I was here last year, asking about an SV2000 machine that had croaked on me. That is currently still at a repair shop after the Funai co. has given the runaround numerous times! :mad:

So in the meantime, last year in October I purchased a Panasonic DMR-EZ37VK. Well, I really hadn't had the time to sit down and work on transferring my old irreplaceable vhs onto dvd until now. I have used the VCR part of the machine to watch old recordings of "Are You Being Served?", and everything seemed fine. The only problem I had noticed until now is that it didn't seem to like one particular tape that had been recorded in an Emerson VCR. (the "Are You Being Served?" recordings were done on an ancient Hitachi, and play marvelously!)

Well, today I set out to copy my old concert footage onto dvd, and noticed that pixels were quite visible in certain footage. I figured that is just because of the quality of the recording itself.

The thing that is FAR beyond me at this point, is that when I try to play vhs tapes, the audio and video are NOT synchronized!!! This shocked me, because those old recordings of "Are You Being Served?" are synchronized just fine. But my other tapes? Nope! The audio and video are NOT! I can't tell if the video is ahead of the audio, or if the audio is ahead of the video. But either way, this is severely annoying!!

And it's NOT a problem that I ever had with the SV2000 (as cheap as that thing was). In fact, I put a dvd in this Panasonic DMR-EZ37VK that I had burned on the SV2000 -- a copy of one of these particular vhs tapes whose audio/video is unsynchronized when played in the Panasonic's VCR section. I compared the two. The audio/video is COMPLETELY synchronized on the dvd I'd made using the SV2000 -- BUT the vhs tape playing in the Panasonic is NOT synchronized.

Even weirder yet -- to make sure that it wasn't just home-made vhs tapes whose audio/video were unsynchronized, I put in a store-bought copy of "Mrs. Doubtfire". Guess what? The audio/video was unsynchronized on that, as well! :confused:

So is there something wrong with the VCR part of my Panasonic? Or did I hit a wrong button on the remote control? I have noticed that it always rewinds a tape with 'Jet Rewind' -- could this be the culprit?

I am at wit's end right now. I heard that these were great machines that even improved the picture quality of vhs recordings. Well, I can't get the audio/video to match up on the stuff I wanted to record to dvd. :(

If ANYONE has any clue what is going on with this machine of mine, I would be eternally grateful if you could share your wisdom!

Oh yes, if it's necessary to know, I DON'T have a hi-definition tv. (I doubt that's relevant, but most people mention it and then I have no idea if they mean that it pertains to my problem. :o)

I hope someone here can shed some light on this issue. Thank you SO much in advance!! :)

SWAG #1: See if VISS (VHS Index Search System) can be turned off and, if so, does that makes a diff.

SWAG #2: Turn off VSS (Virtual Surround Sound) and see if that makes a diff.

Note: SWAG = Scientific Wild Ass Guess

I have not encountered out of sync problems with dubbing/copying but I do not use Panasonic 2007 model combo recorders. With these models the best method to copy videotapes is to attach an external VCR to a Panasonic input and record from that input. This method of copying allows the user to exercise more control of the process and provides more satisfactory results. Ignore the internal VHS section.

In several earlier posts in this and other Forums I have detailed some of the problems with the "internal" method of copying videotaped recordings with the front panel copying control on Panasonics. On these Panasonics (including the 2007 DMR-EZ37V, DMR-EZ47V and DMR-EZ475 models) the internal method of copying prevents the user from customizing various settings and requires more user supervision of the copying process. The front panel method of copying causes the videotape to stop at index marks or wherever it deems that one program has ended and another has begun. Then the videotape rewinds briefly, stops, and then starts playing again. At the same time the DVD recording stops, and then restarts as a new "title." A commercial may cause a new title to be created. This probematic and annoying "feature" involves a certain degree of overlap in the resulting recordings.

The FUNCTIONS menu-initiated "internal" method of copying found on 2006 and some 2005 models allows the user to have more complete control through customized settings for Time Limited and/or Flexible Recording copying, allows the combo recorder to accomplish its work with very little supervision, and provides seamless results.

The full-function menu-initiated internal method of copying was not included on Panasonic's 2007 models, a serious omission.

I write with much dubbing/copying experience with my thirteen functional Panasonic DVD recorders and combo recorders from the 2005, 2006 and 2007 model years. My selective dubbing project involved my twenty years of home-recorded videotapes, around 5,200 titles, copied over a ten-month period usually using four but sometimes up to seven Panasonic DVD and combo recorders each running up to eighteen hours per day.

I have a DMR-EZ37V and a DMR-EZ48V. I've noticed that on the 37, doing a VHS copy of a single title longer than 2 hours in EP mode (that's EP on the DVD side) does produce an audio track that falls progressively out of sync with the video. This effect also occurs when recording from an analog TV channel, and also occurs on my DMR-EZ17, which makes me think it's a problem endemic to the x7 models. My DMR-EZ48V does not exhibit this problem, so it would seem that they have fixed it in the x8 models.

BTW, the 37 and 48 do allow you to initiate a copy from the FUNCTIONS menu, but the functionality is the same as a front-panel-initiated copy.

SWAG #1: See if VISS (VHS Index Search System) can be turned off and, if so, does that makes a diff.

SWAG #2: Turn off VSS (Virtual Surround Sound) and see if that makes a diff.

Note: SWAG = Scientific Wild Ass Guess


Thank you for your response, as well as the giving me a laugh right now! haha! I really needed that!

I will try these things you suggested and see if it changes anything. I don't think that VSS is on, though. I don't have a full home theatre system, so surround sound from tv alone tends to make me dizzy. (just a curse of living with vertigo)

Thanks again for the SWAG's (haha) and I will see if those make any differences. :)

I have not encountered out of sync problems with dubbing/copying but I do not use Panasonic 2007 model combo recorders. With these models the best method to copy videotapes is to attach an external VCR to a Panasonic input and record from that input. This method of copying allows the user to exercise more control of the process and provides more satisfactory results. Ignore the internal VHS section.

Thanks for your response! I had plugged in my 1998 (or 1999?) Panasonic VCR into the Input last night and played a tape while recording it on DVD. The burn did not have pixels and seemed almost have the same clarity -- possibly better!? I was only bothered by the audio, but that is probably due to my audio cables (which are the silver-ish tipped cables). I found that copper cables produce a far better sound than the silver (?) cables, but I only have the S-video w/ audio cables in copper, and my VCR is old so it doesn't have the S-Video jack. :o So now I just need to pick up the copper A/V cables for external copying.

In several earlier posts in this and other Forums I have detailed some of the problems with the "internal" method of copying videotaped recordings with the front panel copying control on Panasonics. On these Panasonics (including the 2007 DMR-EZ37V, DMR-EZ47V and DMR-EZ475 models) the internal method of copying prevents the user from customizing various settings and requires more user supervision of the copying process. The front panel method of copying causes the videotape to stop at index marks or wherever it deems that one program has ended and another has begun. Then the videotape rewinds briefly, stops, and then starts playing again. At the same time the DVD recording stops, and then restarts as a new "title." A commercial may cause a new title to be created. This probematic and annoying "feature" involves a certain degree of overlap in the resulting recordings.

Really? I hadn't noticed that problem. YET, anyway! ha! But I do get annoyed with the 2 second delay. When I tried an internal vhs-to-dvd burn last night, it cut off 2 seconds of the beginning of the tape when burning to dvd. That wouldn't be a problem if the tape hadn't started immediately, but unfortunately this one did! (And cutting off the beginning of Brian May in concert is just unacceptable. :eek:)
I think it's best to stick with the external copying, indeed. At least I could use the Flexible Recording with that! No sense in wasting disc space and lessening quality if it's unnecessary. ;)


I write with much dubbing/copying experience with my thirteen functional Panasonic DVD recorders and combo recorders from the 2005, 2006 and 2007 model years. My selective dubbing project involved my twenty years of home-recorded videotapes, around 5,200 titles, copied over a ten-month period usually using four but sometimes up to seven Panasonic DVD and combo recorders each running up to eighteen hours per day.

Wow! I don't think I have that many to transfer (god, I hope NOT! haha!), but it's nice to know that overall your Panasonics have held up well. I have always liked Panasonic the most. I guess I just got a model that needed slightly more than what I wanted.

Oh well, I'll just be happy to get these things onto dvd. If I have to do it through external copying, then I'll grin and bear it! :)

Thanks again for your response!

I have a DMR-EZ37V and a DMR-EZ48V. I've noticed that on the 37, doing a VHS copy of a single title longer than 2 hours in EP mode (that's EP on the DVD side) does produce an audio track that falls progressively out of sync with the video.

Hmm...I haven't noticed that yet. Then again, I haven't really burned much yet that way. What first caught my eye is that the VCR section alone seems to have an audio/picture synchronization problem. Some tapes are barely noticeable, while others are glaringly obvious. Truly odd!


This effect also occurs when recording from an analog TV channel, and also occurs on my DMR-EZ17, which makes me think it's a problem endemic to the x7 models. My DMR-EZ48V does not exhibit this problem, so it would seem that they have fixed it in the x8 models.

I haven't noticed it happening while recording onto dvd+R/dvd+RW from an analog TV channel. I hope it doesn't start doing that now!! :eek:
I'm glad for you that your DMR-EZ48V doesn't exhibit that problem, though!

Thanks for your response! :)