Any opinions on the Sharp DV-HR300?

Hi everyone,
Good to see the MR patch is up and running, and we know more about how it thinks. The firmware version information means that there is a way to look inside its brain, and presumably turn options on and off. Perhaps there are handset or panel hacks after all. I would love to be able to turn Macrovision off so I can record all those old kid's VHS tapes and throw the VCR!

 

Hi

I have a DVHR300F and I've been following this thread with great interest, and learning a lot from it.

However, after reading that 8X DVD-R's are backward compatible, I figured the same must be true for 4X DVD-RW's. But that's not the case.

Does anyone know if there is a firmware upgrade that makes the DVHR300 capable of writing to 4X DVD-RW's?

 

Hi EA5E
Don't know if it'll help but have a look at this website http://www.ktvision.com/ . It appears they are offering a Scart to Scart( with RCA Adapter) lead that takes off the Macrovision on VHS tapes. They are UK based but offer delivery to the US and Australia. Only for Back-up's of course!
regards
Silver64

 

I have bought the Sharp DV-HR300 some months ago and I am very pleased with it until now. I read on another site that somebody has changed the HDD to put a 160 Gigas in it, reformat the disc using the Sharp function and that it worked fine. Has somebody tried this ? The idea is interesting but I am a bit scared to break everything.

 

Silver64,
As you are UK based can you tell me what brands of discs you are using I've tried several inc Mirror, Ritek GO4, and Datasafe but the only discs I can finalize without errors are Datasafe DVD-RW 2x.

All the discs I have tried work fine in my Pioneer AO8 writers attached to my PC using NERO or the NEC based Lacie External Laptop Drive.

Regards

Mark

 

Hi Cristofo,
I'm clueless why anyone would want that much space on a DVD recorder quite frankly. Unless youre away from home for months at a time.
And I do think you being scared is justified. Although some users have successfully made changes to their units, there is always going to be a risk when tampering with electronic and or digital components. A small compact car might fit a larger engine, but it doesnt mean that the rest of the car was designed to handle that much power. But as I said some have made upgrades to their recorders and haven't had any problems. The bottom line is, how bad do you need or want the hardware/software changes? If it outweighs the risks, then go for it.
regards, Manny

 

Langstone Hi Mark, Like you I have the Pioneer 108 in my PC which I use to back-up my DVD's. Against all the advice, which I know is probably right I tend to use media at the cheaper end of the DVD-R range. These are purchased from Bigpockets or SVP on the internet. These have usually but not always Ritik 04 or 05 dye.
On the Sharp I have like you recorded to Datasafe 2xDVD-RW's. The brands of DVD-R's I have recorded to from the HDD have been " Budget" 4x yellow, "Bulkpaq"x4 and "Datawrite" x8 (Printable).
Frankly I have never had a coaster (so far).
I tend to use my Sharp for timeshift i.e. record now watch later TV shows or movies. I also record football matches and send these to my son in Australia. In addition I have transferred old VHS to DVD and digital home movies via the Sharp to DVD ( much quicker than via the PC).
I just can't figure out why you are having finalization problems with the 300H though I have seen other forum members with the 300F having this difficulty. Assuming your Sharp is still under warranty I would be inclined to contact Sharp UK and ask them which brands of blank media they recommend.
Maybe other UK members can add to my list of media brands. Cheers Silver

 

Hi Mannycam,
To be honest, No I do not need absolutelly 160 Gigas on my PC but the point is that more space is more confortable. Why do people buy HDD DVD recorder with high space when they could get a cheaper one with less space. Why some people buy the HR350 when the HR300 is cheaper. Actually, my idea was to know whether some people have changed their HDD in order to share experiences. Isn'it the goal of this forum ? " If it outweighs the risks, then go for it." OK but if I can reduce the risk; I feel better !!! Thks.

 

Hi Manny, Cristofo
To be honest, Im not sure that the car anology works here, since fitting a larger hard disk - which must have the same tolerances as a smaller one in order to work at all - is unlikely to put any "strain" on the recorder.

The reason I would upgrade my disk is to allow more recordings to be made at the highest quality, in case I wanted to archive to DVD, without worrying about running out of space.
Cheers
Norisk

 

Hi Norisk, cristofo,
Point well taken guys, didn't mean to sound critical. In some cases more is definitely better. Simply stating my personal views on the issue and am not looking to change anyone elses. Certainly didn't mean to offend anyone.
regards, Manny

 

Coming back to the change of HDD, the only complete reference I found is a french site: "http://blog.macbidouille.com/archives/dvhr300f" where the guy describes what he did. As it is in french, I can briefly translate. I have no clue whether this is trustable or not. Basically, he purchased a Maxtor ATA 160 Gigas HDD for 85 Euros. He dismounted the sharp and changed the disk. He was able to format the disk using the internal menu. Following this, he was able to record from 34 to 180 hours depending on the quality. I guess the operation is worth.

 

Manny
I didnt see anything in your post that was critical or offensive. And you're on the button when you say that the benefits of having a larger disk must be enough to justify the risk of pulling your machine to pieces. For sure, the machine's warranty would be invalidated.
Cheers
Paul

 

I'd just like to add a word on the replacement to larger capacity hard drives on the 300. Most of us are either reluctant to open up the recorder either Because 1.As was mentioned it would invalidate the warranty. 2. Most of us are afraid to tamper with electronics when we don't know what we are doing and 3. If, after trying to replace the hard drive the machine wouldn't operate any more we then have the cost of replacement!
Against all this I took the plunge and did the "multi-region up-grade" and in the past I've also done simple replacement of components inside my PC. Has any member of this forum had a look inside the 300 and if so was there a manufacturers name on the HDD? If so it might not be a bad idea to contact them and seek their advice on the matter. There must also be fluent French/English members who could contact the guy who was mentioned in Cristofo's post and ask him for a detailed description of just exactly how it was done Cheers Silver64.

 

Hi,
This is a very good thread & has been helpful. I'm close to making an order for the HR300 but I'm still a bit unclear about some stuff, so hopefully some of you could shed some light. First is, in EP mode, how many hours can we potentially record? Second, I assume there's a way to transfer the recorded stuff (from the hard disk) to a PC if I wanted to do some editing?

Looking forward to some feedback, thanks!!

 

Hi Raywong, Welcome to the forum. From my own experience I think you won't be disappointed with the 300 though from some posts you can see there are a few guys have had the odd niggling problem. Reaction time can seem slow after VHS but just remember DVD burning on a PC is slow in starting as discs have to have a lead in before writing and a lead out which is similar to disc finalization on the Sharp.The HR300H has an 80 Gbyte hard drive which will allow approx 100 hrs recording in EP mode. If you are going to transfer recordings from the Hard Drive on to DVD then I would reccommend using the Fine mode for best quality. EP isn't THAT bad but I would compare it to LP quality in VHS. To answer your query on transfer to PC for editing. The Sharp has a somewhat crude editing facility. E.G. It's easy to edit out commercials but It's not possible to edit out single frames as you can on the PC. Video camera footage transfer to the HDD is very easy via the front RCA phono's or the firewire socket. If you want to transfer material you have recorded on the Hard drive to PC for editing then you could burn to a dvd-rw and then use this disc in your PC. As far as I am aware there are no video outputs on the Sharp that can be connected directly to a PC unless the PC has a TV video card with phono or scart input sockets. Incidentally the full manual for the 300H can be downloaded in Pdf format from the Sharp Electronics website Regards Silver 64

 

Silver64, thanks for the feedback, really appreciate it. WRT the 'niggling' problems u mentioned, tell me one thing that doesn't have 'em... ;-)

In any case, I got confused myself when I asked about EP mode. I actually meant FINE mode & wanted to know how many hours I can record in this mode. I agree, that generally, it's always better to record stuff in the best possible quality & decide later if you want to 'downgrade' it either to fit a particular media or something like that. I never thought about transfering via DVD-RW, but I suppose it's better than nothing at all. Out of curiosity, how long does it take to transfer a DVD-RW worth of video? Also, how much video can be recorded within this space (in Fine mode of course.. ;-))

Thanks in advance for your assistance!

 

Hi raywong, Hi Silver,
Exactly one hour of high quality video can fit on the standard DVD-R, or DVD-RW in the "FINE" mode. This is video very close to the master recording made, with no visible loss on digital video such as mini-DVs and a slight visible difference when recording from VHS, 8mm or SVHS, Hi8 masters. I've done extensive testing in this subject. Ive even dubbed my Hi8, 8mm and Vhs to the miniDV format first, basically to see if there was a difference in using the firewire cable with digitally converted material versus running it straight from the master tapes via the SVHS and RCA inputs. I discovered a slightly softer, less contrasty picture dubbing them or (converting them to the mini-dv format first. A visually more pleasing picture but with a slight loss in quality, very slight however.
regards, Manny

 

mannycam,
Thanks for the feedback. One hour sounds very little for something like DVD since that's roughly about 4GB +. Then again, I suppose given that most MiniDV/Digital 8 tapes are about there anyway, it'll probably suffice.

So, therefore, would be fair to assume that the 80GB on the recorder would give rounghly about 20hours of top notch quality recording?

 

Yes that's correct...It will be very soon, however when dual layer DVD burners are sold in the consumer market. This would allow 2 hours in the FINE mode. I was looking at the PC desktops online. The new E-machine model T5026 has a dual layer DVD writer built right in. When they finally make one into a separate deck, it will most likely start out very expensive. This desktop is selling for a ridiculously low price of 600.00. It includes a multi reader - card interface, 7 USB ports 3 firewire ports. Its insane. Here's the url for anyone interested:
http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/prod...vision.session.new=Yes&BV_UseBVCookie=No#tabs

 

mannycam...u are rite... it's INSANE!!! ;-)

I'm not sure if this thought is shared by many, but I often feel that rather than a 'need' produces the technology, very often nowadays, it's the other way round! ;-)

Anyway, thanks for the confirmation... I'm going to put in my order for the HR300... !