Pansonic DMR-E80

[caliguy520]

A few questions for anyone who has the Panasonic DMR-E80:

1. I am recording out from my TIVO into it and notice that the quality of the video is somewhat poor. It makes no difference if it's the line in that has my direct receiver or the one coming from TIVO. I have adjusted the color controls on the DVR and that has made a slight difference, but how much more will an S-VHS connection improve the picture?

2. I noticed when I recorded my first DVR that there was a lag on the syncing of the audio. Has anyone else had this problem and is there a way to fix it?

3. I am wanting to import my DVD-RAMS into my computer and then edit out computers or put certain episodes on one DVD-R. I've heard mixed things about programs that will accept the .vob file. Any suggestions on one simple program that can do it all. Adobe Premiere does this, but it's expensive. I have Avid Express DV, but I don't believe it supports those formats at this time.

Some of these issues have been discussed, but I didn't feel like I had a good enough answer from the other posts. Thanks a lot.

[caliguy520]

Sorry, that should say edit out commercials, not computers. Also, the picture quality is the same whether it's going through TIVO or directly from my digital cable box, so I don't feel like it's a TIVO issue.

[spectroelectro]

Tivo does intense digital compression on what it records < > 5:1), like all video recorders. Your eyes can't see the artifacts of this compression but your computer's video input can.
I have done experiments capturing video from playback of DVDs I previously captured and burned (my PC capture card happens to ignore all forms of copy protection). The results proved simliar to applying VirtualDub or AviSynth filters to MPEG-2 files and then writing them to DV AVIs and then encoding 'em back to MPEG-2 files as opposed to applying VDub/AviSynth filters to DV AVI files and encoding 'em to MPEG-2.
In short, capturing video from a compressed source like a Tivo degrades the video quality. And it degrades the video to a surprising extent, similar to trying to record the output of a pair of loudspeakers with a mic as compared to recording the original sound source with a mic.
Capturing video form any compressed playback system (like Tivo) should always be avoided. You'll get vastly superior results capturing video directly from the broadcast & then encoding it to MPEG-2, whether the source is digital satellite or ordinary cable TV.

[donpedro]

It might be also that original signal is not good. I saw some movies from digital chanels comes very compressed.

[houtx67]

3. I am wanting to import my DVD-RAMS into my computer and then edit out computers or put certain episodes on one DVD-R. I've heard mixed things about programs that will accept the .vob file. Any suggestions on one simple program that can do it all. Adobe Premiere does this, but it's expensive. I have Avid Express DV, but I don't believe it supports those formats at this time.

You could record the material to you HD (or RAM) in High Speed Mode on the Panasonic and then edit out the commercials (or transfer to HD from RAM in High Speed mode and then do the same). Then, transfer (back) to RAM in High Speed mode from the HD. Use the RAM on your computer with Ulead MovieFactory2 to convert the .Vob to DVD-R format without re-encoding if you do not edit (ie, the file on you computer is the finished product in the first place). Here are a few posts (the second tells how to do it with TMPG Author).

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/archive/t155343.html

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/archive/t163570.html