Panasonic unveils New Network DVD Recorder with 400 GB Hard Disk in US!!! E500HS

[cxdmn2004]

I found this new model of DMR-E500HS in US web page.
--> http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ModelDetail?displayTab=F&storeId=11251&catalogId=11005&itemId=72687&catGroupId=11058&modelNo=DMR-E500HS&surfModel=DMR-E500HS&ignoreRedirect=1

Here is related press release of Panasonic Japan..
--> http://www.matsushita.co.jp/corp/news/official.data/data.dir/en040908-7/en040908-7.html

P.S. Hmm..it seems the above page is currently unavailable.. :confused: :confused: :confused:

P.S. 2 : More info, especially on network function, will be added...

[kilik]

The DVD recording is truly evolving so rapidly. I just bought an E95 a month ago.

Obviously the DVD drives used in those upcoming models are the newly released LF-M721 (SW-9573) which features 5x DVD-RAM and 8x DVD¡ÓR, coupled with the 8x time in EP mode, hence the 40x DVD-RAM and 64x DVD-R dubbing speed.

Wondering whether and when they will come stateside.

[JeffWld]

Imagine how excited users will be when they are confronted with one of Panasonic's forced format situations. 400GB down the drain...

[ewclam9]

Does anyone know what mpeg4 movie format it can play ? Can it play *.avi, *.mpg, *.rm and Divx files ? I e-mailed Pansonic, no reply yet.

Is there a on-line manual ?

This is the dream machine that I want without the High Def up convertion.

Thanks

[swallowtail]

Originally posted by ewclam9
Is there a on-line manual ?

Go to the following link, and type in model # "DMRE500H", and check the "I agree to these terms" box:

http://service.us.panasonic.com/operman/

Basically the DMR-E500H model is just a DMR-E95H with a much bigger HDD (400GB) plus limited MPEG4 recording/playback and internet connectivity features.

[xortam]

Originally posted by JeffWld
Imagine how excited users will be when they are confronted with one of Panasonic's forced format situations. 400GB down the drain... I've never been confronted with a format on my E80H. I've owned this unit since it came out and it is in constant use. This is not an issue for me, nor should it be for others.

[Clay Schneider]

The 'network function' [to a PC anyway] may not include mpeg2 -- only mpeg4 and stills. Panny seems scared of allowing users to move mpeg2's around.

[xortam]

Originally posted by Clay Schneider
... Panny seems scared of allowing users to move mpeg2's around. So what are they storing on those DVD-RAMs?

[doxtorRay]

Originally posted by xortam
I've never been confronted with a format on my E80H. I've owned this unit since it came out and it is in constant use. This is not an issue for me, nor should it be for others.

A lifetime smoker who has never contracted lung cancer may point out that most people who smoke won't get lung cancer (which is true, by the way). However, that does not mean that the possiblilty of lung cancer should be irrelevant to everyone's decision regarding smoking. The probability of an unpleasant event might be low, but some people might still prefer to avoid it or insure against it.

However, as one of the E80 owners who has lost everything on his hard drive when the E80 forced a reformat, I think the newer recorders might be safer. <b>Thus, I agree with Xortam, but for different reasons.</b>

First, every Panasonic HDD-DVD recorder after the E80 has allowed high-speed dubbing of playlists, which avoids messing up the files on the hard drive. No doubt the E500 will also allow this.

Second, most of us who experienced the problem did so when extensive editing of hard drive content, especially using "shorten segment," was followed by recording more material on the hard drive <i> when the hard drive was or had been fairly full.</i> Getting into such as situation with 400 Gig is going to be harder than it was with 80 Gig.

[xortam]

Originally posted by doxtorRay
... most of us who experienced the problem did so when extensive editing of hard drive content, especially using "shorten segment," was followed by recording more material on the hard drive <i> when the hard drive was or had been fairly full.</i> ... That's the crux of the biscuit. I don't use the SS (shorten segment) feature on the HDD as it leads to too much fragmentation. I only trim off the beginning and end of recordings on the HDD and move it to -RAM for export to PC. The HDD is simply a large buffer on the Panny and you should always be moving your content off the drive and onto optical. The Panny DVDR and PC DVD-RAM burner plus SW are all designed around this concept. Look at the Relief Recording feature as an example of this: It wants to dump to -RAM as a first choice but will fall back to HDD if the -RAM doesn't have sufficient remaining space. I've off-loaded over two TB of video onto removable HDDs by exploiting the Panny architecture. Its no problem burning or playing those videos on the PC or moving back the video back onto -RAM for playback in the DVDR or re-import. Very nice system. A proper network between the DVDR and the PC would eliminate the need for -RAM based transfers and really speed up the workflow.

[Clay Schneider]

Originally posted by xortam
So what are they storing on those DVD-RAMs?

Storing yes, moving no. Their SV-AV100 takes mpeg2's, mpeg4's and jpeg stills. With their pc software, you can move/export/edit/play/import the mpeg4's and the jpegs. But the mpeg2's are invisible to the pc software. Yes, they are on the media, so yes you can pull them off the media, and yes you can use them elsewhere [so long as you rename them for those applications that care -- they don't even use a windows recognized media type file extension] -- but you can't do any of that with their software.

So, my bet is [and the e500 manual seems to confirm it], I can play with the mpeg4's and stills with the pc over the network, and I can operate the player over the network, but I'll bet I can't pull an mpeg2 over to the pc via their network and their pc software. I'm not saying that someone won't be able to hack the interface and figure out how to move all files back and forth -- but I suspect they won't be supporting it themselves.