Panasonic HS2 or E20 ?

SimonD

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I have been looking for a HDD/DVD recorder and had just about settled on the HS2 when I noticed that the E20 does time-slip/simultaneous record/play etc etc and is half the price of the HS2!

Can someone tell me what advantages the HS2 has over the E20 other than the ability to copy recordings to the HDD to edit and then put back onto DVD-R? I have no need for camcorder editing or saving pictures to DVD's as I have a PC to do that.

Presumably I can do most of the HS2's extra functions on the PC?

Has the HS2 been designed for people without high-end PC's or am I misunderstanding some of the functionality?

TIA
Simon
 
Has the HS2 been designed for people without high-end PC's or am I misunderstanding some of the functionality?

Yeah as you say the HS2 (which I got today!) is basically a E30 with a hard drive (and the JPEG card reader). The HS2 offers an 'all in one solution' by providing the editing facilities of DVD-RAM coupled with the ability to burn the end result onto DVD-R without any loss in quality. The only advantage over a E30 and PC setup is the ability to record in one quality (e.g. XP) and then dub to DVD in another quality (e.g. Variable Bitrate) although there may be suitable software available even for this.

I have been using an E20 and my PC quite happily over the last year by using RAM disks to record and edit things and then copy the files to my PC to author a 'proper' DVD-R with home made menus, scene access and 'extra features' using TMPG Encoder, Spruceup and Nero (and I intend to continue to do this even with the HS2). A couple of points to note though:

1) It all takes TIME - designing menus, getting used to PC editing - be prepared to spend hours on it

2) The whole process does take sometime to get used to as well (although there are some excellent forums on the Digital Digest to provide advice and assistance).

If you decide to go for the E30/PC route I will happily post some of my experiences mucking about with it all. The end result is a fantastic product but it can take sometime to get to it!
 
Many thanks for the quick reply....

I'm glad to hear that I didn't misunderstand completely! I have done a fair bit of Vid editing on the PC and to be honest I don't see me doing that much of it anyway, for the price of a DVD if there is a film or something I want I might as well buy the DVD instead of faffing around with recording/editing it.

As there is a ~£400 difference in price I have to believe that I would make >20 DVD's to justify the extra cost., which looking at my VHS collection would take a number of years to do!!

So the question that obviously follows is.....
If you were happy with your E20, what has made you change to the HS2?
 
If you were happy with your E20, what has made you change to the HS2?

A number of reasons:

1) I haven't changed to the HS2 - it's merely augmented my E20. I foresee these two machines lasting me until the advent of Blu Ray.

2) It's got RGB in which was one of the failings of the E20 (the E30 also has RGB in).

3) When I purchased my E20 there wasn't a multi-region option for it so it was fixed as Region 2. This wasn't a major problem as I have a Multi-Region Toshiba but I was still glad to get the HS2 modified.

4) The extra hard drive space is extremely welcome (even with Sky+ fitted with a 120GB disk) as I work away from home for long periods.
 
Hi

I hope you don't mind me interupting your thread.

The biggest advantage of the HS2 is being able to play a pre-recorded DVD whilst still recording Sky or terrestrial channel. And by prerecorded I don't mean a RAM disc. I mean an original movie as purchased or rented from your nearest Blockbuster (if anyone still does that!! ;)

There is nothing better than the missus being able to record Eastenders whilst we watch something good on DVD!! It saves all the arguements!!


My main reason for buying the HS2 was that my VHS recorder packed up, I still hadn't got round to buying a DVD player (although I owned several DVD's - weird!!) and because you could record to the HD whilst playing an audio CD it could act as the CD player in my home audio system as well!! 3 birds with one stone!
The way I see it, hook the HS2 up to a nice THX 7.1 amp/tuner and you have a total home cinema and audio system that can be used at any time!!


BRILLIANT!!!





:D



Ian
 
Thanks for the replies guys.

If only either of the HS2 or E20/30 did progressive scan then my choice would be so much simpler! I wonder if the upcoming E50 will have progressive scan?

Aaargh decisions!
 
Hi

Erm, what exactly IS progressive scan? I have seen it mentioned a few times here but never really understood it.


Cheers


Ian
 
Ian,

In a nutshell (and as far as I understand it!)....

Interlaced picture - show every other line of the picture then start again at the top with the other set of lines.
e.g.
Line number 1,3,5,7,9 then 2,4,6,8 etc

Progressive picture - paint each line in sequence, one at a time.
e.g.
Line number 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9

As you can imagine in fast moving pictures, interlacing can cause a Comb like effect on sharp edges due to the picture having changed by the time the second set of lines are drawn.
 

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