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Just picked up a new Panny DMR-ES15 at BB!

45K views 279 replies 69 participants last post by  computerman3 
#1 ·
Will get it home later tonight and check it out this weekend. I will report back.
 
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#153 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by craigah /forum/post/0


What's the best possible way to get a signal from a digital cable box (that does not have rf out) to my panny 15. The cable box does have hdmi, usb, rgb, and IEEE 1394 firewire output. I suspect it would be via the firewire output to the front of the panny 15 recorder. But would like input from someone who is not a newbie like myself. Thanks.

It took me a while to fnd the original question.


Yes, Component Video is better than S-Video, using three wires to convey the signal compared to the two wires for S-Video. But Component Video is not RGB, RGB is used in VGA connections. Component Video can carry either YCbCr or YPbPr signals.


If, when craigah said 'rgb', he meant Component Video, then yeah, that should have been my answer. In fact he didn't even mention the answer I gave (S-Video). The main goal of my post was to make sure he understood that the FireWire was not going to do what he wanted.


Few DVD Recorders support Component Video input. But if yours does, and you have the choice from your STB as to which to use, Component Video can potentially give a slightly better picture. Although some here have mentioned not being able to see a difference.
 
#154 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kelson /forum/post/0


Well, if you are playing from a DVD, then you can't have blank media in the drive to record to, can you?

You can't have blank media, but what if it is an unfinalized DVD with free space available :)
 
#159 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by edster922 /forum/post/0


Is it true that when recording a DL disc, the es15 stops at the end of the first layer until you hit the "finalize" button, at which point it finalizes the first layer and THEN goes on to record the second layer?


That's what "CKNA" says (post 24 and 28):

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...91#post7572291


So that means that if I'm recording a long movie onto a DL disc I'll need to hit the pause button for that source until the first layer finalization is complete?



Please, please say it ain't so...

I want to know this as well. Can somebody please confirm or deny the above statement?
 
#161 ·
UK Owners only:-


Has anyone ever managed to record a PC DVD (Video_ts) on to a DVD+RW or DVD-RW disk and got the DMR-ES15 to recognise & play the disk as I never have. It plays the same contents put on a DVD-R disk but will cost me a fortune in the long run?


Also, has anyone got the commercial skip button to work on pre-recorded disks?


Thanks for any help.
 
#163 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by crabboy /forum/post/0


"Scheduled recordings begin when the set time is reached even when recording or playing"


Hmm. Not real clear. When I get a minute I'll experiment with this.

Thanks! It looks like they may have designed this with Timer-priority instead of Playback-priority, which makes sense since this is a recorder :) Without this feature a user would have lost the recording if they forgot to turn off the machine...


In some occasions it may record on the wrong DVD, but the burden is on the user to make sure they have the right DVD in. The only time this could be an unrecoverable problem is with write-once DVDs.


But overall I think this is a good approach...
 
#164 ·
I just picked up a Panny es15 yesterday. I've set it up but haven't tried recording anything yet. I'm wondering what is the benefit that DVD recorder users find over just setting up video capture then burn to a DVD burner on a computer? My main use is to put VHS recording onto DVD and the dump recordings from my soon to get set top box with PVR. Thanks for any input.
 
#165 ·
Burning to a DVD on PC usually involves a lengthy encoding process since software MPEG encoders do not run as fast as the hardware encoders in standalone DVD Recorders. Unless of course your capture card does the encoding in hardware, certainly a possibility, but my guess is that you don't have as much flexibility over bitrate/resolution/audio format with those as with a standalone DVD Recorder. But I'm not sure of this having never used a capture card (I just use FireWire and capture DV from an outboard A-to-D converter).
 
#166 ·
Update: Both BB and CC now are selling this unit for $144 down $10 from last week. I called BB and they said they would refund the difference when I bring in my receipt from last week. I bought it on a web price match in store. Also this week if you have a BB Reward Zone they are giving a $10 gift certificate for all orders over $100 ... so it's now $20 off from the price I paid last week.


Never hurts to call and ask you local store though, since their policy states it's the store's decision to price match BB.com or not.


FWIW,

Jay


Update on my ES-15S performance. I scheduled it to record UFC from Spke ay 8-9 and 10-11 last night. Perfect! This is the first one you should buy, leave the Cyberhomes and LiteOn's for te lesser informed and those people (who are like me) that think they can save a few $'s and get a well-performing unit. Been there done that, trying to save others some hassle.


Ok, just tried the "Create a Top Menu" function to be able to view the recordings on my PC. Worked perfectly. I'm 100% happy with this unit. LP looks fine on my monitor, the colors are a bit dull, but it's way better than the Goggle Vidoes I've been watching.
 
#167 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jay C /forum/post/0


Also this week if you have a BB Reward Zone they are giving a $10 gift certificate for all orders over $100 ... so it's now $20 off from the price I paid last week.

How often do they do these deals? I looked up the BB-RZ details and in order to break even on the $10/year membership fee you basically have to buy $300 worth of stuff at BB's usually inflated (compared to online) prices. The RZ program seems to make sense only if you're getting ready to buy say a plasma TV from them. Or am I missing something here?
 
#168 ·
Question about creating chapters with the machine. I have a Spike TV UFC that I recorded ontp VHS awhile back because I wasn't home and didn't want to miss it. Now I want to transfer that to DVD. From what I gather from the ES15 manual I can only put chapters where I want them if I use a DVD-Ram disc. If I use DVD-R then it automatically puts chapteres every 5 minutes. What I want to do (well it would be nice if I could) is have chapters that start at the begining of each match so I can click 'next" and it will go to the start of each UFC match.


How can I make that happen on a DVD-R? Is it possible? I read here that someone records things on a RAM disc, edits it how they want, then uses a different RAM compatible dvd player to play back the RAM disc and record it onto the es15 again with a DVD-R. What about recording it on a RAM disc, editing the chapteres how I want, then using a PC dvd-burner to high speed copy the RAM disc to a DVD-R. Will that work?


I don't have a PD dvd burner yet but they are pretty cheap. Also I think this is where a dvd rec with HD comes in handy but I didn't want that. Wanted to keep things basic but now I see that putting chapters where I want them is useful. Thanks.
 
#169 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by edster922 /forum/post/0


How often do they do these deals? I looked up the BB-RZ details and in order to break even on the $10/year membership fee you basically have to buy $300 worth of stuff at BB's usually inflated (compared to online) prices. The RZ program seems to make sense only if you're getting ready to buy say a plasma TV from them. Or am I missing something here?

Yeah, I had to buy a new washer and dryer a few months ago so that's the only reason I have RZ. It's just icing on the cake.


Jay
 
#171 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by ZZen /forum/post/0


Question about creating chapters with the machine. I have a Spike TV UFC that I recorded ontp VHS awhile back because I wasn't home and didn't want to miss it. Now I want to transfer that to DVD. From what I gather from the ES15 manual I can only put chapters where I want them if I use a DVD-Ram disc. If I use DVD-R then it automatically puts chapteres every 5 minutes. What I want to do (well it would be nice if I could) is have chapters that start at the begining of each match so I can click 'next" and it will go to the start of each UFC match.


How can I make that happen on a DVD-R? Is it possible? I read here that someone records things on a RAM disc, edits it how they want, then uses a different RAM compatible dvd player to play back the RAM disc and record it onto the es15 again with a DVD-R. What about recording it on a RAM disc, editing the chapteres how I want, then using a PC dvd-burner to high speed copy the RAM disc to a DVD-R. Will that work?


I don't have a PD dvd burner yet but they are pretty cheap. Also I think this is where a dvd rec with HD comes in handy but I didn't want that. Wanted to keep things basic but now I see that putting chapters where I want them is useful. Thanks.

If you are watching them while recording to DVD you could start a new title for every match, so you can still go from match to match with the Next Title button (if a dvd player has that) or just press Next Chapter until it switches over to the next title. The limit of titles for DVD-R is 99. I do not know how long the UFC matches last, but if it is a small number per DVD, then this could be an option?
 
#172 ·
First off, thanks to everyone who contributes to this board. It's become my first stop when shopping for electronics. I get much more out of here compared to the "reviews" on other sites. I'm a novice when it comes to DVD recorders so this won't be very technical.


I received the ES20 as a Christmas gift and love it. With the World Cup coming up I needed another DVDR to record the games while I'm at work. I picked up an ES15 yesterday. My thoughts..


1) The system doesn't seem as "smooth" as the ES20. The tray opening and closing is louder (no big deal) and when finalizing a disc the writing is now audible, much like writing on to a 3.5" floppy. I never noticed noises on the ES20.


2) The media recognition seems to take a bit longer than the 20.


3) The remote feels more cumbersome than the 20. It's not a big deal since I just use my 20 remote with the 15 since it's my main recorder now. The missing open/closed button is odd.


4) I run the feed from from a cable box and the picture quality is much nicer running through the 15 compared to the 20, especially the analog channels (have WOW digital service). One thing I did notice is when I change channels through the cable box the screen slightly flickers now. I had a smooth channel change using the 20.


5) Used the scheduled recording feature overnight and everything recorded fine. The picture quality is very nice using the LP setting. Finalizing the disc didn't take long at all.


Aside from the minor things, I'm really impressed so far. It's an easy-to-use machine that provides nice picture quality.
 
#173 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by dadair6 /forum/post/0


First off, thanks to everyone who contributes to this board. It's become my first stop when shopping for electronics. I get much more out of here compared to the "reviews" on other sites. I'm a novice when it comes to DVD recorders so this won't be very technical.


I received the ES20 as a Christmas gift and love it. With the World Cup coming up I needed another DVDR to record the games while I'm at work. I picked up an ES15 yesterday. My thoughts..


1) The system doesn't seem as "smooth" as the ES20. The tray opening and closing is louder (no big deal) and when finalizing a disc the writing is now audible, much like writing on to a 3.5" floppy. I never noticed noises on the ES20.


2) The media recognition seems to take a bit longer than the 20.


3) The remote feels more cumbersome than the 20. It's not a big deal since I just use my 20 remote with the 15 since it's my main recorder now. The missing open/closed button is odd.


4) I run the feed from from a cable box and the picture quality is much nicer running through the 15 compared to the 20, especially the analog channels (have WOW digital service). One thing I did notice is when I change channels through the cable box the screen slightly flickers now. I had a smooth channel change using the 20.


5) Used the scheduled recording feature overnight and everything recorded fine. The picture quality is very nice using the LP setting. Finalizing the disc didn't take long at all.


Aside from the minor things, I'm really impressed so far. It's an easy-to-use machine that provides nice picture quality.

Thanks for that. Have you tried record a PC DVD (Video_ts) on to a DVD+RW or DVD-RW disk and got the DMR-ES15 to recognise & play the disk as I never have. It plays the same contents put on a DVD-R disk but will cost me a fortune in the long run? A workaround is to use NERO to encode the AVI video to VCD format on to CDRW but then you can't stop the programmes half way through
 
#174 ·

Quote:
4) I run the feed from from a cable box and the picture quality is much nicer running through the 15 compared to the 20, especially the analog channels (have WOW digital service). One thing I did notice is when I change channels through the cable box the screen slightly flickers now. I had a smooth channel change using the 20.

The ES15 has an upgraded D/A chip over the 20. This may be what you're seeing.


I believe the 15 is using a different tuner than the 20 based on the thread with the photo of the innards.
 
#175 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by edster922 /forum/post/0


Darn, you guys have me all excited about the es15...I have an es20 that just came in from Amazon last week and now it looks like I'll just ship it back for a refund and get the es15 instead...sure wish the DL discs would come down in price!


I'd order it from CC for $155 right now but they only have silver and all my components are black, sigh.

UK prospective buyer here who is very confused
Have seen all the great reviews of the ES15, BUT also seen several reviews stating the BIG negative points of the ES15 are:
  • No RGB input
  • Analogue only tuner


As a new user of this forum am not allowed to include link to the discussions, but there seems to be a consensus that these are major reasons for going for the ES20 over the ES15.


Sample comments:

Quote:
In the UK there really is no place for the ES15 as analogue begins to get switched off at the end of next year
Quote:
There's no RGB in on the ES15, so a no brainer IMO. Go for the ES20
Quote:
The ES15 is Panasonic's first ever recorder without an RGB input. Bad move!!
Quote:
The achilles heel of the DNR-ES15 is not so easy to spot. It does not offer an RGB Scart input. Yes, this is an affordable deck, but there is absolutely no excuse for this omission. It means that if you have a digibox you will not be able to record your programmes in the best possible picture quality, and that's what DVD recording should be all about.
Quote:
Buy ES20D. Better picture using digital tuner and can also use DVD-RW rewitable discs much like DVD-RAM but with less editing provision. If intending to playback in other players/drives then write once DVD-R or DVD+R discs will both work in ES20D, if viewing on the ES20D then using DVD-RAM is most straight forward option with the bonus of full editing features. As far as I know from limited use of a Philips(Nightmare!), recorder DVD+RW discs are far more limited/complicated in general use than either -RW/RAM discs. I'm not 100% sure but I think ES20D can playback previously recorded DVD+RW discs if this is required. Finally lack of a RGB input is too much of a loss quality wise, so best avoid ES15 unless you need DV input for camcorders etc.
By the way, i should highlight -in case it's different from the US model - the UK ES20 is actually a ES20D and it includes a Freeview digital tuner.

Anyway, anyone care to comment on the above, as it's swaying me heavily towards going for an ES20D rather than an ES15
Apart from the slight increase in price for the ES20D, can anyone persuade me why I should still go for the ES15 in view of above concerns?
 
#176 ·
Hi All,


I'm just wondering how I would go about connecting my satellite reciever to this unit and how I can connect it to my LCD tv.


This is my thought:

The feed from the satellite is connect via S-Video cable to the DMR-ES15 (this should allow me to record TV shows).


Then from the DMR-ES15 I would use component cables to take advantage of the progressive scan feature of the unit.


My question is, will I be able to watch tv programs through the DMR-ES15 via the component cables or do I have to send the satellite signal from the DVDR to the TV via S-Video? Do component cables only transfer video from DVD's or will it also transfer video from the satellite throught the DVDR?


Also I'm assuming that my audio would go from the satellite reciever into the DVDR and then out from there into my home theater receiver. Is this right?
 
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