Panasonic DVD recorder hahahahahah

[ember]

Dixons are still trying to fob off those £1300 DVD recorders: with "Be the first [mug] to get one". The advert in today's Mail had a zoomed up image of the record button. Apparently it can record from camcorders, but I really can't see the point of recording to MPEG2 if u have some shi**y analogue tv reception.

[likkletree]

Surely it captures digitally ?

[ember]

You mean has a digital receiver built in -? Never mentioned it in the advert. If that was true, you could pick up all the extra "free" digital channels that the BBC broadcast. Cheaper to get a tv tuner card and leave the old pc on overnight. Then burn to LVCD(upto 2 hrs). Cheaper still to use a video recorder- for the purpose intended. Who actually keeps recordings made from their TV? Continuity announcers screw it up and lots of times we have cut scenes from broadcasts here in the UK: notably Buffy.

[mijman]

What is this LVCD that you speak of? could you expand on this?

[ember]

Another name for XVCD - but with low bitrates instead of high: LVCD standing for "Long playing" VCD.

[d4n13l]

It always amuses me to see the new fad in electronics equipment, especially in Dixons. Dixons staff know NOTHING about what they are selling. The last time I went in for a simple Scart->Composite lead, I ended up teaching the sales person all about composite leads and how you connect a Playstation to a TV!
If you ask them questions remotely technical it soons becomes apparent that they know shit about the equipment, all they know is about the finance plan and insurance cover "deals" that they can sell to you.
Imagine how many people (mugs) have been sold these white elephants already. I bet next month they'll be about 50% cheaper. The power of marketing is huge.

[ember]

My question for the DVD recorder peeps is this: if you record from Digital TV does the recorder convert what is already compressed MPEG2 to MPEG2? Thereby reducing the quality. I'm asking this as it must surely have an encoder else how couls an analogue broadcast be burned to DVD-RW without being encoded real time?

[AntnyMD]

I think yes, ember. However, MPEG-2 transport streams for digital television have an enormous bitrate, and picture size is something like 1024x768 on standard definition (digital) television (SDTV). If it weren't recompressed by your settop DVD recorder, you'd be getting playback times on your DVD-R comparable to record times for full-rez and bitrate miniDVD.

Digital television is being broadcast at a much higher quality (bitrate and resolution) in SDTV format that today's DVD. If any broadcasters choose to air films in the highest quality HDTV (dunno the rez and bitrate on that), thats when television will cross over into the "Yes that picture really is clear" to "My God, look at the size of that mole on Julia Roberts face."



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On 2001-09-27 11:12:33, ember wrote:
My question for the DVD recorder peeps is this: if you record from Digital TV does the recorder convert what is already compressed MPEG2 to MPEG2? Thereby reducing the quality. I'm asking this as it must surely have an encoder else how couls an analogue broadcast be burned to DVD-RW without being encoded real time?
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[ktnwin]

The highest res for HDTV is something in the range of 1920x1080.
To record that to DVD, sure we need to re-encode the sameway we re-encode DVD to VCD.

Update on HDTV:
aspect ratio frame rate
720 1280 16/9 progressive 24, 30 or 60
1080 1920 16/9 interlaced 60
1080 1920 16/9 progressive 24, 30




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ktnwin - PATIENCE - PATIENCE - PATIENCE
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<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: ktnwin on 2001-09-27 13:45:06 ]</font>

[ember]

So is there a way to calculate the loss of picture info./quality when you re-encode, say, a film broadcast as mpeg2, to DVD-RW bitrates using the panasonic recorder? How would this compare to re-authoring ripped DVD VOBs onto 4.7GB DVD-RW?

You say that the broadcast quality is higher than DVDs - but I watch many live (soccer games) on my digital TV and there is alot of "smudging" - an obvious effect of the fast motion on screen. Re-encoding something like that would look sh*t?

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: ember on 2001-09-27 14:18:53 ]</font>

[wilky]

As far as these dvd writers go, I've already seen them on the web for £450 - £500 as a 'stand alone' component and for similar prices to slot into your p.c.

[ember]

wilky- which web pages?

[AntnyMD]

Are you watching a digital broadcast via your digital tv, or are you watching an analog broadcast repurposed for your digital tv ... or are you watching a digital broadcast on an analog widescreen tv?

Until analog broadcasts are completely shut down in 2005 (United States) who knows what we're watching.

The digital broadcasts I've seen in Circuit City here at home are spectacular. The local PBS channel was broadcasting a tape of scenes from The Mall in Washington, DC, and I could literally see blades of grass.



<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
On 2001-09-27 14:16:12, ember wrote:
You say that the broadcast quality is higher than DVDs - but I watch many live (soccer games) on my digital TV and there is alot of "smudging" - an obvious effect of the fast motion on screen. Re-encoding something like that would look sh*t?
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[ktnwin]

Assuming that you get true digital broadcast (must be the lowest res. for the time being), nothing guaranties that the broadcast is error free. If there are transmission or reception issue, you will see digital artifacts just like playing a dirty DVD disc in the DVD player.

And Yes, DVD appears to be hi res but it is not that hi res. I have watched 1920x1080 progressive TV broadcast, DVD is no way near that kind of quality.

Watching about 100 different DVDs so far, I can see digital artifacts in 1/2 of them (jumpy motion, some pixellation, fuzziness, etc... A well taped Digital Tape look as sharp without any of those artifacts.

[wilky]

Some time ago I discovered the Pasonic DVD recorder advertised on the Panasonic website - obviously without a price. I contacted them on their 'helpline number' 0845 6003535 (I think) and they gave me a list of retailers both on and off the web. I was told the RRP was in the region of £500 so its obvious the mark up is pretty phenominal. Unfortunately I can't be any more specific than this as it was some time ago, and as I never followed it up (I like a product to be 'proven' by other people who iron out the problems before I buy) I no longer have the info. Give the numebr a ring and get the info. I've also seen a pioneer DVD writer on the web for the same price, but again it was some time ago and I never followed it up. I will probably 'invest' in a DVD writer next year when the price drops!

[ember]

Thanks to all for the replies - actually my original post was in error - I was referring to the Philips DVD recorder- which records DVD-RW (apologies to wilky). The new Panasonic recorder is a DVD-R/DVD-RAM recorder and if wilky is right, the pricing sounds very competitive.

As for recording digital broadcasts- it depends on what you watch: I saw a documentary yesterdat that was "blade of grass" perfect - whereas live transmissions are very smudgy. This could be my TV - which is WS but I use a digital box to receive terrestrial digital tv. There are so many factors which can affect recording quality.
1>The area you live in (for terrestrial reception)
2>The digibox (sometimes I see mosaic interference effects)
3>The broadcast method- live or recorded.
I could go on. Suffice to say there is much less conrol on getting good recorded quality when using a standalone recorder.