Help - Buy Panasonic EH60D now or wait for new model?

[MrMagoo]

Looking for some help and advice with regard to a new DVD player.
Have recently just bought a Sharp LC26P50E TV, and am looking for a DVD recorder to go with it. Majority of viewing is Freeview, watching DVD and will also want to record from Camcoder (DV in).
I see that the Panasonic EH60D has had good reviews on here and appears to match my needs although they are becoming harder to get hold of. From what I've read about the new Panasonic machines there should be a model almost identical to the EH60D but no confirmation of freeview. One difference appears to be HDMI on the new machine. I know nothing about HDMI, but my new Sharp tv (not HD ready) has an HDMI terminal.
Is there any advantage in me holding out for this new Panasonic model - will HDMI mean I can get a better quality picture/ DVD playback?

Many thanks for any help,
Doug

[nickbrace]

Originally Posted by MrMagoo

Looking for some help and advice with regard to a new DVD player.
Have recently just bought a Sharp LC26P50E TV, and am looking for a DVD recorder to go with it. Majority of viewing is Freeview, watching DVD and will also want to record from Camcoder (DV in).
I see that the Panasonic EH60D has had good reviews on here and appears to match my needs although they are becoming harder to get hold of. From what I've read about the new Panasonic machines there should be a model almost identical to the EH60D but no confirmation of freeview. One difference appears to be HDMI on the new machine. I know nothing about HDMI, but my new Sharp tv (not HD ready) has an HDMI terminal.
Is there any advantage in me holding out for this new Panasonic model - will HDMI mean I can get a better quality picture/ DVD playback?

Many thanks for any help,
Doug

I am in the exact same position and almost bought this machine.......BUT I think its alot of money at £400. I am hoping the new Panasonic machines out soon may have twin tuners in them as well, which after having it I would probably miss if I didnt have it!

I am not sure what HDMI stands for but am presuming its something to do with high def..........if your tv doesnt have high definition I am not quite sure why you would wait for a HD recorder as the tv wouldnt show it in HD, ie - common sense tells me that you need both to be HD ready?!

I am sure others can help more on the HD side of things........I am going for the Panasonic as it has an RF Modulator and can record in NTSC, things that most other recorders cannot do!

[MrMagoo]

Thanks for that Nick.
We can only hope that the powers that be are reading these forums and busily fitting a duel tuner to the new Panasonic models. At the moment there doesn't even appear to be mention of a single digital tuner as the specs released appear to be very general and for a worldwide market.
£400 does seem alot for the old model. Looks like Panasonic discontinued this model quite a while before the new model is out so it's going to be hard to pick up a bargain! New model is being quoted at about £400 with hopefully better spec.
Still confused about the whole HDMI thing - I know what you are saying about the LC26P50E not being HD ready. Just not sure why the TV has an HDMI terminal if it won't benefit from some type of HDMI connection to a DVD player.
Anyone help - my brain is frazzled!!!

[sjw]

I imagine the replacement will be basically the same machine but offer the HDMI connection/upscaling. Still Freeview but not twin tuners. And will read/write to all formats. Including Betamax.

[goodallrounder]

Still confused about the whole HDMI thing - I know what you are saying about the LC26P50E not being HD ready. Just not sure why the TV has an HDMI terminal if it won't benefit from some type of HDMI connection to a DVD player.
Anyone help - my brain is frazzled!!![/quote]

HDMI is an all digital connection that will soon replace scart, it will also allow you to receive hi definition input from a suitable box ie sky HD or the next gen Hi Def video players, Playstation 3, blu-ray HD/DVD. Although the initial sky hd boxes will have component connectors, eventually they will all have only hdmi. Only digital connections will carry the necessary (HDCP) copy protection for HD signals that the movie companies are insisting on.
Regarding your TV. Although it is not truly HD ready there are plenty of reports which say the p (specifically designed for european pal tv signals) series do look very good when fed with a HD signal, some have even said they find it hard to see the difference when viewed alongside a truly hd ready set! Also to consider is the fact that some HDMI equipped dvd units can do upscaling which gives you a higher resolution picture from a regular DVD although so far from what I can gather this is not as yet widely available on recorders.