Any opinions on the Sharp DV-HR300?

A further update. I should have checked DVD Decrypter. It reports disks made in the HR300 as being all regions (1 - 8). I don't know why the manual specifies the unit as recording for region 4 only. It may be intended as a smokescreen.

Regards.

 

Hi Silver 64,
I think that the only difference between the 350 and 300 is the hard disk capacity, as the manual is for both, but one would of course take a risk loading it in an older software version player. That being said, I would think version unlocking software is pretty standard stuff. The update itself, as it is described, comes from a dealer after I complained about it, and he got it from Sharp.
On the subject of 8x, I have had no trouble whatsoever with the Sharp, using TDK media. I have had trouble with the same media in the LiteOn burner in my PC, which won't read sometimes in another PC. Burning at 4x goes some way towards fixing it. Dodgy burning is a problem with DVD writers and media in general, whether in players or PCs. The burn is "spotting" a dye layer on the disc, and the quality of the spot depends on a number of things, frequency, intensity, spindle speed control and so on. It's really analog at the heart of it, critically dependent on timing, so putting a burnt disk in a different player usually highlights these little inconsistencies. I understand that dye quality and consistency is also critical, so cheap media could be a major factor.

 

More info on media:
1. http://www.dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html#1.24 has more information on media, formats and rates than you can poke a stick at, FAQ 4.3.1 onwards.
2. TDK's media quality comments:
"TDK recommends that specific media be used with the indiDVD1280B drive. Not all media is created equally within the market place today and manufacturing quality can vary from company to company. Sometimes with generic or non-recommended media the dyes and media quality may be poor resulting in reading or writing errors with the burner. TDK has tested many types of media with the indiDVD1280B in our test labratories and has chosen the following media: TDK, Fuji, Sony, Ricoh, Ritek, Imation, Maxell, Verbatim, and Kodak as our recommended media."

 

Hi Ease,
Manny here, been reading this post of yours. Awesome job, thanks for sharing it. I've been using the verbatim myself and haven't made any coasters yet. But it is good to know the brands recommended by TDK.

As far as some operating on this lil gem themselves to upgrade the HD to the larger capacity...ooo makes me nervous just listening to that. To each their own, but to me it's a bit risky tampering with equipment that's put together to perform a certain way. I can't imagine needing any more space anyway. Simply burn what you want to keep, delete the program and rock-on. Why would you want to store the programs on the HD. But hey, if it works for you, by all means do it.

"Keep the printed side up and the shiney side down"
Kind regards, Manny

 

Hi Manny
Good to see you on again. I'm a bit like you insofar as I am reluctant to mess about hacking the 300 to read all regions. As I have said on this forum previously, if I purchase a region 1 or region 3 DVD movie I simly make a back-up copy via my PC and using DVD Decrypter means the copied disc becomes Multi-region and therefore no problems with playback on the 300! I also see that many of the posts on this Forum advocate the use of "expensive" TDK, Verbatim etc blank media. Being a retired guy and watching the pennys I almost always use "cheap" media.eg Datawrite, Bulkpaq, Infinity etc. Touch wood the 300 has never made a coaster (as yet). Also I was wondering about some folk who had mentioned problems burning to certain brands of 8x media. Could it be because they were using Hi-Speed dubbing mode. Personally I never use Hi-Speed dub but then again, being retired I've got lots of time on my hands! regards Silver64.

 

OK EA5E
We are all still in suspense...... Where does one get the patch for making the 300/350 multi-region? Are you gonna share the info with us? regards Silver 64

 

Hello all and to Silver64 & Manny. Hi-Speed dubbing... At first I loved it, then not, now love it once again. Manny, we discussed this a ways back, and you compared it to hi-speed dubbing with tape or in analog mode. Then opting not to use it, I then discovered the "godzilla affect" at times. Now I'm back to hi-speed as I see it more as a "digital transfer". I like that it keeps the chapters as is, and when compiling multiple movies, I hi-speed one at a time and always end up with additional minutes, i.e. recording at SP mode, and wind up with 122 minutes on the disc. The picture quality seems a bit sharper, but then that could be my 45 year old eyes playing tricks. Happy New Year to all. Don

 

Hi Silver, ole buddy Happy New Year to you..
About the media you use, just be cautious not to go to cheap, it's like everything..you get what you pay for. Going to cheap can lead to a disc that will prematurely age, which can also lead to an unreadable disc way down in the future. Long after the aging master has bit the dust. My moto is don't go to the small bowl of pourridge or the large bowl, go for the one thats just right. In other words, don't buy the high or the lowest end when it comes to buying archiving media. The middle ground is usually fine. Most of the stuff I burn I want to have around for awhile, especially since they originate from aging video tapes. Sure glad those are on their way out. Much to fragile a medium. Although I do love the mini-dv format a great deal. But let's face it..DVD kicks ass!

regards to all, Manny

 

HI DON!!! Great to hear from you again! Hey it's all visual anyway, isn't it? But the most important thing is that it's still just as durable and just as long-lasting as burning and using the lower speed settings. It's all in what you see on the screen. If it looks good and has no noticable problems. Go for it!
Don't be a stranger

regards, Manny

 

Cheers Manny. Just wanted to share this. A month or so back, my Sharp (hard drive part) would not allow me to record to it any more despite available room. We all know the answer, initialize the hard drive. So I burned off whatever I had left onto discs and made sure not to finalize so that I could burn back to the hard drive later from within the Sharp itself. Once empty, I initialized the hard drive and maybe it's just me, but it seems to have less freeze-ups and run smoother. Bottom line is that I think that over the course of time and mega edits and burning, it's probably a good idea to empty it and initialize the hard drive every once in a while. Sounds crazy saying it, but it was/is nice seeing that hard drive empty and back to its initial condition right out of the box. Like your stereo/speakers, sounds better when you clean it, and your car, runs nicer when coming out of the car wash. Comments? Don

 

Cheers Manny. Just wanted to share this. A month or so back, my Sharp (hard drive part) would not allow me to record to it any more despite available room. We all know the answer, initialize the hard drive. So I burned off whatever I had left onto discs and made sure not to finalize so that I could burn back to the hard drive later from within the Sharp itself. Once empty, I initialized the hard drive and maybe it's just me, but it seems to have less freeze-ups and run smoother. Bottom line is that I think that over the course of time and mega edits and burning, it's probably a good idea to empty it and initialize the hard drive every once in a while. Sounds crazy saying it, but it was/is nice seeing that hard drive empty and back to its initial condition right out of the box. Like your stereo/speakers, sounds better when you clean it, and your car, runs nicer when coming out of the car wash. Comments? Don

 

HI Manny, Silver64,
Tks for your comments. Last word on dubbing - the machine dubs at 2x, according to the book, as it is only burning the HD image to CD, as a PC would on disk copy. Rate conversion is the thing that slows it, but in any event the physical burn is always at 2x, unless it has problems with a disk initialised (formatted) on another machine (most DVR's burn at 1X - one up for Sharp!) when it drops to 1x. Therefore, if problems are encountered with 8x media, the root cause is most unlikely to be the machine. My only other SWAG (Scientific Wild Assed Guess) is that authoring media media, if used as "high quality" media, won't work on a consumer machine, as the laser frequency required is different.
Hard disks - well, if you inspected the device, saw it was a standard IDE interface, your chances of success are better, but like you, I haven't the time to store, edit and plain old watch that much stuff, nor screw around, esp when I got the bigger one for less than the 300 anyway! Most manufacturers now won't use anything other than the standard HD's for reasons of cost and guaranteed quality; they'd be mad not to.
Regions - When I bought an expensive box that did not play my collection of legit DVD's from different regions, on promised MR capability (by dealer) especially when most name brands now deliver it off shelf (or maybe the dealer tweaks or chips it first), I put it to them it was fix or flick. They (and Sharp) came through in very quickly. Sharp is obviously toeing the official line, but is comfortable doing it through dealers. It may be if one speaks nicely to Sharp Tech support, they will give it to you, or do it through your dealer. The multi-region thing, as far as players is concerned, has become a legal nonsense, as most reputable dealers and brands such as Pioneer do it openly off the shelf.

 

You know Don, that's not a bad idea...It makes perfect sense. It's also like reformatting a harddrive with a fresh install of Windows. It does fix a lot of the smaller problems. Thanks Don for bringing that up. I've got a few more programs and videos to burn but you can bet your bottom dollar, as soon as I clear the HD I will be doing the same. Although, if you had any fixes, patches or updates added to it, these will be history as well. I haven't had any, but for those who had, a good thing to keep in mind.
Good point Don, thanks. kind regards, Manny

 

Hi Silver64,
MR Update? I guess the best way is to post it on a site - Any suggestions? Don't want a dodgy site or do anything naughty! Doom9.org?

 

Hi Manny and Don 2, First Manny I would have to agree with you that I would be better to use media that's not too cheap. I only ever used TDK VHS tapes to archive family videos back in the vhs days!I am very impressed with the quality of transfer from my Sony digicam via firewire to DVD on the Sharp. The cheap blanks I use for movies and shows from TV.
Don 2 Blues, I have a feeling that the Sharp 300 being similar to a PC it needs to be "defragmented" every now and again. Also when one "re-formats " the Hard Drive on a PC it definately runs much sweeter(for several months anyway!)
Most of the complaints on this forum about the Sharp were from folk who maybe thought it should have been as fast in set-up and recording as a VHS recorder. If they had ever tried to record from a TV card on a PC to hard drive and then to transfer this to DVD then they would realise just how quick and easy the Sharp really is!
regards Silver 64

 

Hi again EA5E. What's wrong with posting the Multi-region details on this forum? If Sharp(BTW Sharp where? USA or Australia?)supplied it(under pressure) then it should be OK to share the download website with the rest of us guys.
Also like you I agree that having multi-region DVD's is a nonsense! The fact I can buy Reg.1 discs via the Internet from the US & Canada long before they go on sale in the UK makes a mockery of the system. In addition many US DVD's have DTS in addition to Dolby 5.1 and this is not always the case with region 2 UK releases! Look forward to your info Cheers Silver64

 

Hi Silver 64,
1. MR Software - It's a 2Mb download, and it was emailed to me. They don't do it from their web site as one would expect. Therefore I'm looking for a site that I can (a) upload it to, and (b) you guys can get it. This site only publishes links to others who download, so that won't do it. I have just submitted it to www.dvd365.net , Hacks, Sharp; but I suspect he only publishes handset hacks. Any ideas?
2. Audio channels Sharp (Aus) called me back, and:
The only way to get audio from both the hard disc and DVD is to set the digital audio channel to PCM, and lose DOLBY. DTS still gets through. If you set it to bitstream, all audio formats get through from DVD, but no hard disc sound!! No upgrades contemplated, it's not a bug it's a feature.
A real PIP (Pain in Port) for $1,000+ you have to remember to reconfigure the machine every time you switch media (actually, no, you will remember, 'cos you can't hear anything) OR only play DTS DVD's, oh, but oops, the region 4 stuff they sell only has dolby..
A workaround I haven't tried yet is to connect to a spare input on the amp, say AUX, with RCA leads to the player Video/audio jacks, and then select AUX to watch hard disk content, and DVD for DVD's.
Since the machine handles DTS properly, I guess the Dolby shortcoming is really an oversight,or a bug because there is no technical or logical reason they can't send PCM down the optical link, it's just a software switch.
Finally, the Sharp guy did opine that the manual is one of Sharp's worst for ambiguity and confusion.

 

Hi EA5E, Thanks for all your info on Multi-region hack download but when I read your comments in respect of possible sound problems afterwards I'm beginning to think I'll leave my Sharp as it is, ie reading region 0,2 and 4 only! I have another cheapo multi-region dvd player so I won't really lose out on watching Region 1 discs.
Maybe other Forum readers may be able to give you a website that will accept your upload of the program to make the Sharp M-R. The only Hack sites I've seen are all for making dvd players M-R via the remote control and I don't think this is possible for the 300/350!
Best regards
Silver64

 

Hi Silver 64,
The sound has nothing to do with MR or the hack, that's how the machine comes out of the box. Region 1's ususally have DTS encoding, 4's mostly don't for some unknown reason, but now more are coming out.
Point is a region 4 user gets shortchanged twice - no DTS, and a machine that "misbehaves" in handling Dolby digital encoding.

 

Hi Again EA5E, Sorry I misunderstood your point about the M-R situation and DTS etc. My Sharp 300H is hooked up to my Videologic Dolby 5.1/DTS amp system and has no bother with the playback of DTS. Like you I also note that reg 2/4 releases with DTS are in short supply. Let's hope that situation improves for us as it's totally unfair that we pay the same(or more) for DVD movies that are released with DTS. I am in Perth and Sydney in Mar/April 2005. My son and family now live in Kellyville (suburb of Sydney) I live in Scotland so looking forward to a bit of sunshine in OZ. BTW I would like to purchase a DVD Player/5.1 system for him as a present. Should I get this in Dubai on the way there or wait till I'm in OZ. E.G. Could I get a reasonable system in Oz for around AU$ 600/700?
Best regards Silver64.