AVS › AVS Forum › Video Components › DVD Recorders (Standard Def) › Panasonic DMR-EZ17K DVD Player/Recorder
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Panasonic DMR-EZ17K DVD Player/Recorder

post #1 of 440
4/6/07 at 1:31pm
Thread Starter 
Is an accutune tuner descibed for this product (see Circuit City) and ATSC tuner?
Reply
Reply

AVS Top Picks

post #2 of 440
4/6/07 at 1:49pm
The EZ17 has both an NTSC & ATSC (HDTV) Tuners in it.
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 440
4/6/07 at 3:39pm
Also the ability to record to both layers of a dual layer disk without a finalization before the layer switch. Twice the recording time.
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 440
4/6/07 at 3:58pm
Be aware, according to posts, it's a "SD" ATSC tuner, meaning native 720P and 1080i are thunked down to standard definition (480).
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 440
4/6/07 at 4:42pm
GarAlb, Where did you see that in the Specs?
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 440
4/6/07 at 5:30pm
The EZ models are now listed on Panasonic's US website.
The EZ17 & EZ37, which appear to be the only ones becoming available in the near term, do not upconvert and do not have HDMI output.

The EZ27 & the EZ47 are the same models with upconverted HDMI output and SD card slots. Do not expect them to pass native HD through the tuner. These are all last years ES15,25,35,45 models with a new tuner chip, a facelift and a price increase.

Hope against hope that next year they will release the EZ-57 and EZ-77.
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 440
4/6/07 at 5:45pm
Bil1313,

It's in the manual (pg 10) at the bottom of the page. You can get it here:

http://media.*******.com/Image_Produ...ic/DMREZ17.pdf

There is a delay, but the previous model (DMR-ES15), was very clear about the inability to record continously from one layer to the other .
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 440
4/6/07 at 5:54pm
Thanks, But I can't get it to open for somereason?
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 440
4/6/07 at 5:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kelson View Post

The EZ models are now listed on Panasonic's US website.
The EZ17 & EZ37, which appear to be the only ones becoming available in the near term, do not upconvert and do not have HDMI output.

The EZ27 & the EZ47 are the same models with upconverted HDMI output and SD card slots. Do not expect them to pass native HD through the tuner. These are all last years ES15,25,35,45 models with a new tuner chip, a facelift and a price increase.

Hope against hope that next year they will release the EZ-57 and EZ-77.

The DMR-EZ17,27,37,47 recorders are based on the LSI Domino chip. Therefore, their lineage is from the DMR-ES20 and DMR-ES40V.

Ron
Reply
Reply
post #10 of 440
4/6/07 at 5:59pm
Bill1313,

Sorry, the forum has cut it off the whole address for whatever reason. You can get it at the ******* website. If you can't get it there, just let me know, it's a large file though (16.85MB), I'll can-mail it to you .
Reply
Reply
post #11 of 440
4/6/07 at 6:00pm
Well if it's based on the 20 & 40 lets hope that you can "Pause" when using the "FR" Recording mode which you could'nt do on the 20 & 40.

Anyone check that out in the manual?
Reply
Reply
post #12 of 440
4/6/07 at 6:02pm
GarAlb, What do the ******* stand for?
Reply
Reply
post #13 of 440
4/6/07 at 6:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by GarAlb View Post

Bill1313,

Sorry, the forum has cut it off the whole address for whatever reason. You can get it at the ******* website. If you can't get it there, just let me know, it's a large file though (16.85MB), I'll can-mail it to you .

http://service.us.panasonic.com/OPERMANPDF/DMREZ17.PDF

Ron
Reply
Reply
post #14 of 440
4/6/07 at 6:11pm
Thanks dr1394, But it must be my computer because it won't download
Reply
Reply
post #15 of 440
4/6/07 at 6:43pm
Let's try this :
LL
Reply
Reply
post #16 of 440
4/6/07 at 6:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dr1394 View Post

The DMR-EZ17,27,37,47 recorders are based on the LSI Domino chip. Therefore, their lineage is from the DMR-ES20 and DMR-ES40V.

Ron

Interesting. I wonder why they did that. The feature set looks like the ES-x5 family.
Reply
Reply
post #17 of 440
4/6/07 at 7:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dr1394 View Post

http://service.us.panasonic.com/OPERMANPDF/DMREZ17.PDF

Ron

Thank you Ron, I was able to get it from here.
Reply
Reply
post #18 of 440
4/6/07 at 7:35pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kelson View Post

Interesting. I wonder why they did that. The feature set looks like the ES-x5 family.

I'll have to check to be 100% sure, but I don't think the Panasonic MV3 chip used in the DMR-ES15,25,35,45 has a Transport Stream input.

Ron
Reply
Reply
post #19 of 440
4/6/07 at 10:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dr1394 View Post

I'll have to check to be 100% sure, but I don't think the Panasonic MV3 chip used in the DMR-ES15,25,35,45 has a Transport Stream input.

Ron

I'm not sure about the Transport Input, but the MV3 cannot do HD decode (which is a requirement for ATSC).

In addition to HD decode and Transport Input, the Domino 3 architecture (versus the Domino 2 in the ES20 and ES40V) also adds enough horsepower to do the HD to SD downscale.

What's missing on Domino 3 is simultaneous HD and SD output.

Ron
Reply
Reply
post #20 of 440
4/15/07 at 4:45am
I received this Panasonic DVD Recorder yesterday from Circuit City (about $200) and have a few notes:

1. Tuning in digital channels is pretty good, picks up everything in central Iowa (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, WB, and a couple others) and I'm 60 miles from the towers (with an outdoor UHF-only antenna). Same as my Sony HDTV.

2. Channel changes are a couple seconds for digital, about the same as my TV.

3. It does pass DD5.1 to my receiver for tuning in OTA networks and DVDs. Has Dolby Digital and DTS.

4. PROBLEM - It appears to have an issue with 16:9 and progressive. When I set to progressive, it won't display widescreen. My HDTV thinks it is getting a 4:3 signal in 480p and so it squishes the program 16:9 OTA program into a 4:3 box. Does the same thing to anamorphic DVDs. When set to 16:9 480i, everything looks fine. This is over component cables (only way to pass 480p on this unit, no HDMI). I emailed Panasonic, we'll see what they say. In the meantime, I'll reset it and try again. When you set it to 4:3, either 480i or 480p, you can choose to P&S or letterbox. This appears to work OK. Of course, on my 16:9 TV, the 4:3 signal is already pillarboxed.

5. Haven't played with recording yet. Went to get DVD-RAM last night, Walmart didn't have any. Supposedly, only 16:9 recording on DVD-RAM. I have some DVD-RWs, so will try that today and see how it works. From the manual, I'm a little worried that on DVD-R or DVD-RW that it will simply squish 16:9 into 4:3, rather than P&S it. Anyway, we'll find out.

6. Unit is supposed to be able to record and watch a show off the same disk at the same time. Also supposed to be able to record and watch the same show (skip commercials type of thing) when you start watching after about 20-30 seconds. That is what I'll try today with the DVD-RW.
Reply
Reply
post #21 of 440
4/15/07 at 5:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ramrom View Post

4. PROBLEM - It appears to have an issue with 16:9 and progressive. When I set to progressive, it won't display widescreen. My HDTV thinks it is getting a 4:3 signal in 480p and so it squishes the program 16:9 OTA program into a 4:3 box. Does the same thing to anamorphic DVDs.

Wow. That's something you'd think they would have caught in Quality Control before it ever hit the market. Especially the behavior with commercial anamorphic DVDs.

I suspect you may have just gotten a bad one. May want to check CC and exchange it if they have another in stock.
Reply
Reply
post #22 of 440
4/15/07 at 7:17am
Also I would check the manual because all older Panny's with the "Time Slip" features only worked when using DVD-RAM discs so don't be surprised if it doesn't work with your DVD-RW discs.

Also I'd be interested to see if you can "Pause" a recording when recording in the "FR" record mode & how well DL discs work for Timer Recordings" over 2 hours at the "SP" mode. Thanks.

PS: Seeing it's getting hard to find any DVD-RAM discs around SHAME ON YOU PANASONIC FOR NOT INCLUDING AT LEAST ONE IN THE BOX !!!!!!!
Reply
Reply
post #23 of 440
4/15/07 at 7:49am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ramrom View Post

I received this Panasonic DVD Recorder yesterday from Circuit City (about $200) and have a few notes:

1. Tuning in digital channels is pretty good, picks up everything in central Iowa (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, WB, and a couple others) and I'm 60 miles from the towers (with an outdoor UHF-only antenna). Same as my Sony HDTV.

2. Channel changes are a couple seconds for digital, about the same as my TV.

3. It does pass DD5.1 to my receiver for tuning in OTA networks and DVDs. Has Dolby Digital and DTS.

4. PROBLEM - It appears to have an issue with 16:9 and progressive. When I set to progressive, it won't display widescreen. My HDTV thinks it is getting a 4:3 signal in 480p and so it squishes the program 16:9 OTA program into a 4:3 box. Does the same thing to anamorphic DVDs. When set to 16:9 480i, everything looks fine. This is over component cables (only way to pass 480p on this unit, no HDMI). I emailed Panasonic, we'll see what they say. In the meantime, I'll reset it and try again. When you set it to 4:3, either 480i or 480p, you can choose to P&S or letterbox. This appears to work OK. Of course, on my 16:9 TV, the 4:3 signal is already pillarboxed.

5. Haven't played with recording yet. Went to get DVD-RAM last night, Walmart didn't have any. Supposedly, only 16:9 recording on DVD-RAM. I have some DVD-RWs, so will try that today and see how it works. From the manual, I'm a little worried that on DVD-R or DVD-RW that it will simply squish 16:9 into 4:3, rather than P&S it. Anyway, we'll find out.

6. Unit is supposed to be able to record and watch a show off the same disk at the same time. Also supposed to be able to record and watch the same show (skip commercials type of thing) when you start watching after about 20-30 seconds. That is what I'll try today with the DVD-RW.

Thank you for your review. I'm eager to see how it records. Hope the sizing problem works out; that's a serious issue! I suppose it's difficult to gage the PQ with a squished screen, but I'm intersted in that, as well. Say, compared to a DVD.
Reply
Reply
post #24 of 440
4/15/07 at 8:03am
Would be nice if you could post some screen shots.

Thanks,
Daniel
Reply
Reply
post #25 of 440
4/15/07 at 10:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by dr1394 View Post

The DMR-EZ17,27,37,47 recorders are based on the LSI Domino chip. Therefore, their lineage is from the DMR-ES20 and DMR-ES40V.

Ron

From looking at the EZ17 manual, it appears that you have to turn off the unit in order to have scheduled recordings work properly (just like old VCRs). Since the ES20 apparently behaved the same way, I'm wondering if it's due to the LSI chip.

One thing I really like about my ES15 is the fact that I can leave it turned on. In my VCR days, I often missed important recordings simply because I forgot to turn off the unit ahead of time.

IMHO, Panasonic has taken a big step backwards in this area.

Tony
Reply
Reply
post #26 of 440
4/15/07 at 10:22am
Quote:
Originally Posted by arciervo View Post

From looking at the EZ17 manual, it appears that you have to turn off the unit in order to have scheduled recordings work properly (just like old VCRs). Since the ES20 apparently behaved the same way, I'm wondering if it's due to the LSI chip.

One thing I really like about my ES15 is the fact that I can leave it turned on. In my VCR days, I often missed important recordings simply because I forgot to turn off the unit ahead of time.

IMHO, Panasonic has taken a big step backwards in this area.

Tony

I can offer that it is not the LSI chipset. The Polaroid 2001G has an LSI chipset and does not have to be powered off for timer recordings.
Reply
Reply
post #27 of 440
4/15/07 at 2:04pm
I can confirm a couple things:

1. I recorded a 16:9 OTA high definition show on DVD-RW (with the recorder set for a 16:9 TV and 480i. It does squish it to 4:3, but leaves everything there. So I can manually on my TV stretch it back out and it looks normal. Based on the manual, this is kind of what I expected it to do. I still don't have a DVD-RAM to try, but according to the manual, that should record 16:9 (it's over an hour to the nearest Best Buy or similar place). Should pick one up tomorrow after work (don't ask how far I drive to work).

2. The timeslip stuff will only work with DVD-RAM, so not able to try anything out yet.

3. Don't have DL disk, so can't check that out either. For +R DL, supposed to work good, -R DL leaves a gap.

I'm not going to run out to Circuit City and exchange it either (to try to fix the 16:9 480p problem), as the nearest one is in the Twin Cities, about 3.5 hours away. But if I need to, I'll be doing that (have family there, so not total waste). I'll wait to here from Panasonic. If the 480p issue gets resolved, I would be really happy with it.

For those who care, this does have fewer features than my 4 year old JVC DVD player. Like no zoom and less information about the DVD being played (no bitrate data, etc).
Reply
Reply
post #28 of 440
4/17/07 at 8:07am
I recently purchased the EZ17K from Amazon and installed it this weekend. I only wanted a basic DVD recorder and wanted to be able to record from the digital tuner. I live in New Orleans, with relatively easy TV reception, so I hooked it up to my indoor Zenith Silver Sensor antenna and immediately tuned in all available digital broadcasts with 90% or better reception (My NBC affiliate ceased broadcasting it's digital signal after Katrina).

I only have it hooked up to a 4:3 analog TV so I set it to 4:3 480i output. After a couple of test recordings to DVD-R, I am extremely pleased with its reception quality, recording quality and ease of setup and use.

Being my first foray into digital TV broadcasts (I have 4 other analog DVD recorders) I am a little confused at how it is handling 4:3 vs 16:9 material. It seems to be converting everything into a letterbox format. Widescreen shows are the full width of my TV screen with black bars at the top & bottom of the screen like I would have expected. However, 4:3 material has black bars on each side of the screen as well on most but not all channels. Is this normal? Does it have anything with how they are encoding it at the station? And, most of all, since it is downconverting the digital HD signal to analog for recording, is it actually recording my shows like this or just displaying them like this? I haven't tried playing the recordings on another player just yet.

PS. Why couldn't they just tune in the digital SD sub-channel and record that to disc similar to how DirecTivo's just save the digital DirecTV feed to disc?
Reply
Reply
post #29 of 440
4/17/07 at 8:24am
Quote:
Originally Posted by HomeVideoGuy View Post

Why couldn't they just tune in the digital SD sub-channel and record that to disc similar to how DirecTivo's just save the digital DirecTV feed to disc?

Because such a thing may not (probably doesn't) exist and even if it did, there's no way for the device to know about it.

For example, in my area NBC has 2 digital channels. 3.1 and 3.2. 3.1 is the HD channel, 3.2 is 24 hour weather. CBS has a similar setup. Fox has only one HD channel. ABC has only 1 channel. an SD digital subchannel doesn't exist. And why would it? Anything with a digital tuner can display it at 480i anyway. It would be a massive waste of bandwidth.
Reply
Reply
post #30 of 440
4/17/07 at 8:33am
Quote:
Originally Posted by HomeVideoGuy View Post

However, 4:3 material has black bars on each side of the screen as well on most but not all channels. Is this normal? Does it have anything with how they are encoding it at the station?

The station is upconverting SD programming to HD by interpolating extra pixels in the image, and adding blank bars on both sides to fill out the 16:9 frame. They do this because it's not possible to switch the broadcast signal between SD and HD "on the fly." Because it's physically a HD signal, your recorder handles it like any other HD signal, by letterboxing it.

Quote:
And, most of all, since it is downconverting the digital HD signal to analog for recording, is it actually recording my shows like this or just displaying them like this? I haven't tried playing the recordings on another player just yet.

I can't answer that because I don't have the unit in question to check for myself.

Quote:
PS. Why couldn't they just tune in the digital SD sub-channel and record that to disc similar to how DirecTivo's just save the digital DirecTV feed to disc?

Not all broadcast stations send out both HD and SD digital signals with the same material. In my nearest city (Greenville SC), only two out of seven stations do this. If you do have both signals available on different subchannels, it's up to you to pick the one that you want to record.

Look in your manual to see if there is an option to "zoom" an HD signal so as to fill the screen vertically and crop off the side panels to maintain the proper aspect ratio.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: DVD Recorders (Standard Def)

AVS Top Picks

AVS › AVS Forum › Video Components › DVD Recorders (Standard Def) › Panasonic DMR-EZ17K DVD Player/Recorder