8 replies to this topic

[Ken11]

New to Forum but have some knowledge of DVDRs.  Noticed on this (or other?) forum concerns that this recorder only records from FTA in DR mode but you can compress afterwards but only in real time.

Manual says that you can record in XP etc if you use AV source which can be STB or VCR. Before I buy a HD STB my question is:

Will the DVDR be able to choose which incoming channel it records (that is would the STB simply pass the spectrum of signals through to the DVDR) or would the STB need to be set to the channel you wish to record prior to recording.

Suspect it is the latter but hope it might be the former.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[prl]

The DMR-XW385 can only record analog AV in from S-Video or Composite and analog stereo audio. The means that to timer record in the way you're suggesting, you'd need either the S-Video or composite video and stereo analog audio from the STB connected to the DVDR. The STB would have to be set up to output 576i (SD), since that is the highest resolution available on S-Video and composite. You'd have to set up a timer for the program on the STB (unless it is on all the time), and a corresponding recording timer for the program on the DVDR. The underlying resolution of the resulting recording will be 576i (SD), even if the DVDR's analog recording process allows you to upscale it (I don't know if it can do that). There is also an inevitable loss of picture quality from the digital->analog->digital conversion, and any rescaling of, say, 1080i or 720p (HD) broadcasts. S-Video will give you somewhat better picture quality in this process than composite, but that only affects the digital->analog->digital conversion, and doesn't affect other losses of quality, e.g. from rescaling. Of course, when you compress, especially to the more highly compressed forms, there are likely to be further picture quality losses.

And, of course, the STB has to be showing the program being recorded, so you won't be able to watch something else live on the STB while you record to the DVDR.

IMO, you'd probably be better off recording on the DVDR and converting overnight.

Edited by prl, 08 May 2012 - 01:36 PM.

[Ken11]

Thanks prl,

That's what I suspected but didn't want to not look at alternatives.

Looks like I'll need to convert overnight when nothing else is being recorded.

[prl]

I think that recording digital broadcasts via an STB and analog connection to a DVDR or PVR with analog in (e.g. Beyonwiz DP-P2 or Topfield TRF-2460) is really a last resort. Sometimes it may be worth it for recording subscription services if the provider doesn't offer a recording device, but even then, the whole thing is a lot of pain.

Have you already bought the DVDR? Considered getting a PVR with larger HDD capacity instead? Topfield has a 1TB model, and Beyonwiz has a 2TB model. The DMR-XW385 has a 350GB HDD, which is on the small side in the digital recorder game these days. Dealspace has the Beyonwiz DP-P2TB (2TB HDD) for $549 at the moment, same as the RRP for the DMR-XW385, and IceTV has the Topfield TRF-2460 (1TB HDD) for $599. Both also allow you to copy recordings off to compress there if you really want to.

[Beyonwiz beta tester]

[prl]

prl, on 08 May 2012 - 05:09 PM, said:

I think that recording digital broadcasts via an STB and analog connection to a DVDR or PVR with analog in (e.g. Beyonwiz DP-P2 or Topfield TRF-2460) is really a last resort. Sometimes it may be worth it for recording subscription services if the provider doesn't offer a recording device, but even then, the whole thing is a lot of pain.

Have you already bought the DVDR? Considered getting a PVR with larger HDD capacity instead? Topfield has a 1TB model, and Beyonwiz has a 2TB model. The DMR-XW385 has a 350GB HDD, which is on the small side in the digital recorder game these days. Dealspace has the Beyonwiz DP-P2TB (2TB HDD) for $549 at the moment, same as the RRP for the DMR-XW385, and IceTV has the Topfield TRF-2460 (1TB HDD) for $599. Both also allow you to copy recordings off to compress there if you really want to, and both allow you to record off analog if you want to.

[Beyonwiz beta tester]

[lapworth]

Isn't the DMR-XW385 Just like all the other Panasonic HD DVD/BD recorders in that you can record TV or external in whatever format you wish SD, XP, LP, EP or DR?   If you want to record TWO things at once then at least ONE of the recordings must be in DR format as it doesn't have the processing power to convert more than one stream at a time.

[Ken11]

Re Lapworth's post, previous Panasonics DVDRs gave you a choice of recording mode.  The newer Panasonics do not and only allow a choice if the input is AV.  I even remember when a Panasonic DVDR allowed you to High speed transfer EP recordings.  That went some time ago allowing only high quality recordings to be high speed transferred and EP to be done in real time only.

I also asked Panasonic and this is their reply:


" Thank you for taking the time to contact Panasonic with your enquiry.

You are able to purchased an External Set Top Box and connect to the AV input on the Recorder. The STB needs to have a yellow red and white AV connection. This is connected to the AV input on the Video Recorder. Press input select on the remote for the recorder until AV is displayed on the front.  The remote for the STB is then used to change channels. You then able to record the channel selected on the STB. If the Channel on the STB is changed, the channel being recorded will change."

This confirms prl's advice that you need to have the STB turned on and set to the channel you want to record which pretty much destroys the ability to set a timer for a range of different channels and times and not have to continually fiddle with the STB.

Looks like its DR and then compress.  One positive is that you can set the compress to start when the DVDR is in standby mode and have the machine automatically delete the DR recording.  Means you don't have to sit and wait to decompress if you are recoding something else.

I needed a DVDR to allow "easy" transfer to DVD-R, just seems as the HDD get larger the transfer of files gets harder.

[lapworth]

Ken11, on 09 May 2012 - 10:36 AM, said:

Re Lapworth's post, previous Panasonics DVDRs gave you a choice of recording mode. The newer Panasonics do not and only allow a choice if the input is AV. I even remember when a Panasonic DVDR allowed you to High speed transfer EP recordings. That went some time ago allowing only high quality recordings to be high speed transferred and EP to be done in real time only.

Although I think this is a backward step, I can sort of see Panasonics reason for doing this, it saves them from dealing with a lot of angry and confused owners who ring to complain that they tried to record two channels at once and the machine wouldn't let them because the owners hadn't read the manual closely enough to realise that by setting the recording mode to something other than DR mode they were restricting themselves to recording one channel at a time.

They have probably done some sort of user survey to find out how most people use their machines and found that 99% of recordings are just watched from the HDD then deleted and for the other 1%, 0.9% most people didn't plan to record it to DVD/BD when setting the timer but decided to transfer it for a relative or friend after watching, leaving the final 0.1% to put up with having to tie up the recorder doing a conversion of bitrate and transfer who would previously been able to record at a high speed transfer rate.
p.s. please don't flame me for my decidedly dodgy statistics, they are taken from my own recording habits not an official survey conducted by a reputible organisation and published in a peer reviewed scientific journal. ;-)

[RogC]

lapworth
  Your recording habits just about mirror mine.
Your statistics are now peer reviewed by a... (hmm) reputible... (er)...entity?
    RogC