To US Panasonic DVD recorder owners.Will they record PAL ?

[culttvguy]

I know this subject has been talked about here,did a bit of searching but couldnt find anything specific to answer my question,as there seems to be a bit of contradiction..
I had a Philips 985 DVD recorder(US model) which could record PAL through the video inputs,and i want to know if any of the Panasonic models can do the same,because i am thinking of getting one.The E55 is now so low in price that i may look at that one or possibly one of the hard-drive models.Also i love the flexible bitrate feature on Panasonic machines.

I know they wont record PAL via Tuner(not bothered) and wont play anything other than region 1(again,not bothered),just want to know whether or not i can record PAL via the RCA or S-Videos inputs like the Philips ones do,so that i can make a PAL disc.
Has anyone actually TRIED it? If not,would someone be willing to try it for me if i send a test disc? I have a load of PAL tapes which i want to put on DVD,and i dont want to convert to NTSC first and lose quality.

I know that most manufacturers dont advertise whether or not their recorders can do this,I mean,Philips didnt advertise the fact,but the machines did it anyway.

thanks

[snowjocks]

Hi -
Sadly the US Panasonic DVD home recorders wont record a PAL signal through the RCA video inputs. I tried it myself and input a real PAL signal from another deck and it failed. I too wanted to make and play PAL discs. In the end I searched around a lot and found several solutions.
1. Asda in the UK has DVD players for 35 pounds (Pacifica brand) that will play NTSC and PAL discs. So the need for conversions here would be redundant. Simply send them an NTSC disc and the problem is solved as they can play the NTSC disc on their PAL tv sets. There is a hack to make the unit region free through the remote control.
2. Got to WalMart and buy the $149 ILO DVD recorder! This too can be hacked through the remote control to make it region free. As a test in inserted the movie KES that someone had sent me from the UK as a region 2 PAL DVD. Initially, the ILO DVD recorder said it couldn't play it as "wrong region" Then I did the remote control hack and viola, it played the disc and outputted an NTSC signal so it was viewable on any PAL or NTSC TV.
Then I decided to try to RECORD PAL on this cheap $149 DVD recorder using a PAL signal through the RCA inputs. I finalized the disc and yes, it DID record without any problems and on any speed setting. As a test, I put this newly created DVD into my Panasonic DVD recorder and it refused to play it, saying it was the wrong region. Another test confirmed that the ILO did in fact make a PAL disc.
3. You could purchase the JWIN DVD Recorder (International Version Only) from World Imports for about $350 which will (on-the-fly) take an NTSC signal and convert it into a PAL signal or vice versa by taking a PAL signal and make it into a NTSC standards. Basically input anything and convert it into anyththing... all on the fly.
So, I hope this has given you all the info you need to find an inexpensive way of doing PAL/NTSC or NTSC/PAL recordings and playing them on an NTSC or PAL tv.
If you have any questions, let me know.