Official Panasonic DMR-EZ48VK thread - Page 42

Greetings Group,

I'm on my 2nd Panasonic (a DMR-EZ48VK)... Started with the (...EZ28) Have used dvd-ram discs almost exclusively- for time shifting.

Wondering as many have here, how to convert a dvd-ram recording to record on a regular DVD+R...

Have experienced almost every quirk mentioned among these threads on my EZ28- several times weekly lock-ups, right down to the DVD deck slowly going out with the clunking noises, etc. It's now sitting while I decide what to do... as it's still under the 3rd year of extended warranty from TARGET. (Not sure if I'm brave enough to try to clean it myself.)

But my main reason for posting... my most recent dilemma... Had several dvd-ram discs do this in the EZ28 and now mt first in the EZ48...

I was editing commercials out by marking chapters and while doing so... the player LOCKED UP... After re-booting... the disc now gets a message on read up... "not formatted- do you wish to format?" It will not go to the previous menu- with several things recorded. Very surprised as I've only had this deck for TWO MONTHS!!! WHAT HAPPENED???!!! (Have had this happen on regular DVD+R discs, too...)

On a previous disc on the EZ28... I went ahead with the
"re-formatting" in hopes it would return the disc to "normal." That was not the case. I ended up with a "blank."

I hope that my original programs are still there and that only the chapter marks are (erased or corrupted?")
ARE MY PROGRAMS STILL THERE???

Should I do anything different if this happens in the future?

Is there any way to save the recordings on this disc???

*_*_*
Questions?/Comments? * This Has Been e-mail From:
"Dr. Mark" Hill * The Doctor Of Pop Culture /*/ drmark7@juno.com

If you're player locked up while writing to the disc, more than likely the disc programs are lost
Sometimes a lockup during writing will only cause a R or RW disc to be unfinalizable. It still may play in a Panasonic DVDR but because the disc cannot be finalized so it won't play in anything else.
I've not had a RAM disc do what it sounds like yours did, but if you can't get past the recorder wanting to format the DVD a format is your only choice, which will of course erase anything on your disc.
It really sounds to me that many of your problems are caused by a dirty spindle. If your house is particularly dusty or anyone smokes in your house then spindle cleaning less than once a year is a must. Of course the EZ recorders also have bugs and quirks that are not related to a dirty spindle but they are inherent in the design and theirs nothing you can really do about those other than the workarounds mentioned in this and the EZ-28 thread.
The nice thing about DVDRs with a HDD is you can do all your editing on the HDD and once done burn a HS lossless copy to a standard R disc. If by chance the burn fails it's as easy as just burning another copy from the HDD and you lose nothing except your coaster.

• You'll need a pc drive that's RAM compatible and a dvd software program that also handles RAM, in order to save your recordings...Or another Panny player or recorder that can be connected to the (still working?) ez48, and record to a dvd-r.
  
• If your ez28 is still under a warranty, you may want to go ahead and pursue a repair...with cable companies dropping analog service as they 'upgrade' to all digital, having a recorder with a QAM tuner to pick up the remaining clear QAM chs could be useful.
  
• Lastly, I've had the RAM disc issue pop up on my 48 just before the drive went out. A couple of RAMs wouldn't load after I swapped drives with an ez47 parts machine. They would load on another 47, a ES30, and on my pc drive, and the shows were still there and playable.
  
  And does the 48 still work/record? Perhaps, in addition to what jeff posted regarding the very easy spindle cleaning, those particular disc may need a gentle washing with warm soapy water and dried with a very soft cloth, with special attention to the center hole, where oily residue loves to party.

1. This is a BRAND-NEW, not 2 months out of the box, EZ48 from Target. And light use so far... Very clean environment here. No smokers. Very surprised this one is acting like the old one so fast. It was almost 2 years before the 1st started going bad.

2. Will be looking to move up to a DVD recorder with HD, but just bought the Panasonic, so it will be a while.

Take the EZ48 back to Target. Perhaps they will give you a credit toward the purchase of a Magnavox H2160MW9A or MDR513H, both HDD/DVD recorders:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...6#post12244086

While these models don't use DVD-RAM discs the hard drives make for a better user experience.

I'm afraid I have to agree with tis advice. The EZ48 is a poor choice for a recorder (I say this, even though I am a Panasonic advocate). the others listed here will be much more useful to you. I guess I am more of a hard drive equipped recorder advocate, than a Panasonic advocate.

As your EZ28 was "going out with the clunking noises..." the problem may be as simple as a dirty lens, but the "clunking" most often points to a failed laser assembly that will not be corrected with the routine lens and hub/spindle cleaning:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...8#post14479898

Take advantage of the extended service contract from Target, you have nothing to lose. My guess is that the service provider contracts with local repair shops that will soon discover that the VXY2010 DVD Drive is either no longer available or too expensive to purchase from Panasonic's National Parts Center in Kent Washington. The service provider will most likely refund some or all of the original purchase price for your EZ28. These third party service contract providers seldom have tie-ins with the best quality and most economical source for Panasonic repairs. They reason that a local repair shop will do cut-rate repairs with generic or scavenged parts that may be near the end of their useful life.

Of course, the best locations for Panasonic repairs are the two Panasonic corporate Service Centers in Illinois. These locations offer the $130 flat-rate repair that includes all parts and labor and return shipping. These are the Panasonic experts. More detail concerning Panasonic's Illinois corporate repair centers is found here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...8#post14451738

Panasonic also has a refurbished product exchange at their Customer Service Center at McAllen Texas, but that's usually a little more expensive than the flat-rate service through the two corporate "repair" centers in Illinois. The exchange products come from their refurbishing facility just across the river in Reynosa Mexico. Panasonic recently relocated all but a small portion of their Knoxville TN operation to the McAllen and Rynosa facilities.

In order for me to get Closed Captions I have to go into the Set Up Menu and do a number of steps. Is there something I'm missing here?

In order to return to the previous channel I am reentering the channel on the remote. Is there not a Return function?

I hope I'm missing something here as operation is pretty clunky otherwise.

Sorry, there is no return button on the EZ48. A silly feature to leave off.

Thanks Westly,

Is it the same with "Close Captions"? i.e. no short cut, you have to go to set up display menu.

When my panny dvd recorders started to misbehave , the first thing they balked at were RAM discs -- then high speed discs became problematic (they used to take 16x, now they dont). I tried a spit cleaning (technique detailed in this forum -- I think by JJeff, if I remember correctly) which did not require opening the unit, and that seemed to help the disc regain some 'traction'.... This is totally off-label, but I tried it after using listerine, thinking the extra alcohol as cleaning solution couldn't hurt. Seemed to work ... but ... if it's under warranty, I'd get rid of that puppy fast! That model has never been especially reliable, and the sooner you get it off your hands, the better. Meanwhile, can you record on standard 8x dvd media (not RAM)? If so, that would tide you over while you decide what to do. Also, sometimes it can record if you take the RAM disc out of the cartridge. Not sure it's worth experimenting, if you still have the option of returning it and ridding yourself of the headache.

Do you have an HDTV, and are connected to it through HMDI cable? I'm not 100% certain, but I seem to recall HD tv owners having problems with cc not showing up thru when using hmdi.

And is the issue happening when tuning digital channels on the 48?

Anyone having a problem with USB Western Digital External HD formatted
Fat32 freezing then losing the ability for the player to read the EHD after unplugging or powering down unit. HD still works on windows operating system units only.

Help Much Appreciated.

Thanks

^ I wasn't aware that an external hdd could be played thru the EZ48's USB port....which could explain your problems...

Here is the concise summary from page 78 of the DMR-EZ48/485 Operating Instuctions:

"What can or cannot be done using the USB port on this unit?

 You can copy still pictures and play MP3, DivX or still picture files on a USB memory.
 A USB memory cannot be formatted on this unit.
 Connections of digital cameras or camcorders through USB are not guaranteed.
 Some USB memories cannot be used with this unit."

Westley-C is correct. According to the manual, the USB port only supports memory cards up to 32GB. If you got it to work at all with a disk drive, it's amazing.

It works just flaky...not all the time...folders not coming up....gotta keep everything backed separately for when it freezes and ruins the drive. No biggie. When it is working and running through 100G of Music and Movies and Pictures on the ez48, XBox, PS3, New Flat LCD's it pretty cool!

Okay, you got me with this one. Specifically, the manual does not say it won't work, it DOES say it isn't SUPPORTED. There is a world of difference. You say that it works, but in an unreliable (flaky) manner. All I can say is, if it works for you, use it. Don't expect Panasonic support to help you with your issues though.

Posting this to be able to post urls in a separate post as rules say I need to have posted 3 times... and I'm only at 2.

I'm pretty much sticking with the Panasonics and DVD-RAM recording for now...

Have tried some suggestions found here and elsewhere...

On the disc that went astray after a reboot- and the content seemed to disappear... I copied that DVD-RAM to the HD of my laptop successfully... (Using ROXIO)

And even PLAYED IT (from the HD) with this program:
VLC Media Player (www.videolan.org). (FREE - Open Source)

Though it played as one continuous file without any chapter marks. (How to add chapters back????)

But I can't seem to copy the file to a DVD+r or DVD-r in a way that it will play on the Panasonic or even the laptop.

Here are links to DVD-Ram to DVD+R using TMPG:

TMPG DVD Author 4-
http://tmpgenc.pegasys-inc.com/en/download/taw4.html

http://www.btinternet.com/~james_lancaster/ramtor.HTML

But TMPG has a fee and seems complicated (to me.)

It would be nice to be able to continue recording to DVD-RAM- edit out commercials etc., then burn to DVD+R and re-use the DVD-RAMS.

As I'm using ROXIO on the laptop, it clearly says in the HELP that it will copy DVD-RAM to DVD+R, but when I have tried, it stops during the read and says my disc has "fingerprints" or some other reason why it won't copy. Have tried 3 discs all with the same result. They are clean as can be and I'm in a pretty dust free, smoke free home.

Haven't tried again to copy the disc to HD- but then, don't know how to copy from the HD to a usable DVD+r.

I'm not exactly a newbie to copying, but not too advanced, either. Any help, suggestions or links is appreciated and thanks in advance.

Wow, I just read all 42 pages of this discussion. It took me three days! There's great info here that I wish I had read earlier.

We've had an EZ48V in the house for well over a year now and I recently picked up a second one for my bedroom. The first one (built May 2008) has been completely trouble free but it doesn't get very much use. That one is in my dad's bedroom. I did a few timer recordings on a DVD-RW for him but other than that he just uses it occasionally to watch VHS and DVD movies. The tuner worked well receiving ATSC broadcasts when it was hooked up to our 30 year old rooftop antenna. A few months later we got cable and the antenna was removed.

I had been using a Pioneer DVR-RT500 combo recorder on my bedroom TV. After the OTA analog cutoff I used a digital converter box until we got cable. It was a challenge trying to keep up with timed recording events with a no-frills converter box. Once we got cable the analog tuner worked again so I took the digital converter box off. Everything was going smoothly for about a year. Then we switched from cable to fiber optic TV service. Now the signal is completely digital so the RT500's analog tuner won't tune in any channels again. I'm not going back to the converter box. I liked the features of dad's EZ48 and it has a QAM tuner so I got one for myself (April 2010 build).

I've used it for a couple of weeks and I really do like it's features, especially with DVD-RAM disks. I didn't realize that we can't record to standard VHS from internal digital tuners. I probably wouldn't have got the EZ48 if I had known that. A few times the unit stopped responding and I had to use the reset button. I can deal with that and the VHS recording limitations but the tuner won't pick up Philadelphia ABC (WPVI) or CBS (KYW). I know the CBS and ABC signals are there because my TV's tuner gets them, and the TV's input cable is fed directly from the RF-out on the EZ48 (RF output channel off). I even tried the old "loosen the cable on the RF input to weaken the signal" trick. Still no ABC or CBS. I checked dad's EZ48 and it won't get ABC or CBS either. I put together a coat hangar and 2X4 yagi antenna and stuck it in the attic, and routed another RG6 cable into my room. With that I can get ABC and CBS as well as most of the other channels we were watching with the rooftop antenna except for PBS and CW. I thought about using a cable A-B switch to select between the QAM and ATSC signals, but I'd have to re-scan the channels on the recorder and the TV every time I changed the input. That's more work than when I was using the converter box.

So I guess the EZ48 is getting returned to the store. Too bad, I really did like the features. It's a shame the tuner doesn't work as good as the one in my inexpensive TV.

I'll start reading up on the HDD recorders that were recommended in this discussion.

By the way, I tried connecting a Motorola HD QIP 7100 to the EZ48 with a 6pin to 4pin firewire cable. I plugged it into the DV IN port but the EZ48 acted as if nothing was hooked up. Selecting the DV input gave me a blank light colored screen. I also tried going through the DV recording menu but it told me to make sure my camcorder was turned on and in the playback mode. I don't know if it's supposed to work or not but I thought I'd mention it.

Ken

You can't copy the DVD-RAM's file-a DVD_RTAV folder holding the VOB and BUF files, directly to a DVD-R disc and have it play on a dvd player (well, you technically can, but no dvd player, even a Panasonic recorder, will play it back).
The RAM recorded material will have to be converted using a dvd authoring program, like TMPG. TMPG is actually easy (for me at least) to use.

You open TMPG, then select the Source folder you want to open-which will be the folder you copied to the pc hard drive. TMPG will recognize separate program recordings (if 3 shows were recorded to the RAM, the selection menu will show 3 titles) that you made on the RAM disc, allowing you to select all or just the ones you want, saving also any chapter marks within each title you placed in the shows. There is a trial version that you can experiment with.
Also compatible with DVD-RAM, is VideoReDo. http://www.videoredo.com/en/Download.htm A trial version is also available. It can be used to quickly edit RAM recordings (after copying to pc drive), and then burn to a dvd-r with simple menus.

QAM is for tuning in digital channels via cable, while ATSC is for over the air, antenna digital broadcast reception.
I'll assume you did a channel rescan when you switched from cable to the antenna. If so, and they still don't show up, you may need to go into the Settings menu and enable the OTA digital channels for your MIA local stations.
Setup>Channels:
Channel Settings tab >Add/Delete.
See attached photos for visual guide.


Cable boxes cannot be connected using the firewire inputs, sorry.

Thank you for the speedy reply.

I did do a re-scan (although my menus look slightly different). The channels show up in the list and are enabled but when I try to tune to those channels I get a "no signal" message. Both EZ48s do the exact same thing. The correct station ID label shows up in the channel list and I think it also shows up with the channel number in the onscreen message box. I have it on the antenna right now but I can swap it to cable and re-scan it again if you want me to. It's odd that those channels do work on the TV's tuner and the TV tuner is getting it's cable feed passed through the EZ48.

The EZ48 will tune in the expected channels when I hook the antenna up and re-scan the channels, It just doesn't get all of the ones I should be getting on the cable feed.

Ken

I would suggest a factory reset to see if it will get your QAM channels.
I purchased a used EZ-28 that was setup for QAM. I hooked it up to an antenna so I changed the setup to ANTENNA, did a scan and all was well. Later I hooked it up to cable so I went into setup and changed to CABLE and did a scan and got exactly what you did, NOTHING! Just like you the TV that was hooked through my EZ-48v got many QAM channels but nothing on the EZ-48v.
I tried many channel scans and even Wajo's AON(all or nothing) where you scan with no input connected to clear the list and then hook the cable up and try another scan, NOTHING. I thought I got ripped off and my unit had a bad QAM tuner, but the antenna input seemed to work fine.
In desperation I tried a factory reset(with unit ON hold both channel up and channel down buttons for at least 5 seconds). Unit should power down, go through a self check and I believe come back on(otherwise you may need to push POWER). After my reset I went through the initial setup(including setting for CABLE) did a channel scan and WALA! it found all my QAM channels.
I was able to repeat this procedure a second time(that is needing to reset the DVDR when switching from OTA to CABLE) so I assume it's one of the many bugs in the EZ line. As Digado says, and the bugs go on............
Good luck with the reset, it worked wonders for mine.

Here's another thought, dual (or triple) connectivity.

The DMR-EZ48V model's internal tuner arrangement allows clear QAM (cable) or ATSC (antenna) reception through the RF coax cable input. Of course a cable or antenna channel scan will make use of the tuner.

If the RF input is connected to the cable provider's raw coax cable feed, a "cable" channel scan is run after which the clear QAM tuner should be able to find whatever the cable provider continues to offer as a "non-scrambled" signal.

With the cable provider's converter box one may tune the "scrambled" signals and feed the converter box output to the DMR-EZ48 model's S-Video or composite "line inputs" or to the RF input as "analog" channel 3 (or 4).

Or, an antenna may be connected to the DMR-EZ48 model's RF input, an "antenna" channel scan is run after which the ATSC tuner should be able to find whatever signal is being received through the antenna.

When using the DMR-EZ48 model's internal tuner that still leaves open the S-Video and composite line inputs for additional connectivity options.

Currently, my digital tuner equipped Philips 3576 HDD/DVD recorder is connected to an antenna for ATSC reception/recording as well as a Comcast converter box connected to one set of composite inputs.

I've also had as many as three separate tuning options with an analog tuner DMR-ES35V. There was a Comcast converter box connected to the Panasonic RF input, a Zinwell 970A CECB connected to the rear panel composite input and a Zenith DTT901 CECB connected to the front composite input. This arrangement allowed recording of whatever cable service was tuned by the cable box, whatever digital sub-channel was tuned by the Zinwell, and whatever digital sub-channel was tuned by the Zenith.

OK, I did the channel up channel down reset, went through the setup routine and re-scanned. That didn't change anything except my recording schedule is now empty. No problem, there were only half a dozen or so scheduled.

From the beginning it has been getting some QAM channels when hooked up to cable but not all of the ones my TV can get. If it were the channels that carried programs that I have no interest in I wouldn't care but it's the two channels that I use the most, ABC and CBS.

The CBS and ABC channels show up in the channel list on 3-1 and 6-1, -2, -3, but when I tune to those channels I get the "no signal" message, then a blank screen.

When looking at ABC channel 6-1's blank screen I hit the status button on the remote. The channel number on the screen is reported to be 6-30526. For CBS 3-1 the channel number is 3-30506. When I key in channel 3.30506 on my TV's remote it tunes to CBS 3-1 and displays it perfectly. Keying 6.30526 on the TV remote tunes in ABC 6-1 and displays it as well. My TV plays those channels so I know the channels are on the cable in the clear. I know the EZ48 channel scan identifies the channel properly and the virtual channel number is assigned to the correct actual channel number. They are in the channel list and I verified they were not deleted.

I tried that too. No improvement.

Thanks for all the help so far. I doubt it will help but I can try doing a firmware update. I wish there was a way to tell what the installed firmware version is.

Ken

Thanks for the tip. I could do that but the picture quality seems to suffer when using the external inputs. S-video from the cable box isn't too bad but the converter box only has composite and RF connections, and the picture from those outputs are less than ideal. The cable box gets used frequently so scheduled recordings wouldn't work too well.

My Insignia NS-DXA1-APT looks just like the Zenith DTT901. It appears to be the same hardware with a different brand name. I know Insignia is a house brand for Best Buy.

Ken

Yes the Insignia and Zenith CECBs are one in the same, I own both.
Neither have the S-video output so the quality isn't up to the standards of something like a CM-7000(which I also own several) but they are about as good as composite gets.
To bad the reset work for you, I thought for sure it would since I had the same problem with my EZ-28 which is very similar to your EZ-48v.

I tried doing the firmware update. I downloaded it and put it on a CD-R and it ran. After it was finished I had to force it into the initial setup routine by holding the channel up and down buttons at the same time. After scanning all the channels again still no ABC or CBS. It acts the same way. Then I decided to put the firmware update CD back in the tray to see if it would give me the " UNSUP PORT" message. The firmware update ran again. When it was finished I had to force the initial setup again with the channel buttons. I just got done scanning the channels again and it's still the same, no ABC or CBS.

I think the Parental Controls menu is different now. I recall the parental controls being set at "level 8" or something like that and now it has totally different options. I may be remembering that menu on another piece of equipment but I don't believe that is the case.

Since I didn't get the "UNSUP PORT" status on the second go it makes me wonder if the firmware update program is installing one update per session. If there are several updates to complete does the update process need to be repeated until the "UNSUP PORT" message appears? I don't want to keep running the firmware update if it isn't doing anything.

Ken