Sharp DV-SR45U DVD Recorder with MP3 Playback

This is a great product. I copied an old VHS tape to a DVD-R and for the most part was happy with the results. The picture actually looked clearer on the DVD than playing from my VCR. I was able to make chapter marks on the DVD-R but had to stop recording to do this and then start recording again. You could make automatic marks in 5, 10, 15, 30 minute intervals as well. You could only make manual chapter marks with a DVD-RW.

I have an old Panasonic DVD player and was able to play the finished DVD in the player. The nice part was instead of this playing like a VHS tape I now have a menu with my own titles to skip through.

The only two negatives so far are that If you delete a titled section, instead of the section moving to the block before it, it is deleted for good. I actually had this issue when using it. The second negative was it took a little while to finalize the DVD when finished. I walked away and just came back later. The process finished on its own and the menu was showing on the screen when I cam back. The DVD worked fined and was able to play in my old machine not before it was finalized though (which I expected).

Overall, for the price, I highly recommend this execellent machine. The only other gripe is there is no firewire connection for my camcorder. I did not make this a negative for the player since I can just use the RCA and S-video jacks.

This is a very good recorder with strong editing capabilities. Both the DVD-R & RW format disks offer track-editing options suitable for basic or more event-specific recordings from several sources. Recording from VHS often rewards you with a quality that in fact appears better than the original.

It has a quirk regarding the cooling fan which is easy to circumvent. What you can not work around however is its inability to function outside of 4X media. Though you may have an easier time with 2X or 1X, the proper media is DVD-R 4X (MAX) 4.7GB for this machine. You will not find this information easy to come by otherwise. Such 4X disks appear close to extinction, as they have often been replaced in catalogs and on shelves by 1x-8x disks -DO NOT BUY THESE -which are not compatible with this machine. There are no firmware upgrades available for this model.

If you have a stack of 4X max. disks on hand or know a source that can provide you with such media, then you will be quite satisfied. Without a firmware upgrade however, this recorder will soon suffer a fate not unlike death.

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I just bought two. These machines replaced an old, very poor Phillips DVD recorder and all the VHS machines. Picture is great. I found it easy to use and had no problems with 1x, 2x, and 4x DVD-R's and 1x-2x DVD-RW's and they played fine in other DVD players. I don't know where the other reviewers shop, but I had little trouble finding both DVD-R's and DVD-RW's for this machine online AND at Office Depot, CompUSA, Staples, Best Buy and even Big Lots, and all at reasonable prices (CompUSA having the best selection and prices). It also played a variety of DVD+R's, DVD-R's, DVD-RW's, and regular DVD's. It did play a DVD+R/DL, but only one with just the movie and no menus (store bought DVD's played just fine). Tuner and timer recording work great and menus are easy to navigate. Like most Sharp products, the remote is ergonomic and easy to use.

Sure, DVD's and formatting takes quite a while and reading takes a few seconds, but nothing longer than my expensive Pioneer Elite DV-37. And it is a change from VHS, but this is not a lifetime product. I do think it is a big improvement over past DVD products.

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Using a DVD-RW (Not DVD+RW) ver1.1/ 2x speed it works great and is re-recordable and simple. Haven't found a DVD-R that works with it yet (it tells you in the manual which ones will work but I just couldn't find the DVD-R of the correct write speed in stores). Recording works instantly (like a VCR) but takes between 20secs to a minute after recording is stopped to write to disc.

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I purchased this recorder and it never even worked coming out of the box. It won't read the media and now Sharp wants me to mail it into them. Should've purchased from a local retailer so I don't have to deal with additional shipping. This is horrible.