Audio clipping on Panasonic DMR passthrough?
 

Hi there.

I am setting up a small workflow to digitise my tapes.
I am using a Panasonic DMR-EH57 as "TBC-ish" passthrough from my S-VHS machine.
The only issue I am having is that the audio is clipping hard (or at leat sounds "blown"/distorted) on the output of the DMR. If I plug the audio from the VCR directly into the TV, it sounds fine.


Anyone know what that could be caused by? The audio is distorted on both the analogue outputs as well as on HDMI.

Clipping where? If at capture card it commonly means level exceed 0dbfs.
Did you tried to connect DMR audio output directly to amplifier and measure output level?
If clipping is at DMR output it probably means there is analog/digital conversion inside what is defective.
But what kind of distortion you have - is it clipping or something else is impossible to tell by your description.
I am not sure DMR-EH57 can be used as "TBC-ish" like ES10/15 but maybe.

Hi again

What I meant is that the audio sounds clipped/distorted, as long as it goes through the DMR. It sounds the same on the analogue and HDMI outputs. However, if I take the audio jacks from the VCR and plug them straight into a TV, it sounds fine. It's only when listening to the output of the DMR that it sounds distorted.

I have an audio attenuator in-line (I've tried without it as well) but thatt doesn't seem to reduce the distortion, it just lowers the actual volume (so distortion/"clipping" must be happening somewhere else).

I have attached a small captured segment, however please note that it sounds exactly the same when listening to it on a TV that is connected via the DMR.

Attenuating the gain was a good test. Unfortunately Panasonic were at one stage supplied with some pretty poor quality capacitors which may be the problem here in your deck.

The SCART inputs on the back have also given up, I get no audio or video there any more. So I'm thinking this is a defective unit, and am now looking for a replacement.

Thanks for the input.

I have ES10 with recapped PS, not far from your country, PM if interested.