Hi to all, Please excuse all of my questions, I have no clue. I just purchased the PANASONIC DMR-ES30VS VCR/DVD COMBO. I am new to DVDland. Much confused by all the media types. From what I see the recorder is compatible with - Ram,-/+R, -RW, not sure on +RW. I wanted to pick up a hundred pack of a high end DVD -R like Ritek or Yuden and some - Ram disks too and was wondering what you guys are using. I read in a media superstore site that some 4x and higher disks may not be compatible for some reason and I don't want to get stuck with unusable media. I'll be doing all real time conversion. Can someone recommend some good dvd disks for use in converting my favorite VHS tapes to DVD and the pros and cons of + and - R and RW media? How abut -RAM? Will I be able to have markers on my favorite movies so that I can instantly jump to a desired location with a standard DVD-R or do I need -RAM for this? I'd also like to make compliations of my favorite tapes and be able to select parts to play easily. Thanks in advance!
I have a Panasonic E80H recorder and use Taiyo Yuden for the most part. I have used TDK, Fuji and Sony 8X with no problems. However, mine is having a problem with the 8X Verbatim, so I am thinking of upgrading the firmware in the unit, which can be done through the Panasonic site. You can check periodically and see if your unit is listed. You do realize you cannot backup copyrighted VHS tapes with this unit, only those that you recorded yourself.
Here's what I found on your panasonic combo. http://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers.php?DVDnameid=5390&Search=Search&#comments
Thanks for all the great links! "You do realize you cannot backup copyrighted VHS tapes with this unit, only those that you recorded yourself. " Say it isn't so! My plan was to copy mostly family tapes but we do have lots of classic VHS material that we so hoped to convert to DVD. Is there any way?
You can backup family tapes, I use mine for recording of camcorder movies, and to backup old VHS camcorder stuff. But my old retail VHS tapes is a no go, the recorder has a something in the firmware that recognizes the copyright and the only way you can get around this is to either record via dubbing to another VHS tape and then do it, or by capture on a PC.
I'm surprised your Panasonic has all the burn formats. I stayed away from them because they only supported the DVD-RAM format and write-once DVD-R format. Although DVD-RAM has better editing features than DVD+/-RWs, it's worthless because you can only play them on other Panasonic DVD-RAM players! For my DVD recording, I only use rewritables because I can edit them (take out commercials, etc.). And if I want to keep the results, I can just burn it on my PC to a DVD+/-R. DVD-RWs have better editing capabilities than DVD+RWs using a feature called VR, but you can only play it on the standalone (just like DVD-RAM). But with DVD-RWs, you can manually create markers, but not with DVD+RWs. For me, I bought a 100-pack of Ridata 4X DVD+RWs from Newegg for $30 after rebate. They are RICOHJPNW11 (very good). My DVD recorder can handle 8X DVD+/-Rs but not the 8X DVD+RWs. You have to check your manual because alot of older standalones can't even handle 4X DVD+RWs.
