Hey guys, hope you can help. I bought a Panny Es15 for $100 in the spring. I researched it here and other than a couple of negative reviews it was pretty much consistently recommended for what I wanted; copying my camcorder tapes and as a replacement for my VCR which I use for taping 6 or so shows a week.. It has performed quite nicely copying my tapes. As mentioned in the forums, there is hardly a difference between 2 hour and 4 hour mode…awesome.

I decided to start using it a vcr replacement now to tape my tv shows. The tuner picture quality on the lower stations, 2 – 13 leaves a lot to be desired (Fox and ABC particularly). I have swapped out all cables etc etc. I even connected the main line of the home right in the Panny before any of the existing splits. Under that condition, those low numbered stations look better but not perfect. Anyway I put my splitters back and now the picture is back to being. Well, not that sharp, a bit pixilated...kind like what happens when you blow a low resolution 4 X 6 picture up to an 8 X 10.…on the low numbered stations anyway.

So, two things come to mind. It has a crappy tuner. I guess I can live with that for the price I paid. Alternatively, maybe I do not have it hooked up right. What bothers me is the hook up directions that show the RF - IN coax ; where I am connecting the COAX from the wall and the RF – OUT. Now if this were my VCR I’d have connected the cable from the wall to the RF -IN and then coax from RF - OUT to my coax Antenna 1 or coax Antenna 2 on the back of the tv. I learned last spring that this does not work. Nothing but channel 4 shows up no matter what I do. I pulled out the manual. It states that no video or sound is transmitted via the coax RF - OUT. HUH?????????????

Ok, the manual shows that the hook up should instead be using the RCA type (Red/Yellow/White) connections. So (back in spring) I hooked it up this way. Coax from wall to RF –IN , RCA Outputs to: TV Video 1 inputs. Put the TV in Video 1 mode to watch the DVD recorder. That’s how it has been hooked up since spring albeit with unsatisfying results.

I did note in the manual last night that it shows, in addition to the VVideo RCA outs, that the RF OUT Coax should also be connected to the TV. WHAT PURPOSE DOES THAT SERVE????

So, added a coax cable last night from the RF – OUT coax to my Antenna 1 coax in on the TV. IT MADE NO DIFFERENCE. Not that I thought it would because I have no idea why connecting the RF OUT coax that the manual states passes no video or audio to my Antenna 1 coax would have any impact on my VIDEO 1 RCA Input or VIDEO 2 RCA Input or Antenna 2 Cox for that matter!

Am I missing something? Does the RF – OUT need to be connected to anything? Does this beastie just have a dud tuner.

PA: I have a 12DB Booster, made no real appreciable difference irregardless of where I placed it..

... I pulled out the manual. It states that no video or sound is transmitted via the coax RF - OUT. HUH?????????????

I did note in the manual last night that it shows, in addition to the VVideo RCA outs, that the RF OUT Coax should also be connected to the TV. WHAT PURPOSE DOES THAT SERVE????

PA: I have a 12DB Booster, made no real appreciable difference irregardless of where I placed it..

1. The manual is attempting to say that the RF out is not designed to act as a video/audio output. This is true for any DVD recorder or player. RF is simply too low on the quality scale in terms of output resolution to meet DVD-quality standards.

2. The reason RF-Out exists is simply as a pass-through for your RF signal which, depending on your connection scheme, removes the need to power up the recorder to watch TV.

3. While Panasonic tuners are not the best, I suspect that your cable signal is likely at minimum threshold. Splitters and boosters only compound the problem when you have that situation. If you can tolerate the BS that most cable companies dish out when it comes to service calls, you might consider requesting a service call because of signal problems and have them measure the incoming DB rating on your feed.

I'd complain to the cable company..I have NO trouble with that but:

1) My cable comes out the wall into a splitter. One side goes to the cable box then on to the tv. The picture is Great. The other side goes to the DVD recorder than on to the TV's Video 1. Stinky Picture. The old VCR used to be in this slot and had a better picture - it was a Panny too.

2) Is there any need for me to connect the RF-OUt then...not sure why I'd want to pass the signal thru in my configuration....

1. I'd remove the splitter and go direct to the Panasonic. If the quality is still poor, call the cable company on the basis that you aren't getting enough signal to drive the Panny tuner (remove all splitters before they arrive). The CC can increase your signal strength (if they want to) and that will give you final proof of where the fault lies.

2. Based on your configuration, you don't need the RF-OUT connected.

Well, JeffWld, I did that last night and the picture did get better, not as good as my tv but better. I am not sure they would do anything other than charge me $50!

... I am not sure they would do anything other than charge me $50!

Wonder if it would help if you call and complain of the signal quality and then mention you are thinking of dropping cable because of it, like for satellite or such. Remember you are the customer paying for their service.

Well, JeffWld, I did that last night and the picture did get better, not as good as my tv but better. I am not sure they would do anything other than charge me $50!

So now you know 2 things. (1) The Panny tuner still is noisy with your existing signal level. (2) You are getting too much insertion loss with your current splitters.

Well, JeffWld, I did that last night and the picture did get better, not as good as my tv but better. I am not sure they would do anything other than charge me $50!
Check your splitter and make sure it is a "balanced" one... -3.7dB signal loss on both outputs. If it's not marked on housing, it's prob. a -3.7/-7.4dB splitter and maybe the Panny was on the -7.4 side?

Wal-Mart and K-Mart have two types of splitters... one is balanced and is marked on the housing... costs a couple bucks more.

I'll check, I think the point is the other TV / Cable box works fine on its side of the split so I am guessing its mostly the Panny's tuner. Like I said running right to the Panny improved the picture but it still was not as good as the TV, even after the splits. I will look for a btter splitter or try to get them to give me one.

Is there any way to set the cable box to change to the channels and programs you want to record? Then you could just record from the cable box.

You can do this with most satellite tuners, but I'm not sure if it's very common in cable ones.

not that I know of....