Panasonic DMR E50

[Leon8]

I have been using the Panasonic E50 for a week now and generally
happy with the recordings. The only thing that looks off are the whites
they seem overly saturated. I remembered somebody else mention it.
What are the opinions of some of the Panny users out there?

Any comments will be appreciated.


Leon

[oldmoviefan]

Leon I was the one who mentioned the problem with the white problem. I cannot understand why this recorder does this.

The whites problem seems more noticable with black and white movies,where there is bright light and also if anyone wears white, the white looks so bright it appears to about look like a negative.

You are the first one ,other then me, to make mention of this problem.

I wonder if there are others out there who also have this problem with this recorder?

[verchad]

It's a known problem with many of the panasonic recorders. It has been discussed at the Panasonic dmr-hs2 owners forum, http://www.thewholewideweb.com/forum/default.asp?CAT_ID=7 It's also a great forum for other questions, problems, and discussion for Panasonic recorder owners.

[Leon8]

Oldmoviefan,

I beleive others don't find the "whites" offensive.

As general the picture is fine except when there are bright white involved.

The other user group's people suggest a Attenuator to correct the problem.
Saying perhap the signal is too strong.

Have anybody else used this device?


Leon

[FulciLives]

I don't have a Panasonic DMR-E50 but I know it has selectable input levels for the IRE input. I know this because all models PRIOR to the DMR-E50 did not have this (much needed) feature.

All NTSC (other than Japanese NTSC) will be 7.5 IRE black whereas all PAL and Japanese NTSC is 0.0 IRE black.

The setting on the Panasonic DMR-E50 is I think called LIGHTER or DARKER as opposed to actually labeling it correctly as IRE but one is for 7.5 IRE black sources and the other is for 0.0 IRE black sources.

My guess is your machine is not set up correctly thus giving you the problems you are talking about.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[FulciLives]

I went to the PANASONIC website and downloaded the manual for the DMR-E50 and the info you want is on page 47 of your manual.

Unfortunately ... as I thought ... it just says that the VIDEO INPUT can be set to LIGHTER or DARKER without really indicating which is for 7.5 IRE Black and which is for 0.0 IRE Black.

Also there are 2 levles (DARKER and LIGHTER) for the OUTPUT if using COMPOSITE/S-VIDEO and there a 3 levels (DARKER, NORMAL, LIGHTER) for the OUTPUT if using COMPONENT.

So you need to get your INPUT correct MOST importantly.

Then play with the OUTPUT level control to find one that looks good.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[Leon8]

I found the setting you are talking about.

I will try it and report back.

Thanks for the tip.

Perhaps others can try it too.

Leon

[donpedro]

I will try it and report back.

So ?

[handyguy]

Black Level bug, but it was only reported to be on older E30s.

[FulciLives]

Black Level bug, but it was only reported to be on older E30s.

Well that is why starting with the E50 Panasonic added the LIGHTER and DARKER function for recording.

From my understanding one setting is for 0.0 IRE BLACK input and the other setting is for 7.5 IRE BLACK input. I'm just not sure which setting is which.

I don't have the E50 or any of the newer models (which also have selectable recording levels).

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
The black level bug (input set for 0.0 IRE BLACK only) was also on more than just the E30 model. It was also on the E20 and the HSR2 or whatever it was called (the first 40GB HDD model). Probably was on the E10 as well although it seems like hardly anyone bought that first generation DVD recorder. Also when the E30 came out there was a "professional"/"industrial" model that I think also had the bug but there were some conflicting reports on that as I recall.

[ejai]

The E-30 does have the bug. I know this because I own an E-30 and E-50, and believe me there is a difference. That is the reason I bought the E-50.