HDD DVD Recorders

[SethGecko]

Hi

Just joined and noticed the DVD Recorder has been quite a hot topic over the last 6months......My Story !

I bought an LG RH7624W in July 05 for R3495 with a 2 year warranty.
Did the firmware upgrade to get rid of the "4minute" recording 'issue'.
Worked great until a couple of power failures later here in the Cape
and it refused to turn on, so 4 months short of my warranty expiration
took it to LG (feel kinda guilty i shoulda had it on my UPS) anyway they needed to replace the mobo and drive and said they'd rather just gimme a new one, was sent to Makro and got an RH1999H for R2999 plus a refund on the original amount I paid

I notice with this new model, when hitting the remote power button, the unit appears to turn off "completely" as opposed to going into standby as in the lcd clock still displays. With the RH7624 hitting the power swtich on the unit will turn off the hard drive and put it in standby displaying clock. This one though whether you hit power switch or power button "appears" to die completely.

Email LG Support U.K. here is their reponse:

Hi I just bought a 250GB HDD DVD Recorder, the RH1999H. Since this unit has a hard drive in it, what is best in terms of operating.....to leave it switched on most of the time, or to switch it on and off as required ? I would reckon the frequent on/off cycles might reduce the life of the hard drive ??

-----------Reply to Customer Enquiry------------
Thank you for your email We would recommend turning the unit onto standby when not in use, but not unplugging and this would not reduce the life of the hard drive. Best regards, LG Electronics UK Helpdesk

NOT UNPLUGGING ? well duuuhh !!
Where do you guys with HDD DVD Recorders stand on the on/off thing and can anyone tell me if they can get their RH1999 into "standby"

 

[Skeptik]

The HDD needs time to spin-up whether you leave it on standby or not. It doesn't remain 'ready' the whole time. It would have a timeout period.
Since computers use these drives also, the life would be the same as any PC that you turn off and on.

 

[Spartacus__]

The HDD needs time to spin-up whether you leave it on standby or not. It doesn't remain 'ready' the whole time. It would have a timeout period.
Since computers use these drives also, the life would be the same as any PC that you turn off and on.

Hi ppl,
I'm new to this Forum and hope someone can help on this topic.

I recently purchased a LG RH1999H DVD/HDD recorder (Firmware ver 60911A).

Unfortunately, I have found that when I connect my DSTV composite video signal o/p DIRECTLY to the AV1 video i/p on the RH1999H, and subsequently then the recorders HDMI or component output to my Plasma TV (This configuration gives me the best picture viewing and recording quality), I experience sporadic or random background brightness flashes.

When I connect the DSTV decoder composite video signal o/p directly to the Plasma TV composite video i/p, I get NO such flashes, and NO sporadic flashing occurs either when connected to/via RF i/p on the RH1999H recorder and the HDMI or component connected to the plasma.

Also, no flashing occurs when a another composite video source (DVD player)is connected to the recorder's composite video i/p and recorder HDMI or Component o/p is connected to the Plasma.

I suspect that the LG recorder video i/p is perhaps faulty/incompatible, but I am trying to confirm this or that it is either a connectivity or perhaps a indeed a incompatibility problem with the DSTV decoder composite video o/p?

Please advise as to any information, other reported similar problems, to aid me in the solution of this problem.

Regards
Spartacus

 

[zeb]

Spartacus, do these flashes only occur when there's a very bright scene? (lots of white)

 

[Spartacus__]

zeb

Thanks for the reply.

Zeb, it's difficult to say, but now that you mention it, yes, I would say it's predominantly when theres a bright background...

any ideas?

Spartacus

 

[zeb]

This happens with some HTPC's as well. The one thing that really improves the problem is a high quality cable. Still not 100% but way better.
Hope this'll help you as well.

 

[Spartacus__]

Zeb

Thanks for the feedback, but I am already using a very high quality cable, always eliminate that first.

No I spoke to a repair tech at LG and it seems I have a problem in the recorders internal upscaling of the Video input signal to HDTV, from the decoder. Why it only happens with the DSTV video signal heaven alone knows, perhaps the amplitude or luminance component is out of the recorders handling range or there is just a fault in the recorder circuitry. Anyway, will be returning tha machine today and hopefully get it fixed or swopped.

Thanks
Spartacus

 

[xenakis]

Rh1999h

I'm thinking to buy an RH1999H ....

How do you connect it to the DSTV Decoder ... and to the TV?

The films on the HDD are coded or uncoded ? Can I put them on DVD and see them on other DVD Player?

regards

 

[Khyron]

I am going to buy me one of these babies today. They are on special now at Makro @ R2499. What even sweetens the deal, is that I found this page:

http://www.dtvforum.info/lofiversion/index.php/t42822.html

which tells you how to hack it, so that you can record in Mpeg-4 (Divx) which means you fit even more video on it.

Now if they can only figure out how to move this Divx video from the internal hard drive to a DVD, that would be great!