Thinking of buying Panasonic E30. Comments anyone?

[next]

ejai,

I got my e50 yesterday and just as you stated the pictures look richer. I don't notice the slightly "lighter duplicated copy" as I did with the e30. This is more noticeable on a larger set. It's not as noticeable on my 20" or 27" in sets. Both are very good recorders.

My understanding is that the black level bug is restricted to non panasonic players. Does this still hold true?

[FulciLives]

[quote="next"]

My understanding is that the black level bug is restricted to non panasonic players. Does this still hold true?

I can't speak for other brands of DVD recorders but as far as PANASONIC goes the black level bug was fixed with selectable input starting with the DMR-E50 and on (including the E-60, E-80 etc.)

Older models like the DMR-E30 including the first 40GB HDD model (which I think was called HS2 or HS1 or something like that) were fixed to assume a source had a 0.0 IRE BALCK LEVEL without a way to adjust it to 7.5 IRE BLACK LEVEL source.

I think I remember reading that the new SONY has selectable input level as do I think all of the PIONEER models but I'm not 100% positive on all that.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[Gil T Pleasure]

The Toshiba models also suffer from the black level bug. Don't know if they ever fixed it.

[ejai]

The Black Level bug was fixed on the E-50 and above, but the E-30 and below suffer from the bug as well as the HS1.

FulciLives has summed it up acturately.

[DaveS]

fwiw, the black level is not really a bug afaik ...it's just that the earlier models w/ the 'bug' reallly just had it set to a level that didn't work w/ your equipment, & it turns out that user selectable setup really helps some people, particularly those in the US (like me)..but I think bug is a bit of a mis-nomer

[ejai]

I do consider it a bug, if there was an option to choose an acceptable brightness setting on the earlier models then it would not be a bug. These models in question have no choices but the default manufactuers setting which is not correct for some areas (such as the U.S.) this in my mind makes it a bug.

[DaveS]

fwiw, I had to lookup the setup on the Sony RDR-GX7, and apparently the user selectable setup is for the *output*, not the input...my assumption is that the input is IRE 7.5 since it seems to work ok w/ my US NTSC VCR which I also assume to be output of IRE 7.5.(if anyone's reading this thread)

[handyguy]

I have a E30 it has more input/outputs than a e50+ also, only an E30 has more buttons on the front, like an enter button, e50+ don't have them so you have to use the remote for most everything, but an e30 can do anything from the front panel only.

I don't have that black level thing either probably because my unit is a Oct 2002 unit & they changed it by then. People shouldn't think that they make all of the machines on one day.

[bf18lycos]

The E30 also lets you select audio mode on XP recordings.
You can choose LPCM instead of AC3. The E50 dropped that option. I found it useful for awhile because many PC packages can deal with LPCM but don't handle AC3.

[FulciLives]

I have a E30 it has more input/outputs than a e50+ also, only an E30 has more buttons on the front, like an enter button, e50+ don't have them so you have to use the remote for most everything, but an e30 can do anything from the front panel only.

I don't have that black level thing either probably because my unit is a Oct 2002 unit & they changed it by then. People shouldn't think that they make all of the machines on one day.

So when you say your DMR-E30 does not have the black level bug you are really saying that it has a selectable Lighter/Darker input control?

If it does then I'd be very surprised. If it doesn't then the bug is still there ... you might just not be seeing it.

The bug is "hidden" when you play back the DVD-R you recorded in the DMR-E30 on the DMR-E30

- John "FulciLives" Coleman