Set Top DVD Recording

I've used an Ilo DVDR05 unit over the past 9 months or so for my TV recording needs. The low $100 price was just simply irresistible as a replacement for my dead VCR unit. At first, it seemed like a step up from my VCR. Lately, I'm just not so sure.

The technology of set top recorders always seemed a little suspect to me. With a DVD recorder in your computer, there are always issues of compatibility with discs, interrupted streams of info, and disc formats. I wasn't sure at first if a dedicated unit would solve those issues, or just inherit and magnify them. Could this little box really save a TV signal to a disc "on the fly?" This was the equivalent in a desktop of copying a disc from drive to drive, without saving to the hard drive first. While a few had luck with recording this way, everyone knows that saving the info to a hard drive produces a far more stable workflow and burn.

I originally intended the Ilo to record to DVD+RW discs. I generally time shift, watch once, and then can erase it as I don't intend to watch it again. After some initial success with the Imation DVD+RW discs, the whole batch of them starting dying. Forget the often touted thousand rewrites. This was around 10 rewrites, and the disc was dead. So much for that plan.

I contacted the company via email, and surprisingly, received a response. They advised me to update the firmware, and use the DVD+R discs as they were more reliable. The firmware update is a time consuming process as I needed to separately download the "front end" and "back end" files, and burn each separately to a CDR. These each had to be inserted into the unit for the upgrade that took a while. The whole upgrade affair took an hour out of my life, but now 16x discs were supported.

I was using the DVD+R discs, on the 7 hour speed setting. The plan was to record 6 one hour episodes on each disc. I always allow 2 minutes before and after to ensure that I record the whole show. However, what I'm calling "the Ilo bugaboos" started again. On one disc on the 6th show, and on another on the 5th, there was only 55 minutes of video! This was rather annoying an unexpected as the last 5 minutes of the show were completely cut off!

My theory is that perhaps the discs were slightly warped. The DVD+R's are written from the center out so that the more you put on the disc, the more likely we'll encounter the "warp effect." What confuses me is that these problematic discs are from two different spindles, and different types of media. Furthermore, I've recorded other discs from the same spindle in computer DVD recorders with no issues of any sort.

My current workaround is to record on DVD+R at the 7 hour speed, and stop at 4 hours. Perhaps this will address the shortcoming and avoid further "Ilo bugaboos."

Is DVD recording just always going to be unstable by nature? Rather than recording directly to a disc, going to a hard drive should be a more stable configuration. Unfortunately, these hard drive units are still quite expensive, and haven't filtered down to the budget price point. Maybe I'll look for a VCR in the meantime!

While I like not having to hunt for my show on a videotape, at least with the VCR the content was there, it was just a matter of finding it. The set top DVD recorder is probably a transition device, along the way to a more stable recording solution.

As always, I look forward to your comments.

--Jonas