Best value DVD recorder?

[sara]

Mum wants to find one for my stepdad this Christmas - looking at about (or not too far over) £100 all in. Don't need a HDD in it.

Is it possible? Do these things still have SCART connections? Or is it all HDMI?

[leowyatt]

We have an older Panasonic EMR55 I think it was highly recommended though I'm not sure what the current model would be. Will have a look and let you know.

[sara]

Aye I searched up some forums which came up with very good sounding models which now no longer appear to be on sale :(

Most of them were Panasonic though so I suppose that's a good lead!

[Mark]

Panasonic make good kit. Recommended if you can find one for the right price.

[sara]

Hrm, seems the Panasonic one to have at the moment is either out of stock or too expensive anyway.

The LG DRT389H is looking good though, might end up going for that one...

[Briggykins]

I'd recommend getting one with DVD-RAM support if you can find an okay price. Might have been just me but my old Panasonic DVD recorder was very awkward and fiddly when using normal DVD-Rs.

[sara]

Cheers Briggykins, seems this LG one does :)

I'm prepared for my having to teach my folks how to use the thing - but I've not used one myself, so that could be fun!!

[Mark]

LG DRT389H

This standard DVD recorder has good picture and sound on self-recorded DVDs, but is let down by the poor picture quality of pre-recorded DVDs. It's not very easy to use either.

The LG DRT389His has both a digital tuner for receiving Freeview and an analogue tuner for those who haven't yet switched to digital TV. It comes supplied with a Scart lead.

It record onto DVD-R/-RW, DVD+R/+RW and DVD-Ram discs. Picture and sound quality of self-recorded DVDs are very good, but disappointingly the picture quality of pre-recorded DVDs is 'soft, smeary and unrefined' according to our viewing panel.

There's an HDMI output for connecting to an HD-ready TV, but the 'upscaled' picture (not true high-definition) isn't great - 'below average' was our experts' verdict.

Ease of use is generally poor on this model - the instructions lack detail in places and the text and diagrams are too small. The on-screen menus can be hard to see and not very logical, while some remote control buttons are too small and the layout could be better.

Power consumption is good though - 16 watts in normal operation and less than one watt in standby provided you use the 'eco' mode.

Pros: Good self-recorded picture and sound quality, good power consumption

Cons: Disappointing pre-recorded DVD picture quality, poor ease of use, upscaled HDMI picture could be better

Take Which's views on picture/sound quality with a pinch of salt. They tend to err towards the Audiophile end (e.g. saying they don't rate the picture quality on Samsung TVs when in reality it's fine). Still helpful info, nonetheless.

[sara]

Hrm, interesting.

Other reviews have said it's quite nice to use!

TBH at this price point I won't expect perfection, and my folks are fairly old now so won't really notice a dodgy picture (it'll look miles better than the VHS recordings they're used to!)

I just hope it's not shockingly bad... but then the majority of reviews have scored 7-8ish/10, which isn't too bad.

[Mark]

It got 70% at which too. Can't be that bad then.