Panasonic DVD recorder passthrough settings (DMR-ES10, DMR-ES15, DMR-ES25)

[bar72]

Many thanks for the guide. Picked up an ES-10 for VHS > mkv and it's doing a grand job with my old concert VHS tapes.

[bmichaelb]

Thank you for this guide. I have the DMR-ES16, but when it comes to the black levels, I actually found that Lighter in/Lighter out looks closer to what my JVC HR-S7800U is outputting, and that Lighter in/Darker out is darker than the VCR. I can match them with minor tweaks to the levels while capturing. The tapes I'm working with have quite a bit of blacks, greys and a rainbow of colours... the Woodstock 99 stage. Light in/Light out is the only way to match the grey of the stage. The way I see it, Lighter would stand for Rec. 601, while Darker would be Rec. 709, and if the VCR is playing an SD broadcast recording which is Rec. 601, why change it to Rec. 709?

[rgr]

I don't know if JVC will be a good indicator here. I noticed that the video from JVC is darker (unnaturally dark) than from e.g. Panasonic, and therefore the colors are too saturated.

[bmichaelb]

I don't know if JVC will be a good indicator here. I noticed that the video from JVC is darker (unnaturally dark) than from e.g. Panasonic, and therefore the colors are too saturated.

Unnaturally dark? I already have the tapes converted to DVD using one of those VHS-DVD decks back in 2006, but once I tried editing them on pc they looked too compressed and the machine didn't have a TBC, so it was wobbly. The extracted files look the same as the JVC captures. At least with 'my' deck. Blacks are fine. But that shouldn't matter here... regardless of what the playback VCR is, selecting Lighter In/Lighter Out is giving the same blacks as the VCR natively. It shouldn't matter what VCR is being used to feed the Panasonic... the blacks should be the same, or almost the same. I still need to tweak the levels in VirtualDub slightly to match.

[bmichaelb]

OK... I must admit I was wrong. While my settings looked fine on my pc monitor, it looked washed out on my tv. Light in/Dark out is definitely better. My bad.