The only thing I have noticed is that there is a lip sync problem between the audio and video
The same problem has been reported by one or two other people. To the best of my knowledge it indicates a faulty machine (but apparently it's a quick 10 minute fix at any Panasonic shop). However I would stress that you do several recordings because a remarkable number of broadcasts shows are broadcast out of sync.
However before we totally dismiss the machine as faulty lets just run through the basics:
Firstly can you check your sound set-ups are set to 'standard' settings. Goto Functions/Setup/Sound menu and check:
'Sound During Speech' option should be ON.
'Dynamic Range Compression' should be OFF.
'Billingual Audio Selection' should be set to M1.
'DVD-RAM Dubbing Audio' should be set to M1 & M2.
'Audio Mode For DV Input' should be STEREO 1
'Audio Mode For XP' should be set to DOLBY DIGITAL
In the "Digital Audio Output" the settings should be:
'PCM Down Conversion' should be set to NO.
'Dolby Digital' should be set to 'Bitstream'.
'DTS' should be set to OFF.
'MPEG' should be set to PCM.
Are you using Digital Audio Out BTW? If so what receiver/amp are you using? What TV/Screen do have?
Once you've checked all the settings I state above can you do a test recording in excess of 1 hour (i.e. not XP mode) and tell me whether you still have audio displacement and which way it is, i.e. is it ahead of the picture or behind it?