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Your opinions on a couple of recorders...

Discussion in 'DVD recorders' started by JBauer24, Dec 3, 2005.

  1. JBauer24

    JBauer24 Member

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    The Panasonic DMR-ES40VS or the Panasonic DMR-ES30VS.

    Seems like all the user reveiw negativity is related to people not knowing how to use it. What are your guys opinions on these two products and which should I go with?
     
  2. DogBomb

    DogBomb Regular member

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    I personally stayed away from Panasonic because it doesn't let you burn to all formats like DVD+RW and DVD+R. Panasonic's proprietary DVD-RAM is expensive, and it's not compatible with any other DVD player. Panasonic also supports DVD-RW but these don't work on other players or PCs, only the player you burned it on. DVD+RWs can be recorded on and used right away in another player without finalizing. So unless these recorders have the other formats (the new Sonys even have dual-layer recording), I'd stay awa from them.
     
    Last edited: Dec 4, 2005
  3. catfreak

    catfreak Active member

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       ALL DVD RECORDERS HAVE A FATAL FLAW !!!

    •Some things to remember, in general, about DVD recorders:
     (1) There is no "holy grail firmware fix" for most errors. It is often a hardware or mechanical issue to deal with.
     (2) Another issue is TBCs (timebase correctors) and how they function. Know that most "TBCs" are misnomers, and are really just TBC-like circuits. What few units have TBCs use ones that are so weak that they do almost nothing.

    •Panasonic
    •Issues:
    (1) Macroblocks in images, especially at anything longer than 2-2½ hours.
    (2) On early units, IRE was incorrect, meaning the image was far too bright and colors desaturated. This is usually not seen on the recorder (used as the player), but is VERY apparent when played on ANY other DVD player.
    (3) On recent units, luma is overpowering, causing image to shift slightly green and a shade too dark. This is very obviously an attempt to correct the IRE issues, but was overly agressive.
    (4) AC3 Dolby Digital audio files are imperfect, often corrupt, sometimes causing computer editing to be near-impossible (audio sync errors).
    (5) HDD units are known to fail, or have U99 errors.
    (6) Authoring errors can cause discs to not play or copy.

    •How common is it?
    (1) Very common. It infects every Panasonic machine.
    (2) The E10, E20 and E30 are the only units with this error.
    (3) All units AFTER the E30 have IRE "fixed" but this error has taken it's place.
    (4) Common enough to be wary of. It may be a certain combination of recording mode and media type that causes this.
    (5) Very common on the E80 and E85 units.
    (6) Very common, infecting a large majority of units, maybe all of them.

    •Can it be fixed?
    (1) No. This is the craptacular in-house Panasonic hardware encoder chipset, and they seem to like it that way.
    (2) No.
    (3) No. This is some potential that it can be fixed in theory, but only Panasonic techs would know if it were possible. This has not happened, and probably never will.
    (4) Unknown. The error is not persistent enough to be identified as of yet. The work-around is to edit the video in Womble MPEG Video Wizard and let the software re-encode all the audio to MP2 format. You can convert it back to AC3 later if needed.
    (5) Yes, sort of. There is a work-around. The "split title" function can help avoid the problem, sometimes. Panasonic can also replace entirely dead drives at the service centers.
    (6) Yes, sort of. There is a work-around. re-author the disc on the PC. DVD Shrink and TDA are two methods that work fast and effective.

    •Will it break again?
    Does not apply to (1), (2), (3), (4) and (6).
    For (5), yes. Panasonic will replace it with more of the same faulty parts. There are many complaints of repeated failures.

    •Related myths:
    (1) Panasonic has "deeper colors". That is simply not true. It is a visual distortion caused from being slightly too dark, which gives false illusion of "deeper" colors.
    (2) The TBC improves quality. DVD recorder TBCs are so weak they may as well not exist.

    {thanks to VideoHelp.com}


     
    Last edited: Dec 7, 2005
  4. JBauer24

    JBauer24 Member

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    Thanks. Ive decided not to go with either and stick with the lite-on 5005.

    Now im on to which VCR I need.
     
  5. DogBomb

    DogBomb Regular member

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    If you even need a VCR, you might want to go for the Sony VX515 DVD/VCR combo. It saves space on the shelf.
     
  6. catfreak

    catfreak Active member

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    To quote many Sony DVD recorder owners ... "SONY SUCKS" ..

    If you need a DVD recorder/VCR combo unit (which I don't recommend) get a LiteOn LVC9006 ...

    Personally, I'd recommend getting the cheapest JVC stereo VCR that you can find .. it'll be a good unit
     
  7. JBauer24

    JBauer24 Member

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    Im thinking of getting a JVC 7800 or JVC 9800 or JVC 9911.
     
  8. catfreak

    catfreak Active member

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    I agree with that guy .. he knows what's up
     

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