I bought a 513 fm Walmart last yr for $198 I think - it's ok - definitely does not record in hi-def or HQ or whatever you call a good sharp pic but ok for my purposes - & glad it has the 1/3 faster playback feature like the Panasonics to speed thru my recorded news programs - also has a 30 second jump forward or backward feature, another aid in speeding thru programs (& maybe the 30 seconds is changeable/programmable - I forget)
I've set up the Magnavox MDR 515 that I ordered the other day. It has a large HDD and seems to produce good quality recordings. But as others have said here, the user interface is practically a case study in bad design. The two most obvious design issues: When you burn a DVD, unless you have exactly filled the disk with video, it creates an additional "Empty Space" title that appears on the DVD along with your programming. I called and asked Support, and they said there was no way to get rid of it, short of recording something to fill it, and then deleting it. It doesn't affect the function of the DVD, but man, does it make the menu look cheesy. Also, there seems to be no way to display the recorded titles list (NAV, on the Panasonic) in simple list or table form. It will hold 600 titles, and the only display option is thumbnails. It's way better than not having an HDD DVD recorder at all, but it sure makes me wish I could get my Panasonic working again!
Oh -- can anyone tell me where the DMR-E50M fits into the pantheon of Panasonics? Is it like the EH50? Earlier or later than the E85H? Also, is there a way one can test capacitors in place, using a voltmeter? I have replaced all of the visibly blown ones, but I wonder if others have failed that aren't so obvious.
I went a different route and started building a PVR, basically a PC based DVR. Now I get guide data via the internet, a full update takes a few minutes. A dual tuner card allows me to record to programs at the same time while watching another recording. Smart recording choices like "only record new episodes". Funny thing is while I was building the PVR my faithful DMR-E85 started getting guide data again? Did it get jealous??
My dmr-e85h is starting to ignore almost any type of blank dvd-r. Even ones it had previously made. It still reads commercial dvds. Firmware: 0990DL Drive: J134 What is my best plan of attack? Also, what brand of DVD-r are you using? I had been using Sony's (made in Malaysia). It didn't like those from Taiwan or India. Hard to find anything but those now. Thanks. ====================== Update: 06/21/2012 I've replaced c1413, c1260, c1261, c1270, c1271. I've checked all other caps. All show no signs of damage. I've (very carefully)cleaned the laser lens. Still no luck. The won't read anything but commercial dvds. Anything made in my computer or other Pannys won't read in the dmr-85h. Discs that won't read in the 85h do read in my other Pannys. I'm hoping that since the 85h still reads commercial dvds that the problem reading home-made discs isn't with the dvd drive. Thanks for any help you can offer. This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 21 Jun 2012 @ 15:14
1. Can you still burn a DVD with that unit? Without errors? Can they then be read in another machine? 2. I have had issues with dirty lenses. I have an official "Clean the lens" CD that seems to help. It has little pokey things that I assume wipe the lens. I then also spray some "canned air" into the drive. 3. Have you burned a video DVD using a computer drive? Does the machine read that one? 4. I have been using "Memorex DVD-R" blanks with reasonable success. Good Luck! Roger.
1. Unable to read/burn any discs in panny. 2. Those are good suggestions. 3. I had tried this. The Panny won't read them. 4. If I can get this to work. I'll try that brand. Thanks!
It sounds like it might be the DVD-Rom Drive itself, I think they use a standard EIDE interface you could buy something like this and check the drive out by hooking it up to your PC (hooking it up through the USB connector). http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-2-0-to-...t=US_Drive_Cables_dapters&hash=item3f0c5f9149 This one also has a power supply so you could try using that power supply for the DVD-Rom drive while it's still hooked up to the Panny. You could maybe be able to find a replacement DVD-ROM Drive that would fit if it's the DVD-Rom Drive that is broken.
Well, today I've had an unexpected and unhappy development with my DMR-E85 so I'll post the symptom and ask other users for advice. I had dubbed some recordings on the HDD to DVD overnight and then finalized the disk late this morning -- those operations had no problems, but when I tried to eject the disk ... nothing. It seemed there was a faint noise from inside, but no gnashing or grinding of any significance. So, I pulled out the manual and followed the troubleshooting instruction to power the unit off, then press the "stop" and "channel up" buttons simultaneously. This produced a more definite sound which seemed mechanical in origin, but the disk tray flap didn't open or the tray move in any way. If I manually pull the flap open and try to press gently on the tray, there's very little "give" side-to-side and essentially none front-to-back. I powered the unit on again and tried the eject button, but there's no different outcome. So, the next option I might try is a reset by inputting the code I was given years ago by one of the Panny techs ("653274147" on the messages screen), but thought before I took that step I'd post a message here first. Any thoughts or advice is welcome -- naturally I've got a pretty full HDD of stuff I want to offload (or need to offload if I have to send it somewhere for repair), but while the dubbing functions seem to be working okay the inability to eject disks sorta precludes the objective.
You might take a look at this thread: http://www.avforums.com/forums/blu-ray-dvd-recorders-media/368080-panasonic-drme85-fault.html I just came across it, and someone talks about solving a problem with getting a disc out.
Thanks for the tip, starrig -- that thread was a bit old and not immediately successful at resolving the issue, but the website handle reminded me of another forum with a very similar name (AVSFORUM) I had frequented some years back when futzing with Panny issues, so I took a look at it after retrieving/changing the old password. A couple of things to mention of potentially great interest to folks who monitor this thread: 1. There's a guy (Mike in CT) who is a regular on the AVSFORUM and works on these units who is highly recommended by a number of people over the past several years (most of whom have also used the "official" repair options in McAllen TX with less-than-positive things to say about it). I've established a preliminary line of communication with him via personal message within that forum, arranged to speak by telephone tomorrow and hope he'll be able to guide me through a quick fix or take care of the repair needed if I have to ship it to him. In full disclosure, I've had this unit for almost 10 years and have had the capacitors replaced twice when under extended warranty, the last time by the folks in McAllen 4 years ago - they were okay, but I had to determinedly insist on having my unit repaired and returned with the hard drive & contents intact rather than a quick swap-out with a refurbished unit. I'm less inclined to use them again now that it's well out of its extended warranty. 2. Magnavox has a new model in the works to replace the 515 -- and this one will have a 1TB (yes, ONE TERABYTE) HDD! Here's a link to the AVSFORUM thread with that discussion, which appears to have very solid grounding: http://www.avsforum.com/t/1416777/1000-gig-hdd-to-replace-515 Guess I'm not so unhappy that I missed out on the 515 purchase after all, even though the timing of this latest Panny problem is far too ironic....
I'd be interested in hearing how it works out with that fellow who does repairs. For my original E85H, I've ordered one more part as as long shot: the little voltage regulator that sits near the usual capacitors that folks replace. They're widely available on ebay, and on that other forum, a number of people mentioned having to replace them. I've also ordered a used, working E85H on ebay, which I want to try out as a replacement. (I figure I could just swap my current HD into it, as an easy way to save the stuff I've got recorded.) I like the Panasonic much better than the Magnavox, so I'm going out on a limb a little bit to try keeping one running. Re the Magnavox 515, it works perfectly adequately, but after about a week of learning, I'm still not thrilled with its user interface. If I can get a Panasonic working reliably, I'll probably either return the 515 to the Amazon merchant or offer to anyone here who will pay me what I paid for it. I don't need the extra large capacity, as I'm just using it as an enhanced DVD burner to take stuff off the Comcast DVR.
I think if you just swap hdd's it will want to reformat the Hdd (which would erase what's on it). What you could do is just take the working parts (power supply, and DVD Drive if needed) from the new Ebay one and put them into the broken one.
Good news! After the recent round of cap replacements. The drive still wouldn't recognize blank dvds. I first cleaned the inside of the drive. Then I followed advice here to use canned air. That worked! The unit is working fine again. Not bad for a 8 year old machine!
In April 2011, I bought this: Panasonic PADMREH59 DMR-EH59GA-K Multi-Zone 250GB HDD/DVD Recorder 1 $369.95 + a 3 year protection plan for $50.00 sold by B & H Photo 420 Ninth Avenue, New York, NY 10001 www.bhphotovideo.com 866.905.7759 212.560.3273 Info was posted here back in March/April 2011. International model but I love it and it works great. A few differences - biggest one is no tuner but I have adjusted to this and really like the good stuff on this machine.
In April 2011, I bought this: Panasonic PADMREH59 DMR-EH59GA-K Multi-Zone 250GB HDD/DVD Recorder 1 $369.95 + a 3 year protection plan for $50.00 sold by B & H Photo 420 Ninth Avenue, New York, NY 10001 www.bhphotovideo.com 866.905.7759 212.560.3273 Info was posted here back in March/April 2011. International model but I love it and it works great. A few differences - biggest one is no tuner but I have adjusted to this and really like the good stuff on this machine.
The used E85H I bought on ebay appears to be in very good condition, so I'm going to return or sell the Magnavox 515 that I bought through Amazon. I thought I'd ask here first if anyone wants it. It's a Magnavox MDR515H, with a 500 GB hard drive, and can write to DVD-R and +R. I've tested it pretty thoroughly, and it's a solid machine, with video burning capability comparable to the Panasonic. (Actually, a bit more flexibility, in that there are more choices of video quality.) The reason I'm not keeping it is that I just don't care for the user interface. Maybe I'm just too accustomed to the Panasonic. (No TVGuide function, either, though that probably doesn't matter much anymore since Comcast is discontinuing the feed.) The prices on these have skyrocketed, since they've been taken off the market. (They're now $1000 and up on Amazon!) I'm not looking to make a killing on anyone, and I hope no one makes an offer just to flip it on ebay. This group has been helpful to me, and I want to help back, if any of you are genuinely interested in the unit but just didn't get to it in time. Please send me a private message (soon) if interested. Jeff
Well, got my repaired E85 back from Mike in CT this week, with a replacement of the faulty disc drive. Once again, it functions just fine. The process was pretty straightforward and handled through private mail exchanges on the AVS Forum which he regularly monitors, so any messages sent to him get a reply very quickly. Once contacted and he's provided with some description of the issue(s) you're experiencing, he provides a phone number for a direct conversation -- the two-way realtime conversation enables him to identify the most likely requirements for repair and the cost, and provide a description on the shipping and payment procedures. In our conversation, I was impressed by the large number of Panasonic models on which he has worked over the past couple of decades and his inventory of parts for repair is apparently well-stocked -- the E85 is a model with which he's very familiar. He had a replacement drive in hand that was all he thought was needed from our conversation and stated a price of $230 to be paid through PayPal. He prefers that the inbound shipment be done through FedEx Priority as they'll deliver it to him by 10am, and said he really tries to have the diagnosis, repair and testing done by later in the afternoon in order to get it to UPS for ground return. He asked me to include a blank DVD so he could run a test burn afterwards, and told me to include some sort of note if there was anything particular on the hard drive I would prefer to burn for the test, again emphasizing that he wouldn't make any changes to the archive on the hard drive or the settings. He also doesn't need any of the attachments (power cable, patch cords, remote etc.) as he's got plenty of those so I should just ship the bare unit. The cost of FedEx Priority shipping wasn't cheap for a package of the unit's weight & size, but given the circumstances I packed it up and shipped it off then provided the PayPal payment as agreed and e-mailed him the tracking # in case there was a problem somewhere with its delivery. He got the unit on schedule and turned around the same workday after it arrived, notifying me by e-mail of the UPS tracking number and confirming the diagnosis was correct and the post-repair test burn demonstrated no issues. It arrived on schedule a couple of days ago and has been re-integrated into my home AV system with a positive outcome on my own testing, so for a total cost of about $385 my E85 is back in service once again. I'll certainly give Mike's service a "thumbs up" recommendation, and while the cost of UPS shipping to McAllen from my home in Central Texas would have been less, I don't think the overall cost or the time involved would have been nearly as satisfactory, particularly since McAllen would have sent a refurb that had none of the archived programs on my unit's hard drive. If you should need to have repairs made on your unit(s), make contact through him at the AVSForum at the link below: http://www.avsforum.com/f/106/dvd-recorders
