Thks Hal loe (and Gavtech) - this is the answer I hoped ... I have found the set in the old box - so Im off to do this now and hope I get the same reults as you ... the kids will be happier when some of their old Vids come on DVD.

Gavin,

I'm just wondering if your EH60D is multi-region?

I ask because I received mine today and when recording from DVB to the HDD, or when the timer is set, I cannot playback Region 1 or Region 0 NTSC discs - I get an error saying "Warning: Incompatible TV system setting !" Region 2 dsics play fine during DVB recording.

I guess the machine cannot deal with PAL and NTSC at the same time, which is a bugger as the majority of my DVD are Region 1.

Anyway, I was just wondering if you have the same problem.

Many thanks,

Andy.

Andy

I have a panasonic DMR-E95H recorder. My unit was specifically purchased as Multi region.

You get that error message because it cannot output NTSC at the same time as recording in PAL.

That error message is telling you about the setting "TV SYSTEM" under "CONNECTION" in the setup menu.

It should play Region 0 discs even if it isn't multi region.

Can you play them when it isn't recording or timer record mode is on? If you can then you have a Multi Region unit.

Hope this helps

Phil

Hi Andy

As it happens mine is Multi region but it has no particular relevance to the way I use it. I happen to have no interest in prerecorded DVD's .

I believe your assumption is correct... That two video systems cannot operate on the machine at the same time.
I came across some reference to that in the manual today but currently cannot find it again at the moment.
If i locate that information I will post again.

Unfortunately I doubt if there is any workaround to your problem.

Regards
Gavin

Notes and issues relevant to playback of NTSC material can be found on pages 21 , 37 and 53 of the manual.

Gavin

Anyone else found a bug with the TV aspect of the digital tuner?

I am currently watching mine on a 4:3 set and have the machine set to 4:3 - Letterbox. Everyday overnight it picks up some bug and the machine displays pictures in a multitude of weird ways. Sometimes when a picture is actually being shown 16:9 ratio it will show the middle 4:3 part of that picture stretched into a 14:9 box. So you see small black bars top and bottom and the picture itself is elongated sideways so that circles look like horizontal ovals. With other 16:9 pictures it stretches them vertically so you get black bars left and right and everyone appears much too tall.

However when you go to the aspect settings it still say 4:3 letterbox and the only way to correct the fault is to switch the setting first to 16:9 and then back to 4:3 letterbox.

It's a bit of a pain since it records the faulty picture and the settings don't affect what's recorded so you can't correct the fault once it's recorded. What causes it to bring on the fault I can't discover but it's done it to me everyday and always overnight.

Anyone else seen this problem? My machine says it's running 1.06 software.

Hi, reference weird effects reported at #81 above, have a good check of your Euro cables, I have had similar results both on my DMR-EH60DEB and Thomson DHD 4000 PVR. On both occasions the problems were traced to JVC Euro cables purchased at a Dixons closing down sale [ ie: they were cheap and presumably untested ].

Hope this helps.
Billyboy2

Hi Comic

I have had problems in this regard, but it does not seem as cast-iron as yours...
When I was first setting up the machine I had some of the odd issues you describe with aspect ratios ... Once I had checked the aspect ratio in the settings [ I am also on 4:3] I noticed that on all channels the picture did not quite fill the screen , top to bottom. I also had the vertical stretch problem you describe but that has never happened since.
However from then on it seems to have settled down.. Albeit there are some days and some channels when switching channels it will come in at the wrong aspect ratio [ 16:9 ] but after a second or two changes to what it should be.
I shall monitor this more closely and see if any pattern emerges ... and report back if I can add anything useful.

My software is also V 1.06

Regards
Gavin

It occurrs to me you say it is 'overnight' but is it perhaps everytime you switch it on and it initialises?

No. If I correct the problem during the day I can then switch it on/off and do timer recordings with no problems but the next day I come to use it the problem will be there (or has been up to just). Also if it has recorded something during the next day before I switch it on then the problem has been on the recording also. So I'm assuming the bug occurs overnight.

I'm wondering if perhaps it has something to do with it searching for software updates and updating the EPG between 3 - 5am. I may try switching these options off and see if it makes a difference.

I've also e-mailed Panasonic about this but had no reply yet.

On those occasions when you play back those incorrectly recorded programmes,what happens if you mess about with the aspect ratio settings then ... Can you get it right by switching to 16:9 and back again?

Gavin

Changing the settings has no effect on the recorded output it only effects the digital TV output settings. The machine records the output from the digital tuner as if it were a seperate digital box connected to a seperate video recorder. So with it set to 4:3 letterbox it actually records the black bars on the top and bottom of the screen rather than just recording the picture and then recreating black bars on replay (it doesn't record like an anamorphic dvd when set to 4:3 letterbox). Hope that makes sense.

If the picture being broadcast is 4:3 then the picture is OK. If it's broadcast 16:9 then it all goes to pot and comes out in various ways as previously described. The horizontally stretched one is impossible to make correct. The vertically stretched one can be made viewable by switching the TV to do 16:9 but then you get black bars on all 4 sides of the picture and a very small letterbox picture.

I can see how that would be very irritating!
Next time I'm using the box I'll look at the various settings and see if anything might impact on such things.
The medium may matter here perhaps? ... Virtually all my recordings are at SP onto the HDD .. Are the problem recordings you are getting, recorded onto HDD or removable disk based, and if disk , which type ?

Gavin

All the recordings (apart from test recordings to make sure the DVD works) have been done on the HDD in SP mode (apart again from tests odf the other modes).

Obviously that's not the problem.
I'll keep monitoring behaviour and report anything awry.

Gavin

Further to the bug problem.

Yesterday I had it switched overnight to 16:9 ratio. I got in and it was behaving correctly no problem. I then switched the settings back to 4:3 letterbox and switched off the autoupdate egp and software and also switched off quick start. I then put on the timer to record "Less Than Perfect" on abc1. It is set to finish at 18:05 which means that the channel will have stopped broadcasting and be showing an MHEG screen.

When I came to watch the recording later the bug had appeared I it made me wonder if perhaps if the bug can be triggered by a timeshare channel switching off and showing an MHEG screen.

So I reset the aspect to clear the bug and tried a one minute recording in timer mode of abc1 whilst off air and the bug reappeared. I then followed it by another for confirmation and then two further recordings of CBBC whilst off air. Every time it triggered the bug. That was 5 consequtive recordings which had triggered the bug.

However I then tried it with the Xtraview MHEG, CBeebies and BBC Parliament. None of these triggered the bug and unfortunately after that I could no longer make it work with abc1 or CBBC again.

I honestly thought I'd found the cause but it seems not.

I have now set the timer to finish at 17:59 which will hopefully will miss the change to MHEG and perhaps resolve the issue. I'll see what happens today.

The only other way I can see around the bug is to have it set 16:9 whilst in timer mode and then watch it set to 4:3 letterbox. Doing this means the recordings are correct and it recreates the black boarders rather than records them. It is however a pain having to keep changing the settings.

I found myself wondering if this might not be the EH60 that is the problem but the way it is comunicating aspect ratio flags to your TV.

At the moment I am not having any problems albeit I am not using it much at the moment ...
But back to the day I installed it, and had those problems I described earlier and got the vertical stretch problem, [ which I have not seen since , fortunately,] I recall now that it was not a recording at all but a live TV channel.

Alas I cannot account for why I had that problem then and don't have it now. I tend to stick to the mainstream channels only which may have a bearing.

Struggling in the dark here. Ignorance is NOT bliss!

I'm certain it's not a switch communication problem. The TV is 4:3 and can display a 16:9 picture and auto detect the 16:9 flag. It has had no problem along these lines.

The vertical stretch I describe also has black bars down the left and right side of the screen in the same way that a 16:9 TV would show a 4:3 picture. However it does this with a broadcasted 16:9 picture. A channel which I can remember it displaying this way last night was QVC. The BBC channels show the horizontal stretch.

Both bugs have the picture incorrect in both horizontal and vertical directions. BBC has much too much horizontal stretch and some vertical stretch (since it has narrow top and bottom black bars like it would show on analogue broadcasts). QVC is squashed horizontally and stretched vertically so it has no black bars top and bottom but instead has them at the side.

I'm convinced it's a digital tuner bug since there aren't that many boxes etc that have been released without at least one bug and I've seen pplenty of mentions of aspect bugs on other boxes so this wouldn't surprise me. Also I've seen it in some other thread somewhere that someone else came to the conclusion that all Panasonic seem to have done with this is stick their digtal tuner into their HDD/DVD recorder.

Unfortunately due to the more and more complex nature of electronics today that it seems to becoming the accepted norm that modern equipment will have bugs and people seem to be resigned to that.

I think I mentioned that all Panasonic had done was stick their digital tuner in their HDD/DVD recorder, I came to that conclusion by comparing my dads 60D to my DMR-E95.

Are you sure it's a Panasonic bug?

I'll give you some info on problems I had caused by the broardcasters.

I have an original Philip's ONDigital box connected to my DMR-E95 recorder. The Philip's box was told I had a 4:3 tele, as it used to be wired straight to my video and I would just record black top and bottom. I then plugged it in to my Panasonic box and carried on as before.

Then in may this year when E4 started broadcasting i kept getting the picture in strange aspect ratio's varying from channel to channel. The only way I could correct this was to switch the Philip's box to output a 16:9 picture squashed to 4:3, so no black lines. Which means I can't watch it through RF anymore (the aspect ratio is wrong) and have to watch it via the recorder. I have a widescreen tele so it's not too much of a problem.

Remember what is broadcast depends on many variables and has to have the aspect ratio set correctly by the broadcaster or you end up with strange pictures. Channels that share a slot with another are very often being broadcast incorrectly.

Hope this helps.

Phil

Hi Folks
Looking to buy a Panasonic DMREH60 which is £399 at my local Richer Sounds shop
I have heard that the hard drives can be noisy if you get to a quite section during playback. Is there a noisy cooling fan on these machines as well?
Anyone had an issue with excessive noise?
Am I correct in thinking that this machine has:
Two Freeview tuners
DV input
Will play multi-region commercial DVDs
It has Video Plus
Ta, for any advice on this

To an extent it is entirely subjective whether the various noises are intrusive... I have noticed them but they have not bothered me. The fan is only just detectable and only operates sometimes... The hard drive can be noticeable but not that bothersome... The Removeable disk drive seems noisiest.

It has only one freeview tuner. [ Also an analogue tuner ] .

Yes - DV input - on the front panel only via 4 pin firewire ]

It will play multi region IF you have a multi region model [ Suffix MR ] See earlier in thread about this.

Yes it has Videoplus.

Regards
Gavin

Thanks Gavin, thats very helpful
my exiting panasonic TV has a thing called Qlink as has my existing panasonic VCR, so whan I press play on the VCR remote the TV comes on at the same time. Switching off the TV turns off the vcr etc.
Presumably this is all obsolete now so won't work with the DVD recorder.
Cheers, David

Hi David

This machine IS equipped with Qlink... but I am not entirely sure of the degree of its implementation, as I have never used this facility myself.

The manual only appears to mention it in connection with downloading the analogue channel positions stored on your TV.

In practice this is very much a digital machine and I have never accessed the analogue channels on it ...[ Less easy ] but I suppose that may depend on where you live and what you watch.

Regards
Gavin

I've been told by my local Panasonic shop, that the analogue tuner works as one with the digital one, meaning you can't watch TV via the analogue when recording via Feeview.

Is that true ? What is your experience ?

Yes it is true. Only one channel can be watched or recorded simultaneoulsy through this unit.

It does have some useful dual facilities such as the ability to record and playback simultaneously ... and dub one title across different mediums at the same time as playing back another.

To that end I have yet to figure out why it has a 'Timer mode'. On the face of it, it doesn't seem necessary. Presumably there will be some facilities which need to be prevented , but I've yet to discover them.

I've yet to confirm this but I think I read in the manual that it will record timer programmes whether you put it into timer mode or not which further makes me query the need for it.

I'll post more when I get around to confirming this ...or otherwise.

Regards
Gavin