Any opinions on the Sharp DV-HR300?

raywong,
You will not be dissapointed, I do believe what you will like more than anything.. is the compact size this lil guy takes up. No complaints from this user. It too was a steal when I purchased it. The recordings from digital in particular are flawless. I tend to forget I'm watching the DVD copy of the master. I know video, and I can't tell them apart. The only minus is what Silver pointed out, limited editing capabilities and no thumbnails in the "FINE" mode for your DVD menu listing. An empty space with the picture would be and the assigned title. But hey, it was a steal at the price I bought it for. So like anything you take the good with the bad. Keep in contact with us. Take care, kind regards, Manny

 

Hi Manny, Thanks for your usual good knowledge and advice and as you said to Raywong I also don't think he will be disappointed with the 300. I don't know where he is residing but in the UK the 350 is not so much more expensive than the 300 and it does have the larger HDD. If bigger is better then it might be worth while for Raywong to consider the 350.Frankly I have never approached using all the 20 hrs in fine mode on my 300H. If I just want to record a TV show when I am going out or watching another channel, I usually use SP mode. Its only if I want to record e.g. a movie to HDD or my digital camcorder movies to dvd that I will use Fine mode. In transferring a movie of nearly 2 hours from HDD to DVD I either use SP dubbing or adjust the manual dubbing setting to get it all on one disc. Incidentally regarding PC Dual layer DVD burners. Last year I installed a Pioneer 108 16x writer to compliment the existing Pioneer 104 in my PC. The 108 is a dual layer burner and unlike the 104 will burn to Plus and Minus blank media. I have never yet recorded to a dual layer disc due to the price of blanks and in any case the burn speed on to dual layer is only 2.4x. Finally, I paid less than 300 pounds (USD540) summer 2004 for my Sharp 300H I know that is more than they cost in the U.S. but I still think it was a bargain! Cheers

 

Hi Silver, thats very true, Raywong..at least you might consider it. And Silver, ditto about the program recordings off of TV. I too record in the SP mode for general viewing, therefore increasing my hard-drive space 2 fold. What is really cool is being to record in multiple recording speeds on the same HHD. Just be careful, you need to remember which setting you left your recorder in before making those priceless recordings T
In regards to the various discs, that's very interesting. Please let me know when you burn your first dual layer DVD. What brand, and how much? I am considering the E-Machine to replace my current desktop. I pretty much added everything to my current PC, but it never really was powerful enough to handle the rigors of video processing. This new badboy has got it all. The only bad thing is the video card is built in. And as you know the AGP slot is needed for the proper "Graphics" upgrade to a better card. This system only has 2 PCI slots for upgrades.
Manny

 

Silver, Manny,
You might be interested to know that I reside in Malaysia (this sorts of answers the questions that I've seen in this thread about PAL as that's what we use) & I've checked & unfortunately for me, only the 300 is available. Good point about the SP mode. I agree that the 'high quality' isn't necessary any better since TV quality isn't exactly anything to shout about. However, I would assume that the Fine mode would be useful when transferring movies from the videocam, so that's when it should come into play. Perhaps once the warranty is over, I might consider 'upgrading' the hard disk... ;-)

 

Yes Raywong, if you are anything like most of us here, we do prefer quality when it comes to treasured home movies, vacations, birthdays, baby's first step, etc. You will need to keep it in the "FINE" setting for that. But I'm sure Silver and others will agree that the "SP" setting on this machine is quite remarkable. You really can't compare it to the SP setting on most VHS decks. Its really a lot better in most respects. But the key is the digital signal and not the magnetized wave-form created by the now ancient VHS technology. Of course it will always depend on the televised signal. But if you were to record that same signal with a VHS deck, you would be greatly surprized. The happiest day of my life was when the digital format was available to consumers. It truly was a godsent to a video quality fanatic like me And now with DVD, it meant the perfect marriage.
MannyCAM

 

Malaysia, USA, UK, Australia, France, Spain, Norway, Germany, WOW! A proper little UN this forum is. It sure is good to be part of a Sharp 300 worldwide brotherhood and to be able to share help where needed and our ideas to make the 300 and the 350 even better! What is it about this machine that seems to have generated more posts than any other brand. It's the only piece of Sharp electronic equipment I've ever owned. Pity Sharp doesn't realise just how much interest we've generated and recognise it by sharing with us their help where needed! I guess that would be too much to ask! Anyway lets keep it goin' and as Manny would say "Keep the shiny side down"! Silver

 

Hi I was about to purchase a 350H here in the UK when the price went up, I had to hold off a while because of other financial commiments, but I now am back.

However I see that JVC have announced some new HDD/DVD units with a built in EPG guide. This is the only thing I think the HDD/DVD world needs extra, and it looks like the next gen equipment are all going to get them, I know there is a Philips that currently has a EPG but they are really expensive.

What I want to know is is it worth getting a 300/350H or wait for a new unit with a EPG guide built in?

cheers
Andyloc

 

Hi Andyloc
If you want to wait long enough I guess DVD Recorders with the ability to do all sorts of hitherto unknown things will be available. Like PC's they'll soon be cheap enough to get one for free in Corn flakes packets! At the end of the day it's your decision. I am sure JVC dvd recorders are excellent. For what my Sharp 300H cost me and for what it does I am more than delighted Silver64

 

"cheap enough to get one for free in Corn flakes packets!"

LOL..Silver you crack me up ole buddy, thats so true though. In regards to Andyloc, don't even mention Philips around me ..lol
Andyloc, I had a very expensive lesson taught to me about Philips products. If you've read earlier posts, I had a terrible experience with their supposedly at the time "top of the line" DVD Recorder the infamous 985. At the end of it, I had coasters that reached across the Atlantic to Silver's part of the world. In only 8 months that sucker went from bad to a permanent door stop. I could even get it to burn a simple DVD+RW I got so mad one day, that I literally yanked it out of my entertainment center and threw it in the trash dumpster at my apartment. And I wasn't about to pussyfoot with customer service about it. I will never buy another product from Philips ever again. If it was just mine it wouldnt have been to bad, but countless buyers of this lemon complained about the same very thing I was experiencing, with no satisfactory results from Philips on the issue. Some even replaced it with new ones, only to find it working for 6 to 8 months and then repeating the very same errors. WOOOO...never again.
In any case, do your homework but Silver is right, for the price and so far the reliability of this machine you can't go wrong.
Kind regards, MannyCAM

 

Guys,
Don't mean to be a 'traitor' here, but in view of budget (as I'm getting a couple of things together), the vendor is proposing the Toshiba RD-XS32. Now, what I really need to know is, any reason why I shouldn't go for this & stick to the Sharp instead?

 

WHat I was meaning when i said about added features is, that I think that all DVD/HDD recorders should have them.

I agree you can wait and wait for something to be added but then you'll never get one, I would just like this one extra feature for ease of use.

I didnt know about the Philips drives, are they all like this? or just that one? the 725 unit looks really nice.

Anyways, are Sharp going to bring out any more DVD/HDD players? in the future?

thanks
Andyloc

 

Raywong/Andyloc Hi There, First Raywong The Tosh looks like a nice machine. I'm surprised that it is less expensive than the Sharp. In the UK the Sharp is cheaper. As I've already said in a post to Andyloc in the end the decision as to which brand you purchase is your personal choice. The Sharp 300H I have is excellent but as it's the first DVD/HDD recorder I have owned I can't say if it's better than or worse than others (unlike Mannycam)
As for Andyloc asking if Sharp are going to make any more DVD recorders. I haven't a clue. I don't work for Sharp and I haven't seen any newer model than the 350H advertised. My guess is they will!
As this relatively new technology progresses there will undoubtedly be better, bigger, slimmer, faster, all- singing and dancin' and MOST CERTAINLY cheaper machines produced.
Maybe we'll all be recording to a different media entirely. Remember VHS? Cheers Silver

 

indeed Sliver,

CAn you tell me where you got your Sharp from in the UK, i live in UK too.

I would prefer to get the 350H for a bit more space, I nearly bought it, but went to order it on the night and it had increased by £100!!

 

Been some time since I last posted. But wanted to leave you with an update. Sent my recorder into Sharp for repair. They said it had a bad hard drive. Put in a new one and sent it back. In all, I think it cost me $50.. but now it is finally working like it should have when I purchased it.

 

Hi Andyloc
I got mine last year at GBP300 from Comet. Had a look at the internet a few moments ago and saw it for GBP 270 at
http://beyondtelevision.com/thisProduct.asp?ID=232

Also the 350 H at GBP 350 at
http://go-electrical.co.uk/details.php?prod_id=1378

I think you are tempted? Cheers Silver

 

Andyloc I don't mean to scare you concerning Philips products. I am quite sure they are now aware of the 985's shortcomings and most definitely have made positve strides with their other units. Its only my personal experience that left a bad aftertaste for Philips products. Not only was I defending the 985 in the beginning, since it worked flawlessly for the entire first 8 months but I was totally thrilled with the unit. It was always a bit bulky looking but it did have nice editing features. It was my very first Dvd recorder so it was truly a special thing for me. In the end I had paid about 850 bucks for the unit and about 100.00 more for the coasters it produced continually produced. Not to mention the frustration of failed burning attempts. I was not a happy camper

In regards to which brand to buy, remember guys this forum simply gives visitors a some-what "hands on" look at the Sharp Recorder thru the experiences of others. But it doesn't mean that the Sharp is the best recorder out there. Many other companies have produced some great machines, but this forum can only address machines used by others before buying the Sharp and not all of the ones out there. In my case "the 985"

 

Hi wiersbr,
Nice to hear from you again, there is always a bad one in the bunch, the nature of all things electrical. But hey I'm so glad to hear you were able to get a repair from Sharp. Now maybe you can sit back and enjoy what it has to offer. What I don't understand is why you had to shell out the 50.00 bucks???

 

first problem in ove a year hope someone can help.

I was going through my recordings to back them up to DVD, I deleted a recording on the HD original but forgot i had it on a play list.

now when i try and delete the play list it locks up, cant even add a new playlist as it locks as well

ideas?

kenny

 

Kenny, I can tell you that the playlist is not really the actual video clip you originally recorded. In other words the playlists only works if the original clip is still on your HHD. Without the playlist is useless. Your hardrive locking up is teeling you something's amiss. I would wager that the playlist has already been deleted. You most likely will see this when you create a new one of material you currently have on your HHD. But as far as your old content, say goodbye...it's history.
regards, Manny

 

One more thing, if it simply doesn't let you, try unplugging the unit giving it a few minutes and turn it back on. Then try creating a new playlist on some saved material. But again remember the original must be on your HDD for the playlist to work. If all else fails you may need to reformat. But unplugging it should do the trick.
But remember reformatting will erase the HHD completely. It will put it back to its factory settings.

Manny