all dvd players

I have recorded on this Sony unit for several weeks now. Recording off a TV signal is as easy as a VCR. The SP record time is 3 hours with excellent quality. HQ speed is 1 hour with superior quality. I recorded home movies by hooking up my VCR to the convenient ports in the back of the unit, and they turned out perfect. I recorded old 8 mm tapes by hooking up the old camcorder to the jacks in the front of the unit. They recoreded perfectly with no problem. I will next record off my newer Sony camcorder using the fire wire jack. I can do a lot of editing off of the DV mini tapes. I have recorded DVD-R and DVD+RW and they play in 4 of 5 of our DVD players (all except the old Toshiba that we bought 5 years ago ofr $450!) This is an excellent, multi-compatible product that is very easy to use, especially with a Sony TV and camcorder. The only reason it did not get 5 stars was because it is a bit pricy compared to some other models with less features.

I decided to get a DVD recorder when my video deck died - and I'm glad I did!! Picture and sound quality are improved at least ten times, and DVD has too many cool convinience features to count compared with VHS. The Sony RDR-G7X is as easy to operate as your familiar video recorder; just select your channel and push the record button - that's it! Plus the unit gives you lots of versitility as it can handle DVD - R; - RW; and + RW. Basically, I use - R for programs I want to keep as you can't rewrite this format (and are the cheapest to buy). I use - RW Video Mode like I used to use VHS video tape as you can erase and rerecord on this disk. - RW VR mode will give you lots of editing features (and is also rewrittable), and is compatible with newer DVD players. Unfortunately, + RW has been stripped of it's editing features, and seems identical to - RW Video mode with this Sony unit. However, I'm still learning the ins-and-outs of this recorder, but so far have been very impressed by its quality, good looks, features, and performance. I shopped around a lot, did a ton of research, and concluded it to be the best consumer DVD recorder currently on the market.

I have owned this machine for only two weeks, and consumer DVD recorders have a distressing tendency to fall apart after a month or so, so what I say must be taken with a grain of salt. So far, so good. This machine offers excellent image quality and is notably more tolerant of different brands of discs than some other recorders I've owned. Far fewer "disc error" or "can't read disc" messages than my Philips or my Go-Video. Although this machine bridges the format gap by recording on DVD+RW (not +R) discs as well as DVD-R/RW discs, it does not afford the full functionality of a DVD+RW recorder. Most notably, one cannot do "thumbnail" picture icons for chapters, and I was also unable to add them using a +RW recorder to a disc first recorded on this machine (perhaps this could be done with a computer). Also, the editing capabilities of this machine, which are formidable, do not apply in +RW mode. So this is not truly a "dual" machine. Another minor note: the "one-touch" dubbing function, which operates via the firewire connection, does not work unless the tape being dubbed was digital to begin with. Thus it does not work if you're using a Digital 8 camcorder outputting a digitized signal from an older analog tape. But these images can be recorded in the "normal" way just fine. All in all, I'm very pleased, so far. Hint: check out the "used and new" merchants before you pay amazon's price.