Panasonic DVD recorder passthrough settings (DMR-ES10, DMR-ES15, DMR-ES25)

[Alwyn]

So you play the tape on another VCR which is connected to Panasonic's AV1 IN and then Panasonic AV OUT is going to capture device?

Yes, that's it.

Aussie version does not have AV3 which is on the front panel's left bottom corner?

The left bottom corner input on mine is AV2.

I have not tested using Panasonic Scart OUT -> I-O Data capture. Would be quite curious if the passthrough from other device would work on Panasonic's Scart OUT but not from the S-video OUT.

As Doman suggested, give that a go. Depending on the SCART adapter, it will have an In/Out switch. Put it to Out.

There are differences in the various outputs from these types of units. For example, on the ES-15, the video output from AV4 is different to that from the SCART; AV4 has a momentary brightness boost, whereas the SCART doesn't have the boost. Also, my ES-35V doesn't have any SCART connectors at all, so there could be variations in how the internals work.

[Jyri]

I now changed the setup to use Panasonic Scart AV1 to output the signal to I-O Data capture device. Well, the first issue is that the AV1 does not support S-Video so I get just a black & white signal with S-video cable. Scart AV1 can output composite or RGB. Despite this I tested connecting the LG to the different Panasonic inputs with either composite or S-video and none of them would give a result where the top of the frame is straightened. So the only way to get a straight top frame is to play the tape directly on Panasonic. So just a head-up for anyone else wanting to use this as a passthrough device.

Attached is the back of the Panasonic DMR-ES35V. Looks like the full model is DMR-ES35VECS.

[Alwyn]

Deleted due to info from Sharc's post following.

[Sharc]

Being a late entrant so it may have already been said and tried, but anyway:
For passthrough, use the connectors on the FRONT (AV3) of the ES35VECS as inputs, and the S-Video connector (not the SCART because this may work for DVD playback only (?)) at the BACK as output. (And enable the Comb Filter of the ES35VECS in case of Composite input signals coming from the VCR).
I think this worked here, but I don't have the model any more for trying myself ....

[Thermaltake]

Thermaltake:
What were the changes in the image after replacing the capacitors?

Changes were, more stable picture and sound because I replace all of them.

[Jyri]

Being a late entrant so it may have already been said and tried, but anyway:
For passthrough, use the connectors on the FRONT (AV3) of the ES35VECS as inputs, and the S-Video connector (not the SCART because this may work for DVD playback only (?)) at the BACK as output. (And enable the Comb Filter of the ES35VECS in case of Composite input signals coming from the VCR).
I think this worked here, but I don't have the model any more for trying myself ....

I tested this already and it doesn't work. Top of the frame is still skewed. The result images are visible in my original post: https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/403635-Panasonic-DVD-recorder-passthrough-settings...16#post2796406

[rgr]

VHS HQ is supposed to improve image quality (well, maybe it did – in the 80's) but it pales in comparison to what can be done with a true raw capture and some filtering on a computer. VHS HQ applies a horizontal blur (lowpass filter) to the luma channel to reduce noise, followed by a very basic horizontal sharpening to create artificial sharpness (results in halos). It averages chroma lines to reduce chroma noise, thereby making the chroma more blurry on the vertical axis as well. It's a very simple and destructive filter.

The setting on S-VHS machines to turn this circuitry off is most often called "Edit", or "Tape Dub". In my opinion this setting is worth getting an S-VHS machine if you want to have a quality that is better than the original tape played on a plain VCR.

Well, turning on Edit on the JVC's S-VHS (HR-S7600 and derivatives) doesn't do much.
Temporal smoothing is still extremely active, literally destroying the picture and causing bizarre effects.

* - yes, I know I'm replying to an old post

[rgr]

I'm guessing the TBC from S-VHS is also not frameTBC?

That's a lineTBC only, dealing with intraframe/line synch cleaning.

You're right -- but using TBC on a JVC VCR, I got exactly 0 drops+inserts for 1 hour of recording with some corrupted frames. (The same applies to using a FireWire camcorder as a passthrough).

[lollo]

Yes. For tapes in nice conditions the external TBC is not needed. You can get a clean capture without inserted and dropped frames an d with audio and video in synch. As you probably know, I have verified that across many many captures comparing the Analog material with the same content available on dvd or dvb-s/dvb-t, so quite confident about that.
Sometimes, for tapes not in good shape an external TBC is needed for a proper capture.

In the FireWire approach the camera is playing the role of the “digitizer”, so it does not perform any time base correction (although is somehow more resilient than the Analog capture card we use in case of instability); so you still rely on the TBC of the VCR, which can be sufficient or not, according to the conditions of the tape.