Is my DMR-ES16 a one-off, or is this thing the Holy Grail?

[bmichaelb]

I picked up a Panasonic DMR-ES16 a few months back to fix some top-edged tearing on 2 tapes being caused by my JVC 7800U's TBC. With it off, the frame slants, and with it on, a few minutes worth per tape will have a single field shift and wave to the left. The ES16 fixes it just fine... as expected, just like the ES10's and ES15's.

But... it also seems to pass garbled video without drops or inserts, and keeps audio perfectly in sync after passing the frames. For instance, if the tape has a crease or crinkle, the frame will roll... and cause numerous inserts, freezing the image. But with the ES16... it rolls just fine, looking as it would on a CRT TV.

But on top of that... I have yet to see a drop or insert in VirtualDub either. Seriously. 0 drops, 0 inserts, 0ms jitter, and 0ms disp (disparity?). It's paired with a Pinnacle USB-510 from lordsmurf, running VirtualDub 1.9.11 in Windows 10. A YouTube channel had a comparison video, and I mentioned I don't get drops or inserts with the ES16... he stopped responding to me. I guess he thought I was BS'ing. Even lordsmurf said there's always a frame or so that gets inserted... he was quite surprised. He said the ES10/15's don't handle garbled video like that. I thought the ES16 was just a Canadian ES15.

My project is Woodstock 99, and my cable provider screwed up by not authorizing my box in time, so the beginning of my tape is Romper Room or something for kids. As soon as I called my provider, they flipped a switch, and a few moments later I had a black rolling frame, then it switches to the PPV. Without the ES16, VirtualDub would be inserting frames like crazy. But with it, it's rock solid, no drops or inserts, and audio stays in sync.

Here's a 16 second clip showing the transition:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/9bqcw902l84iyacjgwhbi/test.avi?rlkey=ciqxkoqlf2h3m7evba...sxfs&st=84kqn9


And here's a screenshot of a capture I did tonight. Notice no drops, inserts or jitter/disp.


[Attachment 83596 - Click to enlarge]


Does anybody else have an ES16, and if so, are you getting the same results? I can't be the only one.

[Sharc]

Your ES16 did what it is supposed to do IMO. No miracles. You can find some comments about the ES16 here.
https://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/video-capture/12183-panasonic-dmr-es15.html

[bmichaelb]

Your ES16 did what it is supposed to do IMO. No miracles. You can find some comments about the ES16 here.
https://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/video-capture/12183-panasonic-dmr-es15.html

Thanks, yeah I already came across that thread, but it doesn't mention anything about not dropping or inserting frames. It says it's a Canadian exclusive, a bit different than the ES15. But as I said, lordsmurf even says that it's extremely rare not to drop or insert even a single frame. He also said the ES10/15's don't handle garbled video like the ES16 does. That's why I was curious.

[oln]

Nah I've had the same experience with other panasonic dvd recorders with panasonic chipsets (the later US models with LSI/magnum chipsets and different video decoders are going to be different), they very rarely drop or insert unless things are really bad or you deliberately feed them the wrong framerate. LS has just been very picky about them and picky about suggesting any models besides the ES10 and ES15.

[bmichaelb]

Nah I've had the same experience with other panasonic dvd recorders with panasonic chipsets (the later US models with LSI/magnum chipsets and different video decoders are going to be different), they very rarely drop or insert unless things are really bad or you deliberately feed them the wrong framerate. LS has just been very picky about them and picky about suggesting any models besides the ES10 and ES15.

I'm talking about when the frame goes completely haywire due to a bad signal, or when the tape is damaged from creases, or even when the tape was used multiple times, so the recording starts with a few seconds of the old recording, before rolling into the next recording. That alone produces as many as 30 frames inserted without the DMR inline. Do you remember what an analog PPV looked like when it was scrambled? There's no real frame to sync. That's the type of garbled video I'm talking about. Heck... even the YouTube channel that compared the units didn't believe me that I get absolute zero drops or inserts. The thing just has a really good frame sync.