Panasonic E80 - Question on FR Mode (1 Viewer)

[Jeffrey_Bilyeau]

Have been playing with my new E80 for several weeks now and visit this forum regularly. I typically dub to DVD-R only in high speed mode after having recorded to the HD in either SP or FR mode depending on the program length.

I've seen multiple references in the forum regarding FR mode and some users have commented that after about 2 hr 20 minutes the E80 "switches" to the next slower recording speed, i.e. SP to LP, while others state that the optimum bit rate for a specific length program is "averaged" over the entire recording.

The first scenario would indicate that at a given point in the program there would be a discernable drop in quality from one speed to the next while the second scenario (which makes more sense to me) would provide an averaged real recording speed somewhere between SP and LP over the entire length of the recording, thus insuring the highest possible quality for a given program length.

Which interpretation for FR mode is correct?

Jeff

 

[Jason Borchers]

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[Scott Merryfield]

Just to expand on Jason's answer...

There are two things going on here -- (1) bit rate and (2) resolution. The FR mode will maximize the bit rate used when recording to fit that recording onto a standard size DVD-R disc, up to XP quality. Also, the E80 will record at full 720x480 resolution in XP and SP modes (or FR up to about 2:20), while the other two record modes (or FR recordings longer than about 2:20) step down to about half that resolution.