Customer Reviews

Panasonic DMR-E75VS Progressive-Scan DVD Recorder/VCR Combo

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

POSTED 09/27/04:

I purchased this unit about three weeks ago and so far, overall, I have been very happy with it.

Below are some things I really like and dislike about the Panasonic VCR/DVD Recorder.

LIKES:
1. DVD-RAM: CHASE feature. With this feature, similar to a DVR, you can start watching the program that is being recorded before it has finished recording OR you can watch another program on the same disc. Chase also allows you to pause live TV, backup to see something again, etc. Chase mode even works when dubbing tapes. If you are one of those people, like me, that is constantly backing up the tape to see/hear something again, this will save wear and tear on the VCR.
2. DVD-RAM: 1.33x playback. It speeds up the audio, but doesn't change the pitch. Not really suitable for movies or dramas, but it does allow you to quickly watch news and documentaries. With this feature and skipping commercials I can watch an hour long documentary in just over 30 minutes.
3. DVD-RAM: Easy trimming and editing of recordings allows you to cut out commercials and make more room on the disc. Shows can be divided too and chapter marks added.
4. DUBBING: Easy and clean dubbing VHS to DVD. Just cue and pause the tape and then when you hit DVD record it starts the recording and unpauses the tape at the same time. Only a couple frames of the paused image get recorded. Commercials can be removed this way too if you want to take the time. VCR on-screen messages are suppressed when recording, so you don't have to worry about a "PLAY" becoming part of your recording. I actually find this manual method of dubbing better than the ONE-TOUCH dubbing option, which doesn't give as much control. This also works for DVD to VCR dubbing, but the procedure is a bit more complicated.
5. You CAN record two shows at once, one to the VCR and the other to DVD. However, you can only do one TUNER (Channel ##) recording at a time, so one or both recordings must be via AV inputs.
6. Remote control of the VCR and DVD is mostly the same.
7. The clock seems to keep accurate time, having gained only about 3 seconds in 3 weeks.
8. VCR: A VP recording speed which is 5x longer than SP and doesn't look much worse than EP. With VP speed you can record 13h 20m+ on a T160 or 16h 40m+ on a T200. Not compatible with most other VCRs though.
9. VCR: 35x search mode. Clean picture with little noise too.
10. VCR: Super fast Rewind and also a Jet Rewind, both take less than a minute to rewind a T160 tape.

DIS-LIKES:
1. No digital zoom on DVD Player. I have poor vision and the zoom feature on my last DVD player allowed me to see small print without getting closer to the TV, so I really miss the zoom feature!
2. The manual is confusing and dis-organized (see 02/19/05 update), but it is also complete so I suggest reading it from cover to cover.
3. No frame advance on the VCR, just pause and slow motion. And the slow motion is awkward to use.
4. Many features only available on DVD-RAM. (Do download the manual from Amazon and look at the RAM DVD-R, etc. headers to see what recording formats each feature supports.)
5. CD-Audio playback is too loud and muffled and sounds terrible, at least on my TV. It could be my TV, but output from DirecTV as well as TV, DVD, VHS and MP3 playback from this unit all sound great on the same TV.
6. Quality of LP and EP DVD recordings is really bad during scenes with smoke/steam/fog. Scenes with fast motion also cause some digital artifacts too. However, these could be problems with all DVD Recorders in general and not just the Panasonic.

Anyway, despite the above problems I am really pleased with this unit. The pluses definitely outweigh the negatives. Unless something better comes on the market I would get another one if I needed a second VCR/DVD recorder

** UPDATE 02/19/05: **

Having used this unit for several months now I just want to add that I still find it to be an excellent machine. The Time-Slip (simultaneous record and play and chasing playback) have changed how I watch TV. I rarely watch a program live anymore, or when I do, I wait until it is about 1/3rd over so I can watch it in chase mode and skip the commercials.

The flexible recording mode has been wonderful for recording programs and copying tapes to DVD-R. Flexible Recording calculates the necessary bitrate to fit a recording on a disc at the best possible quality. Many recorders limit you to fixed rates, such as 2 or 4 hours. With FR, if a program or tape is 2 hours and 10 minutes long it can be recorded at near SP (or 2 hour) quality instead of having to be recorded at a noticeably lower quality. While Flexible Recording is not available for One-Touch Dubbing, it can easily be done manually. Just tune to the "TP" (tape) channel before starting Flexible Recording.

I've found that many commercial tapes can be copied. Don't assume like I did at first that none can. Use a DVD-RAM disc or scrap DVD-R to do some test recordings of all your tapes and see which you can backup to DVD-R. More than 50% of the tapes I own can and don't give the copy protected message.

For time-shift recording I recommend you get some double sided DVD-RAMs in cartridges. The cartridge protects the discs from dirt and dust which can cause write errors. While you do have to flip the discs to use the other side, a double sided cartridge takes up no more room than a single side cartridge or two single sided non-cartridge DVD-RAMs.

If you need to record more than 4 hours and can't change discs and don't want to record to DVD in EP mode, you can use the VCR too. VHS may be a step backwards from DVD, but VHS-SP looks a lot better than DVD-EP. The VHS recording can then be copied to another DVD-RAM for editing.

Regarding the manual, if you buy this unit then be sure to download the manual from Amazon. You can then use the PDF viewer to search for the feature or function you need to learn how to use. Trust me, it's a lot quicker to fire up the computer than trying to find what you want to know in the printed manual.

** UPDATE 10/6/05 **

The manual says that timer recordings cannot be executed on both DVD and VHS at the same time and that timer recordings can not overlap. However, I discovered recently that this is not true. Two timer recordings can be made simultaneously, provided they are not from different channels. You can record L1 and L2 at the same time or a combination of either L1 or L2 and a tuned channel.

I've also discovered that if you are recording to DVD-RAM and are not playing a title then hitting Time-Slip will begin playback at 30 seconds from the end of the recording. This is a useful feature when you have the TV on in the background and have one of those "What was that?" moments. :)

1) Contrary to what the reviewer states, the unit does not contain twin tuners (at least not the one I got). You can only record one channel at a time (either on the VHS or DVD side).
However, you can record on one while playing on the other.

2) The unit does not have a RF Modulator - so you cannot connect it to your TV's antenna terminal, only via the direct input jacks (assuming your TV has them).
Panasonic does this with all their DVD Recorders. (Really chinchy of them.)

3) Be forewarned - you cannot make copies of your store bought VHS and DVD movies that are copy protected (Macro Vision).
Also, there is no audio volume control that would allow you to compensate for tapes that are too loud or too low.

4) The new EP speed of 8 hours is backward compatible on older 6 hour machines. The quality is about the same as the 6 hour so you are effectively getting 1/3 rd more on the same DVD-RAM disc.

All in all a pretty good machine, assuming you understand its complexities. The manual is quite elaborate and may at times be hard to follow. The remote is quite good and preset to Control Setting #1. It and the machine can be changed to #2 or #3 if you have other Panasonic DVD Recorders and wish to avoid a conflict.

No idea what the guy from Bethesda was talking about. I've had this for about three weeks now and it works great. No problems at all. This is just like using a VCR but you can record more stuff and/or at higher quality. Be sure to get good blank DVDs, though, as that makes a difference in quality and storage shelf life. If you don't need the VCR go with the Panasonic models without VCR and you can save some money. (Although, good VCRs are hard to find these days, so if you have lots of VHS tapes this one is perfect.)

Just got this unit hitched up on Sunday and it has performed well so far. On Monday I discovered I had five minutes to record a movie I wanted and was able to grab the manual, find the instructions, and start the DVD on time. Recorded on 2-hour speed and it looked great. Husband did a dub of an old aviation film on video (no Macrovision) and he said the process was very simple.

I do agree about the manual--I think it was translated from another language by someone who needs a little more training on grammar and syntax. The instructions are there; it's just difficult to wade through them. Lots of abbreviations used that could be confusing. I couldn't figure out where the finalize instructions were, either, until husband pointed out the page. Some color coding might help!

I am using Maxell disks I got on sale at Office Depot this week. They appear to work fine.

Both DVD and VCR play look fabulous. We're using component video and the picture just pops out at you (television is a Panasonic as well).

Update--October 2005
Crossing fingers; still okay. I have dubbed off the contents of at least 75 videotapes recorded at EP mode and am still going. Many of my tapes are very old (1980) and a few I have had to fiddle with the tracking, but it's not a problem. Signal from VCR to DVD is *very* sensitive--I have a couple of things that I recorded from PBS that had a flutter on them and the recorder interpreted that as Macrovision and quit recording. I solved that problem by playing the tape on an old VCR nearby and using the line feed for the input into the recorder. This has, however, only happened on two tapes out of 75 or more.

Purchased this unit to copy home movies from beta and VHS tapes to DVD, it was very easy, just push 3 buttons and the machine starts copying. If you want to copy only parts of a tape then just press pause for the DVD. It does work with TDK DVD-R disks.
It comes with instructions on a disk, load this disc first and go through each chapter, even if you think you know it.

So far after 2 weeks am very pleased with this dvd\vcr recorder

This is a truly great product with easy to use features. However, it will only record to 4X DVD-R or 1X-8X DVD-R (and 3X DVD-RAM, but that costs $4 to $5 per disc!). It will not record to 8X DVD-R. I was amazed how difficult it was to find 4X media. All stores in my area (Fred Meyer, Ciduit City, Best Buy) stock only 8X, which causes this machine to crash into self-check mode. Even worse, all store employees said the 8X media would work. Panasonic was not help. They never answered my customer support e-mails and their site says nothing about this. I finally figured out that I could use 8X multi-speed media (usually labeled 1X-8X or sometimes 2X/4X/8X) although this is not mentioned in the manual. Once I figured out what media to use, the machine works flawlessly. This is confusing, since most computer DVD 4X drives will write to 8X media just fine. This needs to be clearly spelled out on the box and in the manual.

This unit worked great right out of the box. DVD-RAM technology is awesome!! One-touch dubbing between DVD-R or DVD-RAM and VHS tapes is simple enough for anyone to use. This is superior technology and this player is unique in offering both VHS and DVD-RAM capabilities.

Direct Navigator lets you record shows or tapes on DVD-RAM and, amazingly, creates thumbnail pix for each chapter, just like the DVD's from Hollywood!! You can then easily select the program you want to see, based on the scene shown in the thumbnail. RAM technology even lets you edit and rearrange scenes.

You can instantly access anything on the disk in seconds, and watch one show on a RAM disk while you simultaneously record another program on the same disk, and "time-slip" live programming to rewind seconds or minutes earlier with DVR functionality.

VHS functions are equally sophisticated with index search and a linear version of Direct Access to electronically label and keep track of your VHS recordings, as well. It even has a new VP mode that records 10 hours on a 6 hour EP tape.

I have owned Panasonic VHS players for years and plan to buy Panasonic DVD players that are fully compatible with DVD-RAM in the future. I plan to use its more universal DVD-R functions to dub and archive family VHS tapes that anyone in my family can use on any DVD payer.

All-in-all a very well thought out machine. Highly recommended!

This vcr/dvd player is easy to use-1 touch dubbing is really just that! My main reason for buying it was to transfer (100's) of vcr tapes I'd recorded onto DVD for long term quality-preservation. I'd been putting it off as it seemed SO overwhelming....but this is easy to use and I can't believe the quality of vcr tapes recorded to DVD -as some (vcr tapes) are 20+ years old.Amazon had the best price (...). I did have to buy a new TV as mine didn't have the input/output terminals needed, but I've been extremely happy with this product! Timer recording is also easy to set-and it has lots of wonderful features-many of which I haven't explored as of yet.

I just purchased this DVD/VCR recorder yesterday from Circuit City, spent several hours and ruined one VHS tape and one DVD-R trying to figure out the one touch dubbing process. I finally made a DVD that played back in this machine, tried it in my other two DVD players and couldn't make it work. I called Circuit City; the helpful salesperson went over the directions in the manual with me, and I realized I hadn't finalized the DVD-R. I did that, and now the DVD works in my other DVD players. The reviewer who was frustrated because the DVDs didn't work in his other DVD players did not follow directions, which specifically state that the DVD-R must be finalized in order to play in other DVD players. I think this machine is going to be just what I need for transferring family videos to DVDs.

This product does for me what it was intended to do. It easily makes DVD's from old videotapes. Pretty much you put a recorded tape in, a blank DVD in, and you press "DUB." It's that simple. The only trick is to remember to finalize the discs, and this does take a little investigating through a somewhat confusing manual in order to do so. Once done, I'm sure they will play on most machines. I have yet to have a problem playing the DVD's on either of my two computers or my tv. I am using Memorex 16X DVD-R discs. In order to use 16X discs, you have to go to the Panasonic website to download a firmware upgrade for the machine(easy to do).

The VCR and DVD play smoothly and work quickly. I have owned Sharp, Magnavox and JVC, and the Panasonic easily outdoes any of them in the quality department.

The only minus is the inability to create thumbnail chapters on the DVDs when using a DVD-R disc. You can skip 5 minutes up to the next "chapter," but you won't find that chapter in a thumbnail.

Overall, for the price, it is hands-down a good recorder. For what you pay someone else to do, you can have your recorded discs AND the machine that recorded them.