There has been a short discussion in another thread about what method should be used when lifting frame samples for comparison, and it turns out VirtualDubMod does a much better job of that than PowerDVD does.

Apparently, PowerDVD has some issue with the Panasonic 704x480 recorded MPEG2 format that causes the frame grabs to look softer and less defined than they really are. I quickly checked out my E55 and E50 recordings using VirtualDubMod to do the frame grabs, and they looked pretty good (the black levels were basically the same, but the sharpness and detail were much better than with the PowerDVD frame grabs).

So, I will be re-posting some of the various test recordings I have made using VirtualDubMod as the frame grab tool... and now we have an explanation as to why the Panasonic test frames I posted before looked a little soft and fuzzy, and why so many have been puzzled by this result (since they are certain their Panny recordings are sharp and clear).

Sorry for the confusion - but we learn as we go.

Edit -

OK - even more frustrating is the DVD-RAM I used to record E55 and E50 test images now is suddenly unreadable! I don't have the units on hand anymore, either. Oh, well! If I get a chance to get another Panasonic, I'll re-do the tests and compare results.