Hi. I'm about to buy a DVD recorder (preferably) or at least a player (depending on the price). There is however one thing I'd very much like to have and that is the capability of the device to play DivX or DVD movies from a USB drive (flash or external HDD). Are there such devices? And if not, could you please recommend some good models? Based on your experience. I prefer Sony and Panasonic as manufacturers. Anyway, I'm making a poll on manufacturers accessible here in Slovakia, so please, take part.

Oh, and one more thing, I'm not looking for the most advanced model I don't sh*t money. But I want it to have a built-in HDD (for a recoreder).

Thank you very much for any usefull advice

sony. One like my dad's.

I haven't seen any models with USB capability, but if there were my reckoning would be they're hopelessly overpriced. We got a DVD recorder a few months ago, and it was about €150. It's extremely useful, as it allows you to stop/rewind TV, and record onto the hard drive and play around with it, then burn to CD/DVD/Whatever. It's a Magnavox, which is essentially a re-branded Philips. HDD is 160GB, but apparently you can stick in the same 3.5" HDD that a PC uses

Standalone DVD players are available for almost free these days, I got one last month for €20...

Quote from Luke.S :

sony. One like my dad's.

Wow...Real helpful

http://www.sony.co.uk/product/dvd-recorder/rdr-hxd995 this one.

I did some googling right now and found a Philips player that can also play movies through its USB 1.1 port. The problem is that I hate Philips. I had too many problems with various devices of this brand. I just don't trust it anymore. And I still want a recorder with a HDD rather than a player.

And Dougie, where do you buy stuff? It's far too cheap compared with prices I see here in Slovakia

//edit: Luke.S, thanks a lot for the link, the recorder looks very good but it doesn't seem to play movies from USB drives, just photos and MP3s.

k np. I don't think there are many that play movies through usb.

Have a stack of LG stuff, seems to be decent kit for not much money.

I've found this one, but at a price of around 300EUR. But it's a effin Philips. Nothing else is availabale here.

What do you say?

not bad. Thats the one i'd go for.

Probably not what you're after, but I recently bought this thing, and just loves it. It doesn't have an internal DVD player, but I use it to watch movies and tv shows by streaming over the network or internal HDD. For what it does, the price is unbeatable.

Sony. Let Hyundai make cars.

I got mine in Harvey Normans, about 5 mins away from me...

Here's a 160GB Samsung, for €200. Plus €20 for postage. There's also a €150 one on the same site, but I couldn't see a HDD size...

Get that phillips.
@hyundai making dvdrecorders: They should learn to build cars first.

I have a philips TV with a philips home theatre.. I can say, it's awesome. Mine doesn't have a recorder, it only plays DVD's, but at 200 euros for a full home theatre it's amazing. It can generate beautiful sound, plays well, also self made dvds, and I also run my computer sound through it (doesn't have a digital input, otherwise I could have 5.1 sound on my pc too).

So I voted philips, just because I'm happy with what it does.

Oh yea, and it has an USB port, don't know if I can play a movie from there though, I should try!

Quote from Luke.S :

sony. One like my dad's.

ffs stop posting crap.

TBH asking for brands is a good idea - Sony usually make good overpriced kit etc, it all depends on what you can find cheap.

I think Sony is the best quality-wise, but also the most expensive. But after all my "advantures" with Philips electronics, I'm not much into buying one again...but I did I bought the Philips I was talking about earlier. There are generally positive reviews on it, so it can't be bad. It has all I want...HDD, USB video playback and some bonus stuff too. At a price of some 220eur it's not the most expensive choice either I guess. I hope that it will work longer than the last Philips DVD player did (3 months). Oh and our Philips TV remote bit the dust in 4 months. And a VCR went at it's first anniversary. I hope that history will change with this new DVD recorder

I'd buy a Sony drive if I had more money than sense (as, as Jakg says, they're usually quite overpriced), or I'd opt for a LG/Phillips - both are decent enough. I'd say you'd be fine with Sony, LG, Phillips or Samsung products. The only difference likely being that the Sony one cost more

But stay well away from Hyundai electronic products

Quote from JamesF1 :

But stay well away from Hyundai electronic products

And cars

Don't worry, I'm not buying any electronics from any car maker, be it Hyunday, Daewoo, Yamaha and such. But now it makes me wonder, what would a Panasonic car look like...

My philips TV, the dvd player and both remote controls are still well alive without any trouble after about six months for the player and almost a year for the tv.

Having said that, we had a Mitsubishi TV for years, never had any problems...I'd love to see a Honda TV though, especially the type-R 100,000,000" flatscreen with 277.1 surround sound

i have mazda light bulbs. They are rotary powered.

Quote from Luke.S :

i have mazda light bulbs. They are rotary powered.

We have wooden Ford table, but for some reason it keeps rusting..

Quote from sgt.flippy :

We have wooden Ford table, but for some reason it keeps rusting..

LoL.

My grandad has a Mitsubish tv. It is the an evo one