DMR-E80 question: HDD to DVD when the show is BIG

[Doctor_Zaius]

Total newbie. Came here figuring I'd soon be buying cap hardware & software, but now almost sure I should leave my PC out of this thing as much as possible.

Am currently leaning towards the Panasonic DMR-E80.

Question - When I record a football game to the unit's HDD at the highest bitrate (which I WANT to do), the game will eventually be two or three discs worth (even after editing out commercials). Will I be able to do this? I mean, does the unit allow a program to be dumped to disc (from its HDD) that's larger than a single DVD?? Hope this isnt a problem.

[Bob W]

I believe you could record as much as six hours of video onto a single DVDR however the quality would be poor IMO.

[donpedro]

Let me add to that question... Can you do this ?

- record 10h of one program in SP quality on recorders HD
- split it to 5x2h segments
- burn 5 DVDs that will have original program in SP quality

BTW: Read this before you buy... https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=175473

[handyguy]

Don't use their 6 hour mode its too choppy. Why not just select to record the program in 2 hour increments with the program timer?

[donpedro]

handyguy, good workaround But still, can you do what I aksed for ??? Can you cut some parts off from 10h video in SP (2h) mode and then split resulting video to more then one DVDs still in SP (2h) quality ???

[donpedro]

From DMR-E80H manual

Divide Program
[HDD] [RAM]
Select a point at which to divide the
program into two.

You must be sure you wish to
divide a program because once a
program has been divided,
it cannot be returned to its
original form.

[Heavie]

Recording the game in the best qaulity, all at once. The Panasonic DMR-E80 has a feature to devide what you record into smaller recording. It also have a shortening segment feature to get rid of the commercial.

[zanos]

handyguy, good workaround But still, can you do what I aksed for ??? Can you cut some parts off from 10h video in SP (2h) mode and then split resulting video to more then one DVDs still in SP (2h) quality ???

It'lll be similiar but it won't be SP mode quality because the recorder needs to reencode the video. It'll only look like SP mode quality if you record it in XP mode first.

[hiflyact]

Is this how these DVR's work? When you set it up to record a program, does it just record to the hard drive, or is it like a VCR where you need to have a tape (disc) in it to burn to right away? I'm assuming it works like a TiVo where it records to the hard drive and then you can figure out what you want to do with it.

I noticed some specs one of the Panasonic recorders and it said in the best mode XP, you can fit about an hour on one 4.7GB DVD. That's not a lot considering DVD's aren't real cheap yet. Is the SP mode a better way to go? I read EP mode isn't that great to use.

[donpedro]

1. There are different models. Some have hard drive (HD) so you don't have to write to DVD disc, but most don't and then you have to record directly to DVD.

2. XP is mode that will give you most quality since it is using highest bittrate. I don't know what is expensive for you but you can buy DVD-R for less then $1 on the internet.

[RabidDog]

this is guess work but obviously dvd discs can only hold a certain amount of data (4.7gb) so if you want to hold more than 2 hours of video it has to be in lower quality I would expect a dvdr to hold say 2hours @top quality 4 hours@medium quality or say 6/8 hours at lowest quality.
the tradeoff is always quality/time . A double sided dvdram disc however can hold 9.4gb but may not be usable in your drive.

[txg8rs]

Doc,
I am currently playing around with a DMR-E80 to see how I like it. The goal is to use it for converting old VHS and camcorder tapes, and to record football games. Here's what I have noticed so far:

VHS/camcorder: been copying these to the HD at SP mode, then burning them to DVD-R using high-speed mode (which records at the same mode of the HDD data). These are turning out very good so far - i have only burned a few but they look very good. Not sure if I would go to the longer speeds though.

For football games, I'm a bit disappointed so far. I have copied two football games to the HDD so far, both at SP mode. I then tried burning one to DVD-R in the LP (4-hour) mode, and it looked horrid - much worse than a VHS tape with lots of errors, artifacts, etc. When you look closely, even the games burned to the HDD on SP mode show some artifacts or errors when there's a lot of action on the field. I'm assuming that the SP bitrate is not sufficient when there is that much changing at one time. As an experiment, I am recording some of the game tonite in best quality mode (XP) - will see how it looks. If it looks good, then the plan would be to record the whole game in XP mode, remove the commercials and halftime, and then burn two DVD-R's (one per half) at the variable rate - this way it would approach XP mode, but only take two discs.

One question for those that have more experience/knowledge with the E80: If a program is recorded to the HDD at a high bitrate (such as XP), and then to DVD-R at a lower bitrate (or variable bitrate), is the conversion digital? Just wondering if some picture quality is lost in the conversion.

thanks,
mike

[Roll Tide]

I have the DMR-E80H and I am actually using it to record college football games this season. I am recording the game in XP mode to the HDD. I then use the Shorten Segment function to remove the commercials (typical game w/o commercials is 2h 30m to 2h 45m. I then dub in FR (Flexible Record) mode to DVD-R or DVD-RAM. FR mode will encode at a bitrate such that the disc is filled.

I have traded games with several people who thought the entire 2h 45m game looked fine on one disc. Personally, I have been saving a copy for my own personal use on two discs. This adds one step, in which you use the Divide Program function to split the game into halves. Then, dub the 1st half to one disc, then the 2nd to another disc. Remember to finalize if you are using DVD-R. The games split on two discs look excellent.

The only way to achieve even better quality would be to split the games into three parts. If you did this, you would retain the original XP encoding on disc. For me, this would become too expensive.

Hope this helps.

[donpedro]

One question for those that have more experience/knowledge with the E80: If a program is recorded to the HDD at a high bitrate (such as XP), and then to DVD-R at a lower bitrate (or variable bitrate), is the conversion digital? Just wondering if some picture quality is lost in the conversion.

I don't havean experience, but yes... there must be loss in quality. I would guess that if you try to burn in lower quality than one on HDD, that it will re-encode it again.

[Roll Tide]

donpedro, you would be correct. The DMR-E80H reencodes in realtime when dubbing in a different speed than the original recording. The only way to maintain the original encoding is to cut the recording into chunks small enough to fit on a disc at their original speed (i.e. XP=1 hr chunks, SP=2hr, etc.)

[txg8rs]

So this poses the question of which is better:

- to encode in XP, and then go to SP or FR mode to fit more than one hour per DVD (this would cause the DVDR to re-encode again)

or

- record in SP, and then use high-speed to dub to DVD-R. No need to re-encode, since it is at the same bitrate as the original.

I have two football games - one each at XP and SP modes. I will play around a bit and see which of the two above looks better...

thx

[Captain Satellite]

So this poses the question of which is better:

- to encode in XP, and then go to SP or FR mode to fit more than one hour per DVD (this would cause the DVDR to re-encode again)

or

- record in SP, and then use high-speed to dub to DVD-R. No need to re-encode, since it is at the same bitrate as the original.

I have two football games - one each at XP and SP modes. I will play around a bit and see which of the two above looks better...

thx

You can't high speed dub to a DVD-R so you can throw that option out the window.

[donpedro]

You can't high speed dub to a DVD-R so you can throw that option out the window.

You are wrong mister so do not post this again.

[Captain Satellite]

You can't high speed dub to a DVD-R so you can throw that option out the window.

You are wrong mister so do not post this again.

Are you still saving your allowance to purchase one? :P

[donpedro]

Are you still saving your allowance to purchase one? :P

Are you running out of arguments ? It is kind of low what you posted.

[Anonymous98]

You can't high speed dub to a DVD-R so you can throw that option out the window.

If the program was originally recorded in "DVD-R compatibility mode", and VBR is set to fixed in the 'Setup' menu then yes, you can do a high-speed dub from the HDD to a blank DVD-R...

[Captain Satellite]

One question for those that have more experience/knowledge with the E80: If a program is recorded to the HDD at a high bitrate (such as XP), and then to DVD-R at a lower bitrate (or variable bitrate), is the conversion digital? Just wondering if some picture quality is lost in the conversion.

I don't have any experience, but yes... there must be loss in quality. I would guess that if you try to burn in lower quality than one on HDD, that it will re-encode it again.

:P

[donpedro]

What does it have to do with "allowance" smart guy ?