this helps. MannyCAM
MannyCAM
|
|
Silver64
Member
|
22. September 2004 @ 12:45 |
Link to this message
|
|
Thanks Mannycam, It's not a big problem as I have my PC to copy back-up's but I guess a lot of guys (me included) may have thought the 300 might have dubbed "all region" or DVD's that are not encrypted.
|
|
mannycam
Member
|
23. September 2004 @ 04:35 |
Link to this message
|
|
I wish it did Silver64 but alas it doesnt.
MannyCAM
|
|
VMG
Newbie
|
7. October 2004 @ 13:22 |
Link to this message
|
|
Got the 300 & burned my first DVD within 40 minutes of setting it up. Transferred a VHS of a 1985 Family Christmas. Recorded fine; took it out of the 300 and played it back on my Sony DVD in my HT system no problem. The next day I again played it back in the Sony for my wife. At one point in hte playback, it froze, and replayed the previous 20-30 seconds and kept doind the same thing at the exact place in the DVD. I took the DVD out and put it in the 300 - same thing, only once I was finally able to get past the "freeze" point, it started freezing at other points. I'm using Sony DVD-R 1x-4x. I recorded the video "on the fly" - recording as it was playing back from a source S-VHS deck. Any ideas? I'd planned on using this unit to burn DVD's as part of my business (full-time video production) but I can't have a client taking a DVD home & having the problems I experienced. Thanks for any input. VMG
|
|
Erikk
Junior Member
|
8. October 2004 @ 00:03 |
Link to this message
|
|
I am really fed up with this sharp DV-HR300F now. I feel like throwing it out of the window !
I have the French version of the recorder, and it also have the timer recording problem, among other weird deadlocks etc.
When I first bought it, the timer bug happens really rarely. But now, it's almost all the time. And strangely I have to disk error or anything, no error message in the information section of the interface.
I was looking for a total RESET function but couldn't find it. I don't think there is any. There is that reset button in the front, but it doesn't really seem to re-initialize the machine, it just erase your timers that's all.
On several occasions, the sharp deadlocked, either while finalizing the DVD or whatever, and even the reset button couldn't unlock it. I had to unplug the machine, and even after unplugging it, it didn't work. I had to do it several times ...
Anyone has any clue how to re-initialize the sharp ? Maybe I should reformat the disk or something ?
I've been told by sharp to return the machine for "repair". But I'm really reluctant to send it back for a firmware upgrade, because I read in a yahoo group that a user in Spain sent it back for a firmware upgrade, which did solve the timer bug, but then he's got another even worse problem: the time on the machine keeps changing every week, it is 30 minutes late every week or something ....
It really suxxx, I'll never buy sharp again ...
It would be nice if everyone that has w work around, or tricks or any news about problem resolution to post their comments in this forum :)
Thankx for reading
|
|
Silver64
Member
|
9. October 2004 @ 11:26 |
Link to this message
|
Hi VMG
I would also like to transfer old VHS tapes to DVD. I have only tried a "sample " on the Sharp 300 and didn't experience your problem. Just a suggestion, when you "initialized" the DVD-R disc to record on, you must select DVD VIDEO MODE from the Initialise Menu NOT the DVD VR MODE. After transfer of the VHS to disc you then need to FINALIZE the disc before it will play in other DVD players.( I'm sure you know all this already)
From what I've read about certain Sony DVD players they seem to favour DVD+R ? However if you have followed the procedure above I would suggest you try and play the DVD-R disc you've already made in a friends DVD player(not Sony) and see if it will play. I cannot understand why the Sharp 300 won't play back a DVD-R it's recorded.Also if you have a PC with a DVD playback facility you can "explore" the disc and see if the VOB files have been recorded. I have a Pioneer 535 and don't have any problems playing back all the discs I've made on the Sharp so far and of course they playback on the Sharp.I also have a £29 YAKUMO dvd player ( Amazon)that plays everything you "throw" at it!It seems the cheap DVD players now on the market play everything including all region movies! Again just a comment I assume there wasn't a fingerprint or a scratch on the media you used. I have recorded to several brands of cheap DVD-R & DVD-RW blanks and to date not a prob.However be careful which one's you buy, according to the vendor's website I use several makes of blank media were not Sony compatible! I wonder why? Hope you get your prob sorted out Cheers Silver64.
|
|
Pattykmn
Newbie
|
12. October 2004 @ 15:07 |
Link to this message
|
|
Hi. I've been reading this thread and I'm really considering buying the DV-HR300U. I was previously looking at a Zenith DVR413 but I'm thinking a harddrive would be a wonderful feature! I have just a couple of questions...
Which models were having the timer/software glitches? Those that end with an "H", "X" or a "U", or some of each?
Also, it was mentioned earlier that the hard drive does not like JPG's. What about the player? How about Kodak picture disks?
Thanks alot guys! :)
|
|
mannycam
Member
|
12. October 2004 @ 16:45 |
Link to this message
|
|
Hi Pattykmn,
The only recorder that I'm aware of having any timer issues is the DV-HR300U. Yes mine most likely has the problem as well, but since I don't use the recorder to shift channels I use my cable box and simply leave the station that I want to record on before I go to bed. If you're planning on doing a lot of broadcast timer recordings then you might not be happy with this machine. But if you're more into tape dubbing and digital recordings this gem really does the trick. The hard-drive feature is fantastic, letting you literally store several hours in High quality digital video before committing to DVD. Of course the final DVD results are clones of the original footage when burned in the High Quality or Fine setting. And as far as the jpeg format. This machine does not like them at all. What I have done however is to create CD's with jpeg files on my PC, played them back with a second DVD player that accepts the jpeg format, then run it thru the DVD Recorder via the SVHS input. I then connected a portable CD player to the rca audio inputs to provide a musical background for the svhs jpeg transfer and recorded these to the Sharps Hard-drive for later burning to DVD. So the recorder will see the jpegs this way but it's reading it as video since its coming in thru the SVHS analog signal input. All in all, I bought my recorder specifically to archive my aging analog video tapes, to create DVDS of my new mini Dv-tapes and to catch an occasional movie or program from cable. Anything else I can manage to do with it is "iceing on the cake" Make sure you read all of the reviews that I and others have posted before making your decision.....
Quite frankly though I didn't think there were any more for sale anywhere. I would have surely purchased a second one. For the price this baby was selling for compared to the high prices I've seen other models sold for, I think I'll keep one or two of these around.
Kind Regards, Manny
MannyCAM
|
|
Pattykmn
Newbie
|
12. October 2004 @ 17:21 |
Link to this message
|
|
Thanks for your input. If I put JPG's on a DVD the way you describe, will other people be able to see/play them on their DVD players? (since the DVD thinks it's a video, right?) That's my main concern with JPG's, to be able to share digital photos with family members.
As for purchasing, I also go to a site called videohelp.com. They have furums/reviews like this too but only one person had this recorder. When you search this model and then click to find out where to buy it, there are 10 internet stores in the list (at quite nice prices too!). I haven't actually purchased one yet, but I did go into the checkout (to see what S&H would be) and it didn't tell me they were unavailable.
Oh, I have another question... When disks are finalized with this machine, are they considered "DVD Video"? I'm not totally sure what that means, but it has to do with compatability in other players doesn't it?
Thanks :)
|
|
mannycam
Member
|
13. October 2004 @ 01:32 |
Link to this message
|
|
Yes, to break it down any disc including your Kodak discs, if youre able to play them on a second DVD player..then you've got the battle won. This recorder has 3 inputs, 1. rca inputs commonly used on most vcrs and dvds and cd players 2. SVHS found on Digital video cameras, SVHS decks and most DVD players 3. Firewire or IEEE digital input, found on digital video cameras as well. This connection is an exact clone when used of the "original" footage. The best in quality. However it is not found on the standard DVD player, so you would be using the SVHS output on your second DVD player to make the copy on your recorders Hard-drive for later burning to DVDs to share with friends and family. So yes to your question, you will be able to make copies of your Kodak discs. As long as you see a picture after making the connection from your DVD player to your Sharp recorder you will be able to dub it either to the recorders hard-drive or directly to disc.
After burning and disc, there is the final step of finalization. This is what makes your burned discs compatible with most of the standard DVD players out there. As with PC burners you can keep adding stuff to that disc until you finalize it. After that no more stuff can be added to the disc. And to your final question, yes once finalized the disc is now considered a "region 1" DVD video, no different from any movie you buy at the store, except that Hollywood discs are dual layer and this recorder burns to only one layer. In the not to distant future that method of recording along with discs being able to hold more information will be mainstream. These discs if properly cared for have been said to last over 50 years, hollywood discs are meant to last over 100.
Regards, Manny
MannyCAM
|
|
nafmo
Suspended due to non-functional email address
|
16. October 2004 @ 08:58 |
Link to this message
|
|
Hi!
I just bought one of these monsters (the 300S variety) yesterday, and I have a question. As this seems to be where everyone who owns one of these hangs around (and since this thread was what definitely made me go for this model), I thought this would be the place to post it...
So, I plugged this thing in, and connected it to my cable tv decoder, and recorded a movie off a channel. The movie was widescreen (16:9), and the decoder does signal that to my tv if I watch the programme live. The problem I have is that the recording I made was not flagged as widescreen, so it gets horizontally compressed (4:3) when viewing it. Of course, I can adjust that on my 16:9 set, but since I was planning on copying the movie down to a dvd-r, I would like to make sure other dvd players see it as widescreen, so that they can compress it vertically for 4:3 screens.
I was unable to find anywhere where I could change the aspect ratio of a recorded title? Is there such a place? And why didn't it pick up that the broadcast was 16:9 in the first place? It does output these signals to the tv, it switches automatically to 16:9 when I play back a widescreen dvd.
\\//
|
|
don2blues
Suspended due to non-functional email address
|
20. October 2004 @ 12:14 |
Link to this message
|
Manny, how goes it? Got a question. Recording at high-speed vs real time. I had a feeling that recording at high-speed is a clone more or less being digitally recorded. Recording at real time, would that get the same results (quality)? just at a slower rate? What got this topic going was me recording the Vote for Change Concert. I did a bunch of edits leaving only the music portion and ended up with 240 minutes at SP mode to a single program. Next I wanted to start a high-speed recording knowing that it will not fit on the first dvd but benefit from the high-speed recording process thinking that high-speed is better. Thanks PAL, have a good one. Don
|
|
Advertisement
|
|
|
|
mannycam
Member
|
21. October 2004 @ 02:58 |
Link to this message
|
Hey Don, no I'm afraid that the slower speeds are best for quality. Anytime you sacrifice one thing for another you lose something in the process. You noticed that digital video cameras still give you the LP vs SP option for video-taping, granted LP will allow you more recording time which is great for a day at a theme park or a vacation get-away, but the fact is you're running the same digital tape at a much slower pace thereby giving the chance of anomalies to appear on your recording, dropouts and pixelation. The same can happen to these digital transfers when the speed is increased. Think about it, there are more chances of information being missed or corrupted. Remember they do give you the choice to either high speed it or regular speed. Its always a trade-off, if not they wouldn't give you the choice. Again such as in video cameras. Why not make them just LP...Because some still want quality over quantity. Personally though I do set it to LP anyway knowing I will possibly lose something when out and about, but for cherished home stuff??? SP SP SP in the burner scenerio??? FINE FINE FINE...lol.
To Nafmo, it appears that the recording may not have been an actual widescreen as we would like them. But anamorphic widescreen which behaves different from regular non anamorphic video. In any case run some tests first but the recorder does have different viewing settings that you can adjust. By the way anamorphic is the ideal format when buying DVD's since the overall quality and its presentation are generally much better.
Here's a link to a great source for this topic, enjoy:
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/anamorphic/anamorphic185demo.html
MannyCAM
|
