Panasonic vs. Toshiba RD-XS32

I have a Panasonic recorder, but not one with a hard drive so can't answer all your questions, but..


- You can record programs to a DVD-R disc, eject it, record again, etc. until the disc is full. You can continue using it that way until you finalize it, which you must do before it can be played on other DVD players. However, unlike with rewriteable media, such as RW or RAM, if you erase a title from DVD-R you won't get the space back.


- Editing is fairly fast on the Panasonic if you do it by marking chapter points at the beginning and end of the commercial breaks and then deleting the commercial chapters. There is a shorten title option too, but I find it slow and awkward.


- The Panasonic does have a divide title option. I find it useful for recording back to back programs. Setting two back to back timers can sometimes result in a loss of a few seconds, at least when recording to DVD-RAM. So, I set one timer and divide the title in two later.


- The artifacts or what I call color banding is not that bad. Depending on how your TV is adjusted (sharpness, contrast) you might not notice it. It shows up on solid backgrounds which have a transition from one color to another. Rather than having a smooth transition there can be bands or steps of color changes. The banding does not appear to become part of the recording (it's not visible when the DVDs recorded on the Panasonic are played on another player.) It is however visible even when just watching TV through the recorder. In addition to adjusting the TV, changing the recorders output from normal to soft also reduces the banding.


- There is no logo, but don't give the DVD recorder manufactures any ideas.

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...or it could be an artifact of the video *decoder* on playback, or more specifically, the D/A converter.


Better specs should result in better picture quality in theory, but in practice they are more often the sales tools of the marketing department.


I wouldn't get too worked up over the marketing hype until we get some actual reviews. Even the E85H was touted with better "GIGA" recording quality, and I doubt very seriously there's a cat whisker's difference.


So if you're susceptible to the flim flam man, it was for last year "GIGA" recording, and for this year it's 12 bit A/D, (without even really knowing for sure what the old models had.)


But more to the point, the color banding on recordings that I noticed on the E80H disappeared when played back on an RP82, lending credence to the oft-repeated observation that DVDRs are sub-par playback devices.

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Thanks for your input. It justs seems that many people bash the picture quality of Panasonics. But then I hear from some that it has the best picture quality. It gets confusing. I want a dvd recorder with the best possible picture quality.

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So do these artifacts remain permanently on the recording? Or does it have nothing to do with Panasonic's defective recording quality? Also, does a higher bit mean a better recording quality?

More bits should mean better recording quality. But let's get real. The new Sony records via the component inputs. Does that mean better recording quality? Does anyone know how many bits it uses? The answer to the last question, is no. No one knows, because it's not touted in the marketing brochures. Would 14 bit recording on the S-Vid input beat 10 bit recording on the component input? We are only making guesses about recording quality based on marketing hype.


BTW, there is nothing wrong with Panasonic's recording quality. If it was second best, or even last...(which we know it istn't), the point about any DVDR, is when talking about recording quality at the best 1 hour setting, the playback is virtually indistinguishable from the source. Said differently, it's fully possible to faithfully record all the flaws inherent in every NTSC 480i source including mpeg compression artifacts on the small dish, ghosting and multi-path on analog cable and over the air. These sources are so marginal, why fret over the minutia?

I cannot address the Toshiba side of bbmsb's original post, but have a little bit of experience with the Panasonic E100 and E85.


Relief recording: "When recording from the hard drive to dvd disc, the Panasonic has '"Relief Recording'"" . . ., No, Relief recording comes into play when recording from an external source. Here's what the E100 manual p 27 has to say about Timer Recording Relief Recording: When the recording drive is set to DVD for timer recording, the unit will automatically evaluate if the program will fit onto the disc before beginning recording. If the program will not fit then the recording drive will be altered to HDD automatically.


If the time remaining on the HDD is insufficient, as much of the program as possible will be recorded onto the hdd.


Recording mode will not be altered.



"Is it possible to divide a recording into different sections and delete specific sections before burning to dvd?" Yes, a couple of options; you could select the sections you want without having to delete the unwanted ones, just don't select the unwanted sections for copy! And yes, using PLAYLIST you can combine selections from numerous separate recordings, in any sequence you wish, onto one title on the dvd. A title for each PLAYLIST. And I've had as many as 30 PLAYLIST's on one Dubbing List, in other words, copied 30 playlists at one time to 30 different titles on the dvd.


While on the topic of editting, it should be pointed out that a one to two second "freeze" is generated at the end of each edit point, so choose the edit points where the freeze would be least objectionable. This seems to be true for ALL consumer-level stand-alone dvd recorders I am aware of. The E85 allows "seamless playback", but a high-speed dub to a dvd resurrects the freeze. The dvd would have to be copied in real time to avoid the freeze, involving re-encoding. I suspect going to a pc might also involve re-encoding.



I've not seen logos or artifacts generated.



Does copying to dvd automatically erase the program from the hdd. Generally, No. Thank goodness, else I'd have a problem making a dozen copies to distribute. There may be some special copy restrictions on commercial dvd's that permit one-time only copies, but my work has been with my own recording.



What is an IR blaster. Transmission of an InfraRed signal to control another device, a built-in remote control. No, the Panasonic does not have an IR blaster.


Example: My Dish satellite receiver can be set to a timer to change channels and then "blast" an IR signal to "Record" and later "blast" "Stop" to my vcr. Personally, I set the vcr timers, so I wouldn't have to leave the vcr's turned on all the time, and because I was recording different programs on different vcr's.


Happy hunting!

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I'm going to make some test recordings this week and see if I can tell for sure whether the artifacts become part of the recording or not.


When I looked at a section of a VHS -> DVD-R recording the other day I only saw the banding artifacts on the Panasonic and not another player. Though there was a little visible on the computer.


However, in a movie I recorded today (Psycho on TCM) I see it on both the Panasonic and the other player and the computer. But today it could of been a result of the DirecTV compression. I wasn't watching the movie live, so don't know if it was already there or not. Using tape as a souce seems to work better for testing since I know there are no digital artifacts to begin with.

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That's great! We need to settle this issue once and for all. Are these artifacts a permanent part of the recording? If not, then hands down Panasonic recorders are the best of all dvd recorders. And all the confused people who really want to buy one but are confused because of negative things said about every single dvd recorder can have a peace of mind. It does not matter if the playback in Panasonic create artifacts. All that matters is if inside the recording itself artifacts are not present and plays great in other dvd players. Pioneer supporters I feel have an agenda because they notice that Panasonic recorders have better detail than Pioneers, and they are stuck with it and cannot bear the thought of having a weaker recording system. So they bash as much as possible Panasonic recorders to dissuade people from buying a Panasonic, thus leading to more confusion for people who haven't bought one. It's a vicious cycle and it must be stopped with a finality, or close to finality.

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I thought you were comparing Panasonic vs Toshiba. Now you bring in Pioneer?


bbmsb, you are trying to come up with a consensus that will never happen. All major brands will have pros and cons. I remember reading years ago that all bikes in China were the same make and color. The point being, just be glad you have a choice.