Customer Reviews

Panasonic DMR-ES15S DVD Recorder with DV Input

5 star:		(78)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

Having grown weary of dragging my home video collection (which is very important to me) all over the place, and knowing that my wife and I both enjoy making films, we decided that we'd like to get a DVD recorder. The first one that we got was a piece of junk from Samsung (I normally like Samsung, but not this time) which I got rid of immediatly, and replaced with this one from Panasonic. I was not at all disappointed.

The DMR-ES15S is a fantastic, very easy to use DVD recorder. It is extremely versatile as far as what kind of media it will accept: DVD-RAM, DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW as well as other types of media. Most of the menus and functions are very self-explanatory, but if you do need the instruction manual it's laid our very nicely. The S-Video and DV inputs in the front of this unit (as well as the standard AV inputs) are very convinient and make this unit very user-friendly.

In the month or so that we've had the unit I've already recorded about 30 DVDs, and have had no trouble at all. Do note that this unit will NOT record copywrited material: in fact most DVD recorders wont, so don't be too disappointed in this one. This was an excellent product for the price as well - I highly recommed this unit!

...after scouring several online audio/video discussion boards like AVS Forum, I chose this player for its acclaimed reliability, ease of use, and compatibility. Almost a year later and over 200 recorded DVDs later, I am happy to say that it has not disappointed me in the least.

I have had zero problems with playback on dozens of other people's DVD players and computers, and a grand total of 2 coasters (only with the cheapie Phillips brand DVDs, none with the Taiyo Yuden blank DVDs which were also an online-discussion-board word-of-mouth selection).

Three caveats:

1. Panasonic is known for making outstanding bang-for-the-buck mass products, but their user manuals have never been very well written as say, Sony's manuals (if only Sony's price/performance ratio were anywhere as good, unfortunately). So read and reread it as you go along, many things are not very clearly explained but quickly become clear after a little trial and error. For instance, one of the reviewers here claims that this player cannot play back widescreen material in widescreen format...absolute rubbish!

2. Consumers who are buying a DVD recorder to duplicate copyrighted DVDs will sometimes blame the DVD recorder when they cannot do this. It's not the recorder's fault, it's the electronic copyright protection on the DVDs, stupid! You're NOT supposed to be able to do that, because it's illegal, duh! There are semi-legal ways around this using certain additional hardware but you'll need to Google that up yourself, I don't want the Feds coming after me, lol.

3. Use decent quality blank DVDs...it'll cost you what, an extra ten cents or so per DVD (buy bulk quantities online at specialty sources like Meritline, for instance) but is well worth the time and trouble saved by avoiding coasters. Taiyo Yuden is well-known among the online forum community as having the best coaster-proofing, that's the one brand that has yet to ever let me down.

And lastly, if you have trouble programming your VCR to record TV programs, you will probably not have the easiest time with using ANY dvd recorder to do so. So just take a deep breath, reread the very imperfect manual many times as you go along...it'll come to you sooner or later!

After weeks of research I purchased the Panasonic DMR-ES15S DVD Recorder last February, but came very close to throwing it into the trash shortly afterwards. This compact machine is full of fantastic features and I was extremely pleased with it for awhile. I even bought a Panasonic DVD-S52S DVD Player to use in another room with the DVD disks I hoped to make with the recorder. I was committed to moving from the old VHS tape recording technology to the more contemporary DVD equipment.

I used the proprietary DVD-RAM disks to schedule/record TV shows from my cable service for their versatility and advantages over the more common DVD-RW and DVD+RW disks for recording. This was a "no brainer" choice of recording media since the Panasonic DVD system offers so many advantages when using DVD-RAM disks and they can be used over and over thousands of times. I bought a dozen of them even though the recorder can handle a wide variety of other disk formats.

Eventually I started to notice that my recorder was having difficulty recognizing the RAM discs. I blew a number of recordings and saw frequent error messages advising me of some vague problem and that I should try a different disk. I unsuccessfully followed a number of instructions in the owner's manual in order to solve that problem. Everything else on the machine was working just as it should and I couldn't believe the brand new RAM disks I was using were faulty.

I telephoned the Panasonic support line and also contacted the support service online, but received no help at all. I was told to take my machine to an authorized service center for repair. Because the closest approved shop was miles away that didn't appeal to me very much.

I continued to doggedly search for a solution or a work around and finally discovered a fix. It occurred to me that this DVD recorder and others for that matter were inherently somewhat slow to read disks. I had the Quick Start function engaged on my recorder and got to thinking that such a speedy boot up (one second) might not give the machine enough time to do what I had programmed it to do. I turned off the Quick Start feature and the Panasonic DMR-ES15S DVD Recorder began to work perfectly. It was just a matter of using the Setup Menu to cancel the Quick Start function. It isn't all that essential anyhow. I don't know if anyone else has encountered the difficulty I had with the DMR-ES15S, nor do I know if my simple discovery will work for others, but it was certainly an easy and effective resolution in my case.

After a month of frustration, tinkering and getting the recorder back to behaving properly I am now extremely happy with it. The price was right, the quality of construction seems good and the number of features the unit has is unbelievable. I recommend this recorder as a great way to enter the world of making DVDs at home.

There is a newer model of this machine available now (the Panasonic DMR-EZ17S DVD Recorder), but it is somewhat more expensive. I doubt that it is a significant improvement over the DMR-EZ15S that I have been describing.

Update May 30 08, follow-on to note below: Good news and bad news. The bad news is that, in total, the disk drive in four of my five units failed. The good news is that warranties were still in effect and warranty service was superb (see below). At present, all units perform flawlessly.

WORTHY of note (added Mar 05 08): Panasonic support continues to be superb. I had disk drive failure in two units; warranty repair was prompt and thorough, no hassle. The warranty is for one year on BOTH parts and labor (better than most), and shipping is paid both ways. Couldn't ask for more! My experience has been that disk drives in general are problematic (including some other brands, NOT just Panasonic).

Note (added Dec 08 07): My S15s have continued to perform well. A few problems have been corrected with The Panasonic Firmware Update Disk.

After this few months of use my experience is that RAM disks just don't go the distance: at least 80% failure rate after 10 or 15 uses. I think the problem is the technology or the disks, not the recorder. This same is true to some extent with -RW but a much lower failure rate. I have not had any failure with -R disks. Over three years of using various recorders, I "guesstimate" my failure rate with DVD-R disks to be no more than 1% (if that). I use mostly Memorex, some TDK (a few Sony) DVD-Rs, Panasonic RAM, and Memorex -RWs.

Again, owners take note that Panasonic's Firmware Update Disk can correct some of the problems that I read about in these reviews.

Throughout, Panasonic's support has been superb.

Note (added Jun 12 07): I confirmed with Panasonic that this -ES15 is discontinued and I find that it is no longer widely available. My experience with these units tells me that it's a good thing to have Panasonic's Firmware Update Disk on hand; it has corrected several small but vexing problems and is better than having to return a machine that you like. The disk is P# DMR-ES15 U5-319, available from Panasonic Tech Support (which continues to be outstanding).

Note: (added Jun 17) Received a new (replacement) remote as promised, see addendum at end of this review. One could not ask for better support.
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For those of you who hate the ES15, I feel your pain. My first one was a frustrating dud; I exchanged it and the second one worked perfectly . . . well, almost. After a while the "Delete" feature stopped working, but a firmware update disk from Panasonic fixed that (it arrived in just three days). Panasonic's tech support has been excellent, outstanding even (as has Toshiba's if you need to know).

IMO this S15 is decidedly at the top of the current crop of DVDRs because it has more features and they are more sensible and better laid out than most. It has some nice tweaks up from the S10 but a few (small) backward steps. Graphics and fonts should be better. Remote layout and balance are poor (but who doesn't use a learning remote to get a sensible layout?), no Open/Close button. Console display improved from S10. Good timer features: logical layout, can choose to execute an event or not (great feature but cumbersome to set), phrase list (for titles, a great time saver for me), can do disk and event titles before recording an event, shows alert if inadequate time remains on disk, . . . and more. Has 16 timer slots, I would like 24 or 32. Very bad: thumbnails are too small (eight per page, should be six, four even better). Can't set to go to Top Menu after each title when playing. Can't choose more pleasing title page color(s). Chapter marks should be set during recording. Sometimes two menu steps are used when one or a button would do, or a menu step or two is required even though there's a button on the remote that will do that very thing. Some menu items are redundant. But overall the menu layout is sensible and user-friendly. Though some things could be better, I don't see anything that's completely stupid (as is the case with some, if not most, other brands).

It can remain off or on (output to TV) during timer events, a nice feature. If you want to use two or three of them in the same room, three code sets are available. This may be a good idea because RW (unfinalized) will not transport at all to other brands and RAM disks can be problematic. Wish all manufacturers had gotten together on standards way back when; my experience is that only a finalized (R or RW) disk transports reliably between brands.

So far it has not misfired on a timer event and has done well with all disk flavors that I use: -R, -RW, -RAM (the -RAM was reliable Panasonic to Panasonic only, not reliable Panasonic to Toshiba & reverse). One RAM disk is included.

My advice (I know you just couldn't wait to hear it): when it works, this is a very good machine compared to everything else, at least it's "the best of a bad lot." To try it, buy one from a nearby reliable vendor that has a generous, no questions return policy.

Another way to sum it up: When it's good, it's very good; when it's bad, it's very, very . . . well . . . you know.

Short comparisons:

Toshiba R400: woefully short on features. No thumbnails, title editing is water drip torture, remote's labels are essentially useless (very small, about 1/16") and - now get this - a somewhat dark gray on black. Time Remaining display on timer setup screen is completely wrong except for the first event on a new blank disk. Can't see front inputs from above even with unit at shoulder height. Can't name a disk. No power backup (only 5 seconds). If you use the auto-finalize feature you can't do titles. Graphics and fonts much better than most (including the S15), very clear and pleasing. Panel display is very poor (a lower-case "a" looks like a reversed "6." Remote layout is at best fair, balance good. Do note that it does not have a tuner (if you need one, I don't). Overall it was a big disappointment, I took it back. Toshiba had a real good thing in the D-R4 but have done an admirable job in improving it from almost outstanding to mostly stupid.

Sony: didn't try them, just what I read. No pause button and that stupid up-down timer settings (and slow, about one second per minute so I've read). I didn't try the Sonys because of those two features (no pause button on a machine that should dub selected clips from your VHS - a real genius of a design feature, yes?). Do read about this in reviews on Sony.

Tried a Samsung last year, very short on features and overall a miserable design. Don't know about any others.

Addendum: Just purchased a second ES15, it works perfectly. Had a minor defect in the remote, Panasonic is sending a replacement at no cost and I don't even have to ship the defective one to Panasonic. Outstanding!

Note: an advantage to having two machines of the same brand is that you don't have to finalize anything to play a recording made by one in the other; this was my solution to "using DVDRs like VCRs." The -RW disks fill my need perfectly in this scenario, almost as convenient as VHS tapes.

Addendum Thu Jun 07/07: Yesterday I purchased a third ES15 (don't ask . . . well, if you must know, I have very complicated viewing habits). This morning I gave it a comprehensive test drive and it works perfectly (as does the remote).

If you use a learning remote and have access to an older remote (eg ES10), you can set up an "Open/Close" button, makes life more better. (The Sony RM-VL600 Learning Remote is worth a look if you don't have something already.)

Related info: see my post "Disk Stuff 101"
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This is a great DVD Recorder, but please be advised against using DVD+RW to record. After recording onto a Memorex DVD+RW, taking it out of the machine, then putting it back in, the recorder did not recognize the disk and asked for it to be reformatted. Attempts to reformat the disk and record on it again fail. This happened to 3 disks before I called Panasonic. After a half hour on hold, the technician told me that "we frequently experience problems recording to DVD+RW, try using DVD-RW or DVD-RAM instead".

DATE: 09/29/2007
RE: Panasonic DMR-ES15S DVD Recorder with DV Input

This product suffered the identical component failure five times in 15 months. I had a 1 year extra service contract and the product generated a U61 error code nearly every 3 months. The contract has expired and the unit has also expired.

Error code U61 involved the component related to the drive itself. You can hear the drive pickup struggling and failing to find its place upon failure.

I paid $159.99 for the DVD recorder.

Each time, the same part failing was the "DVD RAM Unit" at a cost of $239.44 per part. Labor amounted to about $55.00. The unit had been repaired locally and at the Panasonic service location (which required shipping and waiting, of course).

I got my money's worth only in the sense that the unit and service contract cost about $200.00 and the additional repairs raised the whole cost to $1157.76. If I repaired it again with my own money, the total cost would be $1452.20. And come the end of the year?--you get the idea.

I used the unit every day in a home setting. The unit seems to approach failure when burning dvd+r disks, but allows the use of dvd+rw disks until the final failure occurs (with a dvd+r disk). Failed "finalization" of dvd+r disks are the first warning signs, if you get warning signs.

My experience with four separate brands of DVD recorders is that they ALL are not built to survive daily home use, but this unit was the leader in failures per year by far.

I have a stereo unit that I purchased in 1989 and it all works except the cassette tape drives.

A school friend of mine bought a stereo system in 1976 and it all still works.

Planned obsolescence once referred to the auto industry. No more.

Panasonic DMR-ES15S DVD Recorder with DV Input
06/2006 Bought
08/2006 Failed and Repaired
12/2006 Failed and Repaired
03/2007 Failed and Repaired
04/2007 Failed and Repaired (yes, 1 month to next failure)
09/2007 Mourned and Buried

I am very happy with this recorder, which I bought for $120, free shipping and no tax. But I found there to be much confusion about its features and abilities when I was researching this purchase, so let me clear a few things up.

Basically, if you use DVD-RAM discs, this recorder can do just about anything you'd want to do with a DVD! You can divide the titles, set your own chapter breaks, delete chapters of your choosing (such as commercials), choose the frame you want to represent each chapter in the menu, edit the titles, edit the disk title, and re-record on the same disc 100,000 times. The HUGE minus is that the DVD-RAM format is only reported to work in 5% of the recorders. Based on my research, I would assume that unless the DVD player is a Panasonic, then you should assume that DVD-RAM will not work. I've tested the DVD-RAM disc in a Zenith DVD player, a Yamaha DVD player, a Magnavox DVD player, a Sony Playstation, a Dell laptop computer, and an HP laptop computer. The DVD-RAM format worked in none of these.

After that, I've burned a dozen or so DVD discs on DVD-R discs. These discs are supposed to have the broadest compatibility and in my research they worked in ALL of the previously mentioned players and PCs. However, you MUST "finalize" the disc, which disables all future edits to the disc while enabling it to be played on other players. I suspect reviewers that have reported poor compatibility have skipped this step. This feature is refered to in the manual, but it was still hard to find. The reviewers that say the documentation is poor are absolutely correct. Everything is in there, but even after you read it, it can be hard to find the features in the manual.

The minus to the DVD-R discs is that you can only select the icon that will represent each title, set the text of each title, and set the text of the disc title. You CANNOT set your own chapter breaks or delete specific chapters. This is the key feature to being able to edit out commercials. You can also only delete whole titles, and the disc space is not recovered even though the title is deleted. With DVD-R, each instance of pressing the record button followed by a stop is recorded as a separate "title" with it's own entry on the DVD menu. When the disc is finalized, chapters are automatically inserted about every five minutes, but there is no "chapter menu" created on the finalized disc.

In short, the DVD-RAM discs give amazing flexibility, but they are more expensive and the compatibility is nearly nill. The DVD-R discs are broadly compatible, but with limited editing features. According to the guidebook, using a rewritable disc -RW or +RW only allow you to delete and recover the space if the LAST title is deleted, otherwise they are identical to -R. Only -RAM discs have the extensive features.

Overall, I can work with these issues. I have a Dish Network DVR that holds my initial recordings. I most often am wanting to save my son's programs to DVD to free up space on the DVR and allow him to watch his favorite television shows in the car. To do this, I insert a blank disc and select if I want it to hold 1, 2, 4, or 8 hours of programming (I usually use 2, and haven't really compared the resolution of the various time settings). I then select play on the Dish Network DVR and simultaneously press record on the DVD recorder. Since his shows are usually 30 minutes, I utilized a handy feature of the DVD recorder, by subsequently pressing the record, the recorder will automatically turn off after 30, 60, 90, etc. minutes. Thus I don't have to babysit the recorder to turn it off at the right time. After I record four 30 minute shows on a DVD-R set to 2 hours of recording time, I then pick which frame I want displayed as the icon for each episode and type in the titles of each episode. I then Finalize the disk and I now have a disc that works in all our DVD players that starts with a menu of four television shows which are divided with 5 minute chapters.

I have NOT tried to direct to Mini-DVD link (firewire) but will soon. I also have NOT tried the online TV Guide recording feature. But it appears that with DVD-RAM discs this recorder might work much like a DVR. Note that the recorder comes with one DVD-RAM disc, so you can do your own compatibility tests without buying and -RAM discs.

This is ALLOT of recorder for $120. But if you really want to edit out commericials and store in a compatible format, you probably need to shop for a recorder with an integrated hard-drive that will cost 3-5 times as much money.

Good luck on your purchase.

I purchased this item a couple months ago and, after recording a number of programs off of TIVO, live television, and my video camera, am delighted to report that it works very well. Unlike quite a few recorders out there, the Panasonic ES series seems to be the most reliable device for recording discs that can be played on other DVD players, portables, and computers.

The quality of recordings ranges from excellent (1 and 2 hour), good (4 hour), to usable but not the greatest equivalence of a VHS SP recording (6/8 hour). Startup menu features make it simple to create chapters and titles although this feature is nowhere near customizable in the way most DVD author software allows on a PC/Mac. The ability to write to most media types and brands of media is also very nice. Lastly, having a front input bank makes it easy to connect a digital or video camera but keep in mind that this is not an editing deck so laying out a timeline, cuts, or audio tracks isn't an option.

Great value, good build quality, and high compatibility makes this a five-star product.

The Panasonic DMRES-15 is a great machine. It records to all formats including DVD-R, +R, RAM, as well as dual layer. Dual layer recording is important because compared to the standard dvd disc at 4.7GB, the dual layer disc can record up to 8.5 GB per disc. In DVD-R dual layer format you can record up to 7.5 hours on each layer or about 15 hours on 1 disc. Obviously the quality of that much recorded data is not great, but in standard SP mode you can record 1 hour and 54 minutes on each layer or nearly 4 hours per disc with the quality of the picture simply outstanding. You can create title names for each disc and for each individual program that you choose to record and you can also create thumbnail/pictures for each program title, taken from anywhere in the recording. It is very easy to hook up and get going, and the user manual is straightforward particularly if you have used a Panasonic DVD recorder previously. The ability to convert home movies/camcorder tape to dvd, saves a lot of space and makes accessibility of the recordings much easier as well. I highly recommend this machine.

I spent hours and hours researching DVD recorders, reading scores (if not hundreds) of reviews, which typically contradicted each other, even on such matters as technical specifications and capabilities which one should expect to be a matter of fact and not subject to dispute, or repeated misrepresentation. I started by scouring Amazon and other sites for reviews, stumbled upon a comparison chart at one review site, built an Excel spreadsheet (sorry, I'm a data geek) from that, expanded it to include more models (rows) and variables (columns) than I'll admit, and am confident that, not only given my specific needs but given the various feature sets and price points, that the Panasonic ES15S is a superior choice both functionally and financially.

I needed a DVD recorder for two primary uses: archiving children's shows from a PVR (aka DVR, the cable/satellite box with a hard drive that allows you to record shows - Tivo is one brand, I have DishTV), and archiving Mini-DV tapes of family movies from a camcorder (both for storage and possibly for later editing on a PC). I've accomplished both so far, within hours of opening the box, with cheap DVDs and no problems with formats or other players (all contrary to other reviews here).

I've successfully recorded to DVD-RAM, -R, -RW, +R, and +RW, using three different brands, and been able to play all of them on two other players - a Sony (which I wont recommend) and a Phillips DVP642 (which is a godsend, that should be in every home, and so cheap you could put one in every room!)

If you have the money to spend (perhaps 2-3 times as much), there *are* DVD Recorders within reach now that include a hard drive (look for 120GB or more at this writing) that will allow pre-burn editing, so that the edits you make will appear on other DVD players. (That's not necessarily the case with many recorders with editing features whose results may or may not appear on other machines. Note, however, that I haven't tried using this machine's editing features yet, so am unsure whether they will translate elsewhere - but I'm confident given my scenario, as noted above, that I'll have no problems.)

And if you need HDMI (or otherwise digital) input to your TV, this isn't quite right for you. (For either of those needs, I would have gone with the Toshiba R600, whose only knocks are the kind of nonsense I see about this player and which I know from experience may be garbage). But I dont have HD, dont need upconverting for either of our TVs, and wanted the option to check out use of a tuner and VCR-like scheduled recording, which the Toshiba doesn't offer. (The tunerless nature of the R400 and R600 are likely a huge advantage given vast complaints about built-in tuners on DVD recorders. But the Panasonic Tuner is optional, upon initial startup or reset to factory settings, and is therefore completely avoidable.)

But if, like me, you're not yet to HD, and you mostly want to archive shows (beyond your PVR's capacity, or for use on other players such as in the car on or a laptop) or edit using a computer (which will more functional and user-friendly than any remote-control-driven editing process anyway), THIS is the one you want. You can stop reading now. Click "buy" and go have a glass of wine. :)