Is it just me or do all the new hard drive recorders suck?

[darkhunter]

Ok, after using my new unit more (a panny E85H) I have determined that my almost 4 yr old HS2 completely kicks the crap out of anything on the market in terms of ease of use!!

While no doubt I thought the picture quality on the newer one was better it's so frustrating to use I just cannot deal with it.

The old HS2 was such a snap to use it's amazing.

Record to the hard drive (I mostly to tv shows, so hard drive/editing important to me) I go in create a play list a few simple "start and finish's"
and I got my nice 42min (for 1hr long program - commercials) play list ready to record!

Well this stupid 85 the playlist option is useless, it just sit's there wanting you to add chapters??? I dont even have any freaking chapters. There's no editing, nothing.

On direct navigator where you actually can edit I erased what I wanted!!!
When you do the start finish thing it does the exact opposite as it did before, it takes all that out instead of that being what you want. Plus then once you edit, it's too late, and boom it's permanate!!! on the HS2 with playlists the source material stayed the same no matter what you did in editing! So if you edited wrong, no big deal!!

Does anyone get what I mean here? I also tried a philips model with a 120GB HD and I wont even get into that. That machine was so confusing I think only a philips engineer could use it.

Am I just a complete retard or am I missing something here???

What newer recorders out there offer the ease of use that the HS2 does??
Are offerings from Sony, Pioneer, Toshiba, or JVC any easier to use ???

Why is it in 4 years it seems like this technology has taken a giant step back?

[donpedro]

Well, I never had HS2 but I had 80 (seems same as 85) for a while and I lived editing options that were clear and easy to use for me.

Maybe it is just like users that are switching from old IBM mainframe character mode screens to new Windows based systems. They also complain that it was much better to use non-graphic character mode forms to enter something. Doeas it mean that "technology has taken a giant step back?" I don't think so...

[Duchess]

I agree with Donpedro, it's a user thing where you aren't familiar with the new equipment so it's hard. Once you use it for a while and get used to the new equioment you'll start to wonder why you found it so hard in the first place.

I very much doubt that the newer equipments are harder to use, just very different in how they do things and you are hitting the learning curve. I'm finding the same thing with Linux as I'm used to MS Windoz and like me you will just have to persevere until it becomes familiar.

[darkhunter]

I guess my biggest issue is not so much getting used to it, I could live with that, but unless I am missing something, it lacks features the old HS2 did such as the simple play list creation.

You could go in edit what you want, then burn that play list, and this is the key: anything you did had no effect on the original recording! So if you made a mistake or want to do something different, you simply make another play list.

With the newer 85 you do the editing in direct navigator (sub menu) I have found no other way to edit. And the only thing it does it erase and the removal is permanate! So if you mess something up, hit the wrong button, etc, you are screwed!

I just do not understand why a fantastic feature like the editing was removed!

I really do not think I can live with this unit and am going to have to return it.

I have been reading ALOT of material here and at avs fourms and from what I read the Toshiba is best at editing ???

[lordsmurf]

It's a Panasonic. Most of them suck, yes.
Try a JVC, LiteOn, Toshiba ... anybody else.

[doxtorRay]

I thought that you could create a playlist on the E85 and use that for copying. Creating the playlist does not damage the original files (see P. 30 of the manual). Then, you can set up a dubbing list that includes the playlist you made. (See page 36 of the manual--there is a tab to select playlists for dubbing instead of programs).

I know all of the Pioneer HDD recorders do this (except it's called a copy list, and you make it only when you start the dubbing process). The unedited version of the program remains on the HDD and your edited copy can include quite a bit of editing within and between programs.

I have two E80s and the inability to edit without damaging the original recordings is the real pain about these units. However, I thought the E85 fixed it.

By far, the worst thing about the Panasonics is their manuals. The are long, convoluted and virtually incomprehensible. If I wasn't used to reading the essays of college freshmen, I would be stymied by them.

[LCSHG]

lordsmurf
[QUOTE]
t's a Panasonic. Most of them suck, yes.
Try a JVC, LiteOn, Toshiba ... anybody else.

---------------------------------------
Not Sony though. That whole company could fall off the Planet. I wouldn't miss them

[darkhunter]

There still is a thing called "playlist" on the 85 but it is not what it used to be. It's not an actual editing feature like it was on the HS2.

All it does from what I can tell, is you can mix and match different titles and chapters to make different combinations but there is no actual editing.
For example you cannot take a 1hr long tv show and go in the playlist and take out the commercials.

More or less thats what I want to do. The HS2 does it, but my unit is old and i'm in search of a replacement. However as I said these newer panasonics do not have this option any longer. Editing is very hard and risky (in loosing the original video)

[LCSHG]

I hava an Ilo DVDRHD04, I edit commercials with no problem. If you make a mistake, [and don't erase]. The programs can be merged back. The entire program can be merged without commercials. This is usefull for progream you want to keep. Other than that I just fast forward. I do wish that the HDD model had a CM skip like the non HDD unit but than it doesn't have an edit feature.

[doxtorRay]

There still is a thing called "playlist" on the 85 but it is not what it used to be. It's not an actual editing feature like it was on the HS2.

All it does from what I can tell, is you can mix and match different titles and chapters to make different combinations but there is no actual editing.
For example you cannot take a 1hr long tv show and go in the playlist and take out the commercials.

More or less thats what I want to do. The HS2 does it, but my unit is old and i'm in search of a replacement. However as I said these newer panasonics do not have this option any longer. Editing is very hard and risky (in loosing the original video)

You can do this, but the method is different. You need to divide the program in the playlist into chapters. Each division between chapers then becomes a potential edit point. See the section beginning with p. 30 of the manual.
In the playlist...
Create a new chapter at the beginning of the commercial break. Start another chapter at the end of the commerical break. Erase the chapter that has the commercials.

[darkhunter]

doxtorRay
thanks, yeah I guess this can be done. *sigh* I just dont understand why it's so difficult now though. It takes 3 times the time. It was so easy before. I just dont understand why they would take it away? I dunno people who have not used the older model probably think i'm stupid and dont understand, but it was incredibly useful and these new machine, ugh, it's just driving me crazy!!!!!