My Panasonic DMR-ES20 unit failed after 1.5 years (bad video out). I have many recorded DVDs that were never finalized, and remain in the native Panasonic "intermediate" format that is incompatible with all DVD players/recorders that I have tried. I would like to know which other Panasonic DVD recorders are available that would be able to finalize these discs? Thanks.
I have a ES20 and started having problems with the Date and time changing or reseting. I do have a year left on Circuit City extended warranty but called Panasonic first. They sent a firmware update which seems to fix the problem. One thing it changed unless I never noticed it before was the Thumbnail viewing of a unfinalized DVD from a ES10. You should be able to finalized your DVD's in another model. They should be backwards compatiable. I have done it since I do have 3 Panasonic DVD Recorders. On yours you should do a reset to see if the video comes back. Your manual should tell you. My ES20 shortly after I got it did that and got hung up on a non composite output. Press and hold the Cancel key on the remote. If this does not work tune the recorder to a channel and simultaneously hold the Channel up and down buttons on the front panel for 15 secs. or until the unit powers off. When it powers back on the First Time Setup screen should be displayed. Make sure your cables are good and plugged to the video in on TV. Have you tried it on another TV set?
I will try the things you mentioned, but I have already successfully upgraded the firmware. I thought that doing that should reset everything, but no change in symptoms. The problem gets worse as the thing warms up, if I start it up cold, I get a double image with side by side picture, a few minutes later the video level drops below the threshold for the TV and I get a totally blue screen. This happens whether on tuner or playing a disc, from all video outputs. So the problem seems to be in an early stage of the video section. I have hooked up another player to the TV that plays fine. I may try the ES20 on another TV, just to be sure. Thanks for your comments.
I remember mine did the double picture. It was after a storm and the power was off and on. It sounds like maybe the fan is not working. Take a flashlight and see if it is running. Anyway when mine did the double image I pressed the cancel button on the remote as there is not one on the front. Hold it until maybe it will help. The fact that it does it as it warms up may mean the fan is not working. It runs when needed. Mine so far after the firmware upgrade is doing OK. I might add that if you order the upgrade from Panasonic it will be a higher number than what is on their site. Just call the number in the book and tell them the problem you have and it is free. Don't know if you did that but worth a try.
Ron- Thanks for your help, I may waste yet another CD-R trying the upgrade. Please permit me to use this opportunity to vent a little frustration about DVD/DVR units and consumer electronics in general. I am a fairly sophisticated user of electronics, having been a TV/satellite/electronics repair tech in the mid '80s. I have noted, as I am sure others have, that the quality of the hardware and firmware of consumer video electronics has greatly declined. The throw-away era is upon us, and I curse the business modelers who came up with this disgusting concept. Yet, I am sure that a cursory examination of the MTBF (mean time between failure) statistics for electronic devices will show that things are getting better and better. Someone is lying here. I believe that the current method of surface-mounting/wave soldering of components is less reliable than the older methods which went through the PC board. I have literally had capacitors/resistors come off and stick to my fingers with USB thumb drives. The knee-jerk elimination of lead-based solder may also be having an impact. Please refer to Google "tin whisker" development in integrated circuits"" if you want more information. I remember seeing a few years ago that the MTBF (mean time between failure) for a CRT was something like 90,000 hours. The value for an LCD display is something like 40,000 hours, max. Of course, the CRT has been in development for almost a century...
I agree with you on the quality. I had a Zenith floor model for 15 years. I worked in the TV repair business mostly when it was tubes. I took a job as an Electronics Technician in a local Nuclear Manufacturing Company. I worked for 30 years and retired 10 years ago. That should say I am old and have seen a lot of changes in the consumer and Industrial Electronics. I worked mostly on Electron Beam Welders and CNC Milling Machines. Thompson took over RCA and GE lines of TV's and because of poor solder joints evidentaly due to the lack of lead, many ended up in the dump. I talked to many techs and none ever had much success getting them to work for very long. I personally have gone through 4 DVD recorders but have found Panasonic the most reliable. I do understand the Samsung is pretty good and thinking of buying one with a Digital Tuner. Even the early VCR's if it wasn't the head or a sensor that were mostly replaceable, anything else it was not worth it. My first experience with a Video Tape Unit was a Craig one inch reel to reel. It weighed about 40 pounds and B&W. Static Electricity drove it crazy. About a year later we bought the first RCA VCR's with the drop in cartridge and in color. Not long after that the VHS beat out Beta Max and became the standard. What do you reccomend in the new flat panel TV's? Thinking about using my rebate to buy one. I now have a JVC 32 inch CRT set that has been fantastic. I connect my Off Air Digital Tuner to it and the picture is excellent. When in HD the picture is Widescreen and beautiful. Anyway I can talk about this stuff all day but it's just me the wife and the cat. The wife watches Lifetime mostly and the cat eats, sleeps and scratches in the litter box. Take Care.
Me again. As to Firmware, it is in anything that has any processing power. Years ago I took a course in computers to help me with my work. I learned basic programming on an old Altair and later built and used a Heathkit using a Motorola Processor. I enjoyed every second of it. I learned to program in machine code which is as basic as it comes. Later I used neumonics to program e-proms for other computers that controlled process equiptment. Even these systems had firmware for the processor to wake up to. Arcade machines had them and the processor boards had e-proms with the actual games on them. The firmware would have the start address to start or boot from. When DVD players and recorders came out they all had small processors and programs to read and convert the media. It's when there is difficulty reading the may types that firmware upgrades came in. Most of it is permanent but has parts in eeproms that can be changed to help with media problems. My ES20 was having problems keeping the Date and time nothing else. Somehow the upgrade for now has fixed it. This unit has always had flakey problems especially around time for DST. I turned it off but it would still mess things up. Maybe they fixed it for the new DST which starts this weekend. My digital Tuner has a connector on the back marked "Update" for service only. It's everywhere, even in Rice Cookers with Fuzzy Logic. We have one.
I also learned 8080 mnemonics on a Heathkit trainer! (I assembled it, we still have it, works well). As a student (20 years ago) I adapted a KSR teletype with tape reader and a cassette deck to save/load programs. I now teach Chemistry at my alma mater. I am amazed at the decline in student quality from year to year, we are doomed. Maybe the Mayans were right, 2012 could be the end for us all. As far as video is concerned, I am currently using my old Mitsubishi HS-U780 S-VHS VCR for recording. I found TDK S-VHS T-160 tapes for ~$1 at MCM Electronics. The video quality in SP mode is the same or superior to the DVD recording anyway (for now). I grudgingly admit that I HAVE to eventually switch to digital. I am sure that you realize that the digital tuners that the Feds are imposing require a stronger signal than the old analog stations. I think the result may be the end of local TV in rural areas. Regards, DMRES20
I have 2 H-89 Heathkits with 64K Ram, Original IBM PC with 640K Ram and a KSR-33 Teletype. Looking for a museum that would want it. The newer computers makes us so lazy and we have stopped thinking for ourselves because of it. Our engineers designed all this and countries like China got rich manufacturing and selling them to us and now are buying the Oil out from under us. You are right it takes more power to transmit the Digital signal. It was the same when UHF stations first started but is worse now. They are saying some stations may be able to go back to their original channels after the transition is complete. There is only a fraction of the frequencies in the VHF range the government is auctioning. Here in our area the Local PBS is broadcasting their digital on Channel 3. I am able to get those on the UHF better for some reason. I found if I use my Digital Tuner and record on a DVD Recorder using the HD widescreen aspect, the recording is beautiful. It is as good as a Factory recorded DVD and in some respects better. I record stuff for my son who lives in Japan and a DVD is a lot cheaper to mail. Over the years I have mailed hundreds of tapes to him. He finally threw many of them in the recycle system Japan has. No one wanted them. There may be something to December 21, 2012. It's the eve of my 70th birthday if I live that long. Right now I am suffering with arthritis or something in my shoulders. Going to get some cortisone shots hoefully next week. I have had this done before and was very effective. The doctor that did this has retired and he was good at doing this. He would numb the area first and inject it in several areas rather that just one. That way I would get relief fairly fast. Enjoyed talking to you. My Son teaches at a Japanese University. He has taught at several different schools for over 10 years now. He is happy and that makes us happy. Ron
