85 replies to this topic

[shortlived]

With xw385 can you connect an external usb powered drive (eg WD passport) and play AVI and MKV files on the drive, eliminating the need for a media player (like the WD Live)?

[diesel]

Baird, on Jun 3 2011, 07:45 AM, said:

I must be misinformed but isn't the 380 a PVR? Or is it just a brilliant twin tuner with a HDD plus a DVD player & recorder?

I'd class it more as a DVDR, but semantics on my part. Brilliant DVDR yes, but has too many shortcomings on the PVR side for my liking. Still. no-one else has anything like this on the market four years after the XW300 was released.

[Baird]

diesel, on Jun 4 2011, 08:45 AM, said:

I'd class it more as a DVDR, but semantics on my part. Brilliant DVDR yes, but has too many shortcomings on the PVR side for my liking. Still. no-one else has anything like this on the market four years after the XW300 was released.

What do you see as the shortcomings on the PVR side?

I particularly like the FTA EPG as I don't want to be paying subs every year to someone.

My main beef is no mute button and I will say the 380 is a lot better than the 350 but I'm glad I don't have a 385 due to the DR only record mode. I suppose to that moving from 350 to 380 meant one didn't have to re-learn everything.

[diesel]

Baird, on Jun 4 2011, 02:59 PM, said:

What do you see as the shortcomings on the PVR side?

I particularly like the FTA EPG as I don't want to be paying subs every year to someone.

All PVRs can use the FTA EPG (except TiVo). The ability to use an online EPG like IceTV adds more functionality and flexibility for users with the ability to record a 'series' even if it moves time slot, remote record, etc etc. But for me, the main things I would miss from my PVRs is the 'always on' time-shift buffer so I can skip back if I miss something without having to press pause  every time I turn the unit on. The newer Panasonic's are getting better with Networking and the use of DNLA to remote play files, but this is still far too limited in it's current application. The ability for customisable skips is also a big big omission in my household. Those two are reasons I won't consider a Panasonic at this time, but as I said before, if you want one with a DVD or bluray recorder, the Panasonics would be my only option.

[Baird]

diesel, on Jun 5 2011, 03:10 PM, said:

All PVRs can use the FTA EPG (except TiVo). The ability to use an online EPG like IceTV adds more functionality and flexibility for users with the ability to record a 'series' even if it moves time slot, remote record, etc etc. But for me, the main things I would miss from my PVRs is the 'always on' time-shift buffer so I can skip back if I miss something without having to press pause  every time I turn the unit on. The newer Panasonic's are getting better with Networking and the use of DNLA to remote play files, but this is still far too limited in it's current application. The ability for customisable skips is also a big big omission in my household. Those two are reasons I won't consider a Panasonic at this time, but as I said before, if you want one with a DVD or bluray recorder, the Panasonics would be my only option.

Thanks for that. I thought I'd been reading lately that even ICE can't allow for time over runs or early starts but for the programmes we usually record which tend to go weekly at the same time the Pana weekly (with "renew" option if required) setting is quite adequate. Customisable skips could be handy I used to have them when I had a Media Star but all in all the 380 is fine for us, though to be able to copy an AVI straight from the USB drive to HDD would be a time saver, at the moment only Jpegs (and possibly music I think) can be copied from USB.

[Tedwood]

Quote

Now for the 385 " Can anyone confirm my finding that if you are not recording via the AV drive (on the 385) then you cannot change the recording mode from DR to anything else?".

Hi, Baird,

Sorry for the late reply.
My NZ version 380 behaves exactly like this, but now that I can convert the DR titles to SP or whatever, I'm happy with that. The Rec/Mod buton on my Remote-control does nothing so I assume it is for DVD recording only or for recording from a VCR via the AV setting.

[hike65]

diesel, on May 19 2011, 10:34 PM, said:

The manual is now available online ......

From page26 it would also seem that;
recording FTA is DR mode only and,
external inputs are:XP, SP, LP, EP, .......

1min gap between adjacent timers still required. This is a PITA

Yes, pity the 1min gap, as it still is a PITA.

Thanks for the manual reference.  I couldn't believe my eyes when I read it.   Seems Panasonic is going backwards with the XW385.  I have the XW350 and BW780 and use/love the flexible recording modes (SP, HX,..., DR) of FTA recordings.   Now they have restricted FTA to DR only.   See if they come out with a firmware upgrade to address this issue.

Was going to buy an XW385 for my parents, whose DMREX77 is failing with a DVD that doesn't read or write to any DVDs anymore.
But as my mum treats the HDD as an archiving unit, and hoards her recordings, she won't be happy having to DR convert her recordings from DR to SP, LP, EP.  It's hard enough to teach her how to burn recordings to DVD or skip ads with the manual skip button (she uses the fast forward button from her VCR days).  
At least Panasonic upgraded the HDD to something bigger (250 - 320GB), but they should of gone with a 500GB or 1TB with HD taking off.

Might look to what else is still on offer and in their budget.

[hike65]

hike65, on Jul 14 2011, 01:57 PM, said:

Might look to what else is still on offer and in their budget.

Thanks to Baird for picking up the lack of choice in Rec Mode for FTA taping on XW385.  

So ended up buying a BW780 for my parents at Videopro.  They have them for $587 with only 5 left.  Better than the $800 odd they were at with Boxing Day specials.
I'll see how my mum copes with the twin tuners and the concept of DR recordings for overlapping programs in the timer scheduler.   It's probably good to give her a list of channels, and how much space each hour of DR consumes.  (eg. OneHD, 7mate, GEM consumes 3 times more than ABC1,2,3, 3,7,9,Eleven,etc).  

Noticed the build date was later than my BW780 bought in Jan 2011, and the firmware is newer ie. 1.32 as opposed to my 1.2.   Might upgrade the firmware on mine when I see how their machine goes over a month.

[Hopscotch]

I'm looking at upgrading to a Panasonic DVD Recorder with twin HD tuners (from the DMR-EX78).
I can't help but wonder about the differences between the DMR-XW385 and DMR-XW480.

At my local store the XW385 is $100 more. I wonder why when the XW480 has a larger HDD (500GB to 320GB) and that thanks to previous posts, I understand that the XW385 can only record in DR mode.

Are there any benefits of the XW385 compared to the XW480? (or XW380 for that matter?)

Thanks for any advice!
Hopscotch  

[Tony Douglas]

Baird, on May 10 2011, 05:48 PM, said:

Went with a friend today who wanted to buy a xw385 got it from Myer Southland for $495.00 but and unless I have made a huge schoolboy error it would seem that when recording from the HDMI connection you can only record in DR mode & if you want to use say LP or EP you can only do it from the AV drive.

Now I've got my own 380 so I know my way round the basic set & remote but I tried everything & could not get it to work, I then came home tried exactly the same on my 380 & of course as always I could choose which recording mode. Obviously with DR you use a lot more disc space & get a hell of a lot less recorded hours. Maybe Pana are trying to stop the conflicts when recording 2 simultaneous & both are for LP say & of course one should be DR.

Any one else got the same problem? I can't check the 385 manual online to see if (as on page 25 of 380) it warns of the "one must be DR mode" because the 385 is not on the site yet.

I will say one thing with the 385 the +60s & -10s work when using a DVD whereas with the 380 they only seem to work with the HDD

I have just got the 385 also and found I could not change from dr mode, have been told to use guide and select
T the two programs to record and it will do so even at the same time start I will try it tonight to see if it works. Payed $499 at dick smith it's a sale price at this time.

[gawaterman]

Hopscotch, on Jul 24 2011, 09:48 PM, said:

I'm looking at upgrading to a Panasonic DVD Recorder with twin HD tuners (from the DMR-EX78).
I can't help but wonder about the differences between the DMR-XW385 and DMR-XW480.

At my local store the XW385 is $100 more. I wonder why when the XW480 has a larger HDD (500GB to 320GB) and that thanks to previous posts, I understand that the XW385 can only record in DR mode.

Are there any benefits of the XW385 compared to the XW480? (or XW380 for that matter?)

Thanks for any advice!
Hopscotch  

I was looking at that and as the 480  and didnt seem to have any less features than the 385, and didnt have some of the drawbacks, and was a run-out model and therefore cheaper, I bought it. Last one in stock at WOW in Darwin.

[slowhand]

I am thinking about buying the DMR XW385 HDD/DVD recorder and was wondering about one point..................
Can you dub from HDD to DVD in High speed from recordings made from TV  ?

Can anyone who has one supply the answer to this............
Thanks in advance

[Tedwood]

On page 41 of my NZ 380 manual it says "you cannot edit finalised discs", but on page 42 under the "Changing Thumbnail" section it says that it is possible to change the image displayed on the Top Menu after finalising. I can't find the "Edit" option for doing this feature. Where is it?
  
Digg this Post!

[diesel]

slowhand, on Aug 4 2011, 02:22 PM, said:

I am thinking about buying the DMR XW385 HDD/DVD recorder and was wondering about one point..................
Can you dub from HDD to DVD in High speed from recordings made from TV  ?

Can anyone who has one supply the answer to this............
Thanks in advance

You can do high speed dubbing, but the pre-requisites are quiet substantial, and now that all recordings are in DR mode, it'll mean more than like some transcoding will be required to reduce the quality to DVD standard - see page 43. So to do a DR conversion to one of the lower recording qualities takes as long as the recording eg 1hr recording takes 1hr to transcode. Once this is done, then you can copy to DVD. In this regard the older models provided better functionality because you could choose to record in one of the lower recording qualities from the start, rather than being stuck with DR mode for all FTA recordings.
From pg70 of the manual

Quote

Rec for High Speed Copy
You can copy titles to DVD in high speed mode, if you set to ““On”” before recording a programme.
This setting is valid for the following cases:
–– Recording from external equipment.
–– Copying from a finalised DVD-Video disc.
If ““On”” is selected, the following restrictions are applied to recorded titles.
–– The settings in ““Aspect for Recording”” (above) and in ““Bilingual Audio Selection”” (pg 71) are applied to titles.
–– You cannot switch the audio when watching a programme via AV input.

DVD Speed for High Speed Copy
Select the speed of high-speed copying. If ““Normal ( Silent )”” is selected, the time required for copying will double (approximately).

[rob34]

I have been reading the xw385 manual prior to the purchase of my first hdd recorder and am having problems with what happens if you want to use the timer to set the recording of two program on different channels with overlapping times. On p28 it shows a screen icon meaning 'part or all of the programme will not be recorded since the programme is overlapping'. This implies to me that overlapping time recordings cannot be made. Is this correct and is this a feature of other hdd recorders.

[diesel]

Rob, that scenario will be fine. The DVDR has twin tuners, so you can record two shows at the same time. When doing this though, you will need to watch a prerecorded show or use the tuner in your TV as you have run out of tuners in the DVDR to watch live TV.

The overlapping issue relates to when you have two shows already recording, and you want to record a third show that overlaps the two shows already recording.

[rob34]

diesel, on Aug 21 2011, 08:07 PM, said:

Rob, that scenario will be fine. The DVDR has twin tuners, so you can record two shows at the same time. When doing this though, you will need to watch a prerecorded show or use the tuner in your TV as you have run out of tuners in the DVDR to watch live TV.

The overlapping issue relates to when you have two shows already recording, and you want to record a third show that overlaps the two shows already recording.

Great. many thanks

Rob

[rob34]

Can someone tell me if it is possible to input a VCR recording via the AV IN terminals of the 385, record it to HDD then burn it to DVD. I was told by a shop saleman that this 'might' be possible but he didnt think so. I have many vcr tapes that I would like to transfer to dvd so a feature such as this would be very usefull.

[Hopscotch]

rob34, on Sep 5 2011, 11:43 AM, said:

Can someone tell me if it is possible to input a VCR recording via the AV IN terminals of the 385, record it to HDD then burn it to DVD. I was told by a shop saleman that this 'might' be possible but he didnt think so. I have many vcr tapes that I would like to transfer to dvd so a feature such as this would be very usefull.

Hi Rob. I have a similar model and yes, this works just fine.  

[rob34]

Hopscotch, on Sep 5 2011, 12:46 PM, said:

Hi Rob. I have a similar model and yes, this works just fine.  

Hi Hopscotch. Thanks for your prompt reply . Thats good news because I have a shelf full of VCR's that I will be pleased to replace with dvd's. I had been to several shops and some sales persons will admit they dont know while others will assure you about something without really knowing.
Cheers Rob

[diesel]

Just remember that the source material will not be the best quality to begin with, so if you can use Svideo connections instead of Composite. It won't be anywhere near DVD quality, but I guess at least the memories are now digitised and shouldn't get any worse in terms of PQ.

[rob34]

diesel, on Sep 5 2011, 03:51 PM, said:

Just remember that the source material will not be the best quality to begin with, so if you can use Svideo connections instead of Composite. It won't be anywhere near DVD quality, but I guess at least the memories are now digitised and shouldn't get any worse in terms of PQ.

Thats a good point I hadnt thought of. Unfortuneately my VCR is pretty old and only has a composite output but it got me thinking I could borrow one with Svideo output as not many ppl use them anymore. You are right about the quality of the memories . I always planned to edit them to remove all the picture of my feet when I forgot to turn the camcorder off but never got around to it so perhaps there is an opportunity to do it this time around.

[diesel]

If that is the case, I would recommend doing it on a PC. You'll have a far better polished product at the end of the editing (just don't get tempted to put in all those crazy special effects) as long as you still have the original camera and tapes?

[rob34]

diesel, on Sep 6 2011, 09:08 AM, said:

If that is the case, I would recommend doing it on a PC. You'll have a far better polished product at the end of the editing (just don't get tempted to put in all those crazy special effects) as long as you still have the original camera and tapes?

I am afraid  most of the original tapes were converted to VHS and re-used. Anyway thanks for the suggestion. As for crazy special effects I passed that point in time many years ago. I am just coming to terms with 1's and 0's having served my time with volts and amps.

[janetpc]

Hi, I bought the DMR-XW386 a few weeks ago and love the facility of taping two shows at once. However 2 errors have happened that have me worried.
I taped the Ch 9 News every night for a week for a school project for one of the kids-except one night did not record. It was set on a weekly Mon-Fri record so I don't understand how one night was left out.
Then tonight we taped Doctor Who on the ABC while watching the AFL on another channel. Again it is a permanent weekly booking I have set to record. I saw the red record button go on and thought all was fine. However now, 2 hours later when I went back to watch Doctor Who, it was not recorded!
Can anyone help explain why these two set shows did not record? Can I accidentally turn 'off' the record function, eg-if the TV was on av instead of tv, or we were watching a dvd at the same time etc.
I am dumbfounded how these shows were not recorded-it concerns me a great deal.
Any hints or suggestions as to why?
Thanks,
Jane

Edited by janetpc, 17 September 2011 - 11:56 PM.