Panasonic DVR-7000

[Frisco]

Hi,

I was wondering if any of you have purchased Panasonic's newest standalone DVD Recorder, the DVR-7000?

I have been flip-flopping on whether to get the A04 for the computer or the DVR-7000.

I know it is much cheaper to get the A04, but it is probably much easier to do up DVD's edited exactly like I would want them as opposed to the DVR-7000 (which may have less editing functionality in Video mode).

However, the DVR-7000 is also a good Progressive DVD player and would be much better than my current APEX-703 player.

Obviously the DVR-7000 costs about 3x as much as the A04, but I know that any DVD's authored by it will play in my DVD player (as it is the one that creates them) and I don't have to worry about sync problems or any other issues related to getting the video into the computer.

Any comments?

Thanks,
Brad.

[bnbhoha]

I think you have your recorders mixed up. Pioneer makes the 7000 and Panasonic makes the e20. The main difference:

Pioneer records on dvd-r and dvd-rw
Panasonic records on dvd-r and dvd ram

Big difference between the two is the price (panasonic is around 750 vs Pioneer 1400. Pioneer offers firwire input and panasonic does not. I'm told that if you record on panasonics dvd ram, a computer will not read it, so you can't edit it on your computer (not sure if this is true)

Panasonic would have been awesome if they included firewire like they did in the U.K. version and if they got rid of the dvd ram and replaced it w/ dvd-r. (ram is nice if you're recording tv shows and using the disc like a vhs tape; however, I would have like to copy the home movies on dvd-rw and edit them on my computer and put them on dvd-r, which the pioneer 7000 let's you do. Unfortunately, the pioneer is almost double in price.

Things to consider, Philips just came out w/ a standalone dvd player and it almost all the feature of the Pioneer 7000 including a component in. However, it uses the dvd+r, dvd + rw format. Which really isn't a bad thing because the dvd+r, supposidly, is going to cost the same as dvd-r in the next 8-12 months, and Microsoft has recently endorsed dvd+r for compatibility for its next operating system. So dvd+rw formats might prevail. This new info and philips player have made me reconsider which format and player I want to go with.

I'm thinking about getting a philips standalone player and a pioneer a04. This way I can record on dvd+rw discs, edit them on my computer and transfer them to dvd-r and make copies w/ cheaper media, and reuse my dvd+rw disc for my next project. I can always sell one or the other if one format prevails and when dvd+r media becomes cheaper, I can burn straight to that format on the philips. Buying the philips and the ao4 will probably cost the same as a Pioneer 7000 recorder anyways. Hope that helps

[Frisco]

Oops, sorry, yes I did mean the Pioneer DVR-7000.

And, you have introduced another dilemna into the equation.

It makes me think waiting for a year is the optimal decision, which will:

1. Result in lower pricing
2. Perhaps answer the DVD+R/DVD-R debate.

...although, dropping $400 on an A04 might not be the worst thing in the world...

Thanks!

[Eug]

I think you have your recorders mixed up. Pioneer makes the 7000 and Panasonic makes the e20. The main difference:

Pioneer records on dvd-r and dvd-rw
Panasonic records on dvd-r and dvd ram

Big difference between the two is the price (panasonic is around 750 vs Pioneer 1400. Pioneer offers firwire input and panasonic does not. I'm told that if you record on panasonics dvd ram, a computer will not read it, so you can't edit it on your computer (not sure if this is true)

Panasonic would have been awesome if they included firewire like they did in the U.K. version and if they got rid of the dvd ram and replaced it w/ dvd-r. (ram is nice if you're recording tv shows and using the disc like a vhs tape; however, I would have like to copy the home movies on dvd-rw and edit them on my computer and put them on dvd-r, which the pioneer 7000 let's you do. Unfortunately, the pioneer is almost double in price.

Things to consider, Philips just came out w/ a standalone dvd player and it almost all the feature of the Pioneer 7000 including a component in. However, it uses the dvd+r, dvd + rw format. Which really isn't a bad thing because the dvd+r, supposidly, is going to cost the same as dvd-r in the next 8-12 months, and Microsoft has recently endorsed dvd+r for compatibility for its next operating system. So dvd+rw formats might prevail. This new info and philips player have made me reconsider which format and player I want to go with.

I'm thinking about getting a philips standalone player and a pioneer a04. This way I can record on dvd+rw discs, edit them on my computer and transfer them to dvd-r and make copies w/ cheaper media, and reuse my dvd+rw disc for my next project. I can always sell one or the other if one format prevails and when dvd+r media becomes cheaper, I can burn straight to that format on the philips. Buying the philips and the ao4 will probably cost the same as a Pioneer 7000 recorder anyways. Hope that helps

According to Panasonic, the DVD-RAM discs can be read on a DVD-RAM capable computer. I've seen bundles online which include a Panasonic DVD-RAM standalone, with a Panasonic DVD-RAM/-R burner and a bunch of software. The Panasonic burner (~US$300) costs less than the Pioneer A04, but only writes to DVD-R at 1X.

Panasonic would have been awesome if they included firewire like they did in the U.K. version and if they got rid of the dvd ram and replaced it w/ dvd-r.

Not sure what you mean by the second statement, since it already records to DVD-R.

[bnbhoha]

I'm sorry, I meant to say Panasonic would have been awesome if it had the dvd+rw instead of dvd ram. Have you noticed too that if you buy a dvd-r drive it comes w/ either dvd-rw or dvd ram but not both? Dvd ram is an excellent idea; however from what I read, they're going to have that blue light technology in the beginning of next year which is suppose to hold close to 100 x more than a dvd ram disc (-they are using the terminology called terabytes). So dvd ram may not have a future.

I also read that if you have a panasonic dvd pc burner that you can only play the discs in a Panasonic machine. I'm not sure if they were refering to the both the dvd-r and Ram or just the Ram discs.

Panasonic e20 has a lot of good reviews and happy users. The dvd ram disc is usable up to 100,000 times and is incased so it would never get scratched. It is awesome for recording tv shows (kinda like a vhs tape that never wears out). I like the idea of getting a panasonic dvd ram drive for the computer, but I'm not too sure if you computer would be able to read the discs from a stand alone player (once again, I beleive I read that only the standalone player can read the ram disc) I'm not 100% sure thought, so please call them or do further research. People don't seem to be responding to these topics that much in the forums.

Now what what would have been nice is if Panasonic e20 had firewire. This way you can take your ram disc, put it in the computer and edit it and send it back to the standalone through the firewire cable. You might be able to do this with the Pioneer 7000. Incidentally, Panasonic is coming out with a new standalone in August, maybe that will have firewire/component video that will enable you to do this. The philips dvdr985 has the firewire, but I'm not sure if any of the firewire capabilities are PC compatible. The dvd+RW format lets you edit video right there- you can delete the scenes you don't want. If do edit the dvd and send it back to the standalone, will I have the same quality or would it have to re-encode the new info over again causing it to slightly degrade? Or would it improve the new edit since it has that "improve" technology? Too many questions and not enough answers.

Sorry if I wrote too much, I have been doing a lot of research on this and have been racking my brain. I know that the above paragraphs aren't that organized. I'm just spitting out ideas.


MY DREAM PLAYER:

I would like a standalone player that has dvd ram/dvd-r AND has firewire inputs (component inputs for extra credit) which gives me the ability to record on dvd ram and tranfer it to my PC through the firewire where I can edit the recording and add my special subtitles and stuff. Then I would like to send it back to the standalone recorder through the firewire and record it on dvd-r permanently with out losing quality or having the standalone re-encode it again because it thinks it's something entirely new. The next generation Panasonic player that is coming out in quarter 2 might have the ability to do this. Unfortunately, customer support at Panasonic and other places do not no more than the average consumer, they just read what's on their screen. Good luck. Comments always appreciated.

Bill

[Kusanagi]

Bill,

Your DREAM PLAYER/recorder looks to be the new Pansonic E30 or Panasonic DMR-HS1. Not only do they support DVD-R and DVD-RAM, but also have a built in hard drive for tivo like recording and editing!

More information on all these new DVD recorders:

http://home.att.ne.jp/sigma/vik/dvd.htm

http://www.avland.co.uk/panasonic/dmrhs1/index.htm

http://www.dvnation.com/hs1.html


I really think that DVD-RAM has a new lease on life with the addition of these new recorders.


Kusanagi

[smokingweed3000]

why dont all of u just wait a year or so and save up for one of those blue disk recorders, Ive read that one cd can hold up to 30Gb, it can hold about 6 dvd quality movies on one cd. Thats what im gonna do atleast.

[Kusanagi]

why dont all of u just wait a year or so and save up for one of those blue disk recorders, Ive read that one cd can hold up to 30Gb, it can hold about 6 dvd quality movies on one cd. Thats what im gonna do atleast.

The problem with that right now is that not alot of friends/family will be in a big rush to upgrade their home DVD players. And I don't think the current DVD players out now will be compatible at all with the new Blu-Ray discs. There lies the problem if you are doing any sort of distribution.


Kusanagi

[smokingweed3000]

i dont know if this is how it will come out but those bluse discs are supposed to be comptable with the DVD players that r available now, and since i dont have a dvd player and probably not gonna buy one since i use my computer and my tv-out to watch movies on the tv i dont really care if they will be supported by the dvd players or not as long as they are supported by the computers which they will be cause thats were they were made.

[smokingweed3000]

if u know of any place where i can read more about those blue ray discs ill be glad if u could tell me

[bnbhoha]

Thanks for all that new info. I don't know where you guys find it, but thank you

My comments:

Panasonic DMR-HS1 look appealing w/ the hard drive and all. But what's the purpose of the dvd ram then? I could care less about the tivo feature. I would record directly to the hard drive and do my edititng and then save to dvd-r. Why not just make it dvd-rw? I don't see the purpose of having the dvd ram unless you're going to record tv shows.

Another thing: why do they only have firewire in but not out? They took out the whole pc scenario again. It would be nice to transfer my work to a computer through an out put (firewire) and then send it back. A computer offers many options to edit, especially w/ the adobe premiere 6.0 Are the techs at Panasonic not getting it?? Atleast I can download my dv movies to the recorder. This would have been the perfect player if it only had firewire out as well. So far, it looks like the Pioneer 7000 is still on top, but for the money, the new Philips isn't too shabby AND it comes w/ component in but also with the dvd+RW format

Keep posting, I think we're finally starting a thread

[alkieman]

There's been some info in the specialist AV press in the UK about the new blue ray format DVD recorders. The discs use a completely different recording format to existing DVD recorders and cannot be read by ANY current DVD player. No matter what format of DVD recorder you currently own you will have to buy a new machine to record the new format.

It was designed from the ground up to allow recording of high definition material thats now available in the US and Japan (if you can afford the price of the damn TVs that is).

If you want to play a blue ray dvd disc recorded by a friend if and when he buys a recorder, you will need to buy a new compatible player. The format hasn't even been finalised yet and has not yet gone before the DVD Forum for approval, it has only been demonstrated at trade shows. Sony showed a prototype recorder at the recent CeBit show but it was only a prototype and is still at least a couple of years away from being marketed.

On the good side Sony are gathering support from all of the major AV companies and also intend to have it approved by the DVD Forum, so we will probably be spared a format war, although other companies have been investigating other forms of HD disc recording.


The Pioneer DVR7000 looks like an excellent machine but here in the UK it does not have NTSC recording capabilities, the Panasonc DVD-RAM recorder and Philips DVDR1000 both have NTSC recording as well as PAL. The Pioneer does have Firewire in and out which the others do not have, being Firewire in only. However the two DVD-R/RW recording modes may be confusing.

Essentially the Pioneer DVD-R/RW recorder uses two modes, VR and Video mode. VR mode is the more advanced and allows mini-disc style editing which beats that offered by the rival Philips DVD+R/RW recorder however the VR mode discs are only compatible with the very latest stand alone DVD players. The Pioneer's standard Video mode makes the discs readable by any DVD-R/RW compatible DVD player but it's editing features are much more limited. In this case the Philips wins having only the one recording mode. Note, this isn't the same as having different quality modes, all of the machines have different quality modes to fit more on a blank (even more confused?). Another note: This is all only relevant to stand alone DVD video recorders as the applications used to burn DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW on your PC are the same, and have the same features regardless of format.


The Panasonic DVD-RAM stand alone video recorder is the most versatile and has the best features for home users including an excellent Tivo like ability to start the playback of a recording while the machine continues to record the end of the program. Unfortunately DVD-RAM is not compatible with 99.9999% of stand alone DVD players.

I truly hope Sony wins universal support for it's blue ray recording format so that we don't have this level of confusion and stupidity in future.

[Eug]

from what I read, they're going to have that blue light technology in the beginning of next year which is suppose to hold close to 100 x more than a dvd ram disc (-they are using the terminology called terabytes). So dvd ram may not have a future.

If blu-ray shows up and is affordable, NO DVD-recordable will have a future. Anyways, it'll be a LONG while before it's affordable.

I have the Panasonic LF-D311 DVD-RAM/-R drive. It works well for DVD-RAM UDF 1.5 and DVD-R through Firewire, but I can't get it to write properly for DVD-RAM 2.0 and FAT32 through Firewire. (Read is fine.) DVD-RAM 2.0 is what is required for playback in the Panasonic DVD-RAM capable DVD players and DVD recorders. (I have a DVD-RAM capable DVD player as well, the Panasonic RP91.)

I guess that means I'm going to have to scrap Firewire and plug the thing into my IDE bus directly, like I was supposed to.

By the way, DVD-RAM UDF 1.5 and DVD-R both work great on my Mac as well.

[Drewlo]

Kusanagi, a quick question about your earlier post in this thread... You say that Panasonics new breed of DVDRs are going to have a hard drive for editing in them before burning? The way you had said it was the DMR-E30 would also have a hard drive. Do you know if this is true or not? The HS1 is availible for pre-order at $2800.00, and I found the DMR-E30 for $550.00. So to me it doesnt sound like it would have the hard drive. Just curious, so I thought I would ask. Thanks a bunch...

[leebo]

The E30 nose NOT have a hard drive.

[Kusanagi]

leebo is correct.

Maybe I was unclear before, but only the new Panasonic DMR-HS-2 has a hard drive (40GB) and PC Card slot built into it. For more info see -


http://www.beststuff.com/article.php3?story_id=3518

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020625/nytu108_1.html

http://www.ammagazine.com/CDA/ArticleInformation/news/news_item/0,2610,79604,00.html

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,103541,00.asp

http://www.dvdinsider.com/news/view.asp?ID=3979

http://www.avland.co.uk/panasonic/dmrhs2/index.htm


Nevertheless, the E-30 (w/o a HD) is a terrific and reliable unit (mine should be here next Wed. - ordered it from B&H last night )


Kusanagi

[Drewlo]

Thanks for the replyies. I read up on the articles that kusanagi gave me, I see that when this is released in the United States, that the MSRP is going to be $1199.99. How much do you people think it will be at the discount sites? I want to get a DVD recorder, but I think I might wait for the HS2. The idea of being able to edit out commercials and other things before burning is great. Will anyone be waiting for this instead? Thanks again...

[oldfart13]

There are a number of places that will be selling the E30 and HS2. The lowest U.S. price I've seen so far on the HS2 is $750US. Pretty cheap I say. In Canada, I can get the E30 for $1,000CAN but I can order the HS2 out of the states and have it shipped directly to me for $1,400CAN! That also includes all shipping charges and tax. Why on Earth would I want to "buy Canadian" when the updated unit can be had for an additional $250CAN?