Panasonic DMR-EZ47V: DVD/VCR recorder with ATSC (digitl), QAM(digitl) & Analog Tuners - Page 15

Hi -

Sorry for the long delay in responding. Jjeff is on the money on this one. The issue I asked about is when you are viewing commercial or finalized discs, not DVD-/+RW discs. I may wind up getting a $60 player to get the bells and whistles back, and use the recorder primarily for that - recording from cable and transferring VHS to DVD. I've been very happy with it, otherwise.

Wayne

So If I understand correctly, using the RF out of the Panny will not result in any significant pPQ loss?
Thanks for the quick response

I believe the Sony players at like Sams or other places have the remaining time feature as well as things like Speed Play(which allows from .6x up to 1.4x playback w/quite understandable audio). I use this when I get way behind on my timeshifting.
I've had both a regular Sony player(around $60), and a HDMI player(around $100). I returned the HDMI unit because I couldn't really see any difference in the PQ between the 2.
Be forewarned it's a little hard to find out exactly what players will have the remaining time status, I'm not even sure all Sony's have this feature. I remember trying 1/2 dozen different players several years ago to find one with just such a feature and finally found the Sony.
Note the one drawback to Sony players is if you get into RAM discs. The will NOT play them. Panasonic players do, but I'm not sure about the remaining time feature though. Good luck!

P.S. How's the VHS>DVD conversion thing going? I've read from some people that it can be quite cumbersome on the new Panny's as well as the machine might pause at scene breaks, even if you didn't want it to?
On my older ES-30 w/VHS I just play the VHS and record the DVD manually, not really using the front panel buttons, and it works fine. Never any unwanted pauses/stops from that machine. Can you do the same with the EZ-47, or do you have to use some type of dubbing button to copy?

You shouldn't see any PQ change and, in fact, it may boost the signal like the Philips 3575 does.

You can test your passthru for amplification by watching a channel thru the passthru via coax WITH THE PANNY OFF, then pull the power cord for a few seconds... long enought to see if an immediate pic change. If the pic degrades slightly with the Panny unplugged, your passthru is amplified.

Thanks...I appreciate it!

Jeff,

The DMR-ES30V (from 2005) is, in my opinion, the best dubbing machine because it has the FUNCTIONS menu-initiated dubbing that offers Time Limited and Flexible Recording while dubbing AND the display may be set to show both elapsed and remaining time for the dubbing. This is the most user-friendly dubbing interface I have seen.

The DMR-ES35V (from 2006) also has the FUNCTIONS menu-initiated copying that offers Time Limited and Flexible Recording while copying but the display ONLY shows the elapsed recording time OR the remaining time of recordings (from an external VCR or other device) when the recording durations have been preset by repeatedly pressing the REC button. Scheduled recordings (from external devices) only shows the elapsed recording time. (Panasonic changed the term "dubbing" to "copying" with the 2006 models. The Operating Instructions continued to use the term "transfer." Panasonic did not include the FUNCTIONS menu-initiated Time Limited and Flexible Recording copying features on 2007 model combo recorders.)

I would not have undertaken my selective dubbing project of 5,200 titles without the seamless Time Limited or Flexible Recording dubbing/copying features found on these older Panasonic models.

I know this sounds dumb but when i looked at the hookup for a cable box in the owners manual it says to run the cable from the wall to the Panny first andthen out to thecable box and then take the other out and run that to the LCD. Why do they want you to do it that way?
I always assumed you would take the cable from the wall, run that to the Cable box and then to the Panny...isn't that the best way?????

With the DVDR connected 1st on the coax, you can scan for ALL channels that the DVDR can receive by itself... after the box it would not be able to scan and tune channels by itself.

As long as the DVDR can tune ANY channels, those can then be recorded while you watch another channel thru the box... the DVDR "passes the signal thru" to the box, so each device receives the incoming signal and operates independently.

Not sure you read that link I gave before but it explains this in more detail. The only thing unknown is whether your DVDR has an "active" passthru, which amplifies the signal, like the Philips 3575 does. That's the reason for the test I suggested.

I have a Panny EZ47K so I am not sure if it has an amplified signal but I will check when the Cable box comes in.So if I hook up by running the video into the Panny and then out via RF to the cable box thenthis way, I can still watch the TV without having the Panny on, correct? I am assuming that the HDMI out on the panny will still go directly to the LCD and then connect the other cables as per the manual. I have an option of HDMI or RF for the return to the LCD so would the HDMI be a better choice? I still have an extra HDMI input on my Sharp.

For your amplification test, run the Panny direct to the TV with coax so there's no "influence" from the box being downstream. Then you can connect the coax to the box and on to the TV from the box.

You should be able to scan for channels with the Panny and see what it can tune all by itself. You should also be able to watch TV w/o the Panny being on. Like the Philips 3575, your Panny might have an HDMI setting for choosing "RGB" or "YCbCr" and, if so, choose YCbCr.

Make a line connection from the box to the Panny for recording those channels only your box can tune (scrambled or higher-numbered digital, etc.), S-Video might be best. Try HDMI for connection from Panny to TV and , if not "satsified," try any other cable types for a comparison... I found my Philips 3575 best with digital Composite (Y/W/R RCA) cables cuz my signal comes from cable TV, a composite signal, and the 3575 produced a better pic by maintaining that Composite signal to my LCD TV.

The HDMI cable WILL be best for commercial DVDs, since they're produced with digital Component video, YCbCr.

Here's some info on cabling, connections and settings that should apply, if you want more info.

I am wondering if it is my unit but....I have been using scheduled recording,DVD-RW, and when I am recording "Men In trees" in HD for my wife, I am getting all the background music, sound effects but no voice dialogue!!! It has happened in 2 of the last 3 weeks. She is blaming me but it can't be me as other recordings on other channels seem to work fine.
Also when I was recording "Lost", again in HD, it recorded it at high speed!!!! Is this something that Cox Cable ans ABC is doing to keep us from recording shows and having to buy their DVR????

Rayfornario,

While I can not address your audio problem I have experienced "high speed" recording with a DMR-EZ17. See this post:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...5#post13123075

This situation occured but once.

That high speed problem they discussed is similar to mine. This other problem with the lack of dialogue is really pissing me off as this is the 3rd time we have had a problem. Not sure if I should ditch the EZ47 or not. Hopefully someone else has had this problem. Customer support said they ahve "never heard of this issue", hard to believe though!

It sounds like you have a 5.1 setup, and are not recording the center(dialog) channel. Since the DVDR only records 2 channel sound I believe the center channel should be mixed with the stereo L&R channels. Sounds like this is not the case.
Another thought might be if you were recording the SAP channel. I know the manual addresses the SAP audio channel, saying it needs to be set to the correct channel, since it will only record either the SAP or Stereo audio tracks.
I can't explain why it only happens periodically though, besides I believe SAP is more for Spanish audio than what you are describing.
Sorry I don't have any better thoughts, I never personally had that problem with my EZ.

Thanks, it seesm to happen only to one channel and either it should work or not so it probably isn't settings. maybe it is the TV station?

Found the answer to my problems...I hope!
panasonic just released a new patch that takes of the no audio problem among others. This is beginning to sound alot like Microsoft!!!!

Well the fun never stops! I downloaded the latest firmware upgrade for my recorder to fox the no voice dialogue issue on to a CD-R. I loaded according to instructions and instead of starting the upgrade process, I get a "FRMUPn9" message and the disc spits out.It is supose to shut down restart and then upgrade. I have tried 4 CD-R's with no luck! I asked them to mail me the CD upgrade and when I called today, they told me the "tech" never placed an order for one so instead they said to try and download this patch. Anyone have ideas????

I remember getting FRMUPn9 when updating mine, just cant remember at which time. I too had difficulty getting them to actually send me the disc. I think it took a couple calls. After the first time I called back and the 2nd person could find no record of my first call!
Anyway it finally came after a couple weeks and included a CD and instruction sheet that told all the various displays that would flash across the display and at what time.
I recently returned my machine(due to all the bugs and it kept dyeing). When I returned it I gave the store my update disc, including the instruction sheet(figured I'd never need it again since I would NEVER buy this model again). Otherwise I'd look at it for you, and tell you what your code means.
Hopefully you'll get your disc and instruction sheet and it will fix your problem. I tried 2 update discs(different versions) during my period with my machine. Honestly neither did any thing to correct the bugs I found in my machine.
Wish I had better news to pass on, but maybe the disc will fix your problem, but don't hold your breath....

On your sound issue I too was thinking maybe it was the broadcast that was incorrect. Maybe if you could watch the program while recording you could see if it was broadcast that way, or if the problem is in your recorder.
Although if it was broadcast that way I would think the station would have been flooded with calls. Maybe you could call the station and ask them if they had audio problems with your particular broadcast? Or just try again next week watching the program as it records.
Good luck!

I know it wasn't the broadcast and I am actually planning on dumping thiss unit and buying a diffrent brand, maybe that Philips 3575 witha hard drive. I really liked this unit but the bugs are driving me crazy!
Thanks for writing back!

In case anyone needs to know, the reason wht the new update will not work is because the sytem must be unplugged to be reset and then you put the update disk in and it works. I found this out when i unplugged and was getting it ready to ship back to panny for repair! You think their "techs" would know this!!!!!!

did you ever get an answer to your question? I am having the same problem just yesterday.

Open the front panel fold-down door. The reset button is found to the right of the SD Card eject button. Use a pencil or small screwdriver to press this recessed button.

My #2 DMR-EZ17 has required resetting with this button twice in the last five days. I am finding that it is wise not to expect too much from this machine, say functionality? (This is the machine that was given to a relative but only to be returned to me a few weeks later.) No U99 yet, but I won't hold my breath. My #1 DMR-EZ17 is somewhat more stable.

Are you getting any error codes on the front of the unit, eg u99? If so the 5 times I got that on my EZ-17/27's I was never able to get the disc out. 4 times Ultimate Electronics was able to disassemble the machine to get my disc out. With the EZ-27 BB wanted $20 to get the disc out. It was only a 50 cent RW disc so I said keep it. All the machines were unplayable after the stuck disc and were exchanged for a new one.

no error codes just bizarre behavior. when I plug it in it will automatically power up and show the 00 00 ... for about 10 seconds then it tries to access the dvd and then after another 10-15 seconds powers down. Then about 30 seconds later it will go through that same cycle (without me touching it). Seems like maybe it thinks that it should be recording something? Is there a way to reset all the programming schedules? (I can't access any of the menus of course). I also found another thread in this forum that said manually removing the dvd is relatively simple (but you have to remove the cover and then the dvd unit cover) so I think I'll try that. They said it was a good idea to do this once or twice a year anyway as you can clean out the spindle also.

(I forgot to add that I did try the reset procedure mentioned above but that had no effect)

The only other reset method for Panny's is with the unit powered on(a must) hold both the CH up and CH down buttons on the unit itself for at least 10 seconds. That should restore the unit "almost" back to out of box state. I say almost because a few things, including remote control code, will stay at what it was set previous. It least in my cases. I was using remote code 3 for my EZ units. And note on my u99 units I could never keep the unit powered up to do the reset. It kept shutting down before I could do the reset.

In the instances where I used the recessed reset button the DMR-EZ17 had been "off" and was found unresponsive to the power button on the remote as well as unresponsive to the power and open/close tray buttons on the unit itself. There was a DVD in the drive. That machine had recorded one thirty minute program to that DVD a day or so earlier so there was still recordable space on the disc. Some weeks back the same DMR-EZ17 was found unresponsive and displayed an incorrect time, off by perhaps two hours and twenty minutes. This machine had been powered off the night before and had a recordable DVD in its tray. The display time did not advance. The reset button restored "normal" functionality and the correct time to the display.

And the bugs go on . . .

I removed the top/back cover of the dvr and then the top cover of the dvd unit and took out the disc (relatively easy); after replacing covers the dvr seems to work fine.

Hi, I have a DMR-EZ475V and I had problems with it at first. It would lock up and be unresponsive to the remote or the front panel buttons... the clock would even freeze. This happened with a disc inside a few times and I unplugged the unit for a minute. After plugging it back in it started working fine... until the next time. I heard about holding down the power button for over ten seconds and tried that. It worked as well. I never tried the reset button.
I finally contacted Panasonic by e-mail and they sent me the update disc with instructions. I performed the update and have had no problems since. I turned off the status display -- it would pop up while watching a DVD -- annoying. And I enabled the quickstart feature because it would take 30 seconds -- forever! -- before it would do anything... like reading the disc or tuning a channel. Now it immediately reads a disc or tunes a channel.
I've had 2 DMR-E50's since they came out and liked them but I needed ATSC and digital recording capability. I've been reasonably happy with this unit since the update -- just wish it was a true High Def recorder and had about a 500 GB hard drive... and maybe two or three tuners. OTA HD programs recorded to DVD-RAM discs are very close to HD and properly widescreen.
This unit is my main DVD player and I have had no problems in the three or four years I've been using DVD-RAM discs. I use Fuji and Panasonic discs and have bought them in bulk at a computer show for about a buck a disc. They were Fuji and Panasonic mixed, so maybe they are the same.
I use only the SP mode, though I have used Flexible Recording when programs were a little over 2 hours. With E-50's there was a big difference between SP and LP. Watching a poker program in LP, it was hard to read the cards. I haven't tried LP on the EZ475.
One trick that I discovered was that I can reformat the RAM discs on my Toshiba SX32 and get 2 hours and 7 minutes recording time in SP mode instead of just two hours flat on the Pannys. That gives me the extra time to bracket recording -- one minute early and 1 or two minutes late. It sucks when shows start early and/or end late and I miss something.
I hope that this helps someone.

I have an EZ17 and wish that it would format RAM discs a few minutes longer than 2 hrs, as you mentioned your Toshiba does. I hate in when the first scheduled program runs a minute or two longer and screws up the start of a second scheduled recording.

Let me add to the extra minutes talk. I just noticed the other day if I reformat a RAM disc in my EZ-28 it will give me 2hrs even, but if I record say 15 seconds on the EZ machine then put the disc in any of my ES machines(ES15, ES25, ES30) it will show 2:07-2:09 min left.
Now if I reformat the same RAM disc in the ES machine I only get 2hrs even. Also with the exception of the RAM discs I must actually record a little to the disc on the EZ machine, to actually get extra "reported" time on the ES machines. For the RAM discs just formatting the disc in the EZ machine gives me 2:07 on the ES machine.
Very odd. This does not work for +RW discs, but does work for -RW and -R discs(I don't have any new +R's to try).
Don't ask me why but it's very consistent. I'll play with it more to actually see if this is actually "real" time or just "reported" time.