JVC DRM-1SL DVD Recorder

In terms of the performance of the JVC DR-M1 I have been thoroughly impressed, if not a little confused at first. The instruction manual limits itself to telling you the basics of how to play, record etc rather than full explanations. The manual is big enough as it is, so this is probably sensible, and after you start operating the machine a few times, you build up an understanding of how it all works. For example, I was puzzled where on the disc would new programmes be recorded and making sure you don't record over existing material. My thinking followed that of vhs recording. But the brilliant thing is that the dvd recorder takes care of this. It arranges storage and a "navigation" screen displays a link for each programme recorded which allows you to click on your choice to play. You no longer have to worry about cueing up the vhs tape. The only thing to do is check there is enough space remaining on the disc. This is easy and you have different quality/time settings for a disc ranging from 1 hour (best quality) to 6 hours - nb 2 hours is set as standard. The JVC DR-M1 has another setting "Just" which sets the amount of time you know you need for a programme and gives it the highest quality possible.

Before buying the DVD Recorder I had read some reviews of several machines which warned against the poor picture quality of 4 and 6 hour recordings. Some people claimed to have returned machines (not the JVC DR-M1 I hasten to add) to the shop because of this. So I didn't expect much. However, I have to say I am pleasently suprised. Not only is the picture quality vastly superior to vhs video, if there is a difference between the 6 hr dvd setting and the 2 hr, it is miniscule, certainly on our 21 inch television.

The recording from my camcorder mini dv tapes is good. With dvd-r discs you can do a minimal amount of editing - really just giving names to differnt clips. With dvd-rw discs you can do a bit more including deletion and insertion of scenes and sound dubbing. I have recorded about 8 hours of material so far, but haven't had time to really use the editing features yet, but I am very impressed with the results so far.

The JVC DR-M1 will also record on RAM discs, but I've not tried this yet.

In terms of being able to play recorded discs on other machines, it is necessary to go through a procedure to "finalise" the discs. So far I have only tried a DVD-R disc which was finalised on one other DVD player and it played fine.

The playing of CDs with digital stills works well. You can navigate which directories/files on the disc you want to play. The picture quality is good and you can set the time interval for a slide show.

The only negatives I've come across so far are that the record pause button, once when I kept it on for about 10 minutes while recording a camcorder clip it made the recording unstable. Also, many shops seem to have sold out of the DVD-RW discs