Any opinions on the Sharp DV-HR300?

Thanks MannyCam for the response. Three things, first with a bottom-line, I think I'll record to my hard disc (unless it's priceless material) at the speed that it will eventually be recorded to dvd. Comments? Second, how about a summary of hi-speed vs manual recording, pro's & con's. i.e. thumbnail problems, chapter problems, quality issue? Are there definite issues with hi-speed vs. manual recording? Third, is the Godzilla affect... I have used some sort of "stabilizer" for the video out from my external dvd player to my Sharp so there might be some sort of delay causing it or, believe it or not and I should know better, but I have an air-conditioner on the same circuit as my Sharp/TV/external DVD player, and whenever the AC unit kicks in, could it be draining the power on my Sharp even if just a tiny amount? I'm thinking my "stabilizer" could be slightly less than great quality. I can remember watching something while recording and noticing the Godzilla affect. Did I scramble your brain. Thanks Manny,

 

Good decision, yeah that way youre sure to get consistent results. The "high speed vs. manual" I really haven't used the various settings to much. As I said earlier I'm a bit of a quality freak and do much of my burning with the "SP Fine" setting. I will be experimenting with it though. Now as far as your "Godzilla effect" I took it for granted you were using a linear format such as VHS SHVS HI or 8mm..It didnt occur to me that you might be using digital as a source. You said your DVD player..correct?.....and that you had a stabilizer inbetween both units?....

 

Manny, using digital as source with a "stabilizer" between an external dvd player and my Sharp, but with analog cables so wouldn't it end up being a similar source as with VHS and alike? And the Godzilla affect is only for 10-15 minutes in the middle or nearby of the program, never at the beginning and usually corrects itself after the 10-15 min. I guess I'd have to experiment with something coming in from another source. I have a large laserdisc collection and want to back a lot of them up onto dvd of course, while coming in directly from my laserdisc player as they are not copywrite protected. Quality has been excellent so far, and have not experienced that G affect. I think I need to record something at SP mode, something longer than 2 hours, and record it to disc manually at the appropriate MN speed. Thanks again, Don

 

Don2Blues use the stabilizer or any other component only if the picture really needs it. Anytime you use any kind of device the picture gets altered somewhat. So by all means use it but only if the picture suffers from a time-base issue. I would say try it without any devices attached and record the same portion that is showing the "G" effect in the "SP" mode. This should fix the problem. Remember these devices..DVD players play an already compressed picture. Its a digital picture that is converted to analog for capturing to your hard disc, then its converted back to digital for storage on your hard disc and for burning to another DVD...get the picture? Theres alot going on here. Its nothing like capturing from a digital source such as a digital video camera using a firewire. The signal remains digital thru-out. Once you emply analog rca cables youve changed the process completely so then by adding a stabilzer all kinds of things might happen. The air conditioner, although I dont think has anything to do with the problem should be on another breaker. The power drain could aaffect the performance abit.
But make sure you have a surge protector for your unit anyway. this will make sure the electrical current is consistent and smooth.

 

Manny, thanks for the info. It's a pleasure to have your voice in the forum.

 

Hey we're in this together. Its a great unit. Take care and kind regards, Mannycam

 

thanks manny for your help.

 

Youre most welcome 99Rocky99, take care.

 

Anyone know a good place to buy blank dvd's? Obviously DVD-R for the Sharp. Prices are slowly coming down, I see them on sale around $.65-75 each in bundles of 25, 50 & 100 (Costco, BestBuy). Any place on line that's reasonable? Don

 

Another question, how about rules of thumb on copying material from the DVD drawer in the Sharp to the Sharp hard drive. What can you copy and not. Does a finalized disc play a part in the process?

 

Hi, anyone share in this? I have a program to record, I know it's going to be 190 minutes so I record at MN14, for the benefit of being able to record at hi-speed dubbing to a single disc later. However, when hi-speed dubbing to disc, my Sharp froze (twice). I was wondering if there is a limit as to how long a program can be in order to take advantage of hi-speed dubbing. Thanks, Don

 

Hi Don2Blues, long time we havent spoken..beginning to think we're the only 2 left here, lol. Anyway it really sounds like a memory problem. Do you have much room left on your hard-drive? I know mine did something similar and it turned out to be that I had to much on my mine. Not sure if this is it but you might check it out.

 

What's Up Manny, been away for a bit, vacation and what not. Hope all is well with you. I was talking with a fellow Sharp DV-HR300 person here at work, and he had said that he read somewhere that when you hi-speed to dvd, the machine might need/use more space that what's actually needed, though I have burned 120' SP via hi-speed to disc fine. Maybe when you get above 3 hours, it actually uses 3 hours 10 minutes of space for example. What I did was use 190 minutes at MN14 which is 191 minutes on a dvd. So, if I had burned my original program of 190 minutes at MN13, giving 201 minutes of available space on a disc... Take care, Don

 

Hey Don, that sounds about right, come to think of it I have noticed when compiling footage on the harddrive you can make a playlist of lets say 60min. exactly and then you end up having to shave a bit to make it fit, like you said it does require some sort of cache to be able to burn that 60 min playlist. Not unlike burning to CD on your PC. But if you just add titles without a playlist a little more footage will actually fit. Well Don we're learning alot with this lil honey aren't we. Remember that Philips 985 I had? I tossed that worthless lemon in the trash the other day. The only thing it was doing towards the end there was playing store bought movies. It started skipping and freezing which really pissed me off. So I ended up using one of my other Dvd players. The 985 does have a great though picture so I decided to just use it for that, rigging my equipment to pass thru its internal system to playback my movies, played fine for about a week until it started showing a system error I had never seen. That did it!!! Don I ripped that lemon out of my entertainment center and literally went out to the dumpster and tossed it. I hate that thing. Whoever is out there, be warned the Philips 985 is a piece of garbage. One year old and it stopped doing just about everything. Stay away from it what ever you do. Anyway Don I feel much better now. Hope and wish you well. Take care...By the way 590 dvds so far with this lil beauty. Great machine. Will most likely purchase a second unit in January as a back up.

 

Manny I enjoyed reading your reply, nice finish to my day. You did mention one thing that I haven't ventured into yet, "Playlist". Can you give me a brief once-over? I'm guessing that you can take different projects burned on the hard drive and compile them into some sort of playlist, then burn that? What if you only wanted "part of" a project, i.e. the first half of a movie, part of a home video, etc. Can you only take parts and compile a playlist from that? Thanks buddy, regards. Don

 

Yes its quite easy actually, let me get the facts together in an easy to do list for you. And yes most certainly, you can pull a section from one program and add a section from another. The actual movies you have on the hardrive will NOT be affected. It simply borrows "if you will" from the recorded footage to create a new compilation. Quite cool actually, this saves you time and effort by not having to place single recordings one at a time when burning to DVD. You simply burn the compiled playlist without the commercials. But Don the only bad thing is the 1/2 sec. pause in between each video footage or program. In other words its not like having flying erase heads performing a continues clean seemless edit. But its not a real big deal. You give and take in everything. All in all I'm quite happy with the results. I'll get back to you.

 

Hey Manny, a quick question to playlists. If you record a program to the hard drive, then copy part of that program to a playlist, then delete the original program, does the part that you placed into a playlist still remain?

 

Manny, the beat goes on. I recorded two programs, both in the MN? mode. One was program at the MN rate for 191 minutes, and the program length is 190 minutes. So then I wanted to hi-speed to dvd. It starts fine but fails. Did this twice. Tried another program, this time 130 minutes in length and at the 141 MN rate. Same results, when hi-speed recording it fails. Yes, the hi-speed dub priority is/was set. Do I need to "record to HD" at a longer MN rate? or is it just a maybe on recording at MN then hi-speed to dvd? or, though I haven't as many recordings as you (I'm around 250?), is it helpful to initialize the hard drive once in a while? and yet another question. When selecting a recording speed, once choice we know is SP, then there's MN21 which is the same in length. But, is there any difference from the Sharp's point of view, selecting SP or MN21? Same goes for Fine and it's equivalent MN. Thanks buddy, Don

 

Hi Don, Inregards to your playlist questions, for creating New playlists
Go to the main menu, Pick: Edit erase/ That will put you at your "recorded files list"
Then on your remote choose the lil button called:
"Original Playlist list button" its under the "DVD selection button"
This will put you at the Playlist editing page, you will see a small thumbnail
labeled "NEW", click on that then
pick either: "Copy Title Chapter" or "Copy specified Scene"
After you choose which one you want it will then place you back to your "recorded clips page". Choose which clip you want and then follow the on screen instructions you have to choose an "in point" and then an "out point". After you finish adding the first segment just keep clicking on the same playlist thumbnail and follow the on screen intructions to keep adding more segments to that playlist. A little bit of practice but its really pretty easy.
As far your playlists being individual files on their own with out the master recordings. The answer is no. You must have the originals intact for the playlists to work. For instance if you created a playlist of a certain movie clip and then erased or deleted the original movie clip, the playlist you had created will also be deleted.
In regards to your different settings, I honestly dont ever use the MN settings at all. I havent found the use for it in my particular case. FINE, SP or LP is plenty for my needs. But I am under the impression that FINE's equivalent is the highest setting in the MN mode and that there is no visible or technical difference between the 2. Just like MN21 being the equivalent for the SP mode. Some users like to have complete control and that is the reaon those settings were created. But like I said Don the preset settings are adequate in my case. Its alot easier to remember the presets than having to remember individual settings.
Back at ya, Don "Keep on truckin"

 

I just purchased the HR300U. I was very happy with the unit. As others have said the manual is really written badly, but with a little time and practice can be used. I had the machine lock up on me twice. One time with the DVD not being able to eject, and the other where the thumbnails disappeared. Both problems were fixed by pulling the plug. I figured it was me pressing the remote at the wrong times and was not overly worried about it. However, I decided to do a search on the web to see what others had found with this machine. That's when I found this forum. After reading the forum I noticed the problem some people had with channels 55 t0 60. When I tried this I found I had the same problem. After talking to Sharp they admited thay they had a problem in the units. I asked them if I got another unit would it have the same problem. They said they did not know. I went back to the store and exchanged the unit. The new unit had the same problem. It appears that they ran off machines with bad software. P.S. Sharp said if I sent the machine back for repair they would pay the shipping. I really liked this machine and will wait for a while to buy another.