Purchased Panasonic DRM E30 DVD Recorder (1 Viewer)

[Steven Simon]

Hey Guys,
Just picked up this baby yesterday. I had it up and running in no time. I'm using the S-Video inputs for recording. Tivo box only has S :frowning: Anyways, I find the unit easy as pie to operate, and recording dvd's is a breeze. I find it not much more difficult than a VCR. My first project was to dump my first 5 episodes of Sopranos onto dvd. That went smooth. I elected to put the first 4 onto 1 dvd. I need to get home and record the 4th show from the Tivo onto the disc, then I will attempt to finalize it....
Anyone have any pointers on the Pani??? OR dvd recording in general??
Thanks in Advance.....
One excited HT Guy!!!!

 

[Jim Douglas]

Steven,
No pointers yet but I just got my E-30K hooked up in my system so I plan on doing some recording tomorrow. I've got my Pioneer Elite CLD-79 LD player hooked up via the composite input and a new spindle of 100 DVD-R's ready to do some burning. I want to back up some of my LD's just in case something happens to them or my player. So far the E-30 has been very easy to use. I recorded some programs off of cable the other night onto some DVD-Ram discs and they looked really nice. If I learn anything worthwhile I'll let you know.
Later
Jim

 

[Steven Simon]

Well,

I finished my first disc,(Sopranos off of Tivo) but the 4 hour recording speed doesn't look very good. It's passable on the Panasonic via Svideo, but when I switched to my Malata (component vid) it looked terrible.... Oh Well, Will have to try the 2 hours speed......

 

[Ernest]

I have a Samsung DVD R3000 which is very similar to the Panasonic E30 and recommend using "Flexible Recording" for all recordings over 2 hours long. I have recorded well over 100 movies from VHS, SVHS, Laserdisc and DirecTV with excellent results.
Prime Disc are excellent DVD-R's that can be purchased from www.shop4tech.com for as little as $1.28 each for a spool of 50. Deleting commercials from recorded material is very easy. Record programs on DVD-RAM and then flag the beginning and ending times of the commercials for deletion. The laser in the DVD player will retract when it reads the beginning flag and re-extend itself when it finds the ending flag. It all happens in the blink of an eye. After flagging all the commercials re-record onto a DVD-R.
The E30 is a great machine and I can't imagine another machine that records any better. I know the picture quality of the recording I have made are excellent, depending of course on your source material.

 

[Steven Simon]

Ernest,

Problem was, when I threw in my 4 hour recording into another player, the video looked like crap. This was S-Video SAT Tivo Signal.... But on the Pani, it looked fine. Should I use 2 hour recording from now on??

 

[Jim Douglas]

I've recorded two LD's today and both look great. I used the SP mode for both. If I have a movie that is just over two hours I'll use the flex mode. I have on question. Is there anyway to add chapter stops in a DVD-R recording that has not been finalized. I recorded my LD copy of the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert and would like to add chapter stops where the acts change or somewhere close.
Thanks
Jim

 

[Ernest]

I read through the owner's manual and cannot find any section devoted to creating chapters. When finalizing a DVD-R the program will add chapter stops every 5 minutes.

Recording movies 3 hours or longer is a personal decision. Some members record the movie on 2 DVD-R's at SP, while others are satisfied with theresults using flexible recording. I have experienced excellent results using flexible recording for movies between 2 and 3 hours long. I recorded Lord Of The Rings in letterbox off DirecTV pay-per-view and it can out very good.

Some members have experienced a washed out picture when playing back a finalized DVD-R. This problem can easily be corrected by adjusitng the video picture settings on the DVD player, not the TV.

 

[Steven Simon]

Well,

I have re re-recorded my Sopranos shows with the 2 hour setting, and the results are fantastic. Much better video with this timing......

 

[Aaron H]

Congrats on the new purchase. Have you had a chance to demo this unit as a DVD player with other movies? I was considering getting the RP91, but for only a few hundred more, I guess you can have one of these. I haven't given these too much thought but maybe its time to start researching.
Aaron

 

[Steven Simon]

Aaron,

I just rewired my system a tad, and made the new DRM30 my primary player. This recorder is in my bedroom, so I'm only using 480i (27 Inch Sony Wega), but the picture looks great using the Svideo from the SAT60 Tivo to the dvd recorder, then Component video out from the dvd player to the TV..... I had been using strictly S for the last week for recording, and TV viewing, and can tell you the component out method is a much improvement.