Just purchased this HDD/DVD combo at a decent price (thanks to the people in the general Personal video recorders forums for their advice).

One question though is about PAL/NTSC recording/playback. Is it possible to burn a PAL HDD recorded programme into NTSC on the DVD.

The current system I use (with a DVD recorder) is have the disc playing in NTSC mode from an external DVD player and using scart press record from DVD recorder that is connected to the external DVD player in the EXT scart.

Now that I have purchased this, will it be quicker method to burn discs in NTSC mode (if the programme you want to burn is in the HDD - but recorded in PAL format).

Further to my reply on the main forum:
Easiest way to copy a commercial disc is via your PC dvd rewriter.
If you don't have one,you'll need a lead from Sonel to enable player to recorder copying.
Provided your tv accepts NTSC discs currently,there's no point in losing quality by changing into PAL

What I need it for is for sending home TV programmes to the US, the home TV programmes will be in PAL (HDD) and I want to send them to my cousin in the states whose machine cannot play PAL. I don't want to pre set the HDD to record in NTSC cause I would like a PAL version for myself aswell.

Current system I am using is player to recorder copying , multi region DVD player scarted up to a Phillips DVD recorder, setting the DVD player to play the PAL disc in NTSC and the Phillips will record it to NTSC. I assume that this option is still available with the new machine I have purchased?

I have a DVD rewriter, and have asked that question previously of how to convert from PAL to NTSC and it wasn't a viable option according to the opinion there.

Easiest option is to get your US viewer to buy a dvd player cheapie like Cyberhome.These will convert your PAL discs into NTSC for him

We could be in luck, I did ask him what machine he has to check it - he has a Cyperhome but I don't know the model. I have looked on their website, I saw one Cyperhome that converts, wasn't sure of the others.

I have sent him two discs, a PAL and a NTSC to see if both work?

If it isn't PAL compatible, could it be possible to upload a PAL Disc to the HDD (but setting the HDD to NTSC). Therefore you would have it in NTSC format?

Thanks for the help. I did arrive yesterday and so far I am impressed.

I do have one problem/issue about chapter markers that maybe you/someone can help with.

I recorded the football last night on the HDD, and edited to how I wanted it (deleting bit, chapters etc). I then went to finalise it, didn't realise you had to set it to record for High Speed dubbing BEFOREHAND, but anyway. I took a while but it all transfered.

However, the edits I made had gone. The deleted bits remained deleted but the chapters I had created had dissapeared and were now standard 5 minute chapters. It was on a +r disc and I couldn't make any futher edits (only to title and thumbnail displays).

Any idea how to change this setting, even if the edits I want are only compatible to the Panasonic itself. How do I get rid of the automatic 5 minute chapters and create my own on the DVD drive. Is it the fact that I used a +r? I thought I would would be able to make my own edits even if it wasn't compatible to other machines.