What?! that is just plain stupid. What are panasonic playing at there? Hmmm sky+ and a dvd recorder might be on the cards. Mixing freeview with something else in one box seems to always go wrong.
I cant believe after all the time that there isnt 'the one' yet.

Of course you can record widescreen material on to -R.
But in common with some other DVD recorders,it won't record the 16:9 widescreen switching flag that tells your tv to open out into wide mode.You record the 16:9 programme,but to watch the disc you would have to manually change the tv to 16:9.
The main problem of not recording the flag is that if you try to watch the recording on a 4:3 set you can't see it in either centre cut out or letterbox mode

Surely the answer is to re-encode only if going to DVD. If you're recording to HDD and not archiving (as I imagine would most often be the case) then there is no need to re-encode.

They shouldn't be re-encoding the video stream at any point. As I understand it, the only part of the Freeview mpeg stream that isn't DVD compliant is the audio track. Which is the only part that needs to be re-encoded to go on DVD. Freeview mpeg is already highly compressed (about 4Mbits) all the manufactures are doing silly things with their machines eg you can record from freeview in XP mode (8Mbits) why? the quality isn't there to record.

By comparing to a DMR-E95H it looks like all they have done is joined together their Freeview decoder and their DVD HD recorder. They have added a few extra features like picture in picture and the ability to view pictures from CD. It isn't the ground breaking recorder it should have been.

Does anyone know where I can download DMREH60D manual.

I have the non D manual but wanted the freeview manual, as the one I've got talks about GuidePlus

I assume in the D model there is no GuidePlus ?
shame really, as I'd like to use GuidePlus with a wand to control my Sky digibox for recording Sky only channels , and the built in freeview tuner for those channels available on freeview.

How do you guys record a Sky only channel ?

Pete

Panasonic seem to be very slow at updating the manuals on their website. Mine appeared 6 months after the recorder came out.


I think the 60 model wasn't a uk release. The 60D has VIDEO Plus+ the same as the older machines and VCRs.

It also has a feature to start recording from an external source (Linked record).

Which should do want you want.

I suggest you download the DMR-E95H manual from the panasonic website, it will show you some the timer record functions.

Phil

I thought this model had guideplus so you could just select your programme in the epg and it would do the timer programming itself?
It certainly had this feature listed in everything I read just before launch.

It does for the Freeview channels (I think Guideplus must be copyright because it doesn't get named as such in the manual) but it won't have the listings for Sky. Which the other person was asking about recording.

Phew!
Its between this and the upcoming sony rdr-hxd910

Tempted. Few questions for those lucky enough to have one already...

- does it receive the DVB radio channels? can you record them to HDD/DVD? What format are they recorded in?
- can you copy MP3 or JPEGS's from SD/CD/DVD onto the HDD to play/view them from there? What's the listening/viewing interface like? can you do a random play or album (folder) skip?
- what format/quality is the video stored in on the dvd? if I record/transfer onto DVD can you view on a PC or edit in standard video editing packages to stitch programmes together? (and maybe set the widescreen flag!)
- what's the pre-recorded dvd playback quality like?

Thanks for your help,

Jon

As the Sony is likely to be sold at Sony's usual inflated ripoff prices,Panny must be the one

Don't think this is 100% correct. The small print in the manual says. With "DVD-R Rec For High Speed Mode" set to ON the pictures are saved as 4:3. So presumably with it set to OFF the 16:9 flag will be preserved.

Yes it receives them and yes you can record them. Format is the same as the video format. Choice of sound format in XP mode of Dolby Digital or LPCM.


MP3 no. JPEG from SD yes, doesn't mention being able to from CD/DVD.

Easiest way to see the interface is to download an existing manual. It hasn't changed much from the DMRE-95H just has more features.


MPEG2, quality depends on what recording mode was selected 4 in total. For 4.7 Gig DVD disc XP 1hr, SP 2 hrs, LP 4 hrs, EP 6 or 8 hrs.

Easiest method to edit the files is to transfer tham via a DVD-Ram disc. Much quicker. I use a LG dvd recorder in my PC and Womble mpeg2vcr editting software.

See previous post about the widescreen flag. DVD patcher is good to fiddle with / correct files.


Very good.

Could anyone post some user-interface/menu screengrabs?
Thanks!

I can definitely confirm that mine records 16:9 onto DVD+R discs (I tried one last night) so I am sure the same will be true of DVD-R and -RW. I did an off-air (Freeview) recording and also a copy of a recording already made on the HDD. Both were still in proper 16:9 and switched the screen automatically.

Both were recorded in "real time" - ie. one from a broadcast and the other dubbed from XP to XP, a half-hour programme which took half an hour to dub.

It's in high-speed dubbing that 16:9 is NOT recorded to DVD-R, -RW and +R - and furthermore, the source recording on the HDD needs to be "aware" of this when it is made (you make a menu setting - DVD-R Rec for High Speed Dubbing "On") and this makes the original HDD recording 4:3 only (and also records only one track of a dual-channel sound programme, apparently).

However, DVD-RAMs don't need this setting to be made - it is purely a preparation for if you expect to wish to dub at high speed to DVD-R, -RW or +R. DVD-RAMs happily dub at high speed with all features such as 16:9 intact (high speed mode is also handy in that you can still record and play back other programmes from the HDD while it is going on, at least with DVD-RAM. I haven't tried high-speed dubbing with the other types of disc).

Why don't Sky just put a DVD recorder into their Sky+ box - surely that'd be all anyone would ever need?

Did you take the disc to another player? I recorded a widescreen programme off air to HDD, dubbed it to DVD-RW in SP mode (with the high speed mode disabled) and finalised it. It played back fine in widescreen on the unit itself, but when I put it in my PC and started up WinDVD, it insisted it was a 4:3 disc and looked all wrong as a result - widescreen picture squashed to 4:3. More investigation needed methinks... I will get hold of a DVD-RAM disc and see if that makes any difference.

TG

I am looking at buying a Panasonic DMR-EH 60D, is it capable of archiving video tapes to dvd? I have a lot of woodworking/turning training tapes that I wish to put on DVD to save storage space and to enjoy DVD/Freeview.
Thank you.
Billyboy 2.

AFAIK *all* DVD recorders are capable of archiving VHS to DVD. You just play the VCR SCART output into one of the DVD SCART inputs and record from that source. Can't think why the Pana 60D would be any different in this respect.

Yes it can... It has three analogue input options: CVBS via Phono, S Video via S connection, and RGB or CVBS via Scart.

I've had mine about a week. So far so good. It seems solid and reliable and performs well.
I am still on the learning curve of it's capabilities... and limitations.
On the whole I am very impressed with it... so far.

I did a transfer recording from a Pace twin to the DMR-EH60D today ... [via RGB ] which means a multiple of decoding - and encoding: Digital [Bitstrteam] to analogue to digital [MPEG 2 ] ...One wouldnt know ... The quality of the recording is stunning.

Regards
Gavin

I have just tried dubbing to the HDD with an MP3 and and a JPEG CD... It won't, albeit it plays the disks without any problem.
Message returned: 'Insert a valid disk into the souce drive'
I do not have any DVD JPEG discs to try but likely the result would be the same.
Perversely it seems you could get pictures onto a disk or the hard drive by transferring them first to an SD card [ on a PC ] and then to the relevant destination.
There is a menu facility for transferring all pix on an SD card to Internal or removable disks



Putting in an MP3 disk , playback started automatically from the beginning. Nothing on the screen apart from a muted DVD RAM logo... which after about 5 minutes had still not disappeared as I expected it might for screen protection.

Pushing the 'Direct navigator' button took me to a menu screen where the track and tree structure could be viewed and easily navigated / selected.
Folders are referred to as 'Groups'
Once a track has been selected, play continues until the last track in that group.

JPEG Disc - immediately went into a navigation menu showing 12 thumbnails at a time. A picture can be selected directly by number , or using standard arrows navigation or skip to find other pages.
Once the picture is selected it can be rotated if required,and if smaller than 640 x 480 pixels can be zoomed. [ This is not saved].
The slide show is sequential only - No evidence of random option.
It can start from any picture. The interval is adjustable, and pictures can be excluded from the show.
For pictures on the HDD , RAM or SD, single pictures or whole folders can be erased.
Pictures can be edited to setup or cancel protection and to change the DPOF settings for the number of prints for each picture.

I hope this is helpful

Regards
Gavin

Gavin - as one of the few on the forum who actually owns a DMR-EH60D (ie UK model with integrated DVB) can you confirm first-hand whether or not it retains the DV/i-Link input and is it documented in the manual. I know the DMR-EH60 had a DV input, but I'm concerned it's been dropped to "make room" for the DVB decoder.
Thanks,
Richard

Yes it has a front DV input [ 4 pin firewire]

I'm hurrying at the moment will post more later
Cheers
Gavin

Hi Richard

Further to my earlier answer:

The manual does not have a great deal to say about the DV input.
The usual note that both devices should be off before connection, but there are a couple of points which may have some relevance to you:

1 - The EH60 cannot be controlled by the connected DV unit

2 - The DV input is intended only for DV units , a computer for example, cannot be connected.

All the spec says about the DV input is:

DV input [ Pal / NTSC ] IEEE1394 Standard [4 pin ]

Regards
Gavin

I should really clarify that although there are three analogue input option types , there are actually four analogue inputs ...There is a front input too offering S video or phono ... and audio of course.

The 'DV' digital input is also located at the front.

Gavin