Panasonic DMR-EZ48V DVD/VCR VHS Combi - Transfer quality question

[vcogent]

I am considering buying one of these units because it has 1080p upscaling which I hope will mean that my old VHS home movies will be displayed in the best possible quality. My question is this: When I copy these home movies to the inbuilt DVD recorder, is it the 'upscaled signal' that is recorded to the disc, or is it a straight 'clone' (probably the wrong word) of the VHS signal on the tape? I as k this because other members of the family want copies, and their DVD players will all vary.

[jagabo]

DVDs are recorded in standard definition, not high definition. I'm not familiar with that particular device, but the upscaling may not be better than any other device or TV can perform.

[LMotlow]

To add to jagabo's post: the EZ48V is no better at upsampling SD material than any other typical unit of its kind. That's especially true considering the low-end tape mechanisms that come with combo units like these. In many cases a well-designd TV can do a better job than many set top players, while another TV might be worse than the one you have now. If you want better upsampling get an upsampling high-end a/v receiver from makers like Yamaha or Denon, whose upsampling chips alone cost more than the entire unit price of the EZ48V. And get a better tape player. There is no universal rule for upsampling SD source material, you have to judge unit by unit. The only applicable rule is this: VHS is low-resolution source that will never look like HD source, period.

[orsetto]

^^^^^

The dubbed dvd itself will be a "straight clone" as you put it, or standard definition as jagabo said.

The EZ48 upscaler will make those dvds look slightly better, but not dramatically so (you can't emulate anything close to 1080 from VHS, a format that barely reaches 240 on a good day). The key improvement the upscaler provides is reduction of field line visibility (esp with animation). You will need to try the various output settings of the EZ48 to find the one that works best with your TV's own input circuitry: going to full-on 1080 doesn't always work right. Many TVs will work better when a dvd recorder HDMI output is set to 720 or even 480. It doesn't really matter, since its fakery anyway: as jagabo noted, dvd spec is inherently locked at 480. So there's only a slight visible difference switching the recorder between 480, 720 and 1080- go with whatever setting looks best on your particular TV. Even 480p will tidy things up a bit: compared to using the TV composite connection, its much clearer.

You may find you'll want to switch EZ48 resolution settings depending on the source material. Viewing the 16:9 TV signal from the EZ48's digital tuner (or dvds recorded from it) might benefit from 720 or 1080. But VHS might get unpleasantly force stretched from 4:3 to 16:9 at any setting but 480.