I have today ordered a Panasonic DMREH60D and I would like to know if the Freeview channel displays on the front of the machine when watching/recording/etc.

Also, could someone tell me how long it takes to download a 1 hour program from the hard drive to the inbuilt DVD recorder.

I have an old E50 DVD recorder also and I have recently bought some new RAM discs. I notice that these are faster speeds than the original discs which we bought approx 2 years ago. What is the significance of the speed of these new discs and will they be compatible with both machines?

It does display the channel number. eg. BBC1 = 1, Sky Sports News shows 83 (I think), also AV1-4 or DV. Analogue channels are 900+ so BBC1 shows as 901.

If you are not bit rate converting (e.g. from XP to SP) when you have to dub in real time then it takes about 15 minutes to dub a 2 hour programme with a x8 disc. Also using flexible mode (variable bitrate) you can only dub in real time.

Hope this helps

Thanks for the reply. I'm looking forward to getting the machine next week.

You'll love it! The only niggle so far is a slight time delay in response to remote presses in the menus - this leads to pressing the button twice sometimes. The quality is excellent and I particularly like the flexible bitrate mode so you can fit any sensible length programme to single DVD

Yes, with my current DVD recorder I always use FR when recording anything longer than 2 hours. This seems to produce much better results than using LP. I am hoping that the new machine will produce even better quality because of the progressive scan and the fact that the tuner is integrated - not that I'm complaining about the old E50's picture. We used to have two of them but the second machine is no longer reading RAM discs for some reason. I hope this isn't a common problem with Panasonic. The EH60D is an expensive item to replace if it goes wrong two weeks outside of the guarantee like my E50 did!

Any idea about the significance of the increased speed of the new discs?

If you have / have had the 50 then really you'll know all about it. I delayed getting a DVD recorder until I could get one with DVB-T and have not regretted either the wait or the cost. Remember Sales of Goods provides for the supplier to be held responsible for much longer than the 1 year warranty - For up to six years after purchase (five years from discovery in Scotland) purchasers can demand damages (which a court would equate to the cost of a repair or replacement). and see this link

I think the only significance of the higher speed discs is the same as with CDs - a) it is specsmanship and b) it just means later drives with faster discs are a little quicker to burn. a x4 disc will not actually take twice as long as x8 even on a compatible drive

JBlink's link is showing a not found at present - updating perhaps? In the meantime, this blog carries a lot of info on buyer's rights.

Thanks for the advice. In actual fact, my two E50s came with a 2 year guarantee and it was just after the second year that one of them went wrong. The other one's still going strong - I think it's a case of the luck of the draw. One good thing to come out of it is that I've now got a good excuse to upgrade to the EH60.

Sorry - I saved the page as a favorite. Thanks for the new info. Two years (John Lewis?) or one makes no difference. However who can be arsed to actually take the matter to law over something that would potentially cost less to replace than to take to litigation. Law is great but often not practical. Thats how Sky get away with it.

Happy New Year to you all!

No, I bought them in the local Panasonic Shop here in Plymouth.

I'm getting a 3 year guarantee with the EH60D and they'll be installing it too. I recognize I have paid top whack at £500 but I thought that, as it was a fairly expensive commodity, it was best to get a longer guarantee and if anything goes wrong with it they will repair the machine on site in the shop.

Oh and they threw in a pack of 10 RAM discs too.

Wishing a Happy New Year to one and all!
Last edited by annieb : 01-01-2006 at 18:49

Annie - I agree with your logic. I paid about the same including three years warranty. Hopefully that will guarantee at least three years useful life as so far on the very few extended warranties I have purchased I have yet to claim on any.....