I have been monitoring this forum for a while and still don't think there is anything out there which quite matches exactly what I want, but the EH60 seems pretty close. If it had twin tuners and a bigger HD and multi-region then it would be there. I am tired of waiting so I will probaly buy this anyway, but I have a number of questions:
1) Is this still the best one to buy for aound £400 or less?
2) Why do they bother with a 200Mb disk when a 300Mb is only a few quid difference.? That's not the question, that is rhetorical. My question is: Has anyone swapped the disk for a bigger one? I was thinking of whipping it out and cloning it to a 300Mb/400Mb with Ghost or Partition Magic. Is it IDE or SATA? Previous experience is worth more than wasted time.
3) Why do manufacturers not make all players multi-region? I know why the film distribution companies make the discs for certain regions, but why do the player makers go along with this blatant protectionism? (Again rhetorical, sorry). The question is: Is there a code to tap into it to make it multi-region (some players allow this) or is it a chip change? This may be the one which stops me buying it, since I travel a lot and have discs from regions 1,2 and 3. I know somewhere earlier in the thread there is a shop which sells a specail multi-region version, but the EH60 was not listed in their stock last time I looked, and it was more expensive.
4) An easy one: does it read DTS discs and stuff the signal through the optical output?
1) Probably, but everythings down to personal choice regarding features etc.
2) Personally I can't see where having a 300gig drive would be much advantage. There's tons of room on there now and it's never yet been more than 40% full or so full. I can understand people wanting to keep stuff on there a long time but really it's not the place for archiving - you'll be sorry if it ever fails - put it on DVD.
3) Film companies are clamping down heavily and with manufacturers of electrical equipment now owning film companies the big players aren't going to bow down to public pressure alone regarding multiregion players. At least they aren't going to make it look like they are by having backdoor routes around the propblem instead.
4) It does output dts via the optical audio link but it will also downmix dts to provide a stereo output via the SCART and phono connections.
i decided to buy an eh60 and have struggled to find someone with stock. I rang Panny and they said that they were relaunching a newer model in March but could not provide any details. Can anyone shed any light on this as I can wait 2 months for a newer model that may have some enhancement e.g. hdmi for instance.
....I can wait 2 months for a newer model that may have some enhancement e.g. hdmi for instance.
Sorry to be ignorant, but what's hdmi? A newer model is likely to be more expensive, but the new features may be worth it. Oh dear, I was just on the verge of buying and now a new dilemma. Why did you have to tell us?
i decided to buy an eh60 and have struggled to find someone with stock. I rang Panny and they said that they were relaunching a newer model in March but could not provide any details. Can anyone shed any light on this as I can wait 2 months for a newer model that may have some enhancement e.g. hdmi for instance.
Sorry to be ignorant, but what's hdmi? A newer model is likely to be more expensive, but the new features may be worth it. Oh dear, I was just on the verge of buying and now a new dilemma. Why did you have to tell us?
Muffy
HDMI is a new one cable solution connection standard of piping audio and video and control signals between pieces of equipment .
It actually offers the end user little benefit. It's real purpose is to improve copyright protection and to make copying next to impossible.
HDMI is a new one cable solution connection standard of piping audio and video and control signals between pieces of equipment .
It actually offers the end user little benefit. It's real purpose is to improve copyright protection and to make copying next to impossible.
It is often called the digital equivalent of Scart. The benefit is that it does give an all digital connection to the TV or other devices so there should be improvements in quality. I think it depends on the screen just how much benefit you'll see.
This is the response from Panasonic re code U80--
I am sorry to learn of the circumstances that have prompted you to contact
our department. To clarify, U80 indicates either that poor quality or
damaged discs are being used or that the laser is failing. It is a
self-diagnostic fault code, possibly requiring attention by a qualified
engineer. This is not an inherent fault with the product but a guide for
the engineer to know where, within the product, he should seek the cause of
the problem.
Therefore if you suspect that the unit is faulty I would advise you to
consult a service engineer for further investigation.
The most appropriate course of action would be to submit the product to an
authorised, Panasonic DVD recorder service agent. Those in your local area
can be found through our website;
My machine is ok now. This code showed up 10-12 days ago but has not shown since. I'll keep my eye on it all the same. I found the code meanings from a manual I D/loaded for model DMR eh 60 a european model I guess. There is no mention of these codes in the UK manual though. Thanks for your reply Gavtech
I think it is normal in burning protocols for a read / write 'test' to be done at the start as part of the self checking procedure.
Presumeably the read part of the test returned a poor result.
I had set up the Panny to record from BBC2 VDB (Mendip)
Got home and the timer had not gone off.Checked the timer menu,greeted with the exclamation mark.
Checked the Guide and it was showing progs from 06:30while the unit clock was ok.
All DVB channels were blank with no signal on the info banner.Signal strength bar was showing 99%.
Analogue channels were ok.When i tried to rescan the menu appeared frozen with no channel numbers or green arrows.I turned the unit off and restarted,The self check lasted around 3 minutes longer and everything appears ok now as it recorded from the timer last night.
I hope this is not an update problem,Has anyone else had this tuner/software problem?
Panny sent me another mail suggesting it may have been just a speck of dust on the DVD causing the error code to flag up. I've not had any probs since. As far as I can remember the code was not showing until the nesxt morning which was odd. Well, I didn't notice it before anyway.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I've burned three or four DVD's since & the play ok so heres hoping! I really didn't want to go back to the shop as it's 65 miles away, a bit too far for a "bit of dust".
Cleanliness is vital at the burning stage.
I guess I've burned about 100 disks and had only one incident of a failed burn... which was due to an obvious splat of muck on the disk surface.
There was some kind of 'failure message', the detail of which I cant recall now... but I am reasonably sure there was no appended error code at the time.
I always use disks fresh from the pack and visually inspect the surface before burning now. I just occasionally find a fleck of statically attracted dust. Which I carefully remove.
No more failures so far.
Let's hope it stays that way for you.
I was thinking about getting a Panasonic DMR EH60D. What I want to know is... Can I record one program from freeview to the hdd and another from sky to dvd at the same time?
I was thinking about getting a Panasonic DMR EH60D. What I want to know is... Can I record one program from freeview to the hdd and another from sky to dvd at the same time?
Afraid not, the unit only has one encoding circuit. I am not aware of any DVD recorders that have two.
Having had a separate Freeview box connected to my old DMR-HS2 I recently decided to upgrade to the DMREH60D. The problem I'm getting is that now I can't watch an analogue channel on my TV whilst the recorder is switched on (e.g. when I'm recording another channel). All I get is the sound from the analogue channel and a distorted flickering picture from whatever channel the recorder is set to.
I don't have anything strange in the set-up i.e. RF from aerial to DMREH60D to TV and SCART from DMREH60D to TV.
Am I doing something stupid here or is this a general problem?
I don't have anything strange in the set-up i.e. RF from aerial to DMREH60D to TV and SCART from DMREH60D to TV.
Am I doing something stupid here or is this a general problem?
It sounds like your TV is not being very forgiving of the 'switch to AV' command voltage coming down the scart on pin 8.
If your TV remote has a TV / AV button try using that to see if you can over-ride that command .
If not then using a watch screwdriver carefully depress the retaining spade on pin 8 [ of the scart plug at the EH60 end of the lead ] and push it back just far enough into the body of the plug so it does not make contact.
If you look closely the pins are numbered : Even numbers down one side , odd on the other.
Thereafter you will have to select the AV channel manually but it will allow you to watch either / or.
EDIT - Query - Are you still using the old freeview box also ? If so, how is it rigged into the system?
EDIT - Query - Are you still using the old freeview box also ? If so, how is it rigged into the system?
Thanks for the reply Gavin - I'll give it a try tonight although my TV is fairly old and I already have to manually switch between TV and AV anyway.
No, I'm not using the old freeview box in this setup. The strange thing is that with my old setup (RF from aerial to freeview to DMR-HS2 to TV and SCART from freeview to DMR-HS2 to TV) I could watch an analogue channel on TV whether the recorder was turned on or off.
No, I'm not using the old freeview box in this setup. The strange thing is that with my old setup (RF from aerial to freeview to DMR-HS2 to TV and SCART from freeview to DMR-HS2 to TV) I could watch an analogue channel on TV whether the recorder was turned on or off.
I suspect that it may be a threshhold voltage issue in that case ... especially given your TV is old.
The pin 8 voltage has variable parameters to control various states and can vary in steps between 0 and 12V... I would imagine that whatever output is on the EH60 must be different enough from your previous model.
The TV should switch cleanly , one way or the other, but it sounds as though those circuits are 'tired' in your TV now.
My machine has just told me that there were new dvb channels, when I did a scan it found 2 new channels but looking down the guide I couldn't see any new channels.
Has anyone else had this and do you know what the channels are?
Thanks, Dave
Comments
The issue rumbles on....
1) Is this still the best one to buy for aound £400 or less?
2) Why do they bother with a 200Mb disk when a 300Mb is only a few quid difference.? That's not the question, that is rhetorical. My question is: Has anyone swapped the disk for a bigger one? I was thinking of whipping it out and cloning it to a 300Mb/400Mb with Ghost or Partition Magic. Is it IDE or SATA? Previous experience is worth more than wasted time.
3) Why do manufacturers not make all players multi-region? I know why the film distribution companies make the discs for certain regions, but why do the player makers go along with this blatant protectionism? (Again rhetorical, sorry). The question is: Is there a code to tap into it to make it multi-region (some players allow this) or is it a chip change? This may be the one which stops me buying it, since I travel a lot and have discs from regions 1,2 and 3. I know somewhere earlier in the thread there is a shop which sells a specail multi-region version, but the EH60 was not listed in their stock last time I looked, and it was more expensive.
4) An easy one: does it read DTS discs and stuff the signal through the optical output?
Thanks for any responses
Muffy
2) Personally I can't see where having a 300gig drive would be much advantage. There's tons of room on there now and it's never yet been more than 40% full or so full. I can understand people wanting to keep stuff on there a long time but really it's not the place for archiving - you'll be sorry if it ever fails - put it on DVD.
3) Film companies are clamping down heavily and with manufacturers of electrical equipment now owning film companies the big players aren't going to bow down to public pressure alone regarding multiregion players. At least they aren't going to make it look like they are by having backdoor routes around the propblem instead.
4) It does output dts via the optical audio link but it will also downmix dts to provide a stereo output via the SCART and phono connections.
If I buy one now which has been on the shelf for a while I would have missed the update schedule. Can I do anything about that?
Muffy
You will find it will be re-transmitted again in a few weeks time.
Sorry to be ignorant, but what's hdmi? A newer model is likely to be more expensive, but the new features may be worth it. Oh dear, I was just on the verge of buying and now a new dilemma. Why did you have to tell us?
Muffy
Hi Goober
You can find descriptions of the new models here:
Panasonic New DVDR Models 2006 Range
Regards
Gavin
HDMI is a new one cable solution connection standard of piping audio and video and control signals between pieces of equipment .
It actually offers the end user little benefit. It's real purpose is to improve copyright protection and to make copying next to impossible.
It is often called the digital equivalent of Scart. The benefit is that it does give an all digital connection to the TV or other devices so there should be improvements in quality. I think it depends on the screen just how much benefit you'll see.
Thanks Gavin, I see no mention of a twin tuner - a bit disappointing.
Sorry - I can't help there. I can't even find reference to U99 and U59 Codes. Where in the book are they?
Is the machine working ? ... or locked up with this code.
Have you tried the 10 second hold / reset of the on/off button or the one minute power reset cycle?
I am sorry to learn of the circumstances that have prompted you to contact
our department. To clarify, U80 indicates either that poor quality or
damaged discs are being used or that the laser is failing. It is a
self-diagnostic fault code, possibly requiring attention by a qualified
engineer. This is not an inherent fault with the product but a guide for
the engineer to know where, within the product, he should seek the cause of
the problem.
Therefore if you suspect that the unit is faulty I would advise you to
consult a service engineer for further investigation.
The most appropriate course of action would be to submit the product to an
authorised, Panasonic DVD recorder service agent. Those in your local area
can be found through our website;
My machine is ok now. This code showed up 10-12 days ago but has not shown since. I'll keep my eye on it all the same. I found the code meanings from a manual I D/loaded for model DMR eh 60 a european model I guess. There is no mention of these codes in the UK manual though. Thanks for your reply Gavtech
I think it is normal in burning protocols for a read / write 'test' to be done at the start as part of the self checking procedure.
Presumeably the read part of the test returned a poor result.
I assume you were burning disks at the time?
Got home and the timer had not gone off.Checked the timer menu,greeted with the exclamation mark.
Checked the Guide and it was showing progs from 06:30while the unit clock was ok.
All DVB channels were blank with no signal on the info banner.Signal strength bar was showing 99%.
Analogue channels were ok.When i tried to rescan the menu appeared frozen with no channel numbers or green arrows.I turned the unit off and restarted,The self check lasted around 3 minutes longer and everything appears ok now as it recorded from the timer last night.
I hope this is not an update problem,Has anyone else had this tuner/software problem?
Panny sent me another mail suggesting it may have been just a speck of dust on the DVD causing the error code to flag up. I've not had any probs since. As far as I can remember the code was not showing until the nesxt morning which was odd. Well, I didn't notice it before anyway.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I've burned three or four DVD's since & the play ok so heres hoping! I really didn't want to go back to the shop as it's 65 miles away, a bit too far for a "bit of dust".
Regards Swizzle
Hi Swizzle
Cleanliness is vital at the burning stage.
I guess I've burned about 100 disks and had only one incident of a failed burn... which was due to an obvious splat of muck on the disk surface.
There was some kind of 'failure message', the detail of which I cant recall now... but I am reasonably sure there was no appended error code at the time.
I always use disks fresh from the pack and visually inspect the surface before burning now. I just occasionally find a fleck of statically attracted dust. Which I carefully remove.
No more failures so far.
Let's hope it stays that way for you.
Regards
Gavin
Afraid not, the unit only has one encoding circuit. I am not aware of any DVD recorders that have two.
Phil
I don't have anything strange in the set-up i.e. RF from aerial to DMREH60D to TV and SCART from DMREH60D to TV.
Am I doing something stupid here or is this a general problem?
Thanks,
Gary
It sounds like your TV is not being very forgiving of the 'switch to AV' command voltage coming down the scart on pin 8.
If your TV remote has a TV / AV button try using that to see if you can over-ride that command .
If not then using a watch screwdriver carefully depress the retaining spade on pin 8 [ of the scart plug at the EH60 end of the lead ] and push it back just far enough into the body of the plug so it does not make contact.
If you look closely the pins are numbered : Even numbers down one side , odd on the other.
Thereafter you will have to select the AV channel manually but it will allow you to watch either / or.
EDIT - Query - Are you still using the old freeview box also ? If so, how is it rigged into the system?
Thanks for the reply Gavin - I'll give it a try tonight although my TV is fairly old and I already have to manually switch between TV and AV anyway.
No, I'm not using the old freeview box in this setup. The strange thing is that with my old setup (RF from aerial to freeview to DMR-HS2 to TV and SCART from freeview to DMR-HS2 to TV) I could watch an analogue channel on TV whether the recorder was turned on or off.
I suspect that it may be a threshhold voltage issue in that case ... especially given your TV is old.
The pin 8 voltage has variable parameters to control various states and can vary in steps between 0 and 12V... I would imagine that whatever output is on the EH60 must be different enough from your previous model.
The TV should switch cleanly , one way or the other, but it sounds as though those circuits are 'tired' in your TV now.
Good Luck
Has anyone else had this and do you know what the channels are?
Thanks, Dave