Today's show

Ever wonder how you would design the perfect Xbox 360 Home Theater Edition? Gizmodo thought about it, and came up with some cool ideas. We also have a review of the Panasonic DMR-EZ47VK DVD Recorder; it received the coveted 'digital video Swiss Army knife' award. more... (http://www.htguys.com/archive/2007/May04.html)

Listen now - mp3 (http://media.libsyn.com/media/hdtvpodcast/HDTV-2007-05-04.mp3)

I have received my Panasonic DMR-EZ475VK (virtually identical to the DMR-EZ47VK). It was easy to set up. 40-minutes to unpack, disconnect my old VCR and connect up the DMR-EZ475VK. Another hour was then spent tailoring the menu preferences and scanning in the local analog and digital signals. Over the last 18-hours, I have run a number of unscientific and very subjective tests.

My overall impression is that the unit has strong ATSC (digital) and NTSC (analog) tuners. I pulled in all of the channels that my 18-month old Panasonic 52-in HD LCD pulls in plus a few that it couldn’t.

The DVD section does an excellent good job of up-scaling both pre-recorded movies and locally made DVD recordings of OTA programs IF THEY WERE RECORDED FROM AN ATSC signal.

DVD recordings of NTSC signals (I used NTSC OTA, NTSC from C-band/4dtv via line input, NTSC from DISH Network via line input, and NTSC from MPEG2-DVB satellite), were the same as a good VHS recording and usually not quite as good as the original signal. The unit does NOT seem to line double and up-convert an NTSC signal, at least there is no apparent improvement in the picture from what I normally get with each of the above program sources. I had hoped that the line doubling would improve my non-digital signals to near HD quality.

The VHS recordings can only be made from NTSC signals. I had hoped that it would down-convert ATSC signals to 480i record the signal and up-convert and line double that recording to near 1080I or 720p quality. VHS OTA recordings that I had made on other VCRs played well, in fact were improved a bit.

I anticipate that I will be doing most of my time shift recording on the DVB section and use the VHS as a playback device for the countless hours of VHS tape that I have accumulated over the last 28-years.

Conclusion: It is an excellent way to ease into the DT- HD time-shifting world, while waiting for HD/Blue Ray, RECORDABLE DVDs and D-VHS VCRs with ATSC tuners to be introduced and reach reasonable price points. If you have a good working VCR and the space for another blinking black box you might want to consider the ATSC DVD only recorder (without the VCR). But in my case my VCR was on its last legs and I couldn’t squeeze another receiver under the HDTV.

pass by...

I have received my Panasonic DMR-EZ475VK (virtually identical to the DMR-EZ47VK). It was easy to set up. 40-minutes to unpack, disconnect my old VCR and connect up the DMR-EZ475VK. Another hour was then spent tailoring the menu preferences and scanning in the local analog and digital signals. Over the last 18-hours, I have run a number of unscientific and very subjective tests.

I got this from costco. one really annoying thing no one has mentioned is you cannot change the aspect ratio. I'm using it with an analog 32" jvc, so if you are watching non hd material and the broadcaster is not sending a zoomed picture to fill out the screen, you cannot change it yrself. it's really irritating that some broadcasters fill out the screen and others do not. however with my digital stream reciever i can change the aspect ration from the remote. it is really frustrating also that using it OTA, it takes forever to change channels. mine locked up a couple of times whilst surfing. i ended up takign it back, and i'll wait toill the bugs have ben ironed out. for recording it was fantastic either on vhs or dvd, no problems at all. it's almost but not quite perfect.

just bot panasonic dmr-ez475v dvd recorder--can't find how to call up a guide for off air hdtv program listings--can anyone help?

just bot panasonic dmr-ez475v dvd recorder--can't find how to call up a guide for off air hdtv program listings--can anyone help?
There is no guide.

Conclusion: It is an excellent way to ease into the DT- HD time-shifting world,....

UPDATE: A word of caution, this unit recognizes the "broadcast flag" and will refuse (without advance warning) to record a program that has been designated as "copy-once". After much research and searching the manual, calling Panny etc. it seems the ONLY way to record a "copy-once" program is to use RAM discs.

I found out the hard way when I went to view one of the last episodes of Stargate SG-1 and was greeted by an error message "can not record copywritten material" followed by an hour of snow.

Did the error message really say "copywritten" and not "copyrighted?" (no offense intended if this was your typo rather than Panasonic's mistake).

Did the error message really say "copywritten" and not "copyrighted?" (no offense intended if this was your typo rather than Panasonic's mistake).

MY BAD! I was quoting the error message from memory...it didn't stay on the screen very long. I should probably fall on my sword, not Panasonic. :o

The manual sucks with a capital S

It gives you 2 choices:

Hit STOP if you DON'T want to finalize while recording
Hit RECORD if you DO want to finalize

However

It says absolutely NOTHING about what to do when you want to record 2 items from two different places in the VHS tape - Do you hit STOP or RECORD?

I don't know if any of you are experiencing this problem but when I follow the booklet, in trying to SPLIT the chapters, I never even GET the CREATE CHAPTER or COMBINE CHAPTER menu!

The only thing I get is VIEW RECORDINGS!!!

I can't create a chapter, I can't split a chapter and I can't view an album.

So incredibly frustrating.

Am I doing something wrong? I'd like to think I'm fairly intelligent (but a bit angry at the moment)

thanks

Anyone know the differences between the DMR EZ47VK and the DMR EZ475VK or where to find a comparison? The Panasonic site comparison makes no distinctions that I can find. Thanks,

Anyone know the differences between the DMR EZ47VK and the DMR EZ475VK or where to find a comparison? The Panasonic site comparison makes no distinctions that I can find. Thanks,

The 475 comes with the HDMI cord, the 47 does not. Other than that they seem to be identical.

<<I can't create a chapter>>

Try pressing the "Create Chapter" button on the remote as you view the DVD. I even works while you fast forward through a recording...even at 70x speed.

Just got my EZ475VK from Costco last week. It was onsale for $250. Two questions:
1) How come the HMDI functions are grey out? I do not have my HDMI cable attach to a TV though. Tech support told me without the HDMI cable hook up to the TV, the HMDI functions are grey out, is this true?

2) Whenever I use digital audio output, the sound keeps phase in and out. When I switch to analog, the sound is fine. This problem is true for watching network TV, DVD, or videotape. Any reason or I got a lemon!

<<1) How come the HMDI functions are grey out? I do not have my HDMI cable attach to a TV though. Tech support told me without the HDMI cable hook up to the TV, the HMDI functions are grey out, is this true?
>>

Yes, once you hook up the HDMI cable you can activate the the HDMI functions via the "functions" button and menus.

how long is there actually already HDMI?

Does anyone know if the DMR-EZ475VK supports Dual Layer DVD Recording? Some of the spec I read on the web say yes and some don't. Panasonic's web specs don't list it as DL support so I am assuming it isn't supported.

Helpful...

Anyone know the differences between the DMR EZ47VK and the DMR EZ475VK or where to find a comparison? The Panasonic site comparison makes no distinctions that I can find. Thanks,

As near as I can tell the biggest difference is that the EZ47 HD tuner converts the ATSC signal down to 480p for internal recording and then upconverts to 1080p for the output. It therefore loses some definition in the process and does not have true on air HD output to the HDTV.

The EX475VK evidently keeps the ATSC at 1080p and therefore can only record HD on the DVD and not to the VHS tape, but it has better HD on air quality output to the HDTV.

I may be wrong, but that's what it looks like to me.

I'm not sure if the EZ47VR has the "Broadcast Flag" lockout.:mad:

Maybe someone with a EZ47VK can jump in here. So far all the posts have been about the EZ475VK not the EZ47VK.

Cheers,
SD

Anyone know the differences between the DMR EZ47VK and the DMR EZ475VK or where to find a comparison? The Panasonic site comparison makes no distinctions that I can find. Thanks,

how long is there actually already HDMI?