SP or LP?

Insanely important question:
Do you fellas ever dvdr films off tv and if yes would you use SP or LP? On my crappy tv set it seems like there's no difference between the two recording speeds but is it noticeable when you watch it on a bigger screen??

I usually record everything both from TV and Videotapes to my DVD Recorder using "XP" speed.

Never bothered with SP, LP, EP etc...

Oh really? Hmm. It's just that I tape so much stuff like culture shows and shit and I couldn't put all that on dvdr in XP quality. Two 30 min. programs would take up a full disc.

Don't know what machine you are using but i have an Pioneer and with that i first record the programs/videotapes to the harddrive with XP speed, reason why i first record to the harddrive is that i always edit the video first and when that is done i record it to an DVD-R disc.

I have an option i can choose between on the Pioneer if the film is let's say 90 minutes i can put it either on SP speed to the dvd-r disc which mean that there will be some 40minutes of empty space left on the DVD-R disc or then use another backup option which allows me to fill up the entire disc with possible the best quality something between XP-SP.

It all depends on the lenght of the movie. But generally, SP should look better. Don't you have any other recording speeds?
LP will allow you to record more on a disc, but the quality is poor. (LP = Long play)
SP is much better quality, but it takes more space.

Recording stuff from tv with one speed to the hdd and then transfering the program to a dvd from the hdd with another speed is never a good idea. It encodes the program twice. And every encoding deteriorates the picture quality.

When you record a vhs movie, it converts the analogic picture into a digital format that your dvd-r recorder can handle. After that it encodes the signal so you you can store it onto your hdd or dvd-r. If you record the tape onto your hdd with a "lossless" speed and then transfer it onto a dvd-r it ads another encoding stage to the process. Every process makes the picture quality worse.

What I do, is that I check how long the program is, and then I select a suitable speed. Let's say it's a 1 h 15 m long program. So I choose speed "X" that fits 1 h 20 m onto a dvd-r. Leave an extra 5 min, in case the program runs a tad longer that it should.

Also take into consideration, that there might be commercial breaks. That allows you to use a sligtly better recording speed that would normally fit (for example) about 1h 10 min onto a disc. But when you edit out the commercials, you'll be able to fit a 1h 20 min program onto a dvd-r with the 1h 10m speed. But that ofcourse depends on how much commercials there is. But for example, an one hour program from the Discovery Channel has a heap of commercials. The running time of the commercials can easily add up to 10-15 m of extra program that only eats up recording space. (More lenght = lesser quality when your space reserved for recording is limited.)
So what you actually have, is a 45 min program with 15 m of commercials = 60 min in total.


Also, it's a good idea to buy rerecordable media, dvd-rw's, otherwise you'll end up with a heap of dvd-r's. Just stuff the dvd-rw's onto an external hdd (connected to you pc). Go Giganten and buy an external hdd.
And when you want to watch it, just burn it onto a dvd-r(w).
Or you could just watch it on your pc from your external hdd, or better yet, connect your pc to your tv.
The ideal would be to record the tv program right to you pc.


What kind of tv do you have?

All depends on what hardware he is using? With my Pioneer i tested a few days different recording options and using XP for recording to HDD and then transferring it to disc with another option didn't make any deteriorations at all in the picture or sound quality but then again i'm always buying high valuable DVD recorders and not the cheap trash, you can get for 100-300 euro.

I have a Panasonic dvd recorder. My tv is 28" so I guess that's why you don't notice the difference between SP and LP too much.

And yes my recorder can record in XP and EP as well. I made a couple of dvd-r's with two films on each, i.e. circa 3 hours in total, and didn't think there was much of a difference but now I've changed my mind: It irritates me the quality is worse than SP when it's a good film that I want to keep (and may not be able to get in English or Danish friendly versions). Mainstream "crap" doesn't matter so much, if you want proper versions they're easy to buy on dvd.

By the way, I wanted to buy a new Pioneer dvd recorder (I've read they're the very best) but recently I found out Pioneer don't make dvd recorders anymore! It's difficult to even buy a new one, they all seem to have vanished from the stores.

I Second that, Pioneer is best.

Unfortunally i also found out that earlier this year when one of my dear Pioneer recorders broke down and i was on my way to order a new machine only to find out they are no longer available. Lucky me i found a brand new machine in one store over here in Finland and got it.

A few years back, I bought a Sony dvd-r recorder, with a hdd and it's proven to be very good. Also handles ntsc. I'm not sure if they make those anymore. I remember Onar Bill saying that Sony is crap. Well, but every aparatus of this type comes to an end after a few years.
Would I recommend one? Yes, I'd still buy sony.

Samsung and LG still makes dvd recorders. But LG is a brand I don't like, they have a cheap feel to them.

Never own an Sony DVD-Recorder so dunno if they are good or not. But on our Finnish Sony Web page there seems to be a new machine out from them:

RDR-HXD995

Good thing with Pioneer was/is that with every model they did put out on the market from the start, you were able to record all the formats NTSC/PAL/SECAM just a click away from your remote control.