MikeyGaGa0713

Hey I just got Panasonic DMR-E80H for christmas and basically just want to use it for converting old vhs home movies to dvds, and some movies/shows to dvd that will never be on dvd, it looks very confusing by the looks of it and the manual, should i return it and get something else that is easier or cheaper?, I havent exactly tried it yet but someone please help,thanks

Pac-Rat

First the manual, IMO, is one of the most poorly written manuals I've seen, and no I wouldn't return it.

Confusing? The basics shouldn't be, but some of the features can be to some. For example, it's pretty easy to hook up a VCR to the front of the E80, tune to channel L2, press play on the VCR, and press record on the E80. However, the various things you can do before and after the recording to optimise the quality or space needs a little time to be learned fully and there's things you have to decide for yourself first. Like, "Do I care about quality, or fitting as much as I can on one disk?", "Should I record to the hard drive first so I can edit stuff out?", etc.

Once you get it set up, I'm sure you'll have questions, and I know there's answers. Some are here, some at avsforum.com. And as long as you have specific questions, it's pretty easy to find help at both places (unless it involves copying DVDs- then you'll just get a locked thread).
So get it set up, find a day that you have a few hours to kill, grab the manual and the DVDRAM that came with it, and play around.

bmello

http://www.dvdrhelp.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=28

MikeyGaGa0713

Thanks for the reply, as for setting it up i already did, its hooked up to the tv and has time/date set but that pretty much it,know I want to burn alot of home movies to dvd(main reason I got this) but I would like to record to hardrive to edit some stuff out, how would I do this then transfer the finished copy to DVD?,What media do I buy? DVD-R?am really not sure whats a good brand? how much time, Am looking for decent quality, I dont need to fit alot of hours on one disc maybe 2 or so,thanks.

meritocracy

I've got this unit and can state that it's an absolutely fantastic piece of equipment. The addition of the Hard Drive is a wonderful plus which enables one to do a tremendous amount of editing and then burn your content losslessly to Disk via a High Speed Dub. As has been mentioned, the manual, as are most for tech gear of this nature, is poorly written but considering you're not even sure what type of media to purchase or the differences between them I suspect you haven't really read it but rather skimmed through it. If you're looking for specific answers to questions you may have, I'd recommend the AVS Forum as many members there including myself own this particular unit.

Hope this helps...