1105WHC20 Panasonic TU-CTH100

5/9/05

3:30 pm

Page 49

Freeview PVR> TEST
Twin Freeview tuners 45 hour recording capacity hard drive

Panasonic TU-CTH100

Panasonic makes its first foray into the Freeview arena with this rather chunky recorder that packs in an 80GB hard drive along with twin digital terrestrial tuners. Connectivity is fair, including a pair of Scarts (one of which delivers an RGB signal), S-video backup and an optical digital audio output. Its a shame that only one of the Scarts carry an RGB feed. It means that if you want an RGB connection to both a TV and a DVD recorder (for archiving of recordings) youll have to keep fumbling around at the back of the deck. Still, there are plenty of other goodies in the feature count to get excited about. For a start you can record two programmes at the same time, which is ideal for when there are differences of opinion on what should be viewed at a given time. You can pause live TV and start watching it again after youve answered the phone or made a cuppa, and there is a memory buffer so that the last 60 minutes of a programme are continually stored.
A thoroughly decent Freeview PVR that could do with a bit of polishing up to raise it to Best Buy standards

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RATINGS
STYLE FEATURES PICTURE SOUND VALUE OVERALL EASE OF USE ###$$
Sadly, you cant commit this buffer to disk when you decide to record only material following a press of the record button is actually recorded.

Seventh heaven

An EPG can deliver up to seven days worth of programme information, but navigating through it to designate recordings is not very intuitive and will take some getting used to. Picture search on recordings is available up to a head-spinning 120x in either direction (more manageable 3x, 12x, 24x and 60x speeds are also available), and you can trim out adverts as well to free up space on the hard disk, or to tidy up a programme before transferring it to DVD (thats a thought, a built-in DVD recorder would be a nice upgrade). Picture-in-picture lets you monitor a channel while viewing another (or monitor a channel while watching a recording) and when the time comes
to transfer stuff to a DVD you simply set up a dubbing list and the deck keeps you apprised of the cumulative running time of all the recordings as you add them. With up to 45hr capacity you should be able to satisfy even a serious TV habit with this deck, and the picture quality will please you.
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TEST SCENE

> >Fireman Sam

Quality street

With Freeview, reception quality varies depending on your location, but the Panasonic is capable of capturing the broadcast quality fairly faithfully. With a strong signal the image is bold and colourful, with strong detail. Fed a less robust signal, the recorder can struggle to get the most out of the picture, even losing a channel every now and then this may be due to a lack of sensitivity on the part of the tuners. The deck is also a touch noisy in operation, but if you switch to standby mode to limit the noise, it takes a while for it to get up and running when you require it (this is a common characteristic on Panasonic HDD/DVD recorder combis as well). Its a shame there is no provision for the Top-Up TV channels, but aside from this, and the few foibles listed, this really is an impressive PVR. We would like to see improvements on the next generation, but Panasonic certainly hasnt blackened its name with the TU-CTH100 I
PICTURE-IN-PICTURE LETS YOU MONITOR A CHANNEL WHILE VIEWING ANOTHER
The bright and bold colours of this CBeebies classic are faithfully recorded on the Panasonic

AT A GLANCE

FEATURES Twin Freeview tuners 80GB HDD 7-day programme guide 45-hour recording time Pause live TV CONNECTIONS 2 x Scart (1 RGB, 1 S-video) S-video output Composite video output Optical digital audio out 2 x analogue stereo audio outputs RF aerial in/out www.panasonic.co.uk 08705 357357

Clear and compact controls Two Scarts, one of which is RGB and S-video
The remote is simplicity itself

WHC NOVEMBER 2005 49

300wv23 panasonic dmr-eh60d

19/9/05

4:15 pm

Page 052

On test
Freeview HDD/DVD recorder G Approx price: 500

Panasonic

DMR-EH60D
At last, a highly capable but affordable HDD/DVD recorder with Freeview built-in. Ian Calcutt tests it out
ig-name manufacturers are finally getting the message that it makes sense to build Freeview tuners into digital recorders.While some recorders still dont include RGB inputs to get the best analogue connection from digital TV set-top boxes, Panasonic has made sure to put a digital tuner inside its new hard-drive/DVD combi recorder. The benefits of this are threefold it saves space, its easy to set the recording timer and there are picture quality improvements, too.

looks and features

Panasonic recently released its long-delayed Freeview hard-drive recorder, the TU-CTH100, which has chunky styling, a noisy hard disk
The versatile electronic programme guide (EPG) is similar to Panasonics other Freeviewenabled products.You can view particular genres, set up personal profiles or omit unwanted channels, such as subscription-based Top-Up TV stations that cant be received on this recorder. In other departments the DMREH60D is a fully fledged HDD-DVD recorder.The AV sockets allow you to connect a DV camcorder through i.Link or an external digibox, or VCR via Scart, S-video or composite. Progressive scan playback is via component video ports.Theres also an SD card slot for viewing or transferring digital photos (but not MPEG4 video for portable media players unfortunately).

ease of use

Setting the timer is extremely easy with the DMR-EH60D.You simply press Enter when youve found a programme you want in the onscreen listings. It is simpler to use than Panasonics TU-CTH100 and much more effective than manual or VideoPlus setting, though these back-ups are offered for non-digital channel recording and theres an analogue tuner in case of poor digital reception for channels 15. The Freeview guide is prompt to appear and reasonably speedy to navigate. It also automatically names your Freeview recordings so you can find what you want to play without difficulty.The quick-starting hard disk and DVD-RAM drive are also a bonus for hassle-free recording, even though there is no instant pause live TV feature as such or a buffer memory to rewind the last few minutes of the broadcast. The more highly developed digital TV recorders such as Sky+ enable you to add or remove timer events from the EPG or delete existing titles even if a recording is taking place.The DMR-EH60D practically locks itself up when

Details

FEATURES
Recording modes: 4 (HDD/DVD) Max. recording time: 355hr (HDD), 8hr (DVD), 16hr (2-sided DVD-RAM) Non-linear editing: Yes TV tuner: digital & analogue Timer: 16 event/one month Guide Plus/VideoPlus: Freeview EPG/Yes Set-top box control: Ext Link Dimensions: 430(w) x 63(h) x 351(d)mm; Weight: 4.5kg Other features: Quick-start EPG; PAL/NTSC recording; progressive scan playback; simultaneous play and record; playlist editing (HDD, DVD-RAM); flexible recording mode
Versatile in both TV reception, recording and editing, the DMREH60D only has a few quirks
and no DVD drive.The DMR-EH60D on the other hand is built like Panasonics latest DVD recorder range, so its shiny, silvery and sleek. The only vital thing missing is a second digital tuner; you cant use this machine to watch one Freeview channel while recording another or make overlapping recordings. You can copy your recordings to or from DVD using the copious 200GB hard drive and its simple enough to make edits or compilations.As with other Panasonics, it uses the DVD-RAM format but also accepts DVD-RW (using Video mode only) and DVD-R or DVD+R for write-once use.

DISC PLAYBACK

DVD, DVD-R, DVD-RW (Video & VR modes), DVD-RAM, DVD+R, DVD+R (Dual Layer), DVD+RW, Dual Disc (CD & DVD sides), CD, CD-R, CD-RW, VCD, MP3, JPEG

SOCKETS

RF aerial in/out; 2x Scart (RGB/Svideo/composite in/out); component video out (phonos); S-video in/out; composite video in/out; optical digital audio out; analogue stereo audio in/out (phonos); DV in; SD card slot

Key connections

Dual Scarts
RGB and S-video in and out for both sockets

CONTACT

Component video out
For progressive scan playback on compatible displays

Digital audio output

An optical digital output for surround sound amps

www.panasonic.co.uk

TEST DATA
For a full explanation, see page 116
RECORDING Test Reading Chroma AM -66.7dB Chroma PM -58.5dB Frequency response: XP @ 4MHz -0.9dB SP @ 4MHz -0.8dB LP @ 4MHz -0.9dB LP @ 2MHz -0.1dB EP @ 2MHz -1.2dB
Rating Excellent V good V good V good Excellent V good Good
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Remote
The scrolling cursor wheel is a bit flimsy and unresponsive but otherwise its a decent handset
Looks ##### Layout ##### Labelling ##### recording.All you can do is watch a previous recording from HDD, watch the current recording from the top or play a DVD.This might sound flexible but it would be convenient to be able to browse the EPG and manage your HDD contents regardless of what else the machine is doing. That said, editing is straightforward and in line with Panasonics other DVD-HDD recorders, as opposed to the more clunky TU-CTH100.
This means you can divide recordings, erase sections or make playlist compilations, all of which run fairly seamlessly.

performance

Overall DVD playback for sound and picture are well up to spec compared with Panasonics recent Diga range, though its a shame there is no HDMI digital AV output to make a more pure connection to suitable projectors, plasmas and LCDs. The picture is vividly colourful, smooth running and highly detailed, especially through the component video output. Freeview recordings are particularly strong because no digital-to-analogue conversion processes are involved to capture programmes on hard disk or DVD. This means fewer digital side effects. The end result still depends on the quality of the transmission but the DMR-RH60D makes the best of whats available, almost looking like high-definition TV at times. The current Panasonic range does not push the maximum capacity beyond eight hours on a single-layered, single-sided DVD and theres no support for dual-layered blanks, only double sided DVD-RAM

Fact file

I Digital & analogue tuners I 200GB hard disk drive I DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, DVD-R, DVD+R and SD card compatible I Simultaneous play & record I PAL/NTSC progressive scan
as usual. However, the picture quality available remains extremely good. The pinnacle of recording is the XP mode, for one hour on standard DVD or 44 hours on the HDD.This all but banishes any traces of motion blocking, stripy contours or mosquito noise around fine detail. SP (2hr on DVD, 89hr on HDD) is a solid mode for everyday use, while LP (4hr on DVD, 177hr on HDD) carries a higher resolution image compared to older machines equivalents. If you are recording from an external source youll notice more digital break-up at this level, but with the internal digital tuner the picture is much better than expected. Similarly, the EP mode (selectable between 6hr or 8hr on DVD, or 266hr and 355hr on HDD) is quite a revelation when recording directly from Freeview. Many of the common digital artefacts, such as extremely fuzzy outlines and distracting blockiness in fast motion, are minimised.There are some residual signs of these and the mode is less sharp than the higher quality XP SP , and LP settings, but you can see that the recorder is trying very hard to deliver high-capacity recordings that look acceptable too.
The DMR-EH60D offers digital and analogue terrestrial TV tuners

Also Consider >>

SONY RDR-GXD500 A 250GB hard drive and DVD recorder with built in Freeview, HDMI out and stunning picture quality. Reviewed: Issue 299
TOPFIELD TF5800 A new arrival in the Freeview PVR sector but one of the best with its 160GB capacity. No DVD drive though Reviewed: Issue 298

Ratings

WHATS GOOD
Built-in Freeview; multi-format recording; large hard drive; pictures

WHATS BAD

Single Freeview tuner; no MPEG4 or DVD-RW VR recording; inflexible when recording

conclusion

Adding a digital tuner to DVD recorders is such an obvious thing to do, it beggars belief that there are only a couple of such products so far.This will be the first of many, however, and this affordable Panasonic with its logical user interface and generous hard drive is a fine alternative to the pricier Sony RDR-HXD910. Versatile in both TV reception, recording and editing, it only has a few quirks and these hardly tarnish its superb all-round performance I
Picture Sound Features Ease of use Value

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OVERALL VERDICT

A powerful hard-drive and DVD recorder that delivers a terrific picture from its digital TV tuner
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