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  1. Well I'm just about ready to pack it in and bring this recorder back. I just can't figure out how to make a simple DVD-R from my analog camcorder so that the chapters show up in the top menu. I've called Panasonic and they tell me that it can't be done. But I can't believe that. So before bringing this back, I'd like to see if anyone here has an easy way. This is what I've tried so far.

    After connecting the camcorder to the DVR with High Speed enabled, I'm able to capture the whole 2 hour tape as one title.
    Then I edit the title by putting chapters wherever I want them.
    Then dub to a DVD-R.

    The final DVD-R shows only ONE thumbnail in the top left hand corner. All the chapter thumbnails are gone. Although the chapters are still there as I could navigate to them with the "Next Chapter" button.

    I then tried to create a playlist - same thing.

    I then tried to "Divide" the video and made 12 "Titles" of the same video. Then dubbed those 12 titles. This put the titles on the menu, but then I could not navigate from chapter to chapter using the "Next Chapter" button on the remote. (Althought this does work on the DMR-EH50 but not on my Toshiba DVD Player). Also, this is a terrible way to split the video as there is a small but noticeable cut when the video plays through one title to another. I'd much rather just keep the one title and have the menu populated with the chapters.

    Can this be done? Or is this just something that I've taken for granted as being possible as I've used a computer to transfer my videos up until now.

    Any help would be appreciated. Thanks...
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  2. It's weird your thumbnails went poof. My panny keeps them just fine for each play list item.
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  3. It's weird your thumbnails went poof. My panny keeps them just fine for each play list item.
    Yes - If I use the playlist, then the chapters are there. But I have to create a playlist for every chapter that I want to show up on the title menu. That's not exactly what I would like to "work around" the inability for this machine to create thumbnails for the chapters in the title menu. For one thing, when you use playlists, there is a noticeable cut/delay when the video plays through one playlist to another. But I'll admit, this is turning out to be the best option so far. For those eho don't know what I'm talking about, here is a step by step on how to do this.

    After capturing the video to one the Hard drive. The whole camcorder recording is in ONE title. Leave it that way.
    Then, use the submenu and chose to create chapters. You will be able to fast forward and pause exactly where you want the chapters to go. The EH50 will place a white line at each chapter mark you create.

    Once you have all the chapters, exit out of this menu and go to the "Functions" - "Playlist" menu. Here you will create a playlist for each menu item you want to see in the top menu.

    Create the first playlist and choose the "Chapters" that you want under the first title menu. Here you could also choose a name for the playlist as well as a more meaningful thumbnail which will appear in the title menu.
    Next create another playlist and choose the next chapters you want to include under the second title menu. Continue doing this until you have all the chapters from your original chapter creations.

    Next escape out of this and choose dubbing and create a dubbing list of all the playlists you had created. This will place the playlist "titles" in the top menu and each playlist retains the chapter marks you had originally placed.

    After you finalize the disk, you will be able to navigate to each playlist "Title" as well as use the "Next Chapter" button on the remote.

    There are 2 shortcomings from doing it this way.

    1) You will only be able to use the "Next Chapter" button from going from one playlist to another with the EH50. A standalone player will not be able to do that. You will have to go back to the top menu to navigate to the playlist you want.
    2) When you play the video from start to finish, there will be a small but noticeable cut / pause when it jumps from one playlist title to the next.

    That's about it. I can't find a better way in trying to make a normal DVD+R disk from a camcorder recording. It would be nice if you could just choose the title video and the machine would place the chapter thumbnails you created in the top menu. At least that's how it works with just about any video authoring program on the PC. So until I get a DVD writer for my PC that recognizes DVD-Ram, I'm going to have to do it this way. Unless someone has a better solution anyway...
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  4. Member lacywest's Avatar
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    These units are pretty hard to find lately ... how long have you had it and where did you get one and how much did you pay for it ??

    I've bought two recently ... one at Circuit City for $340 and one on Ebay for $268.

    The one on Ebay was advertised for having a 80 gig hard drive ... there was a few the week before on Ebay and the winning bid was over $400 bucks ... geez.

    I think the reason I got this one on Ebay for so cheap was because it was advertised for having a 80 gig hard drive in it ... I even asked the seller and he replied that it was a 80 gig hard drive. Didn't have a remote control with it ... but neither did the one sold for over $400.

    It does have a 100 gig HD in it ... I opened it up.

    As for your problem well ... I can't check it out at the moment ... I am at work ... working really hard ..

    I really do like the way I can record in XP mode and then ... edit ... shorten ... the title .... and rename the title.

    I've got a question ... have you tried ... doing a fast dub ... from a title that was over two hours long ... the Grammy Awards lasted from 8PM to 11:30 PM ... [the TV Guide feature worked great recording it ... I got worried because when I got home from work ... the Grammys was still playing after 11PM]. I tried that feature and there was a spot on the burnt DVD where the recording got kind of wishy washy and then resumed playing correctly.

    I've done a firmware update since then. But I haven't tried using this fast dub to DVD feature ... again .... just normal dub. Now that I've done a firmware update ... I should try again ... just to see if it screws up again.

    The media was ... Verbatim ... TDK ... or TY [the shiny ones ... selling in those value pack ... 100 packs.] Which media was it ... ?? ... I'm at work ... I can't find out at the moment.
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  5. These units are pretty hard to find lately ... how long have you had it and where did you get one and how much did you pay for it ??
    I just bought this 3 weeks ago at Circuit City for $350. It was an open box unit and the last one they had. Still I wanted to try transfering my home videos using a standalone DVD recorder rather than the way I've been doing it through my computer. I'm pretty good with authoring my own DVDs with a computer, but I wanted to try something that sounded easier and less time consuming. After capturing the video to the computer, I usually use WinDVD Creator to edit it, create the chapters and then burn it to the hard drive. Then use DVD Shrink to make it fit onto a single DVD and finally burn it with DVD Decryptor. The process could usually last all night before a final DVD is produced. I figured that a standalone would do it much faster. And it does. But these shortcomings with the title and chapters are making me think about bringing the unit back and continuing it the old fashion way...


    I've got a question ... have you tried ... doing a fast dub ... from a title that was over two hours long ... the Grammy Awards lasted from 8PM to 11:30 PM ...
    Since I just got into the standalone DVD thing, I haven't tried to burn anything longer than a 2 hour and 5 minute home movie. The high speed dubbing is very impressive. It's fast and produces a great DVD. In fact, the high speed dubbing is one of the reasons I bought this thing in the first place.

    I have to say that the manual is just horrible from a user friendly standpoint. It's a great piece of engineering documentation if you don't mind jumping back and forth like a computer program to try figure out what you wanted to do. I think it wouldn't have been a bad idea to maybe hire a technical writer with ueers in mind not just showing what the machine could do but also how to go about doing it. I think they could have redeemed themselves if they had written a small section of examples or even to have something like that on their web site. But they didn't do that. And the people I talked to on the phone knew less about their own product than I did after owning this thing for just 3 weeks. Don't you just hate when that happens....
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  6. Member lacywest's Avatar
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    Aug 2001
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    California
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    Sierras ...

    I have to say that the manual is just horrible
    I am smiling about your comment ... everytime I want to set it up to record a show ... that is upcoming ... I get the manual out ... it is conveniently located close by.

    But I can without the manual close by ... use the remote control to shorten the shows/movies I recorded. I've got that figured out ... little by little ... I am figuring out the rest.

    One thing I learned was on Sci-Fi Friday is to set the unit to record from 7:58 PM ... to ... 11:02 PM and record all three shows ... non-stop.

    Not sure yet ... but can I cut the 3 hour recording in to two parts to keep the bitrate looking as well as can be ??
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  7. "before on Ebay and the winning bid was over $400 bucks ... geez."

    Weird. I got mine new from buy.com for $450, its a e500, with a 400gig hd & pc card slots, network slot, etc.
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