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  1. Hello. I recently buy Panasonic DMR EH 595 recorder and I need some advices how to setup it for VHS recording.

    I have Panasonic NV-FJ632 VHS recorder and connected it through SCART. Next, DMR is connected to TV with HDMI. Quality is good (more better than grabber) and it' not problematic like any other methods. I can seat comfortable in sofa and drink coffee. No more fighting with video codecs and checking cables under the desk.

    But there are some things I would like to know (including problems );

    For example I'd like to ask about about Time Based Correction? I read somewhere, the Panasonic DMRs have it build in. But in manual or in menu i can't find any TBC settings. How to activate it?

    Second: recording to DVD: little but annoying problem: if I record 2 or more files (i sometimes stops recording and resume) and split them all to chapters , my every-day DVD player (SONY, don't remember model) play only first chapter.
    I think i need to burn it as one file but recorder haven't ability to join files (only split).

    And Third question: VHS tape is 4 hours (240 min tape, full SP mode). But it's not exactly 4 hours but 4h 4 min (strange?). So I can split it to 2 DVD but I must cut last recording.

    if i split it I can't join this few mins with continuation on another tape. Because again recorder don't allow me to join videos.

    Fourth question How can I copy recorded videos to HDD from HDD? I can't, yes? I can't join videos after cutting and i can't backup before cutting. Really annoying...

    Or maybe I missed something?
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    1. I believe all Panasonics have varying degrees of TBC and it will be on all the time, you can't turn it off. I believe you should be able to disable line input NR(noise reduction) by pushing the DISPLAY button on your remote and then arrowing down to VIDEO and then arrowing down to Line-in NR, I always leave it ON and also enable DNR for playback noise reduction.

    2. When you push STOP on the DMR it will create a separate TITLE, the DMR itself can play from one title to the next, DVD players will often just play one title and then take you back to the main menu where you'd have to arrow to the next title and push PLAY to start. It's better to just push PAUSE on your DMR when recording which doesn't create a separate title but note I personally don't like to leave my recorder in PAUSE for an extended period of time, maybe it doesn't hurt anything and I've inadvertently left it I pause for hours on end but not knowingly. Leaving the recorder on PAUSE for more than a few minutes was a no-no with VHS as it could wear out the tape or rotating video heads but maybe it's OK with a DVDR where there is no real wear during PAUSE... As you may know after you're done recording a particular title you can add chapter marks wherever you want, well before you burn the title to R discs that is.

    3. You should be able to HS copy roughly 2h 7min SP from your DMR's HDD to a blank -R DVD, if you split your 4h 4min title you should easily be able to HS copy one half to each DVD, in fact you'll have a bit of wiggle room to decided where to split your title, as lone as one of the titles doesn't exceed about 2h 7min, then the other one will be a bit short of 2h. I hope your HS copying off the HDD to DVDs and not doing a real-time burn in which case you'd only get 2hrs/DVD and also lose quality from the reencode.

    4. Panasonic DVDRs like basically every other DVDR cannot JOIN or combine titles, as you know you can SPLIT titles(something that not all DVDRs can) but the only DVDR I know of offhand that allowed combining titles were the old and feature-rich XS series Toshiba DVDRs, long since gone and almost impossible to find and not all that reliable. The only way of combining titles with a Panasonic would be to have a second DVDR and record the output of the first DVDR, which would lose some quality from the reencode. This could be minimized by using say XP on the first DVDR but you'd still lose some quality vs a single record.

    I personally don't use a PC in my workflow but I suppose another option going that route would be to burn your titles to DVD on the DMR and then copy them to a PCs HDD where you use software to combine titles, as I don't use a PC for recording I don't know what programs would be able to do this.
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  3. Originally Posted by jjeff View Post
    Panasonic DVDRs like basically every other DVDR cannot JOIN or combine titles, as you know you can SPLIT titles(something that not all DVDRs can) but the only DVDR I know of offhand that allowed combining titles were the old and feature-rich XS series Toshiba DVDRs, long since gone and almost impossible to find and not all that reliable.
    Interesting to learn Panasonic does not have a "combine titles" feature: I'd thought nearly all DVD/HDD recorders had this (and certainly Panasonic with its multiple copy list features). Or perhaps I am misunderstanding the workflow point at which you and SmurfRecorder want to combine the titles? If you meant directly on the actual HDD recordings, permanently altering and joining two separate recordings into a new single recording on the unit's HDD, then yes: only Toshiba XS offered that method of combining titles.

    While doing it that way is certainly more convenient sometimes, it has never struck me as crucial since one never actually "keeps" the original HDD recordings: sooner or later, we burn a DVD and that becomes our final product (or we copy that DVD into a PC for further alterations). When burning the recorder HDD files to DVD, every unit I have owned (except Magnavox) offered "combine titles" as an option in the burning process. Pioneer/Sony models I've owned easily do this, and I always assumed Panasonic does too.

    Am I completely wrong, jjeff? Does Panasonic not offer "combine/join/merge titles" as an option in the copy list /play list high speed copy to DVD mode? With my Pioneer/Sony recorders made from 2003-2009, I cannot combine titles directly on the HDD (only name them, split them, erase parts I don't want like commercials, add/delete chapters, and change thumbnails). However, in the copy to dvd mode, the act of high speed lossless copying to disc allows me to completely override and modify how the HDD titles will be on the final dvd. I can combine multiple separate recordings into a single new title, add new chapters, erase/edit additionally, and modify the names/thumbnails for each title on the disc to something different than I have on the HDD. This is all done in the "copy list" screen as a virtual template: the HDD recordings themselves are not changed from whatever I last did to them on the actual HDD.
    Last edited by orsetto; 13th Mar 2021 at 13:38.
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    Orsetto, you know the Playlist feature of the Panasonic probably can do what the OP wants, it's just I've never really used that function or really looked into it. I do remember reading posts from ChurchAVguy on AVS where he used the Playlist functions on his Panasonic DVDRs frequently and I believe he did what would probably work perfectly for the OP. That is combine parts of multiple titles to one title on a DVD during the HS copy. You are correct, I was thinking more of the hard combining of 2 titles like the Toshibas did but the playlist is probably the way to go for the OP as it sounds like they end up burning the titles to DVD and playing it on a player. OP. As I don't really use the playlist feature I'll have to let someone else describe to you how it's done, probably be best if it were someone using a Panasonic as it probably acts differently than say a Pioneer but maybe they are close enough for someone like Orsetto who knows Pioneers like the back of his hand, to describe the process to you.
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  5. This post regarding the Copy/Play List function of the Panasonic DMR-EX77 might help as a reference point: start reading from the seventh paragraph down, beginning with "You Can Think Of A Play List As An 'Editing List'...

    I just now tried searching VH and AVS for references to combining titles during dubbing from HDD to DVD with Panasonic DMR-EH, and other than above keep coming up with dead links or nothing! This is astonishing, as I distinctly remember many such discussion topics ten to fifteen years ago. They must sill be in the archives, but figuring out the correct search terms has me hitting a brick wall. I've also combed thru instruction manuals for the popular EH50, EH55, and EH59, and even those proved utterly useless: Panasonic's official documentation on how to operate the dubbing function inexplicably leaves out any mention of combining titles, erasing sections, changing thumbnails, etc. Panasonic seemed exclusively obsessed with creating or deleting chapter points, and nothing else. This is baffling, as there is no way Panasonic would have let themselves fall behind Sony and Pioneer in functionality. My recollection is Panasonic could do everything Sony and Pioneer could with dubbing from HDD to DVD, but even better because Panasonic could memorize the dubbing templates for up to 30 dvds (while Pio/Sony could only do one at a time).

    With all DVD/HDD recorders, the act of dubbing from HDD to DVD entails setting up a Copy List (which Panasonic confusingly insists on calling Play List). This simply means choosing the Copy To Disc function, then selecting whatever HDD recordings you want to burn to dvd. Once you've chosen what to copy, there are usually options available to edit the recordings on the list "virtually". This typically works just the same as if you were editing the recordings directly in the HDD navigator screen, except instead of permanently altering the HDD files you are really saving a set of instructions in the Copy List telling it to make those edits as it copies to a dvd (leaving the actual HDD files untouched).

    What SmurfRecoder needs to discover is how exactly you invoke these editing options from within the DMR-EH595 Copy/Play List. Unfortunately I cannot help with this: I only briefly used a similar DMR-EH55 many years ago and don't remember details of its operation. My primary recorders since 2006 have been the Pioneer/Sony models: with these, one selects a title in the Copy/Play List, presses Enter on the remote, and a submenu pops up offering the same editing functions available for the HDD (with an additional new option to "Combine" titles). If I choose Combine for the selected title, an orange bar appears over it which I can then move with the remote up/down arrow keys to highlight the second title that I want to combine with the first. I press the remote Enter button, and the second title is merged (appended to the end of) the first title. The second title then disappears from the Copy/Play list (as it is now combined with the first title).

    If desired, I can repeat this for every remaining title in my Copy List until I've merged all the separate titles into a single combined title. So for example, if I've got a dozen individual 5-minute music videos scattered on my hard drive, I can merge them into a single 60-minute compilation, with each individual music video becoming a chapter in the newly merged title. This gets copied to the DVD, but the actual HDD files remain separated. I hope this is making sense for SmurfRecorder, its much easier to do than describe. I'm almost certain the DMR-EH595 can do this, but since the instruction manual doesn't discuss it you'll need to poke around in the Play/Copy List screen (clicking and highlighting buttons until more editing options appear).

    Note Panasonic recorders can also use the now-forgotten DVD-RAM type of blanks, in which case the high speed lossless dubbing function works in reverse as well (DVD back to HDD). This provides a clumsy but effective workaround if you absolutely must have two or more titles combined on the actual HDD: you can't combine them directly on the HDD, but you can combine them while dubbing to a DVD-RAM disc, then copy the new combined title from the DVD-RAM back onto the HDD. You can then delete the original separate source files from the HDD, leaving only the new combined title. The DVD-RAM disc can then be erased for re-use.
    Last edited by orsetto; 14th Mar 2021 at 15:46.
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  6. Thanks for the detailed answers. I will be playing with this high-quality scrap next weekend probably, This weekend I was playing with broken Windows
    So I should play with Copy / play lists?

    I found solution for second question. I wrote in first post i get only first chapter playable in every title recorded to DVD. It was DVD+R. I was suprised it's working when I use DVD-R. Strange?

    I was also little dissapointed: I thought, when I burn one video with chapters, it will create something like chapter selection on original DVDs (I don't need advanced effects, this basic menu is enough), but it created me only one item in menu. So only way to have it video separated as menu items is to split it to separated files? Could I have selectable chapters in menu or i should split it to separated files?
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    Originally Posted by SmurfRecorder View Post
    Thanks for the detailed answers. I will be playing with this high-quality scrap next weekend probably, This weekend I was playing with broken Windows
    So I should play with Copy / play lists?

    I found solution for second question. I wrote in first post i get only first chapter playable in every title recorded to DVD. It was DVD+R. I was suprised it's working when I use DVD-R. Strange?

    I was also little dissapointed: I thought, when I burn one video with chapters, it will create something like chapter selection on original DVDs (I don't need advanced effects, this basic menu is enough), but it created me only one item in menu. So only way to have it video separated as menu items is to split it to separated files? Could I have selectable chapters in menu or i should split it to separated files?
    That makes sense, I only use -R DVDs in my Panasonics as the - format is more native to Panasonic and most older brand DVDRs. Funai and similar DVDRs are more native to the + format so I kind of avoid them, just using them as a last resort, besides no need to format - R discs as you do with the + format discs.
    AFAIK only the famed Toshiba XS series DVDRs could create chapter thumbnails, only title thumbnails are on all other DVDRs that I know of, like the ability to combine actual separate titles the XS series Toshibas were really in a class of their own.
    You could create separate titles for each chapter and that way you'd get thumbnails but some DVDRs won't play from one title to the next and all give a slight pause when switching from title to title, which probably isn't desired.
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  8. I have one another question: is it better to have comb filter on or off?
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    Originally Posted by orsetto View Post

    Note Panasonic recorders can also use the now-forgotten DVD-RAM type of blanks, in which case the high speed lossless dubbing function works in reverse as well (DVD back to HDD). This provides a clumsy but effective workaround if you absolutely must have two or more titles combined on the actual HDD: you can't combine them directly on the HDD, but you can combine them while dubbing to a DVD-RAM disc, then copy the new combined title from the DVD-RAM back onto the HDD. You can then delete the original separate source files from the HDD, leaving only the new combined title. The DVD-RAM disc can then be erased for re-use.
    Hmmm, I was under the impression that one or more models of the Pio DVDRs could also use DVD-RAM blanks . . . otherwise, I'm not sure why I would ever have bought any. (Still have a few.) Can't think of why I would have bothered with them for computer use.
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    Originally Posted by Seeker47 View Post
    Originally Posted by orsetto View Post

    Note Panasonic recorders can also use the now-forgotten DVD-RAM type of blanks, in which case the high speed lossless dubbing function works in reverse as well (DVD back to HDD). This provides a clumsy but effective workaround if you absolutely must have two or more titles combined on the actual HDD: you can't combine them directly on the HDD, but you can combine them while dubbing to a DVD-RAM disc, then copy the new combined title from the DVD-RAM back onto the HDD. You can then delete the original separate source files from the HDD, leaving only the new combined title. The DVD-RAM disc can then be erased for re-use.
    Hmmm, I was under the impression that one or more models of the Pio DVDRs could also use DVD-RAM blanks . . . otherwise, I'm not sure why I would ever have bought any. (Still have a few.) Can't think of why I would have bothered with them for computer use.
    Yes Pios can also use RAM discs as well as Toshiba-built Toshibas, the early ones. I'm sure there are other older brands too but those immediately come to mind.
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  11. Guys, I didn't say there weren't any other recorders that supported DVD-RAM . I mentioned Panasonic alone in my reply to SmurfRecorder because thats the context of this thread: he owns a Panasonic and needed to solve a "combine titles" issue with it. I suggested a workaround using the RAM feature, which he might not have been aware the unit even had (i.e., good luck finding DVD-RAM blanks at your local Best Buy today).

    Panasonic was by far the biggest most pro-active promoter of DVD-RAM format in standalone recorders. Toshiba had it early on before they switched mfrg to OEM Funai, but didn't promote it much. Pioneer added RAM recording capability only to later models they co-produced with Sony, but like Toshiba barely alluded to it in PR materials. Sony itself limited RAM capability to playback-only in their branded recorders, which were otherwise nearly identical to their Pioneer cousins rolling out of the same factory.

    The problem with DVD-RAM was consumer dvd players devolved into a mass-market disposable commodity item before RAM could get a toehold as a bundled standard: once player prices dropped to $50 no way would mfrs scale higher just to add the RAM feature (they'd had enough aggravation already from the DVD-R vs DVD+R debacle). Without a large installed base of RAM compatible players, DVD-RAM became isolated as a niche format used mostly by Panasonic low-end (non-HDD-equipped) recorder owners.

    Today RAM is barely a footnote, for better and worse. Yet I can remember back around 2002 there were valiant attempts to make it into "the new floppy disc" for computers. One firm I consulted for had me purchase two dozen Apple Mac G4 mirror-faced towers for them, each equipped with a DVD-RAM drive. In that prehistoric era, DVD-RAM media was usually offered in a "cartridge" configuration (with the disc housed in a caddy that slotted into a dedicated drive like a Nintendo game). DVD-RAM didn't take off until bare-disc multi-compatible non-caddy drives proliferated, which Panasonic seized on as their preferred DVD recorder format.
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    Originally Posted by orsetto View Post
    . . . Pioneer added RAM recording capability only to later models they co-produced with Sony, but like Toshiba barely alluded to it in PR materials. Sony itself limited RAM capability to playback-only in their branded recorders, which were otherwise nearly identical to their Pioneer cousins rolling out of the same factory.
    Thanks for the clarification. But how much later in their models ? As early as the 520 ? Or more like the x60 series ?
    Yes, this feature must have been hardly mentioned at all by them.
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    Originally Posted by Seeker47 View Post
    Originally Posted by orsetto View Post
    . . . Pioneer added RAM recording capability only to later models they co-produced with Sony, but like Toshiba barely alluded to it in PR materials. Sony itself limited RAM capability to playback-only in their branded recorders, which were otherwise nearly identical to their Pioneer cousins rolling out of the same factory.
    Thanks for the clarification. But how much later in their models ? As early as the 520 ? Or more like the x60 series ?
    Yes, this feature must have been hardly mentioned at all by them.
    Interesting, I thought all Pioneers used RAM discs, didn't realize it was just the Sony built Pios, which I believe started with the x50 series? Is that correct Orsetto?
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  14. Pioneer did not include DVD-RAM compatibility in their "classic era" (100% Pioneer designed) recorders like their TiVO/DVD unit, 510 series, 520 or 530. It wasn't added until Pioneer decided to partner with Sony on the 540/640 of 2006, so you have RAM recording/playback beginning with the Pioneer x40 series and all later models.

    I'm not entirely sure what the story was with Sony and DVD-RAM. While none of them can record DVD-RAM, all the models made in collaboration with Pioneer include RAM playback. For whatever reason, Sony disabled the RAM recording feature in their own units despite them having near-identical operating system and burners as the Pioneers. Where things get really confusing is figuring out which Sony model series began the RAM playback feature: I believe it was the Sony RDR-HX870, but it may have been earlier.

    Sony had already solidified a compelling, well thought out, popular-selling DVD/HDD design by the RDR-HX525 which was carried over largely unchanged into the Pioneer partnership a couple years later. Sony and Pioneer unified their overall cabinet and faceplate cosmetics, agreed on a common burner and electronics, and Sony adopted Pioneer's operating interface. Somewhere in this mating evolution RAM compatibility appeared, but its unclear whether the impetus came from Sony or Pioneer (chicken or the egg?). Since Sony chose not to enable RAM recording in their version, I assume Pioneer was behind adding RAM ability, but once they had it they did nothing to promote it.
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