That has been a lot of interest lately on the AV forums regarding the Polaroid DRM-2001G DVD Recorder. It is a hard drive based recorder that has a typical list of features such as a 80G hard drive, front DV jack and front and rear A/V inputs.

In addition this unit has something called YesDVD. YesdDVD promises to automagically create a final DVD that includes:

• Automated Intelligent Chapters
• Music Video Highlights
• Custom DVD Case Coversheet
• LSI chipset

I am hoping the automatic chapter creation can detect scene changes on an analog source.

There are three things that really makes this unit look like a winner.

First of all the recording quality seems to be getting a thumbs up. Secondly it is a piece of cake to upgrade the 80G hard drive to a larger drive.

The best part ? How does a price of $219 sound ?

So far these units are only available at Walmart. I plan to buy one very shortly and I will post a detailed review.

I can’t wait to see how heavily the price will be discounted during the holiday season.

I recently purchased two sets of generic ink cartridges for my Epson R200. I bought them from supermediastore.com and paid about $17. The ink was manufactured by G&G.

I have been quite pleased withthe results. I can see no difference between the generic ink and the genuine epson ink. I printed close to 150 discs so far and there have been no clogs or any other problems.

I don’t use my Epson for printing photos so I can’t comment on the ink for that purpose.

I mentioned a few weeks ago I I bought a Pioneer 111d and a NEC ND-3550A.

I just got done burning about 75 Dual layer discs and 75 single layer discs.
The dual layer discs were Verbatim 20 DVD+R Dual Layer Inkjet Printable. They are rated at 2.4X yet users on forums and Nero report they can be burnt at 8x.

I attempted a few burns at 6X and had two coasters on the Pioneer. I then burned at 4X on the NEC and the Pioneer.

I also burned a bunch of Taiyo Yuden 16X DVD-R White Inkjet Hub Printable at 8X. the TY’s burned perfectly at 8X in both burners. I printed the discs on my Epson R200.

Overall I am quite happy with both burners. I have a little more confidence in the NEC burner than the Pioneer. I have absolutely no justification for that statement. There were no controlled tests and I also did not attempt higher than 4X burns in the NEC. If I had maybe I would have gotten a few coaters as well.
You can’t go wrong with either burner.