Sony RDR-GX7 DVD Recorder

Following my successful conversion of cassette tapes to CD-R TDK VeloCD CD-RW burner, my next project was to convert all my VHS tapes and camcorder tapes to DVD format. Any recordable tape will degrade over time and there's also the concern of a tape getting eaten by the player, ruining it. Obviously you don't want this to happen with the half dozen camcorder tapes you have of your baby's first year, those are irreplaceable! In tackling this project, there were many hurdles to overcome in regard to choosing a recorder, DVD formats and copy protection, but the newly released Sony RDR-GX7 is easy enough to use and flexible enough to allow for most recording needs.

Obviously the first step was choosing a DVD Recorder. I trust Sony, as evidenced by my old Sony dual cassette player, old DVD player and 32 in flat screen TV. I've never had a problem with a Sony product, although my DVD player has a LONG history of problems that I somehow avoided. On top of this was the issue of DVD formats, and what would be the industry standard. Sony's task with the RDR-GX7 was to allow for recording in all formats, which eliminated these worries. However, along with the Sony name and this flexibility, was a rather hefty price tag. Retail on these recorders is $800, although I paid $650 for mine on ebay. I've seen a few online retailers offering these for less than $500 now, which is still a bit much but as usual with new technology the price will continue to drop for awhile.

Upon receiving my recorder, I figured I would take an evening, sit down with it, set things up with the instructions and get going. I had about an hour or two one evening with the wife and kids out of town, so I figured that would be a great time to start. When I pulled out the instruction manual, I must admit that I was intimidated by it, since it was ONE HUNDRED AND TEN PAGES LONG. That's right. It's HUGE. Plus there are 25-30 buttons and jacks on the players and 40+ buttons on the remote. I put everything back in the box and decided on another day when I had more time. As it was, it really wasn't all that difficult to connect and set up to start playing and recording. Don't be intimidated, its just a fancy box!

Basic hookup
Within your 110 page DVD Recorder bible are detailed directions for hookup with antenna, cable box, no cable box, video inputs, S video inputs, component video inputs, audio with TV, audio with stereo receiver, AV amp, VCR or similar device using the LINE IN jacks. In short, pretty much any set up you might have is covered here and you're given written instructions along with diagrams showing the IN/OUT hookups needed to connect everything. Since my immediate concern was to record my VHS to DVD, I connected my VHS player to the recorder, which then was connected to the TV, then to the stereo receiver for output of sound through my speakers. This setup required less than an hour, to put everything together and to test playing and recording.

Once everything is hooked up correctly, basic settings need to be entered. To do this, the manual shows diagrams for Easy Setup, which is a type of quick start guide where you can make the minimum number of basic adjustments and settings for using the recorder. If this is not done, you will be required to make these entries each time you want to use the recorder, so its worth the fifteen minutes or so needed to set everything up. Once this is complete, you're ready to use the recorder! Throw a DVD in and press play, even if you aren't ready to record a DVD yet...look, it works!

Operations
Since this is a DVD player with recording options, its likely most people can figure out how to work the player with the remote using the usual and familiar options. The fast forward jog button isn't fast enough for my liking, however. It takes entirely too long to forward past two or three minutes of DVD time and if the chapter marks aren't set or are set too far apart, this can be a bit of a pain.

Three additional buttons are on the remote, these show items internal to the recorder or disc itself. These buttons are System Menu, Title List and Tools, which probably could be combined into one area, as it is hard to remember what is under which button

System Menu shows title list, all recorded titles on the disc, and also has options for timed recording.

Title List shows titles on disk, how long each is and when it was recorded

Tools displays options applicable to he entire disc or recorder. This is where you can finalize the disc to play on all other recorders and enter title information for your disk with the Input Title Name feature.

Recording
As with a VCR, there are recording modes for your DVD which determine the amount of video on the disc:

HQ 60 mins
HSP 90
SP (standard) 120
LP 180
EP 240
SLP 360

Picture quality generally improves as recording time decreases, it is recommended to not exceed 120 minutes per DVD. However I haven't seen any problems with quality when using the longer modes, as I've recorded up to EP length.

Valid formats include the following: DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-R, CD, CD-R, CD-RW. Each of those can be played on this recorder, but it cannot play VCDs. It does play both regular 12cm discs AND 8cm. Discs that cannot be used for recording are: DVD+R, DVD-RW (version 1.0), DVD-RAM, CD-R or CD-RW. I've used DVD-R discs with no problem, but I was surprised DVD+Rs are not a valid format for this recorder given there are still many retail stores that sell them and Sony's claim that this recorder would use ALL formats. Oh well, I returned mine for DVD-R discs and have had no problem since. Upon putting a blank disc in the player, it is automatically formatted, so that is not an issue.

DVD-RW, DVD+RW and DVD-R allow for chapters to be created automatically at specific intervals when recording, and you're also permitted to erase recordings prior to finalizing the disc (important if you screw up, particularly at the start of recording a VHS). This is true even of DVD-R discs before it is finalized, so if you mess up you can delete everything. This was a great relief when I found this out. When recording using a DVD-R disc, one of the best features was being able to record several short VHS tapes and put them all on one DVD. I recorded four VHS tapes for my son, starting one and as it finished, hitting Record Pause, changing the tape and continuing to record on the same DVD. That means several episodes of Teletubbies on one DVD. Ah, peace at last!

DVD-RW discs allow for creating chapters manually and not at specific intervals, various editing options, and allows for checking of available disc space when recording. DVD-R discs have chapters inserted manually, at either six or twelve minute intervals.

One of the bigger obstacles involved with recording VHS tapes is that of recording prerecorded movies (movies bought on VHS) and the copy protection that many of them have. Without discussing the pros and cons of whether or not the owner of a VHS tapes should be allowed to record it on additional VHS or DVD instead of being forced to purchase the same movie twice on DVD, what happens with this recorder when trying to record a tape having the macrovision copy protection is that it will give you a message at the start of recording that it cannot be recorded. If you want to see this in action, try and record just about any Disney VHS as they all pretty much have this macrovision copy protection. We've got a few DOZEN Disney VHS tapes, which was one of the reasons for taking on this project. There are products that will strip the copy protection layer off the VHS tape before sending that data to the DVD recorder, however I have not purchased or evaluated any product that does this as of yet. Once I do I'll add either an update or comment to this review regarding my experiences.

Recording TV programs/Timer/playback/DVD-RW editing
This recorder supports the VCR Plus system, where your TV channel numbers are coordinated with your VCR. Think of this DVD Recorder with a rewritable DVD-RW disc being a permanent substitute for your VCR.

Disc playback is no different than a regular DVD player, but more flexible in terms of selecting sound, DVD angles (if available) and audio signal formats

DVD Editing mainly for RW discs since those are designated as rewritable. Titles may be edited, deleted or protected. Sections of titles may be deleted, so parts of a title are removed (i.e. video editing). Also chapter marks may be set manually and not at specific intervals, as in creating a home movie DVD where you can have scenes from various birthdays, holidays or special events.

Connecting Digital Video Camera or other equipment
The recorder has a DV In jack that inputs digital signals and LINE jacks that input/output analog signals. The DV In jack uses the i.LINK standard, meaning you must have an i.LINK cable to use this connection. Many older digital cameras have a simple A/V OUT jack that cannot be used with this i.LINK cable. In this case, you must use a round (one RCA to three RCA) connector to hook up the camcorder to the DVD recorder.

The Sony RDR-GX7 is fairly expensive. However it is a great piece of equipment that does its job well. Perhaps you don't see the need to move to a recordable DVD player, although you would like your home movies and possible prerecorded movies moved to DVD format. There are businesses that offer this service for home movies (many of them avoid prerecorded videos to avoid having to deal with that issue), but most are pretty pricey. When faced with the prospect of losing your wedding video or kids first birthday party, or even having the tape degrade to the point where the quality is such where you can't relive those memories any more, moving to DVD is a great permanent solution.