PANASONIC DMR E55

[Punchline]

Hi all again, ok, I ditched the Philips machine, thinking the Panasonic one would be better, and have found out that using DVD-R I can`t actually put in chapter points anywhere in my recordings! It seems that it only works with DVD-RAM, now doesn`t that make it pretty redundant? Especially as I thought, "that`s ok, i`ll rip it to my hard drive, and edit it there, which is what DVD-R is better at", but no! Instead of the one long file, the VOB files are broken into lots of small ones...Have scoured the manual with no success. So, does that mean I can`t record anything onto DVD-R discs, ( or at least, nothing with any chapter points on it!), and have to stick to dvd-Ram, which means I`m pretty limited on which players I can play it back on!

Considering the high ratings and reputation of this machine, if this is true, and I can`t actually do any chapter points on a DVD-R, then isn`t it a bit of a waste of money? I mean, who wants 2 hour programmes with no way of splitting them up?

Of course, there`s always the chance I`ve missed something....



PL

[chas0039]

I burn to DVD-RAM and then move to hard drive and use TMPGEnc Author to translate the VRO file into a usable MPG-2 and from there burn to DVD format. It takes a long time to copy RAM because it reads at 2X but otherwise works OK. Also RAM discs are usable for 100,000 re-writes.

[Synergy]

Considering the high ratings and reputation of this machine, if this is true, and I can`t actually do any chapter points on a DVD-R, then isn`t it a bit of a waste of money? I mean, who wants 2 hour programmes with no way of splitting them up?

When you finalize the recorded DVD-R discs, they'll get 5-minute auto chapters by default. If I remember correctly, although Philips as well as Cyberhome recorders can add chapter breaks to DVD+R discs aftter each recording, they won't work on other players as well. Basically what you are complaining is due to the linear file structure of DVD-Video format, and all -R standalone recorders choose not to add any editng feature on the write-once media. If adding chapter breaks is important, then you should consider another +RW recorder and use +RW discs for playback on other players.

[Punchline]

Thanks, hadn`t realised it automatically does chapters, which although isn`t perfect, certainly is better than nothing! I`m going to start looking into the DVD RAM route, and then working on it on my PC. Thanks all!

PL

[handyguy]

If you want self chapter points, why not just create a play list, then you have a chapter point where you want it

[PenguinVideo]

I have a Panasonic DMR-E55, and it's simple to get the VOB's back in one piece. Just download and run DVD Decrypter, and tell it not to do any file splitting. It will then copy the DVD-R to your PC disk, combining all of the VOB's that belong together into one, where you can then edit them, save them as MPG's, and re-author your final DVD's.

[Synergy]

If you want self chapter points, why not just create a play list, then you have a chapter point where you want it

Because he was talking about DVD-R recording, which doesn't have the playlist function.

Just download and run DVD Decrypter, and tell it not to do any file splitting. It will then copy the DVD-R to your PC disk, combining all of the VOB's that belong together into one

Edited: I didn't know anything about this option before, and just realized that the file spiltting option can be changed to "None" under the "Tools" "Settings" "File Mode" menus. Thanks for the tip.