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Trying to back up dual layer DVD movies presented me with problems, apart from being time consuming taking up a lot of computer time the results were inconsistent. So I looked for an easier way out.
Last Easter the Easter Bunny got me the PANASONIC DMR-E20 . It was in a big box and would have housed dozens of Easter Eggs.

OPENING THE BOX AND GETTING IT WORKING
Eagerly opening the box revealed the recorder which is about the size of a large VCR, not unlike the old FERGUSON VIDEOSTAR

Accessories that came with it are
-AC mains lead
-RF signal lead
-Remote control & batteries
-AV cables 3x phono to phono
-3 x 4.7 DVD-RAM discs

Regrettably there was no SVHS lead or SCART lead.
I eagerly plugged it in connected to the aerial, and then linked to the TV aerial socket with the lead supplied but was unable to find the recorder signal on the TV.
After reading the instructions I discovered the recorder did not have an RF output only RF loop through and the TV I was using was a very old one with no AV input so I had to scrap that initial idea. The next TV had a scart socket so using a standard scart lead I decided to connect it via one of the two scart sockets on the rear I cannot remember which one.

THE FIRST RECORDING
I then had the output from the recorder viewable on the TV AV position. I used the Auto set up as described in the manual to tune in the TV stations which was fairly easy.
Next getting started and try to record, I opened one of the DVD-RAM discs



These are a gold coloured disc the same size as a DVD encased in a transparent matching cartridge case not unlike a large floppy or zip disc in appearance,
(They are also available without a cartridge)



Opening the recorder tray reveals a recess for a standard DVD and when inserting the cartridge there is a spring loaded stop at the front to secure it.



Cartridge loaded, TV station tuned in, lets have a go at recording, pressed record and a revolving display indicates that it is in fact recording, Lets try the time slip, this function allows you to view what has been recorded whilst you are still recording just hit the time slip button and dial the time difference also there is a picture in picture function to watch both at once.



The recorded program played back and was equal to the TV station that it had been recorded from.

HOW TO CONNECT
Testing over now to connect up to my DVD player and backup one of my dual layer DVD’s
There are 2 Scart sockets, AV & SVHS input an output sockets as well as the RF in/out sockets on the back, and under the drop down panel on the front there is AV, SVHS, & DV input. Ideally DV input would have been the best but my DVD does not have DV output (I don’t know of one that does) RGB next best option checked the manual it does not support RGB input only RGB output. So third time lucky used the SVHS link with the twin stereo audio using the front input initially and later used the rear connectors.
There are 4 record modes to choose from XP 1hr, SP 2hr, LP 4hr, and EP 6hr.

FIRST BACKUP RECORDING FROM DVD
The film I wanted to copy is 2 ½ hours so I select LP using a DVD-RAM disc started play back and pressed record , OOPS!! message on screen RECORDING OF THIS DVD PROHIBITED . Macro protection prohibited me from recording. I checked my player and was able to disable macro protection and then proceeded to record successfully. The recording looked good and played back fine I would say the quality in LP mode is on a par with SVHS.

BACKING UP TO DVD-R
Now that I have it working I tried to copy the same film onto a DVD-R it appeared to start to record but after just over a minute the recorder just switched itself into standby. It would not turn back on!! I unplugged it from the wall waited 10 seconds and then plugged it back in it came on so I tried again to record SAME THING HAPPENED, being very thin on top it was difficult for me to tear my hair out. Tried again the third time and just before it switched off I noticed in the display the letters U11, Searching through the manual I found that this referred to “Dirty or scratched disk” ”You have inserted a disc the unit cannot play or record on” I also found that to recover from this fault mode I had to press and hold the power button for 10 seconds for it to reset.. I tried a different brand of media still no joy and was about to return it to the shop when I decided to try a third more expensive branded these had cost me over £3 at the time BINGO!! It worked and I continued with the recording, setting the one touch timer to stop the recording just after the film had finished.

The resulting recording was excellent and all my fears were then behind me I then proceeded to learn how to use the BEAST



NOW WHAT HAS THIS BEAST GOT AND HOW DOES IT WORK
Now for the serious bit this recorder is a nice piece of kit for backing up DVD Video's as well as any video source, but it has limitations as I intend to point out.
Recordings can be made from various sources as well as the off air TV signals
The qualities of the analogue TV recordings are excellent and only dependant on the quality of the aerial signal; there is no noticeable difference in the recorded images to the original picture. There is all the usual Timer, One Touch Timer, Video Plus, facilities as you would expect from a VCR. Starting the recordings is instant with no noticeable delay and the pause function is also instant stop and start. The one touch timer steps up in ½ hour steps up to 2hours then it steps up in 1hr steps up to 4 hrs it is very accurate to within the second which I find ideal for recording DVD backups.
The various inputs other than the TV are :-
Two SCART sockets, which can be switched via an on screen menu to allow inputs of Composite Video or SVHS as well as Stereo Audio.
Full set of SVHS, Composite Video and Audio Phono inputs on the rear
With the same under the front dropdown panel.
Digital video input from a camcorder is supported at the front under the dropdown panel.
The outputs on the rear are:-
The two configurable SCART sockets with Composite, RGB, or SVHS outputs
One of the scarts features Q-Link which when connected to a suitable TV enables it to tune itself automatically from the TV settings;
Full set of SVHS, Composite Video and Audio Phono outputs on the back together with digital audio output.
DVD recordings for backup purposes are best done via one of the SVHS links and the stereo Phono audio inputs. The input signal can either be PAL 50 Hz or NTSC 60 Hz I use the PAL 50 Hz being the UK TV standard. Unfortunately some of the DVD players do not give true UK PAL output when converting from NTSC, but PAL 60 Hz which will view fine on a modern TV, but recordings are not possible as they need to be PAL 50hz. Ironically the output from the E20 when converted from NTSC to PAL is PAL 60hz a matter of economics in manufacture. I connect to a DVD player that outputs PAL 50 Hz with MACRO disabled via the SVHS ilink and Phono Audio. There are four recording modes corresponding to time and quality inversely
XP approx 1 hour recording on a DVD the best quality but limited buy the SVHS link
SP approx 2 hours, this is ideal for movies under 2 hours and is on a par or better than SVHS
LP approx 4 hours this is ideal for long movies or fitting 2 movies of up to 4 hours onto the DVD the quality is similar to SVHS
EP approx 6 hours to be used only if you are a skinflint the quality is as good as VHS but there is playback compatibility problems with a lot of DVD players so I personally will not use it but it is ideal for backing up VCD movies if the resultant DVD will play on your particular DVD player.

HOW TO DO THE BACKUP RECORDINGS
Recording is simple but needs a little preparation for best results
The player needs to have macro vision protection disabled this is not always possible with all players
Start the playback of the main film on the player and put the on screen display so that it shows the time remaining, whilst playing rewind the movie to the beginning and note the time remaining when the film restarts at the beginning the film. I use as an example displays 2:18:35, 2 hours 18 mins & 35 seconds set the on screen display on the player to off, leave it playing to ensure this has been done correctly.
Select the desired record mode according to the quality and time scale in this case LP mode
Rewind the playing video and having the remote control for the recorder in the other hand wait until the film restarts then press the record button on the remote or you can wait until a suitable point omitting the intros then start the record.
Ideally you need to stop the recording at the end of the credits for the film and this can be set automatically if you follow these few simple steps.
The one touch timer record only works in ½ hr steps up to 2 hours then 1 hour steps so we need to set it in 18 mins and 35 seconds from the start of the film if your player has an LCD or similar display this is no problem, I have a small battery operated count down timer which I set to sound at 1 minute before the 2 hour remain time in this case 16½ to 17 min to remind me. I then wait until the displayed time elapsed on the player is 0:18:35 and press the record button on the Panny (not the remote) 4 times until 120 min is displayed Once this is set I can forget it for the remaining 2 hours.
If all has been set correctly the recording will continue to the end and switch to standby at the end of the film.
Well with a bit of luck then the film will have been recorded so power back on and play back the film
There will be over 1½ hours left on the DVD making it possible to put another film of up to this length on the DVD-R, the procedure being the same.
After you have recorded all you want on the DVD-R you can Title the disc and also Title the individual films this is done via the remote control top menu button and selecting the appropriate film titling is done via the onscreen display and the navigation control. This job I find a little tedious but it only takes about 5 mins. The individual film titles are limited to the amount of characters but the disc title can be a lot longer.
After the titling has been done and you are satisfied that this disc is up to your requirements the disc needs to be finalised, enabling it to be used on a stand alone DVD player. This is done via the top menu buttons on the remote and takes about 5 mins after which you will no longer be able to record to it.

THE LIMITATIONS
The finalised DVD-R’s so far have played back in all the players and drives I have tried them in, but with limitations
The first thing I noticed when checking the disc in my PC was that there was no AUDIO_TS folder on the disc this and although I have yet to find one other than empty, the majority of DVD videos contain this empty folder so I feel could give rise to compatibility problems but as yet I have not found a player to reject the disc..
The menu created on the disc is a little sparse with just a list with no graphics



This gets boring and I have re mastered a lot of my films using SpruceUp and hopefully someone will make a contribution to this.
Playback is continuous in that the second recording continues immediately after the first with only a slight gap, to select individual recordings one has to revert back to the menu.
Playback is limited on some players to 2X fast forward and no fast rewind after which it locks up and sometimes reverts to the menu, the only way to fast skip is with the chapters which are automatically inserted and not configurable they are inserted every 5-10 mins.
COPYING the recording initially caused problems, my Liteon 16x reader indicated the disc size to be 700meg and all programs I used to try and create an image came up with errors because of this.
Ripping with smart ripper selecting all files in file mode gave me a copy of the Title Set I added the AUDIO_TS folder and burnt the usual way using Record Now Max the resultant disc played back correctly on my PC but I had playback problems on several players: The menu would not or only ½ appear and to get it to play involved messing about with the stop, pause and play buttons until it would play. Selecting different sections from the menu was not possible so I had to find an alternate method of copying the DVD-R
Using the writer to read the disc came up with the correct file size and I was successfully able to create an image of the disc and subsequently burn a duplicate. This being unsatisfactory as I needed to copy ON THE FLY. I checked my various readers to find one that was suitable without much success, consulting with others on the forum I found out that the Pioneer 106 reader would do the job. Installed one in my PC and indeed it did give the disc file size correctly and I was able to use it successfully for OTF copying. There was an offer of the Samsung SD-616F DVD-ROM reader for £25 which was incredibly cheep so I decided to purchase a couple of these, and found they also would read the disc size correctly and were suitable for OTF copying in fact I found them better at reading poor quality DVD-R discs than the 106.

This only covers the Basics of using the DMR-E20 and there are a lot of aspects that can be enlarged upon I propose to put a Q & A section on this site soon.

This product has now been upgraded to the DMR-E30 which is reviewed here

Added:  Saturday, August 31, 2002
Reviewer:  Flash

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