New Recorders Offer High-Quality Video Albemarle NC

Living-room DVD recorders from Pioneer and Panasonic top our chart this month.


1 . Local Companies

Jim Carter Co Inc
(704) 983-3282
403 W Main St
Albemarle, NC
Southern Computer & Office Supply
(704) 986-2680
28454 Nc 73 Hwy
Albemarle, NC
Imperial Computer Supplies Inc
(704) 332-4850
1225 S Church St
Charlotte, NC
Staples
(919) 876-7264
2950 E Millbrook Rd
Raleigh, NC
Hoyle Office Solutions Inc
(828) 681-8797
180 Glenn Bridge Rd
Arden, NC
Intelligent Computer
(704) 525-4885
114 Freeland Ln
Charlotte, NC
Perfect Network
(910) 256-5705
1501 Crows Landing Cir
Wilmington, NC
Carolina Computer Supply Inc
(336) 723-0805
Winston Salem, NC
Ada Computer Supplies Inc
(336) 274-3441
3001 Pacific Ave
Greensboro, NC
Laser World Inc
(336) 996-7115
1031 E Mountain St
Kernersville, NC

2 . Introduction

Click here to view full-size image.Are the format wars finally over? Thankfully, almost. Compared with the hard-drive-equipped DVD recorders we reviewed a year ago, twice as many now support both the +R and -R formats. The only exception here is the Toshiba RD-XS55, the priciest model on the chart at $700.

All of the recorders delivered high-quality video. Every model regardless of its cost (the units we reviewed range from $340 to $700) earned a Very Good score for recording quality in our tests.

We recorded a variety of content in four quality modes, and found the results almost indistinguishable among the devices. And though we noticed some subtle differences in the artifacts that marred video recorded at the lower-quality modes, they weren't enough to affect our scores.

As for the recorders' features, however, they couldn't vary more--while some of the models offer a range of useful extras, others lag behind.

3 . Skip the Ads

If you don't like TV ads, select a recorder that can skip commercials. The Panasonic DMR-EH55S, Pioneer DVR-640H-S, and Toshiba RD-XS55 each offer a commercial-skip button on their remote controls for nixing jingles before they're stuck in your head.

Two recorders, the Lite-On and the Pioneer, have jukebox functions for playing music files and JPEGs. The Pioneer earned our Best Buy nod in part because it comes with a wonderful remote control and works well as a jukebox; it allows you to select multiple albums or a particular genre to play. The Lite-On, by contrast, doesn't let you play a selected folder or play by genre or artist. The unit doesn't even display the title of the currently playing song.

4 . Specialties

The pioneer is the only model here that can write to 8.5GB discs (both double-layer DVD+R and dual-layer DVD-R), and it's one of three units that write to DVD-RAM discs. The Toshiba RD-XS55 does not write to DVD+RW--and though it's the only device here with an ethernet port, you can't download video to its hard drive or display video on your TV over a network.

For scheduling recordings, the Panasonic and Toshiba (the two costliest models we tested) offer the TV Guide On Screen Interactive Program Guide, while the other models work with VCR+ codes.

5 . Featured Local Company

Saltwaters Media LLC

704-350-5361
8501 Tower Point Drive
Charlotte, NC


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