My aging Panasonic E20 DVD recorder has almost bitten the dust having served me well & earned quite a few bob from basic VHS etc to DVD. I`ve bought a Toshiba VCR/DVD/HDD unit to replace it but have to admit that it`s fairly user un-friendly & I`m tempted to return it & suffer the 10% loss that would happen if I exercised my consumer rights before the 28 days are up. Does anyone have one of the newer Panasonic combos of a similar type to the E20, I`d welcome any comments!
Recent (4 years) Toshiba DVD recorders are made by Funai and they are all rubbish - get rid quick.
The Panasonic recorders are fine BUT I would not recommend an all-in-one combo VCR/DVD unit.
The dub functions tend to be semi-automated. You may find poorer quality tapes don't go through too well.
Standalone recorders (with or without a hard drive) and a separate VCR are a much better solution.
The new Blu-ray recorders insist that incoming analogue footage MUST go to the hard drive instead of directly to DVD. It's a bit of an odd restriction since HD (SDHC) can go directly to disc. I do not know if the current model DVDR machines have the same limitation.
Panasonic have just swapped their system to allow PVR style stream recording instead of the traditional method of transcoding to XP/SP/LP etc when recording to HDD. This is a benefit for domestic use but perhaps of no interest in the studio.
The interface on the Panasonic machines has remained largely unchanged from day one. You will have no trouble finding your way around.
We have a large number of recorders - most of them are Panasonic. I've only killed two in about ten years - a E30 and a 2nd hand E50 - eject mech failed on both.
One thing to consider, especially if you are not using it to record telly - there are a lot of 2nd hand analogue recorders on the market costing peanuts. Lots of them appear to have had very little use - I think people bought them with major intentions but never worked out how to do anything beyond playing the odd DVD.
The usual brands are all pretty good - Panasonic, Pioneer and most Sony units.
Avoid Philips, Hitachi, LG, Samsung and any of the other cheapo badges.
Sorry it's a bit of rant Barry.
The Panasonic recorders are fine BUT I would not recommend an all-in-one combo VCR/DVD unit.The dub functions tend to be semi-automated. You may find poorer quality tapes don't go through too well.
My experience differs from yours, , Gavin. Last year I transferred a library of some 800 VHS tapes to DVD using Panasonic DMR-EZ48Vs. They do fully automated, semi-automated and manual dubbing. I used all three in the process. I relished that flexibility. The only tapes they choked with were VHS-C ones in the adaptor.
One of the great things about them is that they have a built in TBC, something I consider essential when copying VHS tapes. I thought the machines did a really good job.
What they didn't do, however, was NTSC to PAL conversion, or defeat copy protection. For that I had to use a standalone combination of VHS player, GTH ACE and the Panasonics. Worked a treat.
HTH
Mark
Fair enough Mark M - learned something myself there.
In hindsight I should have clarified my words a little - I've done a few jobs here that have defeated other peoples' combo decks. Hence my cautious approach.
I've also learned this morning (having RTFM) that using AV3 on the new Panasonic BD recorders you can go from analogue direct to DVD provided you use FR mode (Flexible Record). It is not possible to use XP/SP etc.
Thanks Guys, only just got back from shooting an "Anti-Social" Housing Association Vid!
I hear all you are saying Gavin & thanks for that! Recently, my cousin who`s visiting the country of her bith for the 1st time in 52 years, brought over a VHS tape of her daughters "Presentation", bit like our old "Coming Out" Ball for Debs etc. Try as I might, I could not copy her VHS tape to either my E20 or Sony DV1000 deck with out either unit constantly sdopping! I have never ever experienced this before. However, the Toshiba unit did it 1st time with no problems what so ever!!! So I`m tempted to keep it. Another queery re this unit, it has a 320gig HD with a USB connection. I`m having great difficulty in sourcing a USB to USB lead, Std flat connection on each end. My thinking is that maybe I can access the HD from my edit suite & ingest previous recorded material that has been stored there from i.e. TV recorded programs etc, any thoughts on this?
.......I`m having great difficulty in sourcing a USB to USB lead, Std flat connection on each end. .....
The don't really exist (an "A-to-A USB plug"?) as it would be connecting two USB masters together - not a good idea. Rather like connecting two PCs together by joining their USB sockets and hoping they'll talk.
So is there any practical use for a USB connection on the unit? I simply thought that my PC would see it as an external storage unit!
Any analogue tape i get i play through a Panasonic DMR-ES15 to its twin touch wood it has coped with everything so far
So is there any practical use for a USB connection on the unit? I simply thought that my PC would see it as an external storage unit!
Presumably, the USB socket on the Toshiba is so it can use addtional storage attached to it? - maybe for playback or recording, or both?? (I'm guessing here!)
USB socket on RDXV60 (is that the one Barry?) is for playback of MP3, JPEG and DivX (not guaranteed).
We bought two RDXV48 when they first came out - Toshiba's flagship model.
The functionality was superb - i.e. it did a lot of things, it did them in a useful way and was very easy to use. The remote was a bit "cheap" but functioned well.
The quality of the encoding was very poor. Both units suffered from variations in the brightness levels on recorded content. It was as if the unit had an AGC circuit for the video which attempted to optimise the levels but failed to do so.
Here is what I found with the RD-XV48.
It was very easy to test and apparent on all recordings off-air or via the AV inputs.
You could actually see the encoder kick in when you hit record.
Simple test was:- Shoot some footage on any good camcorder on full auto - point camera out of window into daylight - camera will stop down - pan camera back into room - camera will open iris.
View camera footage - if it's a decent camera there will be a gradual opening and closing of the iris as the scene changes from dark to light / light to dark.
Copy footage to Toshiba via S-Video or composite.
The result we saw....instead of a gradual change from dark to light (as seen on the DV recording) the Toshiba rendered the footage with big steps on the levels - i.e. it would try to hold the level then give up and step down (or up) a lot.
This was an extreme test BUT in everyday recordings (including off air TV) the brightness levels fluctuated all over the place. Once you knew about it you could spot it a mile off.
Maybe Toshiba(Funai) have fixed the problem with newer models BUT they could not care less when I complained. They refused to acknowledge ANY fault whatsoever. When pressed (repeatedly) for comment they stated I was not using it for the purpose it was intended.
Toshiba have lost the brand loyalty of at least five households since then.
Sorry for the rant BUT it may be worth your while checking your recorder.
Thanks Gavin, I`ll check out your ideas after the weekend, off to a Army reunion with guys I joined up with in 1960 & last saw in `63! Should be quite a weekend!!!