Panasonic DMR-E80 and Mini-DV (1 Viewer)

[Bob Lovallo]

Can anyone who has transferred from Mini-DV camcorder to the Panny E-80 comment on the results.

The main reason I am holding off to purchase is that there is no Firewire for digital to digital conversion.

Thanks in advance for your comments.

Bob

 

[Philip Hamm]

If your primary goal is to create DVDs from MiniDV tapes, you're much better off with a computer solution IMO. I've had very good results with this, and the drives are very inexpensive.

If however, you have other needs for a set-top DVD recorder, then ignore that advice.

 

[Bob Lovallo]

I have a DVD burner and I do not get good results with final copy from my camcorder. I use Pinnacle Studio DV and get quite a few dropped frames.

Besides that, I like to record tv shows and archive which the hard drive would be alot easier!

Thanks,

Bob

 

[Scott Dautel]

Bob:

Are you aware that the Panny DMR-E60 DOES have a front panel Firewire input .... along with some pretty nifty on-the-fly camcorder editing functions. Of course, the E60 does NOT have an internal hard drive recorder.

I know this because I got one last weekend.

 

[Philip Hamm]

I use Pinnacle Studio DV and get quite a few dropped frames.

I use Studio8 and have a similar problem. Check out Scenalyzer LIVE for capture. It captures perfectly for me and then I author the DVD in Studio. This solution works very well, but takes a lot of patience because Studio is so buggy.

 

[Gary Wolfe]

I was thinking of getting something like the E80 because of the PVR features. I'm also looking at getting a camcorder. I appreciate the above comments (and elsewhere) about editing on the PC, but I don't really plan to make editing videos a hobby. (I spend enough time editing still digital photos! )

As an alternative to MiniDV, what about a DVD camcorder like the VDR-M30? I have been searching all over for info. on it, and there's very little online. (Although, Panasonic has a lot of marketing-eze on their site, which is better than nothing, I suppose, but you know what I mean -- it's nice to get some feedback from someone who's actually used it and can confirm or deny its ease-of-use.)

I guess I'm wondering if something like this would give reasonable results, but yet be less hassle. My goal is to be able to archive home movies onto DVD, in the theory that that format will last longer than others. It sounds as if this will be really easy with the M30 and E80. (I'm technically-minded, but I appreciate consumer-oriented ease-of-use!)

I suppose I could also go with MiniDV and an E60, as described above, though (and use DVD-RAM discs to substitute for PVR functionality). Is the DVD camcorder just too new for people to try, or is there something I'm missing?

 

[Aaron H]

I also want to thank the group for the above info.

I've recently begun researching Mini-DV camcorders and stand-alone DVD recorders. I, too, would like the DVD-recorder to have the HDD and the firewire port.

Maybe a HTPC is the way to go?

Aaron

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I have a Sony MiniDV camcorder and a Panasonic DMR-E80 DVD recorder. The recording quality using the s-video output of the camcorder to the E80 results in beautiful quality recordings. Honestly, I cannot tell the difference between the source material and the DVD recording.

I was reluctant to buy a DVD recorder without a firewire input. However, the additional $400 cost of a Panny recorder with both a hard drive and firewire input was not worth the cost to me. After seeing the results using the analog a/v inputs of the E80, I am very happy with my decision. The built-in hard drive feature is much more important to me than the firewire input.

Keep in mind that even using a firewire input, there is still a format conversion taking place from the MiniDV camcorder (DV format) to DVD (MPEG), although this does take place in the digital domain. You are not getting a bit-for-bit duplicate copy of your source material.

Using the analog connections, there is one additional conversion taking place -- DV to analog to MPEG. At least in my case (Sony DCR-TRV22 and Panny E80), that extra conversion to the analog domain does not seem to affect the recording quality noticably -- at least using the higher quality recording speeds on the E80.

 

[Bob Lovallo]

I agree also with Scott. I was holding back on the E-80 due to lack of firewire but have been very satisfied with my results from my Sony Mini-DV thru S-Video! I;m very satisfied with the E-80!


Bob

I also ordered from 6th Ave!

 

[Steve Owen]

The E100 is just coming out and it has both a hard drive and firewire.

The firewire wasn't an issue for me, so I just ordered myself up an E80 from 6th Ave Electronics.

-Steve