Panasonic DMRE85H DVD Player/Recorder/DVR

[HD Library]

By Richard Fisher

Please read the following review of the Panasonic: DMRHS2 - DVD Recorder with hard drive

This version adds:

Larger drive for 27 hours of perfect recording

TV Guide for TIVO like functions

Quicker copy function for dubbing of HD to disc and vice versa

1394 is NOT included

Individual black level settings for DVD and NTSC (problem on DMRHS2)

No green color contamination (problem on DMRHS2)

I have yet to fully test this product. A minus green color decoder error is expected in 480P mode like most Panny players. For SD sources this is not necessarily a bad artifact since many suffer from chroma contamination inducing a slightly green tint to the over all color especially noticeable in blacks. That said this review is based on a correct color decoder either via 480I or recalibration of the display for 480P. All other visual checks were performed with a calibration DVD yielding positive results as expected. I am running two of these, one is 480I into a scaler and the other is 480P directly into a Samsung HLP5063.

This still remains one of the least expensive ways to bypass most scaling artifacts of a display with huge benefits. With the three A/V inputs you can scale your camcorder, VCR or laserdisc player. The one I have upstairs served quite well as the DVD player until I could find a DVI upscaling player that performed reasonably well. I suppose that is a testament to the Samsung internal scaler with 480P as there was not a great deal of difference between the Panny and a DVI player. That said the images were cleaner and sharper via DVI at the native scan rate as expected.

There is no formatting control for letterboxed 4:3 content.

Highly Recommended!


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