Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(68)
4 star:		(32)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

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!

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.)

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.

I've had the Panasonic E80S for about 3 weeks now, and have had the opportunity to record over 50 programs and movies on it. I have it hooked up to a regular Toshiba 32 inch TV, using Directv (I also have a broadcast antenna), and a Panasonic VCR. I time shift about 50% of the stuff I watch on TV. Anyway, I have very few complaints with this unit so far. It has done just about everything I've asked of it. The unit records in 4 modes - XP, SP, LP, & EP. The XP mode records a picture which is virtually indistinguishable from the original, as far as I can see. The SP mode is nearly as good. The LP mode is probably good for most things, except maybe fast action like hockey or basketball, and probably gives you picture quality similar to SP on your VCR. The EP mode looks terrible and is useless, as far as I'm concerned, so I wouldn't use it. You can record approximately 17 hours worth of video on the hard drive using the XP mode, approximately 36 hours using the SP mode, 73 with the LP and 106 with EP (which I wouldn't use). A DVD will hold 1 hour in XP mode, 2 hours in SP mode, 4 hours in LP mode, and 6 hours in EP mode. This unit programs similar to a VCR, so if you can program a VCR, you should be able to program this unit. It has 3 line inputs, which also have S video, I believe, and also it has component video outputs, which I'll use when I upgrade to HDTV. The line inputs are labeled L1, L2, & L3, and then you cycle through your regular channels - in my case that would be channels 2, 3 (Directv), 4, 5, 9, 11, 30, & 50. I also have my Directv hooked up directly to L1, to try to get the best picture possible, using S video, and a pair of audio cables, and it does a very good job, in my opinion. The nice thing about this unit is that you can play something else you've recorded, while you're recording something else, and also can walk in, say 20 minutes late on something you're recording, and watch it from the beginning, without waiting for the entire program to record. I'm sure it has plenty of other features, which I've not had time to investigate yet.

I was very pleased this past weekend, when I was able to copy a VCR VHS recording of an old holiday classic from the 1940's called "It Happened On Fifth Avenue" onto the hard drive of this unit, edit out the commercials, and make a DVD-R out of it. This VHS copy was 17 years old, & I was always worried that something would happen to it, and you can't buy a copy of it. IMO, it looked every bit as good as the original VHS recording, and maybe a little better (if that's possible). One of the drawbacks I see to this unit, is the speed of dubbing from hard drive to DVD-R. For instance, it took me approximately 51 minutes to dub the aformentioned movie to DVD-R, and the movie was 1 hour & 57 minutes long...and I haven't finalized it yet, which can take up to 15 minutes more. So, dubbing to DVD can be time consuming. The other drawback is that my Mintek 1600 dvd player in my bedroom, which plays a lot of different formats, won't recognize a DVD-R made on this machine, even after finalizing it. FYI, I just bought my brother a Panasonic S25 DVD player, and it plays the finalized DVD's fine. All in all though, it's just a great addition to my home video system. One final note, someone down below had asked if it recognizes channel 503 on Directv and no, it doesn't. You hook Directv up to one of your line inputs, and can see it on that input channel(L1, L2, L3). So, you have to set your Directv to the channel you want to record...that's probably the one "Pro" that Tivo has over this unit.

I had been waiting for DVD-recorder/HDD combo to come out for over 2 years. I had been following the market in Japan since DMR-HS1 and when HS2 came out, I almost bought it. The only thing that held me back was the 40GB HDD that some people seemed to be saying wasn't enough.

So when this DMR80E came out in Japan, I couldn't wait for it to come out here. And as soon as I found out it was out, I ordered it and have had it for 3 weeks.

This was exactly what I had been waiting for!

We record shows regularly and had been using VCR which was really irritating me for the following reasons:
- searching for the right location in tape
- tapes not long enough (I even used those 10hr tapes
but when I'm out of town that wasn't enough to
hold all the shows)
- rewinding (imagine how long it takes to rewind that 10hr tape)
- need to worry about overwriting
- can't figure out what's in the tape unless i play it back.

All these problems are solved with the HDD.

I guess Tivo/Replay is the same and I did consider buying one previously, but I just couldn't agree to the subscription based business model. I know which shows I want to record, so why pay monthly fee (or ont time lifetime fee) for the service? And how many times would the thing really record shows I like that didn't know about??? Besides I have enough stuff shows to watch regularly that I don't need the machine to tell me about other shows.

Anyway, the DVD-RAM/R is handy for shows that you want to keep around. You shouldn't leave stuff on the HDD if you don't want to lose them. So the other reviewer concerned about the warnings should not be because ANY HDD based electronics has potential data failure against power outage.

Regarding DVD-R compatibility warning, I think that can also be said true for any DVD-R drives because some older DVD drives don't read DVD-R disks properly. Most recent models should be ok, but I think there's always that risk. Oh, be sure to turn on the DVD-R compatible mode when recording if you want to play it back on other players.

One note is that if you want to record stuff from HDD to DVD without re-encoding (ie loss of quality), you need to use the fast copy mode. You had to turn on the DVD-R compatibility mode in order to do this.

I've written some tips based on the reviews here and the problems that I've had. I hesitate to write them, because it makes the Panasonic DMR-E80GH seem so complicated. It's true that it is more complicated than a plain DVD-player, but it does so much more!

1.) The Panasonic DMR-E80H has a hard drive similar to a computer. So it helps to treat it like you would a computer. Get a high quality surge protector and plug the DVD player into it. If you turn the DVD-player off or unplug it, wait a minute or so before you turn it back on or plug it back in. You want to allow the hard drive to power all the way down before you ask it to power back up. I unplug it (and all my home entertainment equipment) during thunderstorms, just like I do my computer. Sometimes the DVD player needs to finish what it is doing before it will respond to a new command from the remote or a button on the machine.

2.) There are two important buttons: HDD (hard drive) and DVD. Whichever one is active will be lit (on the DVD player). So, if you press a button on the remote and you don't get the expected response, check to see which one is lit. For example, if DVD is lit, then pressing 'stop' then 'enter' won't stop a program from recording to the hard drive. So you have to push HDD first, and then 'stop' then 'enter'.

3.) Consider keeping the old DVD player hooked up for children.

4.) For DVD-Audio, the default setting is typically stereo 2.0, and you must go into the set up menu of the DVD *disc* to change to 5.1 or DTS.

5.) For playing some DVD-Rs, I've had to go into the DVD *player* set-up menu and select 'disc', then 'DVD-video mode', then select 'on'.

What I like:

Panasonic DMR-E80H has a higher quality picture than our previous two DVD players, one of which was progressive scan. The recording quality is much better than TiVo. I like the fact that it has several inputs. I have inputs from my vcr, two cable boxes, and TiVo. I love the editing functions (which TiVo lacks). When my brother-in-law was Iraq, he wanted news programs. I recorded a news show every day, edited out what he wasn't interested in, and mailed him the discs. He loved it!

I've used the cheapest DVD-R's that I could find locally (not on the internet). They work fine. I recorded a program related to work and passed it out to everyone at work. The discs played on everyone's DVD player. We've had no problems with compatibility (yet).

If you push play twice, it plays at 1 1/3 speed. It still plays the speech, which we can generally understand. This is great for watching something when we're in a hurry. Unfortunately, this only works in HDD mode, not on DVD's.

What I don't like:

It doesn't change the channel on the cable box like TiVo does. Once I wanted to record a program and I pushed the record button. Well, about 10 minutes later, it stopped recording the show to record a previously programmed show. It doesn't warn you (like TiVo does).

I highly recommend this DVD-recorder. I love it.

Panasonic DMR E80H

Let me start by saying that I am not a very technical person. I'm just an average user of electronic products. Therefore, please look at this review in that light.

I wanted the DMR E80H for several reasons: First, I wanted to be able to transfer my home 8MM and Hi 8 videos to a DVDs while doing some editing. Second, I wanted to transfer some commercial VHS tapes to DVD. Third, I wanted to be able to record some movies and televisions shows and in some very few instances, transfer them to a DVD. The DMR E80H does a good job with each of these objectives.

In my opinion, the manual, although very comprehensive, is not very clear in a number of areas. For instance, the manual and other Panasonic documents, indicates that the DMR E80H is multi-regional. Well, what does that mean? I thought that it meant that I could play a DVD from any region of the world (say Europe or Japan). What I thought is somewhat true from what I could read about the subject but not exactly. My point is that I also thought the manual would help me understand but the manual helps little in this area. There are other examples where the manual did not help nor did the Customer Care Center. See below.

The unit performs fairly well with my first objective. Panasonic told me ahead of time that I would not be able to do a lot of editing when I transfer my home video tapes. I was told I would be able to create a program and then I would be able to edit my program into a play list. The creation of the play list is fairly straightforward. However, it did take some experimentation to get it right (again, the manual is not very clear). I thought I would be able to put titles on each scene of the Play List but haven't found I can do that. The most disappointing thing about the Play List function is the fact that when you go to dub onto a DVD Disc from the Hard Drive, if you opt to do that using a Play List, you cannot use the speed-dubbing feature. You must dub in real time. I asked Panasonic several times why this is so and they could not give me a satisfactory answer. I found out why trough experimentation. When you create a Play List you do not really change the program. So, let's say you have a program that you divide into 5 scenes, you delete scenes 2 and 4, and then you want to write a DVD. If you choose to dub the Program you will dub all 5 scenes because you have not really erased the 2 scenes from the Program. You have erased the 2 scenes only from the Play List. If you chose to dub the Play List, you will only transfer the 3 scenes that remain in the Play List to the DVD but you must do the dubbing in real time. This fact is a major limitation to my objectives.

Panasonic told me I could not dub in background music when I dub from the Hard Drive to a DVD. I found that I could accomplish the same thing by replacing one of the audio feeds from the camera with an audio feed from a CD player. This also works very nicely when I use an audio feed from a CD player while I am coping still pictures from my Digital Camera.

My second objective is really impaired because Panasonic chose to use technology to prevent the coping of tapes that are copy-protected by the manufacturer. The manual says, "This unit incorporates copyright protection technology for recording equipment known as CPRM". WHY? I thought that a Supreme Court ruling said that I had the right to make back-up copies and that I had the right to record from broadcasts that play through my TV. This feature Panasonic chose to include may help manufacturers of DVDs but is a major limitation for me. After all, I don't want to make copies so that I can sell them! Those who do would not like the speed of copying anyway and I'm sure they have ways of beating the system.

This copy protection feature also limits my third objective but I can still make use of it for the most part. This feature is really excellent. No longer need I hunt for a tape when I want to record something.

Considering everything, I think the DMR E80H is well worth the money.

Actually, I have the next bigger model DMR-HS2, and have had it for several months now and love it love it love it. I think the main difference between these models is the larger hard drive in the E80HS and the JPEG capability of my model. Anyway, I wanted to respond to the person who was not sure if they liked theirs because of copyright scheme, power failure warning, etc. First of all, yes, of course for DVD your are going to be up against copyright protection enforcement with DVD burners so this should not have surprised you. (I have not had any problem recording movies from cable or regular TV at all so far.) Secondly, don't worry about the power failure warning. I have had several power failures at home in my presence, and there were probably more than I know, ad I have yet to lose anything that was already recorded on the hard disk. Cannot ask much more than that from electronics. Also, I have played the DVDs that I have burned on several different players and they have worked about 90% of the time so far. (I have burned about 175 DVDs so far with my DMR-HS2 and a lot of that is condensed material from the hard drive where I have removed commercials, etc.) Here are two different things I like to do before going to bed: scenario 1. set the timer to record something in the morning (and it is nice that you can set the time while something is recording without interrupting it). Then when you are finished recording what is on right now, then set the unit to burn stuff from you hard drive that you have edited to a DVD-R, and go to bed. 2 hrs after the unit finishes burning your DVD it will auto shut off from inactivity. Then in the am it will fire back up and start recording your am show. Pretty neat! Scenario 2 - Here is another (one that I am doing tonight actually): set the unit to record on L3 where your cable box is tuned to a movie channel and have it record right to DVD-R (since there are no commercials) using FR speed (optimum for time selected), then set the timer to record on another channel now or some other time (could be regular broadcast) to the hard disk. It will switch from DV, L1, L2 or L3 on its own. (Of course with a cable box, I am using a splitter on the coax cable at the wall so that I can route what is coming in on L1 around and bypassing the cable box, whereas L3 comes right from the cable box's RCA outputs.) Can't wait to upgrade my TV - although my current Sony looks great with the output from this thing. I usually record on SP, XP and mostly FR (variable) speeds. Also archive a lot from VHS - works great. A real solid piece of electronics!

This is perhaps my most-researched electronic purchase. Thanks to others
who have left reviews. I spent days researching and concluded that this recorder certainly met my needs and was the best of the three I considered (Sony, Philips and Panasonic). The others did not have hard drives... a major consideration. The comments on the user-unfriendliness of the Philips, and the difficulty with the manual,pursuaded me to return the Philips unopened. I did try the Sony, and although I generally have a positive opinion of Sony products (notwithstanding recent headaches with my expensive Sony Vaio computer), I found the quality of the picture from the Panasonic better than the Sony, and the Panasonic offered a hard drive for about the same price of a Sony without a hard drive.

So, Pluses:
- the hard drive
- superior picture quality
- ease of use (the Sony may be slightly better here)
- price

Minuses:

- no firewire or iLink input ( that was really cheap of Panasonic to omit this on this model while including it on some of its other models)
- Sony plays DVD+R and +RW as well as -R and -RW, but records in -RW and -R; Panasonic records in DVD RAM and -R and plays these two. (I have not used the RAM disk but the DVD -R works very well in my two other Sony DVD players and my Sony computer. Not in my older HP computer).

Overall, I wanted a recorder primarily to save my old VHS and Hi8 tapes to DVD and, when I have more time, do some basic edits of some tapes. ( I did not buy this primarily for TV recording, but the "Tivo-like" time slip feature that allows you to "rewind" a show while it is on live, while the recorder continues to record, is a definite plus over the others.) I have transferred over 10 Hi8 and VHS tapes to DVD -R without problems. I frankly think that this machine is much simpler to use than my PC's DVD burner. The Panasonic's picture quality is very good. I am very satisfied with the product. I was very concerned about the alleged loss of quality when one dubs from hard disk to DVD -R. Allegedly, the transfer goes from digital to analog to digital, but I think subsequent comments from others dispelled that concern well. Thanks to the many consumer reviews I read, including on Amazon, I am quite happy with my purchase of this DVD recorder. Incidentally, Amazon does have very good prices on that product.

I've had my E80 for one week and I'm addicted! My old SVHS machine is gone and my wife and I are recording shows on the hard disk drive (HDD) and letting them buffer a little before watching them while they record, so we can pause, stop and skip commercials. The stand-alone "Tivo" aspect of this machine was the primary selling point for me and we are now using it fully.

One nice feature is the ability to set it to record a daily or weekly show and then record over the previous one each time. My wife watches "Wheel of Fortune" and I watch "The Daily Show" pretty regularly, so those are now set to record every day -- but they don't accumulate on the hard drive. There is always just one of each on there -- the last ones that ran.

I had been concerned about video reproduction on our 48" rear projection TV screen. But the SP setting on the E80 delivers an excellent picture, better than my old SVHS. The top XP setting is even better -- pretty much indistinguishable from the original signal. I used high-speed dubbing to move one program from the HDD to a DVD-ram disk. It took 8 minutes to dub a 30-minute program and I had no problems following instructions from the manual.

We have played a few DVD movies and the video and sound reproduction are excellent, better than my old Sony DVD player. The first movie I played was my usual "test" scene -- the "Battle of Carthage" from "Gladiator" with lots of light and dark contrast and loud, widely-separated DTS audio. Superb!

The manual is fairly straightforward, as those things go, and I found the setup to be uncomplicated. I did not find the disclaimers in the manual about things that might conceivably happen (but probably won't) to be ...disconcerting .... The way I read it, the warning about the possibility of a "disk becoming unusable" if you get a power failure during recording refers more to DVD disks than the HDD. In general, I find that remotes could be better designed and this one is no exception. I would make it larger with larger buttons and make it work from a greater side-angle but that is nit-picking.

Some of the specs I have seen listed for this machine contain inaccuracies. There are accurate specs for it on the Panasonic website. People with camcorders should know that the E80 does not have a digital input. It does have one optical digital output to run audio to your receiver. The optical cable does not come with the unit, btw.

Judging from one week in, this is fine machine and I already love it dearly.