Having trouble with dvd/vhs combo deck

[Nouveau]

Got a panasonic dmr 38vk combo dvd recorder deck and having some problems; mostly trying to figure out simple things like copy VHS to DVD and record from TiVo HD to dvd record. Had black & white images until I disconnected the yellow RCA jack and kept the S-Video jack.

But I'm still out on the finalizing thing, as I learned that one can't just record a show from TiVo, instead I have to manually hit the play/record if I want only part of a show, or only part of a VHS tape. Then that finalize thing doesn't seem to work all the time.

All in all, it's a tough thing to crack and I'm an old TV guy who could always connect what needed to be connected. Any advice as to how to figure this out more is greatly appreciated.

[dtremain]

Got a panasonic dmr 38vk combo dvd recorder deck and having some problems; mostly trying to figure out simple things like copy VHS to DVD and record from TiVo HD to dvd record. Had black & white images until I disconnected the yellow RCA jack and kept the S-Video jack.

But I'm still out on the finalizing thing, as I learned that one can't just record a show from TiVo, instead I have to manually hit the play/record if I want only part of a show, or only part of a VHS tape. Then that finalize thing doesn't seem to work all the time.

All in all, it's a tough thing to crack and I'm an old TV guy who could always connect what needed to be connected. Any advice as to how to figure this out more is greatly appreciated.I'm not clear on what issues you are having, but since I have a similar unit, I'll tell you these hints:
1) If you want to copy only part of a VHS tape to DVD, you have to start and stop the recording yourself. If you want to copy a whole VHS tape to DVD, put the tape and the DVD in their slots. Then, hold the right side of the control ring down for three seconds or so. When the word "start" starts blinking on the display, push either the "play" or "record" buttons. If you push "play," you will be able to make further changes to the disk. If you push "record," the disk will finalize when the recording is over, and you will not be able to make further changes.
You can always finalize "by hand," of course, by going to "functions" and, then, DVD Management.
2) What happens if "Finalize" doesn't work for you? Some older DVD players will not play some types of recordable disks, finalized or not. Newer players tend to play all sorts of disks. But, you do have to finalize the disk before you can play it on anything besides the machine you recorded it on.
3) To record to a DVD from a TiVo, you do what you would do to record to a VCR. You are sending the analog signal from the TiVo to the DVD, where it is converted to a digital signal. Either the S-Video or RCA plugs should work. I use the S-Video for the picture. The quality is somewhat better. I'm not sure if having the same signal plugged into both would confuse matters. It might, for all I iknow.

I hope this is somewhat helpful.

[Nouveau]

Thanks, very helpful. I am used to creating/burning dvds on my Final Cut Pro on a mac, and didn't quite understand how I could record onto a dvd-R and stop and start, I thought once a dvd-r is recorded, that's it, unless it was a dvd-rw.

Re: Finalize, I got a "FINAL" in the combo deck window, and didn't know what to do, until I realized I had to view the finalization instructions on the TV set itself. It's been mostly trial and error.

About the RCA plugs, seems that I was recording in b&w rather than color so the Panasonic tech said to pull out the video RCA jack and just keep the S-video. I still haven't tried a new recording yet but will today.

Again, thanks for the help and patience.

[Nouveau]

One question; I thought my TiVo was a digital signal (I have DirecTV satellite), not analog? I know vhs is analog but isn't satellite digital?

[TonyTheTiger]

It's a digital signal IN, but analog OUT through the S-Video port..