There's also a "press and hold the on/off button on the machine for more than 10 seconds" option. This method also seems to clear the cached EPG (but not the tuner info or programme timers set) and results in the inordinately long checking process when switched back on as with quick start set to off.

Handy to know.

Having used the machine for a few months now,I do find the lack of a digital equivalent to PDC a nuisance.
This does negate the usefulness of timer programming via the epg as you have to add 5-10 minutes to guarantee to get all of the programme.
Anyone know if terrestrial digital will implement this or an equivelant to Sky autoview.I wont hold my breath for the broadcasters to go back to starting programmes on time.

I personally have not found an EPG that I like yet. All my programming is done using Videoplus codes. I have deleted the analogue stations from the machine so that when you enter a code you just have to enter the digital station number to tell it which channel to record. It's a pity the machine can't remember these and so assign codes automatically to the correct channel. Then I pad as you suggest and that's it. For me this is by far much quicker and easier than using the EPG but maybe that's just personal preference. If you then go the the EPG it still marks these programmes anyway as set to record.

Last night's euphoria was somewhat dulled this morning when I applied a voltmeter to the two batteries I removed from the remote unit. They both gave high readings. However, they were Panasonic's batteries already in place in the remote at purchase, so might have been there for a few weeks and begun to lose the ability to retain their ooomph.

Anyway, after reading Gavin's message, I exchanged the remote's batteries for new ones, and attempted the same tasks which had given rise to errors, and this time the machine performed as it ought to. However, I couldn't test it with the original saved files because they had already been damaged in the first exercise. Tonight I shall re-record the long file (two movies together) and try the delete and partial edit procedures again. In the meantime, I've done the recommended resets too. So we shall wait and see!

Once more, many thanks to both of you.

max

Battery teminal voltage is not a guarantee of a good battery. A better test would be to see how they perform under load of multiple button presses.
However another simple happenstance and possible explanation is poor battery contact . That is very common in giving remote problems . Just ensure that the terminals on battery and remote are kept clean.


Can you explain what you mean here... Damaged? I've not heard of anyone suffering a damaged recording on this machine.
That suggests that the recording may have been the problem in the first place ... ie .. was damaged from the start.

One possible explanation for this is that your VCR , which is possibly getting long in the tooth, is not outputting sync pulses, either some, or all of the time, because the ACE head is worn or the Pinch roller is barrelled and dragging the tape ribbon out of alignment and thus off the ACE head.

I dont't know how the EH60 would respond to loss of sync pulses , but I dont imagine it likes it.

Don't forget : Use 'Divide Title' not 'delete' ... Partial edit maybe to tidy the 'ends' up as necessary.


Best of luck.
' Want to know what you mean by damaged though.

Gavin

To begin with, I had two films stored on video tape. Once I'd worked out how to record from VCR to the Panasonic's HDD I set both units running and then went out for the afternoon. When I got back the Panasonic had very kindly recorded the whole of the 4-hour tape, as expected, which consisted of the two films plus about 45 minutes of "noise".

I used the "Divide" function successfully to split the recording between the two films, and then tried to do the same thing between the second film and the noise. This is when the problem I first reported occurred. I could only escape from the unit's being stuck in Fast Forward (in fact, I think it's called "Slow Search") by powering down on the front panel. Next I tried to take out the commercial breaks from the first of the two films, using Partial Edit. Since I used only the second of five speed steps of FF to locate the breaks, this was successful; so I went back to try again to crop the tail of noise from film no. 2. Still no success, but in my efforts once more to escape I pressed Enter and somehow managed to delete all picture information in the second film. I was still left with a recording of about 2.5 hours length, but with no screen preview; and when I pressed "Play" the unit skipped forward to the next recording.

Does this cast any light?

Best...

Max

I think that possibly the clue to the problem here is the recorded 'noise'.

I cant imagine what the encoder or recorder tries to make of noise with no sync pulses... It would probably account for why you were unable to control navigation properly in that recording .

I presume the VCR had no aerial or was not tuned to a channel, so that when the end of the tape was reached it just stopped [ and rewound if that is what your VCR does ] and defaulted to a 'No signal' condition.

If you expect to be absent at the end of such a recording it is probably worth arranging to have it default to a channel with a picture so that sync pulses will be present.

This is just surmise on my part. I may experiment into this if I ever get the time and opportunity.

I hope your second attempt will go well.

Good Luck

Gavin

Yes Max's experience above does seem strange. I've copied a dozen or so tapes to DVD and a few which needed editing to the hard-drive first. On about 5 or 6 tapes which had continious recordings ie 2 films together or several 30min programs one after the other continually they all split fine at the chosen location without any problems.

One thing that was pleasantly noticable, was how well the EH60D cleaned up the tape picture, probably due to its TBC, the copy looked much cleaner with less noise than the original tape. I must admit I was quite impressed with the improved quality of any taped recordings.

Has anyone noticed much improvment by turning on the 'Comb Filter' when recording, I've experimented but still undecided on this one. Theory wise it should be cleaner, first time I've seen a Comb Filter fitted to a recorder, I know expensive TV's sometimes have Comb Filter circuitry.

Mike

I suspect you're right. Yesterday I made exactly the same recording – the same two films together, followed by a period while the recorder just recorded "noise" (a black screen with a white snowstorm of dots). I used "Divide" to split the first film off, and the FF worked as it should. I then started to use Divide again to split the second film from the noise, and very soon experienced the former problem, in which it was impossible to get the remote to talk to the recorder (this with the new batteries).

Anyway, I've arranged to exchange it for a new one tomorrow, because I don't like unresolved problems whatever their origin, and if I don't do it this weekend I'll lose the opportunity under the dealer's "30-day" returns policy.

Thanks to all for their fantastic help!

Max

Oh well just ordered mine from empire direct, the price even went down in their sale, so hopefully next tuesday I should be having fun setting it up, thanks for the help I was given a little while ago.
Dave

I have copied several VHS tapes to mine. Used Divide without a problem and also the "VHS" picture quality even from LP recordings is remarkably good. I just wish it could correct VHS tracking errors!

(Good price too - I like the comment "after sales price £529.99" as if they really will put the price up to that!)

Good luck with it. I think you'll like it.

Let us know how you get on with it.

Gavin

I decided not to order mine before going on holiday because there could be a problem of no-one to receive it. When I got back the prices had gone up and it was out of stock (even at Panasonic) but I tracked one at Richer Sounds, not too far to drive.

I found using Playlists much more difficult than on my previous model (HS2). I could not find a way to edit entries if I got the chapter marks slightly out. It seemed I had to start again. I could not find any use for the Copy Playlist function as I could not alter the copy.

I made my first disk with different attempts just to try them out. Like the HS dubbing mode setting. This seemed to be OK so far.

So I tried to dub a copy of Harry Potter from the HDD to DVD-R. After about an hour and a half the picture froze. I pressed the Return (long press) to terminate the dubbing. Got a message saying it was terminating it but nothing for a while then the front display said PLEASE WAIT. I waited and waited - nothing happened. Eventually had to remove the mains plug.

After self check there were messages to say there was an error and that the disk needed checking. I removed and reloaded the disk. The recording appeared to end about a minute before the freeze point. I set it up to dub the remainer of the film but after a minute it froze again at the same point. However this time it went into recycling the previous messages without having to remove power first.

At the next attempt it reported that the disk could not be written to.

Is this a disk fault of a DVD writer fault?

Hi Peterpr

That sounds like bad luck.

It is almost a golden rule to always suspect the removable disk first before suspecting the machine.

I take it there is nothing wrong with the original recording on your hard disk ... in other words it will play normally past the problem point?

It should be possible to examine the surface of the DVD-R and spot where the recording has failed ... [ They record from the centre outwards] You will likely find a flaw mark or dirt at that point.

Fresh discs have to be spotless to burn correctly.

Good look with future attempts.

Regards

Gavin

I'll try another disk tonight.


Yes it plays OK.


I can't see any defect looking at it.


Yes, I wouldn't attempt it if I could see anything wrong.


Thanks

Just chased up my order with empire, while on their site I noticed that the unit had gone up £15, but they will still honour my contract price, due to me on wednesday, at least the carrier they use is amtrak not initial, so if you miss delivery you can collect it from their depot.
Dave

Here's a follow up to my report on Boxing Day of a problem writing to a DVD-R disk which became unwritable part way through.

Since then I had occasion to write five documentaries to one -R disk. I had copied four from Sky+ in LP mode with the Rec for HS mode ON. The other one had been saved on a DVD-RAM by my previous recorder (HS2) which did not have the HS mode switch so I had to dub that at normal speed (LP). I wanted it in the middle of the sequence so I dubbed the first two at HS then the recovered third one at NS but it crashed a few seconds before the end. It did not freeze this time but the final outcome was as before - a non-writable disk.

My solution to this was to do a NS dub to -RAM changing the mode to LP, then a HS dub back. I could then include the programme in the middle of the set of five and did a HS dub of them all to a new -R disk - success.

Next exercise: I copy serial programmes with six episodes per disk to DVD, these are 42 mins each after ads removed so LP slightly over-runs. Therefore I dub the first three at LP and wait for the remainder to come along and dub the rest at FR (which comes out close to LP. On this occasion I had the first half written earlier by the HS2. I copied the new episodes from the HS2's HDD with HS mode off. Of course neither lot would have retained their w/s flag. I prepared the playlists to go to the part-used disk at normal speed (FR mode) but this again crashed. Now three crashes when writing at normal speed to -R disks but not to -RAM disk. The disk had become non-writable but I could still read the original programmes. I thought I would copy them from the DVD in the HS2 to the new HDD but the HS2 said it was a blank (i.e.empty) disk. I had to copy from the DVD of the EH60 to the HDD of the HS2, which (as I did not wish to recable) meant losing RGB. I could then copy back, eventually dubbing the full disk successfully.

Other exercises: Copied two episodes of the BBC showing of Miss Marple from Sky+ using FR to the HDD. Someone thought this would be the same as XP because of the large disk size - not so. A portion of the HDD is allocated which is the same size as a DVD do that a HS copy can subsequently be made. This is what I did, no problem.

I also completely reprocessed the Harry Potter film which I had a problem with on Boxing Day. This copied without crashing but neither widescreen nor chapters were retained. Now I had made sure that the HS mode was set OFF when I copied to the HDD so why have I lost it? How can chapters be retained? They are retained in HS dubbing but cannot be added to the -R although the thumbnail can be added.

So with this can you record two things at once?
Like one to DVD and one to Harddrive?
Also can you record from Sky to the Hardrive or DVD?
Does the harddrive make a lot of noise?

No

Yes [ ..with a box of course]

No. Not in my opinion

You can't select more than one source for encoding. However the manual says you can record to the HDD during a high speed dub. I've not tried it.

I did ask...

Has no-one any idea on this?

Apologies for the lack of response, but I did not feel I could add anything useful here.

Do I understand you correctly as follows: The recording you were copying was the original off-air recording of Harry Potter which done with 'Record for HS Dubbing ' set to Off... or .. is this a recording that you have 'bounced ' between media because of your disk problems?

On a coincidental note, the day after you posted about your problem disk dub, I had my first failure doing just that.
HDD to DVD-R dub in HS Mode .. I went away and left it cooking .. There was an error message when I returned. The recording had failed , just before the end ... near the outer part of the disk , which always seems to be the most critical area . I often used that find that was the case with CD-R's too.
On this occasion , when I examined the disk, the cause was obvious : There was a spec of dirt at the point the recording failed.

I know in your case there was no indication of this, so If you start getting regular failures I'd recommend trying another make or batch of disks.

Regards

Gavin

Recieved and set my unit up this afternoon, pleased so far especialy as the default tuner is the digital, can any one tell me if you can change the display from time remaining on hdd to time, or am i stuck with this (usless) bit of information.
Thanks
Dave

Hi guys,

Anyone know the cheapest place to buy a EH60 at present?

I'm thinking either the 50 or the 60. The 50 is winning at the moment due to being around 170 pounds cheaper on the prices I've found so far.