A couple of years ago, I got a Panasonic DMR-EZ37VK DVD Recorder -- that's the one with VHS, DVD, and digital tuner, and the ability to record either VHS or DVD from any of the sources. I got it mainly to be able to copy our VHS collection to DVDs, which I did immediately and successfully. Until recently, I had only played those DVDs and a couple of others. Now I have a bit more time for a while and am starting to catch up on deferred watching. Unfortunately, due to this delay, the unit is out of warranty. And I'm finding that some DVDs don't play correctly. The video signal keep dropping out. The TV screen flashes irregularly between image and black, and when the black lasts for a while it shows "no signal". This even happens during the menu loop. There is NO problem with the audio at any time. When it happens, it starts early and continues through the entire DVD. Well, of course I don't watch all the way through, but if I skip to the last scene (which can be difficult when the menu is going in and out), it still happens. If it hasn't happened by the time it gets to the menu, the entire DVD plays fine. The first DVD I noticed it on was a somewhat scratchy Netflix DVD, so I assumed that was the problem ... until I tried a pristine DVD that I own and had the same problem. I haven't been able to figure out any rhyme or reason to what DVDs won't play. I've had problems, at least, with Oklahoma! (1955), Swimming Pool, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. DVDs that have played fine include McCabe and Mrs Miller, Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, The Last Unicorn, Mrs Parker and the Vicious Circle, and Amelie. All of these were from Netflix except Eternal Sunshine, which I own. All of them are mass-produced, pressed, legal DVDs -- nothing burned, nothing from a shady source. They all play fine on my laptop computer. The ones that had problems on the Panasonic unit play fine on the computer, even directly from the DVD and not ripped. I don't think there's any problem when using the digital tuner, though it's hard to tell -- we don't have an outside antenna, so the signal is weak and I expect dropouts anyway, but they are generally accompanied by other signs of bad reception. I haven't tried playing a VHS tape recently, though I played a lot when I did the copying and didn't have any problems. The manual for the unit doesn't offer any clues. Turning the unit off and back on doesn't help. Can anyone give me any clue as to what's going on? Thanks, Edward
Bad connections were my first thought. I checked all the connections (component video), twisted all the connectors to make sure they were tight. But bad connections or cables doesn't make sense. For example, Friday night I tried to watch Swimming Pool, and it was miserable, totally unwatchable due to the flashing in and out. Watched McCabe and Mrs Miller instead, and it did not go out a single time in the entire two hours. Put Swimming Pool back in, immediate problems. I've also switched back and forth between a DVD giving problems and broadcast TV (at a time when broadcast was working well); I would see problems with the DVD and none with the broadcast, no matter how many times I switched. (And yes, the broadcast was coming through the Panasonic unit, not picked up directly on the TV.) So I think I pretty much eliminated cable or connection problems. Thanks, Edward
If you connect the player to the TV via S-video or composite, does the problem occur ? What about a substitute component cable ? It sounds like an intermittent connection at the cable, or possibly somewhere in the DVD player. Have you hooked it to a second TV to eliminate the TV as the issue ?
Ah, the agony of being advised to do what I know I need to do but don't want to do ... Sigh. OK, here's the results I was able to get. It works fine on composite video. Had composite and component both hooked up to the TV, switching back and forth, composite had no problems when component had severe problems. I tried composite on another TV, but that doesn't tell me much, since composite works on the main TV. I tried playing a VHS tape and it worked fine, but I'd have to try a lot of tapes before I could say for sure that the problem never happens with VHS input. I don't have an S-video cable. The Panasonic unit doesn't do HDMI. The alternate TV doesn't do any kind of input except antenna and composite. So it gets more and more bizarre. It can't be the cables or connections, because it continues to be tightly tied to the DVD that's playing. But the unit can read the DVD just fine, as evidenced by the consistently good composite output. So ... it's something to do with generating the component output signal, yet it's triggered by something that's present on some DVDs but not on others. At least I have a backup. I left the composite video connected. To use it, I have to move the audio cable -- the TV has separate audio for composite and component, but they are shared on the Panasonic DVD recorder. Or I could go buy an S-video cable ($10 at Best Buy) and see if that works. Edward
Buy a second component cable from Best Buy or something. Just for the process of elimination. (You can always return it if the problem is unchanged ) As long as you're not doing upconvert to 1080i from the DVD player, I don't think you'll lose too much in terms of PQ. This is certainly a strange problem. Have you tried tapping the unit and/or the TV while it's malfunctioning? How about wiggling the cable ? Here's another idea, give Panasonic a call - Here's their toll-free support line. 1-800-211-7262
Nah, it's a standard TV, not to worry about upconverting etc. I think a call to Panasonic is my next step. I would probably buy an S-video cable before a dupe component video cable. I know, it's supposed to be not as good quality. But in truth I didn't have a lot of complaint about composite quality. Getting an S-video cable would test another path and also give me another backup path, since both the Panasonic unit and the TV have S-video and of course no wires are shared. Thanks. Edward
Hey, I wish you luck - I know how exasperating these problems can be. On most setups I've seen, S-Video does yield a slightly better image than composite. Update the post when you get to the bottom of it - Dave
