Garbage In?

[humbled]

I've just invested in a Panny E100 with the hope of recording a lot of digital quality material, but I'm beginning to wonder if I know what I'm doing. I have Cox Digital Cable with their integrated DVDR unit (like TIVO). I had been thinking I have digital quality signals going to my digital 480P Samsung TV (it is actually HDTV capable, but I don't subscribe to HDTV via Cox).

But, duh, Cox says the DVDR has a 40gig HD and that it holds 40 hours of recorded programming. And its best output is S-Video. No component output.

Given the specs on recording hours on the Panny at XP, it dawns on me that the Cox DVDR must be doing a lot of compression. And since the quality of the signal on my TV looks the same coming from the DVDR or live, I am assuming that the S-Video outputs aren't giving me anything better than DVDR compression effects even when the material isn't recorded first. Put another way, it seems that the Cox unit doesn't handle in real time the top signal that might be available to me via, for example, satellite.

Thoughts?

[humbled]

Addendum: I get superior (to Cox) picture from DVDs I own, coming from progressive scan player via component output (and component inputs to TV). Maybe I now am understanding why . . .

[spiderman2k1]

Do you use your TIVO just record right on the Panasonic E100HS. When you record with the Tivo then record to the Panasonic that a second generation dub. Just hook up your cable box right to the Panasonic. Record in XP or SP if your running out of room SP look almost the same to me. Also be care full on what media you buy I have read report's on the E100HS that it has some problem's with 4X media. Some people have report that Memorex work's for them and Ritek do not and other people report that Ritek work's and Memorex does not. Go to a online store and buy a smaple pack of media. You can get sample pack's at

http://www.meritline.com/dvd-samplers.html or any other online store.

I like my Panasonic E80H better it does not care what brand of media I put in it but some E80H own have had media problem but I got mine this month and was so I must have a newer one from Japan. www.6ave.com is very good for Panasonic stuff lost price you will find.

I'm not trying to give you a bad rap on the E100HS just try to help if you have problem's that you can fix if they pop up. If your E100HS is not picky on the media please post back. Panasonic might have change the burner.

[spiderman2k1]

You should read this post

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=346927

[bugster]

humbled, does the picture quality from a rcording on your DVDR match what you get whan watching 'live TV'? If the answer is yes then your DVDR is not compressing the received picture. Your service is already digital, the chances are the DVDR simply stores the incoming mpeg data stream.

The reasons you are getting poorer quality from the Panny E100 are, I believe, several. These are:-

1) S-Video. You already seem aware that S-Video is not the best possible connection and component would be better.

2) Conversion. Your DVDR converts the stored digital signal to analog to output the S-Video. The Panny the converts it back into Digital (mpeg-2 again) to store it. Both conversions will cause a loss of quality

3) XP mode. Whats that, 4-hours or 6. This means the Panny is encoding with a low bitrate and resolution to fit the required recording time on a DVDr. This will significantly reduce quality.

It seems about the only one of those you can do much about is the recording mode. Try recording some test clips in the shorter recording modes and see if the quality improves much, it should make quite a difference.