Polaroid drm-2001g vs. Panasonic ES10

[SupaDupaMonkey]

I've been looking around for a halfway decent DVD recorder just to have around if I need it.

I'll be doing VHS to DVD transfers. Mostly through the PC capture card.

The DVD recorder will have 2 uses: 1). Mostly as a pass-through device. 2). A decent dvd recorder for when I feel lazy (I would normally just capture to PC capture card and go from there).

I've read and heard of the ES10's pass-through features.

I'm more curious to hear if the Polaroid model might have any beneficial pass-through features like the ES-10 does. I favor it because of its customization capabilities.

As for just simply recording to DVD and not using as a pass-through, I've read and heard the ES10 isn't so dandy a recorder, well at least in terms of recording from a VHS player. Which is why I brought up the Polaroid to see if anybody has any knowledge of its recording qualities in comparison to the ES10.

[lordsmurf]

No, the Polaroid is a piece of crap. It has very grainy recording. It has major hardware issues, few have survived (2006 machine).

[orsetto]

Neither of these models is of any real use as a DVD recorder. The Panasonic has atrocious picture quality but includes a unique-to-this-model-alone "stabilizing" ability as a pass-through device. Even in that role, LordSmurf has noted many times it should be considered a last-resort option only for tapes that cannot be stabilized in any other way (because the ES-10 degrades the image even in pass through). The Polaroid is crap but unique for its component inputs, which can be used as a passthru for component-to-composite conversion. Some people find this useful for getting a 16:9 anamorphic signal from their cable/satellite decoder into another, better DVD recorder. In the process of such conversion, the Polaroid is said to also bypass all copy protection schemes, but I have not been able to verify this personally.

[SupaDupaMonkey]

Thanks for the input. This is good to know. In particular, you guys have confirmed my suspicions of the ES-10 degrading image quality even in pass-through.

However, let me sort of change the topic, as I was also interested in these particular machines because they both have, in particular, Component outputs.

As I convert my VHS tapes to my PC, my capture card breakout cable can take both Composite and Component inputs. I prefer to be working with the Component cables since they say it delivers a better signal.

If I have to use my TBC 1000 to convert some tapes from the VHS player, it only does S-Video & Composite outs. My capture card's breakout cable doesn't have a S-Video input. I'd prefer to use the TBC's S-Video output to a DVD Recorder (or some other pass-through device) as a pass-through to use the DVD Recorder's Component outputs to my PC's Component in's.

I figured I'd need a DVD recorder in case I got lazy with some of the transfers and just wanted to do a straight VHS to DVD burn using the Recorder. But mostly it was to take advantage of it's component outputs (and S-Video inputs) as a pass-through.

The ES10 and the Polaroid have both have those component outs I was looking for. I picked them because I heard of the ES10's nifty feature during pass-through and the Polaroid was just simply customizable with its hard drive.

I don't know. I guess in reality, I'm just trying to get around using straight Composite RCA connections (especially since my PC can't input S-Video). Is there really a major dropoff in signal if I stick with all RCA connections the whole way through or would a work-around by way of S-Video out to pass-through device's Component Outputs to PC Component In preserve or enhance the signal?

I don't have my dvhs player yet or else I'd do a test right now. I've done regular VHS to PC using Composite RCA and it looks a degraded to me, especially when I outputted to DVD.

[robjv1]

I guess the bottom line is that running a signal through any DVD recorder and THEN to your PC is going to degrade the signal somewhat. You're adding another link in the chain of devices and performing another A/D conversion.

It seems like running your signal from the VCR to the TBC-1000 via S-Video and then running the TBC into a DVD recorder that you don't intend to use as a recording device, and THEN running that signal out to your capture card via component is going to cause enough artifacts that it will outweigh the use of being able to use the component output to your capture card. It seems like if you are going to do this that you would probably get better quality from something more simple like an adaptor then you would from a DVD-recorder doing passthrough.

You are probably better off at either just using a DVD recorder for your captures or running composite cables to your PC. I think you would probably get better results overall if your just used a DVD-recorder if your footage is very noisy and has issues with the chorma -- a good recorder can filter that out. If all of your footage is of the quality you showed me, I would bet you could benefit very much from this.

I know I've weighed in on this previously, but for a LOT of my tapes s-video simply looks better coming out of my machine then composite. It depends on your footage and your eyes though, so test it out when you get your DVHS deck.

Even though it would cost a little more then an old used JVC DVD recorder, I think you might have to consider getting a capture card with an S-Video input. That's probably the best compromise.

[lordsmurf]

The Panasonic ES10 -- any modern ES, EZ, etc series to be honest -- posterizes the image. It's color palette compression. The NR is also very harsh, on or off, and causes blurring, and sometimes oddities in the interlace accuracy.

It's not a pretty machine, but it works well for tapes that are just really crappy, where you trade its far worse error for the errors of the ES10.

The VCR is the most important first step -- what are you using?

[SupaDupaMonkey]

Well, I have a crappy basic VHS player right now. But I'm trying to get a JVC HM-DH4000U as my main VHS player for my conversion project.

The first one I ordered arrived broken.

Got my money back.

I ordered another one elsewhere, but I haven't gotten a response from the seller. It's not looking good.