Simple questions on features: Pioneer 510H, Panasonic 100H

[Jim's Evil Twin]

I’ve checked prices and learned what I can about these units from the internet, local store displays, and the owner’s manuals. Still a little unclear on a few things, and am hoping I can get some answers from people who have these machines.

1. Both manuals say that, on timer recordings that are repeated (daily, weekly), the timer-check displays will show how far in the future that program can be recorded, for example “--> 3/15.” This doesn’t mean I have to reprogram the timer at that date, does it? It seemed to me that this date display is meant to give me an idea of how much space is left on the recording medium.

2. The 510’s manual, on pages 31 and 32, show some onscreen status displays. A couple show “WNBC” in the area where a channel number might be. How were the station’s call letters input? There are also a couple of references to the “Broadcast program name,” “Evening News” in the sample displays. From where did the unit get this information?

3. I recently purchased a DVD burner for my PC but it doesn’t support DVD-RAM. I’m hoping there’s some other way to digitally transfer video clips recorded on the standalone’s hard drive to my PC (for editing/authoring) besides DVD-Rs, assuming the clips are only a few minutes each. On the E100H, can the SD and PC-Card slots be used to transfer MPEG2 files? The manual only talks about using the slots as input.

4. Both units’ manuals mention their auto-clock-set feature. Is this a one-time set or does either machine periodically resynchronize its clock (like weekly or daily)?

5. How well does each unit hold up after a power failure, as far as saving settings and timer programs?

[bnbhoha]

I believe the pioneer offers firewire in & out, so you can transfer your movie to PC via firewire whereas the E100 only has firewire in.