Page 1 of Hints and tips For Panasonic Machines.

Got this from www.dvdrhelp.com
Full link http://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=251884
Sounds like some good advice, but use at your own risk please!

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After one year of intensive professional use of the Panasonic DMR-E60 DVD recorder and almost 500 happy clients without any complain about the quality of the recordings as well as the compatibility with other DVD players, I decided to share my experiences with other Panasonic owners hoping that this will help them to achieve similar results.

Few members of our community claim that they can see "horrible macro blocs" in Panasonic recordings. My clients and I have never ever seen anything like that and I am quite sure that the poor quality (other than specific source quality or a faulty unit) is the result of using factory default settings and recording presets - something that will never give you the best performance from these machines!

The tips that follow gave me the opportunity to make recordings up to 3 hours with a full SP resolution and minimal digital artifacts as well as full compatibility with other DVD players.

So, lets start with the proper settings:

1. Go to SETUP - VIDEO - Black Level Control:
- Input level - make it "Darker".
- Composite & SVideo Output Level - make it "Lighter".
- Component Video Output Level - make it "Normal".
This will assure correct black level setting on your recorder (no brighter or darker recorded images compare to the originals).

2. While you are there go to HYBRID VBR RESOLUTION and set it to FIXED. This is very important! The default setting is "Automatic". Many Panasonic users think that this setting allows them to turn the VBR system "on" or "off". WRONG! Variable Bit Rate is always ON and it can't be turn OFF. If you leave it on "Automatic" then the recording system will lower (downshift) the resolution of the image (from 704x480 to 352x480 or 352x240) if it feels that it can compress the video easier at lower resolutions. The theory behind it: it switches to a lower resolution so it can stay within the maximum bit rate. My experience with this system has proven to me that it is better if you forget about the theory and go with the practical results! If you set it to "Fixed" then the recording system will set the resolution to one setting and leave it there for the duration of the recording! Also, the "Automatic" option causes playback problems on some DVD player units, and certain computer programs cannot deal with this and when exporting to an MPEG they will create a separate file every time there is a resolution switch. This is one of the crucial settings on Panasonic DVD recorders - make it "FIXED" if you want to have the best PQ and compatibility.

2. Never use XP mode (1Hr) recording if you have the intention to play recorded discs on other players. Some DVD players are choking (stuttering and freezing) playing DVD's from Panasonic machines recorded with this high bit rate.

3. For recording anything up to 2Hrs of length use the SP preset. While the FR mode will provide marginally better quality on shorter programs, it will often select a bit rate too high for some DVD players. Also, my tests shows that the SP preset yields better recording quality than a Flexible Recording set on 2Hrs. So, use the SP preset and don't worry about the quality of the recordings.

4. NEVER USE THE LP RECORDING PRESET! This preset should be banned for any recordings up to 3 hours! For any recording from 2 hours up to 3 hours (I made tests up to 2 hours and 55 minutes) use only the FR mode. Because of the "Fixed" setting, FR mode will give you full SP resolution of the recording up to 3 hours with a bit rate just below SP but well above LP. This is a remarkable quality achievement that I didn't experience with any other brand of DVD recorders. All of them will "die" at 2 hours and 20-30 minutes. People who complain about Panasonic's recording quality at these lengths didn't have proper settings and (or) they were using the LP recording preset.

5. If you need recordings longer then 3 hours, use the SP preset and two DVD's! Anything else is not serious.

6. Don't be shy of using S-Video input instead of DV (if your model has one). You will be surprised to find that an analog input gives better recordings than the DV-in. Something that bothers me the most is the fact that a DV input will give you a slightly brighter picture (like the recordings of the JVC DR-M10S) than the original image.

7. Always use the best quality DVD-R's.

I hope that these tips will be helpful and I am encouraging other owners of the Panasonic DVD recorders to feel free to add any other tips or suggestions for getting better results from these machines.

Zoran

This item was edited on Monday, 14th March 2005, 12:09

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5. If you need recordings longer then 3 hours, use the SP preset and two DVD's! Anything else is not serious.

So I should employ someone/ask a friend to change discs for me when I`m out then ? :/
Sorry,but that`s picky beyond belief.
I often record hours of stuff (mostly live sport) and the quality is perfectly acceptable.
Only the geekiest of geeks would sit and tutt at the slight reduction of quality,rather than just enjoying the recording. :B

Yep I think you are right, I use my LP setting a lot and the picture seems to be very good, I will try the following though . :)
Quote:
For any recording from 2 hours up to 3 hours (I made tests up to 2 hours and 55 minutes) use only the FR mode. Because of the "Fixed" setting, FR mode will give you full SP resolution of the recording up to 3 hours with a bit rate just below SP but well above LP. This is a remarkable quality achievement that I didn't experience with any other brand of DVD recorders.

This item was edited on Monday, 14th March 2005, 15:33

I always tend to use FR unless it`s spot on 1 hr or 2hr; I rarely need to record for 4 hours `in one sitting`...however I did try EP (6 hr mode) the other day, just to see what it looks like now I`ve got a better pic through Freeview. Even in EP it was perfectly acceptable...indeed, no worse than VHS.

Will check out this `Fixed` VBR thing though.

Anyone know what this `comb filter` thing is though?

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Anyone know what this `comb filter` thing is though?

Some sort of signal processing thing that removes `artifacts` from the picture.
That`s my understanding of it anyway. :/

if i ever have to record more than 2 hrs to a disc, i always record it from the digi box, and the wife has to make do with the 5 crappy channels :).
couldn`t be doing with making 2 disc recordings, seems a bit too keen.