DVD Recorder Speeds

telpeedell · Post by **telpeedell** » 29 Sep 2006, 10:48

Hi Guys....... I have a query which some of our technically minded members may be able to help with. I have just bought a DVD player and recorder which can record TV programmes at eight different speeds, obviously allowing for a wide range of time and differing quality of recordings to be made. I wish to record TV programmes on to DVD to give to my Daughter to play on her bog standard DVD player. I,ve read all the manuals but nowhere does it say what is the NORMAL or STANDARD speed of a DVD recording. I realise I could make a disc of recordings all made at different speeds and see what plays on her machine, but someone may know the answer and save me the time in experimenting. Many thanks in anticipation of your helpful replies.

ianhind · Post by **ianhind** » 29 Sep 2006, 12:48

The "standard" speed of PC DVD-ROM players has been increasing over the years in the same way that CD-ROM players have. CD-ROMs started at 1x and now 52x is common.

So the easiest way is to ask what your daughter's DVD-ROM speed is. Although unless it is very old, DVD-writers are usually slower than DVD-ROM players.

So simple answer to your question is that the "standard" speed depends which year you ask. :roll:

AndyG · Post by **AndyG** » 29 Sep 2006, 12:59

I think the problem here is with a DVD player, i.e. shiny box under the TV, rather than a DVD-ROM/RW etc.

I don't know the answer to your question, but whatever the default setting is on your DVD Recorder would probably be the sensible one; it's a bit like the old LP VCRs you could buy, always good fun to put you 8 hours of recording into a standard VCR!!!

AndyG

panty · Post by **panty** » 29 Sep 2006, 13:27

I'm not an expert in DVD/TV recording, but I think that is not a question of speed it's a question of compression.
During the recording with a VCR more faster the tape runs more quality you obtain; in LP (Low Speed) the tape runs half the normal speed so a 120 minutes cassette can be recorded up to 4 hours.
For DVD you can vary the duration of recording changing the quality of the recorded material using more or less compression (less compression means bigger file like in a computer HD), the recording speed it's only the speed at which the dvd is burned.
The DVD player speed varies continuosly during playing for reading purposes, but this is not in conjunction with the recording speed.

Post by **DaveB** » 29 Sep 2006, 13:32

Odd.. but I thought someone had moved this thread to E&S :shock: :think:

I think that what Tel is after is.. will a DVD recorded at 'X' speed on his new fangled TV DVD Recorder still be playable on his daughters bog standard pc DVD player.. eg, if he records in Long Play (or the equivalent of). Remember in the dark days when tapes recorded in LP wouldn't play on a set that only had SP :shock: :think:
In theory.. the record speed of a DVD shouldn't matter one way or the other (except in terms of quality) so with the cost of DVD's being as low as they are, I'd suggest you suck it and see and try one. Nothing ventured e t c

ATB

DaveB :tab:

Post by **TSR2** » 29 Sep 2006, 15:27

oops... I moved it to hardware Dave... I though that some of our PC bods would know more about it. sri. :redface:

Post by **DaveB** » 29 Sep 2006, 15:31

No Prob Ben.. I thought it had moved the other way!!

ATB

DaveB :tab:

ianhind · Post by **ianhind** » 29 Sep 2006, 17:06

This new-fangled technology stuff :roll:

What's wrong with Betamax?

Now I understand - it is a quality thing.

What format is the TV recorder producing? If telpeedell can let us know what make/model he is using, it might help.

Also is daughter's player ona PC?

If it is MPEG2, the PC player will need software to play (unless new versions of Media Player come with this?). And if it is MPEG2, the format is defined, it is the bit rate that gets varied to produce smaller files = more noise/less detail.

Post by **RAF_Quantum** » 29 Sep 2006, 18:24

Hi,

I've got a panasonic DVD-Recorder and use it in SP mode. This gives about 30+ hours recoding capability on it's 80GB HD. Recording terrestrial TV the playback looks just as good as the original. Note that on my recorder, it's possible to 'hi speed dub' when burning a disc but to do this you have to switch this feature on in the set-up - it's off by default.

Rgds

John

ianhind · Post by **ianhind** » 29 Sep 2006, 20:09

John,

That post lifted the mist even more. Of course the TV is recorded to hard disk at varying quality, and I guess can then be output to DVD in standard DVD format.

So we are back to DVD-writer speeds.

Ian