On Mon, 14 Apr 2003 12:20:58 GMT, "Keith Wiebe" <keithw@southwind.net> wrote:

>> Try it in "XP" mode - it records only one hour on the

>> DVD (these disks do have only 1/2 the capacity of commercial

>> DVDs, as you know...), but at very high quality. I expect

>> to get no more than 1 hour per DVD disk with any encoder...

>> In the average-difficulty areas, it was as good as any

>> of the encoders I tried; in the most difficult section,

>> it was better than any software I had working...

>> David Ruether

>I was thinking about getting the panasonic 30 model but am wondering about

>it's quality too. I could get by always using the 1 hr mode for my videos. I

>haven't had an encoder aproach the quality of dv either. I have tried TMPGe,

>CCE, and Ulead's built in encoder (which at 6,000 mps were horrendous).

>Maybe someone could make a dvd copy of a video for me with the pana. stand

>alone and let me compare?

>Keith

I'm hoping the Panasonic stand-alone recorders all

use the same encoders - the one I tried was excellent

(better than any software I successfully used - though

I did not use some with the best reputations...). For

ease of use, the cheapest Panasonic writer may be the

way to go, with moving files off a written DVD to computer

if multiple copies are needed (the model I tried had

a built-in HD for storage of MPEG2 files, but was twice

the price of the cheapest - though the cheapest also does

not have a FireWire connector...). The results with

the Panasonic (short the stuttering after about 4

minutes with both Maxell and Sony disks...) were really

excellent, with minimal loss of quality compared with

the DV original, even in difficult places. There will

always be some loss, but unless the original and DVD

were viewed carefully side-by-side, the losses were

not obvious with the Panasonic, as they were with some

of the software encoders (mostly, but not always,

in the most difficult to encode parts).