Panasonic E85H finalizing issue and question

[darkhunter]

Hi, I have had a panny HS2 for years now but today decided to grab a newer E85H model.

I was just messing with it, sending short clips from the hard drive to the dvdr to look at quality. All in all the clips totaled about 250MB.

I went to finalize the disc and it said it would take about 13 minutes!

What I do not understand is on my HS2 finalizing, no matter how much data was on the dvdr, it never took more than 4 mins!!

Why did it take 13 minutes to finalize a disc, and especially when there was hardly anything on it. Then to cap it all off the disc looks huge! It looks like way more than 250MB of info is on there. It looks closer to a GB of info! I put it in my PC and it insists it is 250MB but there just is no way.

I dunno, this all just seems weird to me. Any other panny owners out there that had an older model like the HS2 and then a newer one, did any of you see odd problems like this, and is the insane long finializing time normal!? Why would this be? I figured a newer model would shorten it if anything. Or did I get a bad unit? I got it open boxed at best buy, so it was not new.

[darkhunter]

Also if I could ask some other general questions.

Is it better to input into the device (from my digital cable box) with regular coax or should I use s-video? I assume s-video but thought I would ask.

Also from reading the tips/tricks post I should be using these settings yes?

- Input level - make it "Darker".
- Composite & SVideo Output Level - make it "Lighter".
- Component Video Output Level - make it "Normal".

HYBRID VBR RESOLUTION and set it to FIXED

Mine actually is already that way? So is that the default? Is all the default stuff correct?? He said default was auto with the VBR thing but not for me. Maybe because I had an open box someone set it that way. Also should I update the firmware? Mine was made in march 2004

thank you !!!

[trhouse]

Here is a thread that should shed some light about your finalizing time.

http://www.thewholewideweb.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=781

[donpedro]

Isn't this issue of DVD Video format that requires at least 1GB on DVD or something like that to be compliant ? I saw it some time ago... So 15min takes to record remaining space that you did not use. I don't know more about it, I just remember` seeing it. Try search if you find detailed answer.

[Synergy]

HYBRID VBR RESOLUTION and set it to FIXED

Mine actually is already that way? So is that the default? Is all the default stuff correct?? He said default was auto with the VBR thing but not for me. Maybe because I had an open box someone set it that way. Also should I update the firmware? Mine was made in march 2004

The default setting was changed to "FIXED" on the DMR-E55/85H/95H series, it was set as "AUTO" in previous models, and the others mentioned are all default settings as well.

You may want to read the following article to decide whether you want to upgrade the firmware, and there are also some neat options in service mode:

http://www.dxcc.com/dmr-e85h.htm

And yes, S-Video input will definitely give you better PQ than RF input.

[donpedro]

You may want to read the following article to decide whether you want to upgrade the firmware, and there are also some neat options in service mode:

http://www.dxcc.com/dmr-e85h.htm

Synergy, Great reading, thanks...

darkhunter, you may find same "feeling" about play list there...

There are some things I would have done differently. The "Playlist" is not as easy to use as the same feature on the DMR-E80H -- I wish they had kept that as it was in the older unit.

[darkhunter]

So if I can still fine an 80 machine it has the old playlist features where as the 85 does not?

[donpedro]

So if I can still fine an 80 machine it has the old playlist features where as the 85 does not?

Not sure... my sugestion would be : "Locate manual for 80 and see..." Links for mauals are sticky here. (Let us know the result)

[darkhunter]

YES!!!! THANK YOU DONPEDRO !!!!!!

YES from the 80's manual it does exactly what i'm looking for and what all the older model's going back to the 1st HDD one (the HS2) had !!

Why in gods name did they get rid of this feature!!!!! Man someone there screwed up.

Now I just have to find an 80!!! My best buy only had 85's and even then only in open box. I have not seen new ones for some time.

AGAIN THANK YOU!!