I recently had the good fortune to be able to check out local stores for a new DVD Recorder. My cheaply bought at WalMart Cyberhome model recently began not finalizing disks correctly. I burned through a couple stacks of HP +R media with about half finalized correctly.
Among the models one store had available, there was the Magnavox MWR10D6. Reports from other users were positive and people were happy with it. What I also found out is that it's a model made by Funai and sold by Magnavox.
In terms of quality, the big 3 manufacturers of DVD recorders are JVC, Pioneer, and LiteOn (which makes the ILO brand). Just below that are the units sold by Magnavox and made by Funai. I bought my Maggie at a local discount store as a factory serviced unit. I could have saved $30 by buying it at WalMart, but maybe I benefit from the unit being totally fixed by the factory. What I did not know was how well the MWR10D6 model latches onto and processes the video signal. Below are some examples of video off the same tape, captures done by Snappy Video snapshot, and the equivalent from DVDs made in the Magnavox unit. No video fixer boxers were used in either case to obtain the video.
The picture of Cacao from VS Lamune 40 Fire is my first attempt at a composite snappy from the tape a friend sent me some time ago. It was in SLP mode and the video not that great. On the right is the same tape directly into the Magnavox recorder. Amazing!
I don't know the character but she's from episode 3. Again, I had to do a lot of single line moving of stuff around to fix as much as I could figure out. But the same tape in the MWR10D6 is like a miracle.
I had done an anime recommedation article on Miracle Girls for Genvid and tried to get a picture of the twin duo Garden for the article. A friend had copied a collection of openings and endings from various anime. The image on the left is what I eventually edited clear enough. On the right is almost the same image, restored by the Magnavox recorder.
Now you may ask why don't I just buy DVD releases of this stuff? Well, for the most part, I can't find better source, and the tape for Garden was a rare find. So having a DVD recorder that can fix bad video and render it viewable is a treasure. I was able to make DVDs of live action movies for Maison Ikkoku and Yawara!.
