Panasonic DMR-E80H Progressive-Scan DVD Player/Recorder with Hard Drive , Silver

by Panasonic

Product Details

Product Manual [2.28mb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 16.9 x 3.1 inches ; 11.4 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 12 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B00009KXA3
• Item model number: DMR-E80H
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (145 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #51,848 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
  • #60 in Electronics > Televisions & Video > DVD Players & Recorders > DVD Recorders
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Early Adopters Pick: May 2003. This is the first DVD player with a built-in hard drive recorder, allowing you to record all your favorite shows onto digital disk as well as watch DVDs.

Talk about "all in one"--the Panasonic DMR-E80HS not only records DVDs and stores more than 100 hours of audio/video programming on its built-in memory; it's also a progressive-scan DVD player (for use with high-definition or HD-ready TVs) that also handles your DVDs, CDs, and MP3 recordable discs. With the DMR-E80HS's 80 GB hard drive, it provides up to 104 hours of recording time, plus up to 6 hours on a removable 4.7 GB DVD-RAM disc (in Extended Play mode in each case). The DMR-E80HS offers the flexibility of recording on both DVD-RAM--perfect for instant chapter access and for multiple rerecordings--as well as DVD-R, widely regarded as the most widely compatible of the many DVD formats (great for sharing camcorder footage with loved ones).

Panasonic's Time Slip feature lets you use your DVD recorder like a personal video recorder, or PVR. Because of DVD-RAM's extremely fast transfer rate, you can view the recorded portion of an ongoing program from the beginning, while still recording the program in progress. In addition to recording new video content, the DMR-E80HS lets you transfer your favorite VHS recordings to durable, space-saving discs. Personal movie libraries and family videos can be archived, preserved, and easily cataloged and accessed. Picture-enhancing technologies include 3D noise reduction, block noise reduction, and mosquito noise reduction.

With the Direct Navigator you can instantly access recorded material from an onscreen menu that lists recording dates, times, channels, and titles. Finding and viewing recorded material is simple because there's no need to search, fast-forward, or rewind. You can even perform simple non-linear video editing, such as rearranging the order of scenes, skipping over unwanted scenes, and creating custom playlists of favorite scenes on a disc.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

149 of 156 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best DVD/HDD Recorder Yet..., August 7, 2003

By 

Alexander Dukas (Boston / Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Panasonic DMR-E80H Progressive-Scan DVD Player/Recorder with Hard Drive , Silver (Electronics)

First of all, kudos must go to Panasonic for insisting on sticking to the far superior DVD-RAM technology for re-recordable discs since the discs physical surfaces are fully protected and the data is apparently better organized.

I have to say that I absolutely love this device!

Record to HDD, then burn what you want to keep to DVD-R or the far superior DVD-RAM, and finally erase what programs you don't need.

The only limitation is that the DVD-RAM's will only play back on Panasonic DVD players, however, the DVD-R recordings in my experience will play on all modern DVD Players.

The remote control has been fully perfected as opposed to the one they had for this model's 40 GB predecessor which was a horror show.

I liked the look and design of the earlier 40 GB unit a little better and it also had a few more plug in ports for memory sticks and the like, but this one is far more functional in terms of button location, ease of use, and the remote control.

Realistically, you have to use SP or XP speed for best visual clarity so the 106 hours of storage it claims to record at EP speed is not something you'd really be using.

However, with the HDD to DVD-R or DVD-RAM transfer capability (It does this at higher-speed rather then playback speed) you can record, transfer, and wipe.

The next model should have more drive space but this will do nicely for most of us for now.

I will never record to VHS EVER again!

81 of 88 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great recorder; correction to specs, August 24, 2003

By 

Colin Gould (SF Bay Area, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Panasonic DMR-E80H Progressive-Scan DVD Player/Recorder with Hard Drive , Silver (Electronics)

This is a great recorder, the HD space of a Tivo (but no channel guide, bummer), together with the DVD-R/RAM disk read/write capability of the panasonic recorders- a perfect match.

Correction for the posted specs:
the E80H model (w/ hard drive) does NOT have a digital Firewire input, and does NOT have coax digital audio out (optical only.)
The E60S (no hard drive) and the older HS2 model (smaller harddrive, more $$) have firewire input.

This player does play MP3s, and will actually also play DVD-Audio disks (but I think only in stereo , not 6channel sound.)

62 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Toshiba sd-h400 vs. Panasonic dmr-e80h, September 15, 2003

By 

J. Hardy IV (Snohomish, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Panasonic DMR-E80H Progressive-Scan DVD Player/Recorder with Hard Drive , Silver (Electronics)

This is a dual review, for the Panasonic DVD-R Recorder DMR-E80H and the Toshiba sd-h400. Hopefully it can help those deciding between the two. I had done the research and was on my way to collect the Panasonic when the video store I had called told me they were just unloading the new Toshibas. It was a hundred plus less than the Panasonic and included TIVO. My fiscal side took over and I figured I'd give it whirl. I have an extended digital cable box and the Sony KP57WV700 57" HDTV that I was going to interface this with, pretty straightforward system.

Here is the simple layout of what I wanted to do: 1. cable in to digital cable box, out via component cables [red, green, blue] to HDTV [this produces the best signal and HD channel output on the TV]. 2. cable in to Toshiba/Panasonic for recording basic cable Ch. 1-98. 3. Video [composite?] out from digital cable box to Toshiba/Panasonic to record HDTV or whatever channel is on, on the digital cable box.

First off neither the Toshiba or Panasonic boxes has component in, so they couldn't receive the best signal from the component out on the digital cable box.

The Toshiba touts and comes with Tivo basic, which gets you 3 days advance programming via their guide, chasing playback, etc. This was the first experience I had had with a Tivo product. The setup for the Toshiba took a long time [multiple phone calls and data manipulation], and compounding things it was required that a phone line be utilised for the connection. A bad thing if you don't have a jack around, so I had to string one across hallways in ungainly fashion. Not good. I should say, you can buy a wireless USB adapter if you want, or a USB Ethernet connector to get your updates if you want.

Second hit against the Toshiba/Tivo, and this is what bothered me the most: they do not allow recording / timer recording from a second video input source unless you upgrade to the Tivo Plus service. This bit of info is nestled in the middle of the manual during extended setup. So for my set up which had cable signal in via RF and composite video in from the digital cable box, it meant I couldn't record as line in from the digital cable box.

Finally, the recording quality of the Toshiba ranged between three levels, taking their appropriate chunk of the HD. The Panasonic offered more flexibility here with more levels and their times. Tivo also is constantly writing to the HD to maintain their `manipulate live tv' functionality.

The DVD playback output between the two was comparable, you can choose between progressive and interlaced if you have a TV that supports it.

So I took the Toshiba back and got the Panasonic which I should have done I the first place. It has a much more professional finish, there are no fourth grader designed graphics/buttons on it like the Tivo. The Panasonic allowed me to hook up three more video inputs and record against them and do timer recordings on them. Bingo. The picture quality is very close to source using the second to top recording mode which gets you 36 hours of record time, 104 for EP, 74 for the next, and 18 for the top of the line. The Panasonic also has the time slip functions that let you watch a prior recorded item from the HD if you're currently recording, and it lets you watch the beginning of a recorded item *while* it's recording. Nice if you show up for the program 10 mins. late. It also records to DVD-RAM and DVD-R if you want to dub your VHS tapes or something you watch on broadcast TV, but that's a secondary feature to me so I didn't get too into it.

And so, for my setup, the Panasonic was the superior choice I should have exercised the first go around. Be alert to the limitations of the Toshiba if interested in it. I'm definitely enjoying the functions and features of the new Panasonic and can recommend it highly.