Need geek help pls - looking to buy Panasonic EH55 DVDR/HDD

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Need geek help pls - looking to buy Panasonic EH55 DVDR/HDD

rgoulter

105 posts

Master Geek

#8032 29-May-2006 14:12

ok looking at buying a Panasonic EH55 DVDR/HDD to use with Sky digital, im still not 100% i shouldn't buy my sky but for now im gonna go with a DVDR/HDD

Some questions

1. Can you record sky onto the DVD Recorder? i.e. do they have VBI copy protection? Someone told me that you cant record some Sky channels onto a DVD/HDD

2. If they do use VBI what channels do they have it on - just Pay per view??

3. Is the Panasonic EH55 any good?? Can you:-
- name programs as you record them?
- group programs in a genre or category folder?
- record series of programs - i.e. record jamie oliver every monday at 8pm for the next 8 weeks?
- Does the NZ model of the EH55 have g-code?

4. Whats the process of doing this sky EPG booking to program sky digital to change the channel to the one you want to record at a specified time. How does this work - it sounds complicated?

Im sure i'll think of more questions but just wanted to put these ones up to see if anyone answers or whether this post just goes into the geekzone blackhole?

Hope not

1 | 2

4335 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#37028 29-May-2006 14:24

I know nothing about DVD recorders but there are plenty of people who do know that stuff here.

I sure this wont be lost in the Geekzone blackhole, im not even sure if Geekzone has a black hole.

Anyway welcome and enjoy

tonyhughes

Hawkes Bay
8476 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#37039 29-May-2006 15:30

rgoulter: ok looking at buying a Panasonic EH55 DVDR/HDD to use with Sky digital, im still not 100% i shouldn't buy my sky but for now im gonna go with a DVDR/HDD
I have an EH60 (200GB HDD Recorder)

1. Can you record sky onto the DVD Recorder? i.e. do they have VBI copy protection? Someone told me that you cant record some Sky channels onto a DVD/HDD
Can easily record any Sky Channel no worries at all.

3. Is the Panasonic EH55 any good?? Can you:-
- name programs as you record them?
Yes - set timer, and give the program a name at same time. Can save a list of names for future use too,

- group programs in a genre or category folder?
No

- record series of programs - i.e. record jamie oliver every monday at 8pm for the next 8 weeks?
Yes, but cant set end date... daily, weekly monthly every tuesday every thursday etc etc

- Does the NZ model of the EH55 have g-code?
My EH60 does, so the NZ EH55 should.

4. Whats the process of doing this sky EPG booking to program sky digital to change the channel to the one you want to record at a specified time. How does this work - it sounds complicated?
Book your Sky program.
Set the DVD timer too (to record off Sky RCA input, or Sky RF passthrough).
Works very well. Workable. Takes an extra minute or so, because you have to program two machines.

Im sure i'll think of more questions but just wanted to put these ones up to see if anyone answers or whether this post just goes into the geekzone blackhole?

Hope not
No black hole for this one.

Ask away - I love my Panasonic recorder. I had the top Sony one first, but the Panasonic had some more user friendly features.

Aloha

676 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#37043 29-May-2006 15:44

I know a little bit about DVD recorders, I recommend the Sony ones or the Pioneer ones.

I is a kollege stoodent. Bee nice.

rgoulter

105 posts

Master Geek

#37044 29-May-2006 15:49

wow - helpful information thanks, and you have an EH60 too - so now i can ask you all the questions that the useless noel leemings and harvey norman people havent got a clue on - they seriously need to go on training courses.

Cool some more questions if you can spare the time...

* the grouping thing i was referring to was say if i recorded a series of episodes how does this show in the list of programs recorded on the HDD? does it show it as a group or as individual episodes mixed in with all the other recordings?

further more.. can you sort the recordings? by date, name etc? if name im thinking i could use a naming convention to help search the recordings list... (using the jamies kitchen example again) i could name the recording JKS03E04 and the next episode in series 3 would be... JKS03E05 and so on.

* What information is stored/shown against thumbnails and are the thumbnails useful / ledgible?

* is the DVD writer on the E55 dual layer 9gb? and if so can i record onto single layer 4.6gb DVD's?

Best price i can find on the EH55 is $691 (incl gst) can anyone beat this price???

tonyhughes

Hawkes Bay
8476 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#37070 29-May-2006 18:09

rgoulter: Cool some more questions if you can spare the time..

Will fire it up tomorrow morning and let you know. Wouldnt dare interrupt my lady's viewing tonight,...

I spent ages looking at DVD HDDs and even bought three and took them home, then back to the store. They vary soooo much...

rgoulter

105 posts

Master Geek

#37135 30-May-2006 10:44

Great - look forward to your reply.

thanks Tony

richms

28175 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#37153 30-May-2006 14:29

Can they record audio in uncompressed PCM? Do they have an optical input? Can they record audio only to a CD-R?

Need to get something to replace an aging standalone CD-R that is used to record at the soundboard sometimes and to make compilation CDs the lazy way from the changer for the car.

Richard rich.ms

Equinox IT

Cloud spending continues to surge globally, but most organisations haven’t made the changes necessary to maximise the value and cost-efficiency benefits of their cloud investments. Download the whitepaper From Overspend to Advantage now.

Aloha

676 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#37163 30-May-2006 16:32

tonyhughes:
- Does the NZ model of the EH55 have g-code?
My EH60 does, so the NZ EH55 should.

Just a quick one: do we have G-code here in NZ to record programs? If, yes where can I find it?

I is a kollege stoodent. Bee nice.

tonyhughes

Hawkes Bay
8476 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#37171 30-May-2006 17:33

Aloha:
tonyhughes:
- Does the NZ model of the EH55 have g-code?
My EH60 does, so the NZ EH55 should.

Just a quick one: do we have G-code here in NZ to record programs? If, yes where can I find it?

TV Guide...

Sorry to the OP didnt manage to fire up the DVD HDD today to answer the outstanding Qs

Aloha

676 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#37173 30-May-2006 17:42

In which TV guide? I didn't find in Sky's Tv guide... or am I blind?

I is a kollege stoodent. Bee nice.

rgoulter

105 posts

Master Geek

#37195 30-May-2006 20:24

i think he means the TV guide TV guide

you know the little one with balck and white pages

buy it in the super market and dairies

Frankei

66 posts

Master Geek

#39032 19-Jun-2006 21:51

Just to correct tonyhughes
You can group together programs to a point with the EH series recorders, not in folders but rather creating playlists

The EH55 will record both single and dual layer DVDs aswell as both - and + R and RW

If you live in Auckland the EH55 can be had for $675 inc GST ;)

lchiu7

6476 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#39044 20-Jun-2006 09:39

It would be nice if the DVD recorders here had IR emitters that many of the US models do. The US models often have integrated programme guides since they don't seem to be so anal about the copyright of programme information as we are here. But even if the recorder didn't have an integrated guide I could see the following scenario:

1. Teach the DVD recorder IR emitter some basic codes (mainly channel numbers) for your cable or Sky box and later your FTA box!
2. Programme the show you want to record (input via composite, s-video or any non RF input), indicating day and time and channel number as per your Sky or TCL box
3. When the time arrives, the recorder emits the codes to change your STB to the selected channel and starts recording

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

Ghoop

22 posts

Geek

#39118 20-Jun-2006 21:53

Yes I always thought it would be good to have one control device to "manage" the other boxes. It was always a PSORF to get up Sunday morning to watch the movie you had recorded overnight only to find that you have two hours of American basketball (or something) coz you forgot to change the sky channel before retiring.
So, if you want to achieve this result check out www.neodigital.net.nz.

basil

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#39143 21-Jun-2006 07:52

I am also looking at the same machine to be able to record multi program playouts from MySky (eg 4 hour continous) then break the file into individual programmes and record onto DVD so I can watch in other locations (mainly on my notebook). Does anyone know f this s possible with this machine (or anther simlar)?

1 | 2