desperately looking for some help with budget dvd recorders

[admin_exported]

i've got two possibilities - a goodmans gdvdr319, available at asda for £50 quid, or the "argos value range" available in the catalogue for £54.

i've spent hours today trawling the net to try and get some kind of clue as to wether or not they're region code hackable or region free out of the box and i've found two possible hacks for the goodmans, one confirmed as not working and one unknown.

would anyone be able to help ?

i'm looking because my mum wants to buy my sister one for her 40th birthday, so it's got to be able to be shop-bought because she won't got anywhere near online shopping (don't even go there

), and it's got to be ideally no more than £50, although she'd probably stretch to the argos one if it was multi-region.

i totally understand that the fact that i can't find any hacks suggests there probably aren't any, but i'm just desperate to find out one way or the other - i've posted this on about 6 forums now and it just seems like everyone is off out getting some sun

any help greatly appreciated .. thanks

 

[Anonymous]

You do know that the finalising of discs and their hunger for discs (a new one every time unless you can sue DVD-RAM) might well put her off. Disc recorders can be painfully complicated for parents.... I speak from experience! Finally had to step up and buy 'em the Humax Freeview PVR...

 

[fr0g]

Richersounds...

Sony multiregion for £50

perfect.

 

[John Duncan]

Except not a recorder.

I honestly think that 50 quid is too little to spend - you (or the recipient) will be disappointed with the quality available at that price (in all respects). But this notwithstanding, are you sure you care about multi-region? It was a big deal when DVDs were twice the price here, but they're a consumer item now, and it's hardly worth the effort importing........

Apart from that, the advice above on PVRs is worth heeding (not that there's a fifty quid one).......

 

[Anonymous]

the multi region is actually the main reason i need it - my sister, who the recorder is for, has a number of region 1 dvd's and no means of playing them at the moment.

the short version of how we arrived at that situation is that my mum let her use her dvd/vhs combi unit, and she gave her multi-region player to my dad. and she's very much non-gadget oriented, in the sense that once she's got something she'll just keep it and make do, even though i've been nagging her to get something multi-region.

the recording is really secondary, but still needed. she won't ever need to finalise anything because she'll just be recording for her own benefit to watch the odd TV show that clashes with something else she's watching, so once she's got a RW formatted then that's really all she'll need.

if it was down to me, and I could afford it, i'd buy her a digital DVD/HDD recorder with the works, but I could never afford one in my wildest dreams. I only got mine out of sheer luck and because I sold my upgrade phone back in january

so i still need to find out if either of the ones i've mentioned is region code hackable, and £50-£55 quid really is the upper limit as my mum is the one buying it for my sister and that's all she can really stretch to.

tesco have a techwood AEDVDRS7 for £54.97 which could be another option, but ringing customer service to ask if it's multi-region usually gets some call centre girl with a "oh sorry .. it's .. um .. like region 2 only ...".

 

[fr0g]

JohnDuncan:Except not a recorder.

I honestly think that 50 quid is too little to spend - you (or the recipient) will be disappointed with the quality available at that price (in all respects). But this notwithstanding, are you sure you care about multi-region? It was a big deal when DVDs were twice the price here, but they're a consumer item now, and it's hardly worth the effort importing........

Apart from that, the advice above on PVRs is worth heeding (not that there's a fifty quid one).......

Blimey I missed that, apologies... 50 quid for a DVD recorder!!! sheesh.

 

[Anonymous]

there's a wharfedale dvdr24hd in argos for £63 quid that might be an option because i looked on another site and apparently someone says that it plays multi-region out of the box - can anyone confirm ?

 

[Anonymous]

this is getting daft now .. think i have to accept the £50 ones are just not hackable

 

[Anonymous]

i apologise for the blatant bump but i need to find out one way or the other by tonight, so if anyone can help i'd be truly grateful.

 

[Anonymous]

well i've just reserved a samsung dvd-r149 at my local comet as i found a hack for it that seems to work, but i'm not sure. i'm going to have to take a region 1 disk with me tomorrow to test it.

 

[fr0g]

Without wanting to sound bad, I think the problem wanting advice here, is that most people are after best quality, sound or vision, not the absolute cheapest available. I would personally save for a few months? and double the budget, rather than buying something that will be bloody awful.

 

[Anonymous]

i can see your point, but i guess there are people who want purely functional as well at the other end of the scale, so i would say they should be catered for as well.

maybe i've found a gap in the market?

 

[professorhat]

I think you're just asking for too much for the money unfortunately! Unless you can buy secondhand.

 

[Andy Grange]

I've got a Sony dvd recorder (RDR GX350) and find it pretty good to be honest. It's reasonably easy to record things on (it has a one-touch recording facility), and you can get it for under a 100 quid at Amazon. Does 1080p upscaling too, which I think is to a good standard.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000TJFTIU/shoppingco0a3-21/ref=nosim

 

[Anonymous]

professorhat:I think you're just asking for too much for the money unfortunately! Unless you can buy secondhand.

i'm only asking for multi-region, no more than that. if you can get a multi-region dvd player out of asda for £15 quid, i can't see why it's such a stretch to get a multi region recorder for £50-70 quid.

 

[fr0g]

jasonwatkins:
professorhat:I think you're just asking for too much for the money unfortunately! Unless you can buy secondhand.

i'm only asking for multi-region, no more than that. if you can get a multi-region dvd player out of asda for £15 quid, i can't see why it's such a stretch to get a multi region recorder for £50-70 quid.

Then buy 2. The £15 player, and blow the rest of your budget on the cheapest recordable you can....

And while there is nothing wrong with catering with both ends of the market... think about it, you are asking for a machine, that will play CDs and DVDs, recordable, multiregion, and all for the price of 20 pints of beer.
In all honesty I think £100 would be a ludicrous bargain, never mind £50.

(I remember paying £400 for a stereo VHS recorder around 19 years ago

 

[Andy Grange]

75 quid

or even cheaper

50 quid

Don't however think that these will be any match to something even a wee bit more expensive. You get what you pays for, I'm afraid.

 

[fr0g]

Andy Grange:
75 quid

or even cheaper

50 quid

Don't however think that these will be any match to something even a wee bit more expensive. You get what you pays for, I'm afraid.

That 2nd one is £39.95! How the hell can they do it?

 

[Anonymous]

cheers for that andy, but it needs to be a new one, shop bought.
don't ask me to go into the reasons why, because i'm really only the
middle man - my mum wants to buy it for my sister for her 40th birthday
and won't even entertain the idea of 2nd hand.

so i'm basically lumbered with the donkey work in finding one.

anyway, i've settled on a Samsung DVD-R149 from Comet at £64.99

i found this hack ..

1. Press the Menu button on your remote control

2. Press the 5 button on your remote control

3. Press the 7 button on your remote control

4. Press the 5 button on your remote control

5. Press the 3 button on your remote control

6. Press the 8 button on your remote control

7. The currently selected region will be indicated on the onscreen display

8. Press the 1 button on your remote control for region 1, the 2 button
for region 2, and so on, or the 9 button for multi-region playback

9. Press the Menu button on your remote control

10. Press the Menu button on your remote control

which appears to be the one, since the person who posted it said he'd used it and accidentally locked his machine to region 1. I'm going to try and find a second person to confirm it works and we're good to go.

worst case scenario and it doesn't work, i'll just give up.