Panasonic VHS+DVD recorder with built-in time base corrector — DMR-ES35V

Panasonic DMR-ES35V DVD+VHS recorder

The Panasonic DMR-ES35V is a mid-range model from 2006 family of Panasonic DVD recorders. In Europe, it was the only model to feature a VHS deck.

Panasonic 2006 DVD recorders for the American market (from Panasonic website)

What can it do?

• It can play VHS tapes. Super VHS playback is supported, albeit at standard VHS quality.
• It can play DVD discs. For both media types, video is sent out as composite, SVideo and component. The next model in the lineup, the ES45V, has HDMI output and HD upscaling, the ES35V is standard-definition only.
• It can record onto a VHS tape or on a DVD-recordable disc from a variety of sources: composite, SVideo, built-in tuner and a DV input. The analog tuner on American-market models became useless after the analog television shutdown in 2009. European-market models have a tuner capable to receive DVB-T digital broadcasts.
• The machine can dub VHS tape to a DVD disc; and it can dub DVD disc to a VHS tape; in both cases, commercial movies protected with anti-copy schemes like Macrovision cannot be dubbed, which significantly reduces the attractiveness of such a feature. Panasonic suggested another use case for dubbing a VHS tape to a DVD — VHS Refresh, as “an easy way to even more beautiful digital recordings”. The “refresh” is achieved by using digital noise reduction and digital time base corrector.

VHS Refresh copying to DVD (from Panasonic 2006 booklet)

You may wonder — time base corrector, which reduces line jitter, straightens up the frame and prevents picture roll? Can it be used without recording video onto a DVD? Can it be used for external video sources? Turns out, yes and yes!

If you want to timebase-correct a video off a VHS tape, you can play the tape directly in this machine and grab the corrected signal from one of the DVD Priority Out ports. I prefer SVideo because it provides higher quality than composite, while component video is not supported by my analog-to-digital video converter. If, for any reason, you want to grab an uncorrected signal, you can use DVD/VHS common output, which is composite only.

The DMR-ES35V output ports (from operating manual)

To correct analog video coming from another source, you can play it in a respective machine like an 8-mm camcorder, send it to the ES35V through one of these ports, and get the corrected signal from one of the DVD Priority Out ports.

Sony 8-mm camcorder connected to the front input of the DMR-ES35V

There are a couple of settings you may want to verify before capturing, in particular the black level. For North America, theoretically you need to set Input Level to “Darker” to remove the 7.5 IRE pedestal, and Output Level to “Lighter” to prevent expanding the luminance range. In practice, this setup was found to cause banding, so it is recommended to set Input Level to “Lighter” and Output Level to “Darker”; the end result will be the same, but with smooth gradations without banding.

Black level for an external source (see the discussion on www.videohelp.com)

If you play a tape directly in the machine, the Input Level makes no difference, and the Output Level should be set to “Lighter” to prevent expanding the luminance range.

Black level for a tape played directly in the DMR-ES35V

How good is the TBC in the ES35V? Watch the video to see samples and comparison to a TBC-equipped camcorder.

Video review of the DMR-ES35V with sample captures

In closing, the ES35V is not bulletproof, I have a commercial tape recorded in EP mode that shows noticeable jitter, but it is better than nothing. I found it for $20 in a local thrift store, and for this money it is a worthy addition to my toolbox. ■