Major Features

DVD Video Recording - The major purpose of the DVR-310S is to record DVD video onto DVD-R or DVD-RW media. Note that only the "minus" formats (DVD-R and DVD-RW) are supported; other formats (DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM) are not.

Multiple recording formats - The recorder can record DVD-RWs in one of two formats: DVD-Video (the standard DVD format), or DVD-VR. Discs recorded in DVD-VR format can be edited on the player but are not compatible with most other DVD players or computer DVD drives. DVD-R discs can only be recorded in DVD-Video format.

Chase Play - This allows a program to be recorded while another part of the program (or another program on the same disc) is being played.

In-Place Editing - For a DVD-RW recorded in VR format, editing can be performed on the disc contents. This just changes the play list; the original recording is left intact.

Disc Navigator - This is essentially a menu which displays a frame from each title recorded on the currently-loaded disc. This menu allows title names to be changed, allows titles to be erased, and acts as the interface for editing titles on VR-formatted DVD-RWs

Progressive or interlaced video output

Surround sound output - The unit outputs Dolby Digital or DTS surround sound when supported by the currently-loaded disc (but it can only record in basic stereo).

Adjustable recording quality - The DVR-310S can record in any of 32 different recording quality modes - the higher the quality of the mode, the less time that can be fit on a disc. The lowest recording quality (MN1) can fit approximately 6 hours of material on a disc, while the highest (MN32) can fit approximately 1 hour.

Timer recording - The recorder can store up to 32 timer programs, which can be set to record once, or on a variety of daily or weekly schedules. A recording quality and title name may be selected for each timed program. The timer programming system supports VCR Plus+. It can also be set to automatically adjust the recording quality according to the amount of space remaining on the disc.

Dolby (AC3) or Linear PCM audio recording - In most recording modes, the unit records audio in stereo (2-channel) Dolby Digital (AC3) format. In the MN32 recording mode, it records in 16-bit Linear Pulse Code Modulation (PCM, aka uncompressed) format. All audio is recorded with a sampling rate of 48kHz.

Firewire (IEEE 1394) support - This can be used to transfer digital video to or from a digital camcorder.

Commercial skip - The remote for the unit has a button which skips 30s of play every time it is pressed. This is useful for skipping commercials in recorded programs.

CD Support - The unit can play Audio CDs (CD-DA), Video CDs (VCD), FujiColor CDs, Kodak Picture CDs, and ISO9660 CDs (modes 1 and 2XA Form 1; with or without Romeo or Joliet filename extensions) on CD, CD-R or CD-RW media. For ISO9660 CDs, the recorder can display JPEG images or play MP3 or Windows Media Audio (WMA) files contained on the CDs, provided the directory structure is not very deep. Note that MP3 and WMA files must have a sampling rate of 44.1kHz or 48kHz; also, only Windows Media Codec 8 without Digital Rights Management (DRM) encryption is supported for WMA files. Only baseline JPEG files, with or without EXIF 2.2 extensions, are supported; horizontal resolution must be between 160-5120 pixels; and vertical resolution must be between 120-3840 pixels.

Description

The Pinoeer DVR-310S is light gray in color, measures 16.5w x 2.75h x 13d inches, and weighs 9.5 lbs (4.3 kg). It is an FCC Class B device which consumes a maximum of 26W (with 0.44W consumed in standby mode). There are a variety of connectors on the unit:

Power - A standard consumer electronics AC-in connector is on the back.

VHF/UHF/Cable - Just like a VCR, there are two connectors for 75-ohm coaxial cable on the rear of the unit - one for input, and the other for output. The recorder can tune 13 VHF channels, 56 UHF channels, and 126 cable channels. The recorder modulates its output onto VHF channel 4.

Composite/S video in - The unit has three other analog video inputs. Each input can accept either (a) composite video and stereo audio using three RCA cables, or (b) S-video using 4-pin mini-DIN. Two of the inputs are on the rear of the unit, and one is on the front behind a plastic door.

Firewire (IEEE 1394) - The recorder has a Firewire (IEEE 1394) port which can be used for either digital video input or output. This port is located on the front, protected by a removable rubber-like cover.

Composite/S video out - The unit has two composite analog video outputs. Each of these can output either (a) composite video and stereo audio using three RCA cables, or (b) S-video using 4-pin mini-DIN. Both outputs are located on the rear of the recorder, and may be used simultaneously with each other and the other video outputs.

Component video out - There is also a Y-Pb-Pr analog component video output using three RCA connectors. This is located on the rear of the unit and can be used simultaneously with the other video outputs.

Digital optical out - This is located on the rear, and is used to connect the DVR-310S to an A/V receiver or a Dolby Digital/DTS decoder.

Control in - This 1/8-inch connector allows certain other Pioneer products to receive remote control commands on behalf of this unit. This allows the unit to be controlled by a remote control even if the remote does not have line-of-sight to the recorder.

One of the nice things about all of these connectors is that they allow for complex arrangements between various pieces of video equipment. This means that it is possible to connect a VCR, TV and cable box to the unit so that the DVR-310S and the VCR can record from each other, or each can record separate things while the TV views another.

In addition to the composite/S video input and the Firewire port, there are various controls and the DVD loading tray on the front of the unit. The controls include the basic VCR-like controls (Open, Stop, Pause, and Play). There is also a Record button, which when pressed once, acts like a VCR Record button. However, when this is pressed more than once it will set automatic recording times in 30-minute increments (e.g., pressing 3 times will set a 60 minute recording time). Also, holding down the Record button for 3 seconds will cancel a timer recording - the machine will continue recording, but it will then be possible to pause the recording or stop it prematurely. The STOP REC button (not the Stop button) must be used to stop a recording in progress. There is also a button which activates the Disc Navigator screen (described above), a "Smart Jog" dial, and a Function button. The "Smart Jog" dial (in conjunction with the Function button) gives access to four fast forward speeds, reverse play, four fast reverse speeds, four slow motion speeds, four reverse slow motion speeds, frame-by-frame navigation, and title/chapter switching.

The DVR-310S also comes with a 55-button remote control which gives access to all of the features available through the front panel, plus all of the other features of the unit.

Experiences

My primary use of this unit has been to digitize analog video signals (TV, camcorder, old video tapes, etc.) so that they can be loaded onto a computer for editing and processing. For this purpose, the DVD-VR format is all but useless, since computer-based DVD drives can't read it. Here are some of the experiences I have had:

Recording Quality - Overall the recording quality is good. For old source material, the lower-quality modes (near MN15: 3-hour mode) can be used with relatively few noticeable artifacts. For modern source material, there are small noticeable artifacts even in SP (MN21: 2-hour) mode. A major problem, though, is that the encoder generates a very noticeable motion flicker for bright red objects (and sometimes orange objects). Processing this on a computer and burning the result back to DVD makes the problem worse. This is my one big complaint about this unit. Recording in FINE (MN32: 1-hour) mode seems to eliminate nearly all artifacts, and it reduces the red object motion flicker problem significantly (although it is still noticeable). Because of this, since computer-based (non-real-time) MPEG encoders are much better than the real-time encoder on the DVR-310S, I recommend recording in FINE mode whenever possible, and using a computer-based encoder to reduce the bit rate for the final product. Even if the bit rate is reduced significantly, the final product is much better than if the DVR-310S recorded at that bit rate originally.

Long Recording Sessions - One of the other problems with this unit is the time that it takes to eject and load discs (up to two minutes sometimes). This means that for a long recording session you either have to (a) record at a very low bit rate and risk artifacts and motion flicker, or (b) record at a high bit rate, but lose some of the material due to the time it takes to eject one disc and load the next.

Timer Recording - Overall, I am quite pleased with the timer recording capabilities. It does suffer from the usual problem of only being able to record up to the maximum capacity of one disc, but this problem is unavoidable without disc changing capabilities. The timer allows one-time recording, daily recording, weekly recording and weekday-only recording, and there are enough timer slots (32) to meet almost anyone's needs. One problem is that it is not possible to temporarily disable a timer program. This can make it difficult to resolve a conflict between a one-time program and a regular program without deleting the regular program and putting it back later.

Text Entry - When entering a title for a recording or a disc, the text needs to be entered by navigating a grid of letters and symbols with the arrow buttons on the remote. Changing between uppercase and lowercase on the grid is a very awkward operation, and adding spaces is also difficult because the space button is at the bottom of the grid (while most letters are at the top). This means that it can take a few minutes just to enter a single title.

Disc Finalization - To finalize a disc, you generally need to enter all of the titles, and select an image for each title. The image is selected by playing the title and pressing a button on the remote when the image you want to use is on the screen. After this is done, you can choose from a set of 9 pre-made menus for the disc. These menus are either 3, 4 or 6 programs in size, but each can support more programs through the use of multiple screens. The designs for the 3-program menus leave much to be desired. After the menu is selected, the disc finalization process takes a few minutes to complete.

Computer Interface - The DVR-310S records each program in its own titleset with its own set of VOB files. This makes extracting the video for a particular program easier. On a finalized DVD-Video-format disc, the VOB files are 1GB in size, except for the last VOB file in each program. (Another reviewer reported getting a large number of 30s VOB files. I did not experience this, and after trying a number of settings and usage patterns, I was unable to reproduce it.) Side note: even though the unit records each program in its own titleset, it uses the DVD virtual machine commands to create the illusion that all programs are in a single titleset when the recorded DVD is played.

The DVR-310S seems to record some information onto the end of each disc. This information is probably used to store information about the recordings on unfinalized discs. This can create a problem when a DVD-RW recorded by the unit is then re-recorded by a computer-based DVD recorder. If the computer-based recorder does not record the lead-out all the way to the end of the disc, the DVR-310S can get very confused when it loads the disc, in which case it will either eject the disc or attempt to re-format it! The solution to the problem is to always fully erase a disc recorded by the DVR-310S before re-recording it with a computer-based drive.

Recording Time - I have found the recording time estimates for the various recording quality modes to be generally accurate, but a bit conservative. For example, in SP (MN21: 2-hour) mode, I find that I can get about 2 hours and 5 minutes worth of material onto a disc.

Response Time - There is a very noticeable delay between the time that a remote control button is pressed and the time that the requested action is performed. This is especially problematic when entering text, but it is present during almost every operation of the unit.

Summary

Overall, I am pleased with this unit, but its idiosyncrasies can take some time to learn. My major complaint is the red object motion flicker mentioned above. Aside from that, it seems to be a completely reasonable DVD recorder.

Recommended:
Yes

Amount Paid (US$): unknown