Customer Reviews

Panasonic DMR-HS2 Progressive-Scan DVD Recorder/PVR with 40 GB Hard Drive (Silver)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

THE Home Theatre Appliance

WOW! What a concept. A DVD-R burner with a 40GB Hard drive. The "concept" is a good one, and since this is the FIRST appliance of its kind (Panasonic's E-20 and E-30 are its older brothers, without the hard drive), there are some things you should be aware of before you plunk down...for the DMR-HS2.

Its NOT a TIVO

While the TIVO and Replay PVR products may sound similar, the DMR-HS2 does not require you to subscribe to any channel update service, so you save.... dollars per month OR... for lifetime subscription. Its built in VCR Plus service is free. The VCR Plus service is not nearly as extensive as the TIVO or REPLAY subscription services, which cover literally hundreds of channels. The DMR-HS2 has a built in 125 channel tuner, so it will work fine with your local channels, and most cable systems, but DIRECT TV and DISH services will not. If you currently have TIVO or REPLAY units, you CAN archive from them. Just run an Svideo or composite cable from either unit, to the front panel input of the DMR-HS2, and capture to its hard drive or DVD-RAM in REAL TIME. Then, the DMR-HS2 will allow you to do basic editing on the material. From there, you can archive your finished product on either DVD-RAM, or to DVD-R media. By archiving to DVD-RAM, you can always make another DVD-R copy, should your original get damaged! PLUS, if you have a PC with a DVD-RAM compatible drive and the requisite software, you can refine and edit the source on your PC even further, then go back to your DMR-HS2, and burn your DVD-R!

In fact, you can do that with ANY source material fed into the DMR-HS2, including the programs you have time-shift recorded for later viewing: put them on the built in Hard Drive OR slip a DVD-RAM disk in, and record to it.

SORRY: You cannot copy DVD's to the hard drive and make copies, so dont even think about making illegal copies of copyrighted material on this rig! That's not what it was designed for. Copy protected data cannot be transferred TO the internal Hard drive.

OK, so you can do recording to the built in hard drive or a DVD-RAM disk, or DVD-R disk from any input source on the DMR-HS2. The best way to do it is this way:

Source (TV,Mini DV Camcorder, Replay Unit, etc) to Hard Drive---> Edit on Hard drive---> Archive on DVD-RAM disk OR Burn on DVD-R disk.

If you burn directly to DVD-R disk, it will be in REAL TIME: However long the source material is on the Hard Drive, will be the burn time to DVD-R. If you archive to DVD-RAM, the transfer from hard drive to DVD-RAM will be a true Digital transfer, faster than REAL TIME. If at any time in the future, you wish to burn a copy of your archived DVD-RAM source material to a DVD-R, you will have to transfer to hard drive first (faster than real time), then from hard drive to DVD-R (Real Time). Once the DVD-R burn is completed, you choose the option to FINALIZE the disk, which will make it playable in just about any existing DVD standalone home player. The DVD-R disk becomes a DVD-Video disk. DVD-R player compatibility is still superior to the DVD(Plus)R competing standard.

I transfered several types of source material to hard drive, then burned DVD-R (finalized to DVD-Video), then played them on several types of DVD players ( Panasonic, Toshiba, and Playstation2). They looked GREAT! While the DMR-HS2 does give you options for menus at the beginning of your DVD-R's, they are NOT extensive...very simple. If you are looking for more control over chapter stops, editing, menu structures and appearances, you may be better off with a PC based DVD editing/Burning system. IF you already have a DVD-RAM capable drive in your PC, you can bring your source material into your computer, and using whatever editing program(s) you prefer, edit and refine the source further. Then, save to DVD-RAM, insert into the DMR-HS2, transfer to its hard drive, then burn a copy or two to DVD-R.

It Can read Memory from your Digital Camera Too

There is a PC card slot on the front that will accept a PC Card adapter for Compact Flash. Several other memory types are supported as well, each needing its own PC Card adapter. The Compact Flash adapter is the cheapest ($7-$9 for the adapter). When inserted, the DMR-HS2 will give you the opportunity of taking all the JPEG files on the flash card, and generating a slide show, and saving it to the hard drive or DVD-RAM. I have not used this feature yet, but those that have says it works very well, rendering terrific looking images.

Flexible Recording Speeds

There are 4 recording speeds available on the DMR-HS2:
XP, which will give you one hour on DVD-RAM and DVD-R media, and 8.5 hours recording time on its hard drive. In my opinion, you should use this for archiving and editing your source material. The next speed, SP will give you 2 hours on DVD-RAM/DVD-R media, and 17 hours on the hard drive, and will give you perfectly acceptable SVHS like quality. LP and EP speeds will give you 4 hours and 6 hours on DVD-RAM/DVD-R media, and 34 and 52 hours of recording time on the hard drive respectively, in VHS or lower quality.

There is also a feature called Flexible Recording, which will calculate the highest recording quality, based on the length of your source material...very useful feature, and works quite well.

By the way, its a Great DVD Player TOO!

Oh, yes..its a great quality DVD player as well, for your DVD movie collection. It has Digital Audio OUT connections if you have a receiver so equipped (DTS, Dolby 5.1 Digital). It has Progressive Scan capability, and takes advantage IF you have a Television/Monitor that does Progressive Scan. If you aren't familiar with this, your TV/Monitor probably does not have it, so don't worry about it.

It has a plethora of audio and video outs and ins. I had no problem integrating it into my Home Theatre system consisting of another DVD player, Sony Laserdisc player, Panasonic Showstopper PVR, Panasonic SVHS Cassette Recorder, Sony Digital Satellite Receiver, 2 Sony 200 Disc CD Changers, Yamaha 6.1 Receiver, and a Sony 36" Wega XBR400.

"Black Level" Bug??

It has been reported,the DMR-HS2 has a Black Level Bug. You supposedly only notice the bug in the form of a "washed out" or "brightened" looking DVD-R recorded on the DMR-HS2, and played back on DVD Players other than Panasonic. It has been documented on the AVS Forum, and seems to exist when carefully measured with test equipment, but some believe that, rather than a bug, it was intentionally designed into the unit, to compensate for various DVD players than might play the media recorded on the DMR-HS2. It has to do with the "IRE" levels the "finalized" DVD-R discs are encoded with from the DMR-HS2.
I have had NO experience with this, and I used 4 different players to play my DVD-R's burned on the DMR-HS2. Compared to my source material, the DVD's burned looked qualitatively exactly the same. If you are concerned with this, I suggest you purchase your DMR-HS2 from a supplier who has a fair and liberal return policy (I bought mine at Crutchfield.com), not that you'll have to avail yourself of the return policy!

Transferring DV from your Camcorder is Easy!

You will be happy with this appliance, especially if you own a DV Camcorder! You plug your camcorder into the Front panel Firewire port using a 4 pin Firewire Cable (not included), then put the camcorder on pause. The DMR-HS2 recognized my TR-900 after a few seconds. You use the DMR-HS2 remote to start transfering to the hard drive or DVD-RAM/DVD-R media, and it even automatically takes your DV camcorder OFF PAUSE for you! What great transfers of my 14 month old grand daughter! Something I can show at her wedding, and embarrass her with to no end!

Tech Specs, and where to Buy

I could go through the tech specs, but the best place to find those are at crutchfield.com! Buy your unit there too ( they may price match...just ask!). They have been in business for over 25 years, for good reason!
The DMR-HS2 is a great "Video" appliance! And it works pretty well too!
If you have loads of VHS archived footage you have been itching to put on DVD, this is a great way to do it!! And, its very handy to have a Firewire port, S-video and audio ports on the Front of the unit!

It ain't perfect, but pretty close

It does have its negative points: menus that are not very intuitive, manual that leaves a lot to be desired, mirror silver finish that does NOT match all your black components.
But, all in all, you will be pleased with the DVD's of your dusty VHS tapes...and being able to share them with family and friends is a priceless feature! Plus, you;ll find other uses as well: home inventory, Video Greetings. Lots of possibilities!

I purchased the DMR-HS2 primarily to convert my 80 tape VHS collection to DVD. The editing functions on the unit are perfect for doing this. You can record the entire tape to the hard drive (or DVD-RAM) and then use the "divide program" feature to split up the six hours into individual programs. The "shorten segment" feature is easy to use and allows you to cut commercials or other sections you don't need. Entering titles is a bit tedious and they are limited to 64 characters (40 on DVD-R), but Panasonic did the best they could short of having a keyboard port.

Once you have all of your programs divided and titled, you can dub them to DVD-R. A well thought out menu lets you pick the programs and order to dub and tells you the length of each program. After adding each program, you are told how much time is left on the DVD-R. This allows you to make very efficient use of the remaining time. Dubbing occurs in real time for DVD-R and 3x for DVD-RAM.

After dubbing to DVD-R you can enter a title and finalize the disc which takes about 5 minutes. You have a choice of 9 menus. The menus are pretty basic, but work well.

There are four recording modes (XP, SP, LP and EP). The SP mode is excellent, but only allows for two hours per 4.7 GB disk. The LP mode is of good quality, allows for 4 hours per disc and is what I use for everything. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed with EP and don't record anything in this mode.

One other major drawback is that you are unable to dub from DVR-R back to the harddrive. If you need to make a copy of something you've burned to DVD-R, you need to play back with a DVD player and suffer the associated quality loss. After figuring this out, I decided to put my entire collection on 9.4 gig DVD-RAMs. You pay about a 40% premium over purchasing two 4.7 gig DVD-R, but you 1/2 the number of discs you need and can make unlimited copies.

One other note. If your VCR doesn't have SVideo out, plan to purchase one that does along with a high quality SVideo cable. It is a small price to pay for a huge improvement in picture quality.

Although I'm ashamed to say, I did buy this purely on impulse and at time of purchase knew absolutely nothing about DVD-R/DVD-RAM/HDD recording. All I knew was that I HATED VHS quality and I wanted to transfer my VHS to DVD, record shows from my digital cable to DVD, and transfer DVs from my camcorder to DVD. Ok, I love technology (I burn CDs, have an stellar entertainment system, etc) but this tested my patience. After painstakingly reading the manual time and again, I realized that DVD recording is still in it's infancy yet my goals were possible except there were going to be drawbacks.

First and foremost, even after you finalize a DVD-R for playback, the DVD-Rs you make using this unit WILL NOT PLAY BACK IN EVERY dvd player...it's too new. DVD-RAM discs will only play back in your unit. The hard drive (known as HDD) allows you to record from TV/cable/VHS/camcorder, store your shows there inside the unit (like a computer) until you want to watch them (as many times as you want), burn them to DVD-R or DVD-RAM, or erase them. There is a limit of recording hours depending on the kind of quality you want (just like VHS) XP is the best quality mode for the hard drive (HDD) and allows 8.5 hours. Then SP (17 hrs), LP (34 hrs), and EP (52 hrs)

With DVD-Rs and DVD-RAM, XP only allows 1 hr and a max of 6 hrs. EP mode is AWFUL!! I only record on XP and I'm still not 100% satisfied with the dvd-r quality but I think that'll improve vas the companies perfect making them (like CD-Rs)

Also, once you make a DVD-R, you cannot dub it to make another DVD-R. If you already erased the program from the HDD, you have to go through this long frustrating process involving DVD-RAM to make another copy and quality suffers. Plus, in most cases, you have to play the show/movie/vhs tape/whatever when recording onto HDD & DVD-R...no quick copy except for when I record from my camcorder and occasionally when I use RAM. It doesn't sound like a problem but believe me, it is.

You can't use DVD+R or DVD+RW with this unit. I believe those are used with the Philips Recorder. Be careful, it's an easy mistake to make.

Also, when recording from VHS (you need your own VCR), I expected the picture to somehow improve once in DVD format but it really didn't.

I still love this beautiful machine, though. It's definitely the future of recording, no question. With a little practice, you can easily title your programs, choose a menu color, FF & rewind up to 100X, shorten segments (skip commercials), divide programs, and retain decent clarity unlike VHS. I was able to toss out all those clunky VHS tapes, buy standard DVD cases & even make DVD labels on my computer so that my new DVD-Rs blend in my DVD collection. Right now as of 11/02, DVD-Rs go for about (Money) a piece.

This product is a great alternative to Tivo (without the service fee.)You can record directly to the 40GB built-in Hard drive or a
DVD-RAM/DVD-R. There are 4 recording modes to choose from XP, SP, LP and EP, but LP is the lowest I suggest recording with (EP mode leaves a few too many artifacts floating around.)

Digital camcorder owners will love this machine because of the built-in IEEE 1394 firewire port, making the transfer of home videos a breeze, but you need a 4 pin to 4 pin cable (not included.)

The DMR-HS2 has some editing features to use, but they are basic. They work great if you just need to trim out some commercials from a tv program. I will stick to editing my work on the computer for my home video projects.

The next added bonus is the PC card slot, giving me the ability to transfer pictures from my digital camera via Compact Flash to the hard drive or a DVD-RAM/DVD-R. This will also support Smart Media, Memory Stick and MultiMedia cards.

It was very easy to setup - Attached the coxial cable, plugged it in the wall, turned it on and hit the auto scan button. It then collected all the available channels and automatically set the date/time based on a local channel. It will only go up to 125 channels, which for me is fine, but may be a limitation for other people.

Burning onto a DVD-R was easy and the resulting video quality was excellent in SP and great in LP. I started recording onto the HD with LP mode, but have since changed to SP just to maintain a crisper picture. I have yet to finalize the DVD-R and check it's compatibility with my other DVD player.

Overall Rating: 4 1/2 stars, 1/2 a star drop because of price, but if you have the money and the desire for DVD quality video, this is a must have.

For years I had been writing ReplayTV and Tivo about how they could make their DVR units work outside of the USA, just like a regular VCR without the need for schedule service to set the programs. They didn't move on the opportunity but now at last Panasonic has step up to meet the needs of customers who just wanted a VCR without the need for tapes.

I have been finding every bit of info that I can find on the HS2 to learn about its features. The HS2 has replaced VHS tape with DVD-R/RAM disc with varying recording capacities from 2 - 12 hours. Great! For backup and permanent storage this is convenient must. However even more powerful is the ability to record to a hard disk for up to 52 hours on a 40 GB disk.

The great feature of the HS2 is that it allows users the freedom from have to use or pay for a schedule service for what is just a simply function. I want to record a show every Saturday at 7 PM on channel 16 and store it to hard disk for later viewing. Just what I wanted. The digital manipulation features are nice to have allowing for simple editing for burning to DVD. No way you can go back to VHS. I have a ton of VHS tapes that my wife would just love to see out of the house. Now with the help of the HS2 I can transfer these to DVD and get rid of all those bulky tapes.

My only recommendations here are that;
1. The HS2 should be able to play MP3 CDs and should be able to store MP3 music on the hard disk. The playback of MP3s should have an on screen display that give the MP3 file details (artist, song, album art image etc)

2. Panasonic should offer a larger hard disk like 80, 120, 160 or 200 GB upgrades. With even larger disk drives coming easy upgrades should be possible, in fact necessary. Just imagine having hours of TV on tap for each and every member of the family. No.. wait.... that sounds like two units. :)

Even with these items outstanding the HS2 is a tremendous advance for the home video recordist.

Because the HS2 can be used anywhere in the world where there is a NTSC TV signal it will far exceed the limited competing DVRs. It is a great advance

My Christmas list is settled. Thank you Panasonic!

Let me address a couple of the gripes on this webpage about the problems with the recorder. One, does not record tapes as well as the original. I would recommend selecting a better recording resolution on the recorder, it has four and the top two recording levels will definetly allow you to produce a better backup of your VHS tapes then the originals, due to the 3D digital comb filter. Two, why would anyone want to put music on a DVD, and even if you would how many tricks is this dog supposed to do? Three, only records to DVD-R and DVD-RAM, well only with the advent of the new dual format recorders for computers has any one player been able to record to both + and -formats, but I have a brand new dual format recorder and I still only use the - format, in fact, looking at many of the DVD players today they prefer the - format. Four, can't figure out how to hook it up to the television, if you can't hook it up with the s-video, component out, or just plain old coaxial perhaps you should take a course. Videophiles that just aren't happy with these connections should seek professional counseling.
I wanted a keyboard along with it to enter titles to programs, remote works as good as it can, with directional arrows. Also, would have liked to have seen a faster transfer rate using the DVD-R, like a 4x, instead of the 1x, but what I usually do is set it up to record and just forget about it, come back it is done. But I am starting to get greedy like some of my other fellow reviewers:) Great machine though, even for the price, replaces a high-end DVD player, recorder, TIVO, and can archive your pictures!

I have been trying to buy a recordable DVD player for the past few years. This animal wasn't available until two years ago. As of now, the price is still very expensive, but I couldn't hold out any longer. I broke down and bought the Panasonic DMR_HS2 a few weeks ago. I choose this unit because it has a 40GB hard drive, which can be very convenient feature for recording. Unfortunately, I am not pleased with this model's functions nor with its performance.

My requirements for the recordable DVD are:

· Record programs from the TV: The Panasonic unit works perfectly in this area. It works just like a VCR. It has additional features such as allowing you to record a program directly to the hard drive and store it there. You can also edit the recorded program to erase all the commercials before dubbing it to a DVD disk for permanent storage. You can also create chapters. But doing these jobs can be a very time-consuming and tedious process. You can only create chapters on the hard drive or on a DVD-RAM disk, which isn't compatible with most commercial DVD players. Nevertheless, these nice features are available.

· Transfer VCR tapes to DVDs: I would love to transfer all my old VCR tapes and store them in DVD format. DVDs last much longer and they are more compact. My objective is to retire the VCR. The Panasonic unit basically did the job, but at the expense of quality. I am well aware that the quality of the dubbed DVD can be as good as the source VCR tape. However, I was very disappointed to find out that there is a very noticeable degradation in quality from the tape to the DVD. The ironic thing is that I can accomplish this function, but I still cannot throw away my original tapes because their quality is better.

· Create music DVDs with all my favorite songs: I have always wanted to create a few DVDs with all my favorite songs in them. These songs will be taken from the music DVDs that I own. Too bad this unit doesn't have this feature. In fact, it doesn't allow DVD dubbing. Mind you, what I want to do is perfectly legal. This function, if it is available, is protected under the "fair use" doctrine in the U.S. copyright laws as long as you own the source media.

Overall, I think this Panasonic model is over-priced for what I am looking for. I'm hoping that future recordable DVD systems can do what the dual-well recordable CD players can do today.

First, the DVD-R format is the format most widely supported by DVD players. If you want your discs to be compatible with home DVD players, this is the format of choice. DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM are not compatible with the majority of units meant for home video applications.
Second, there is no "black level bug" with this unit. The manual clearly states that the black level setup for the DMRHS2 is +7.5IRE. Many products have a black level of 0IRE. If the IRE setup of your DVD player and TV are not the same (+7.5IRE for DVD & +7.5IRE for TV, OR 0IRE for dvd & 0IRE for TV, you will have inaccuracies in playback of black and gray shadings. This is not a "bug". It is the result of not having one standard that all manufacturers follow when establishing black level reference points.

First of all, read the other reviews for the DMR-HS2 - They are pretty informative, and there is no point in listing redundant details.
However, you might also be interested to know why I returned the unit I bought after playing with it for about two weeks. My reason was basically that it will only record onto DVD-R and DVD-RAM discs. If you don't know the difference between DVD-R and DVD+R, I suggest you find out before you plop down the hefty bucks for this machine. From what I have been able to gather, there is no logical reason for it other than to frusrtate and financially milk the consumer. The electronics companies are making the - and + formats to placate the entertainment industry. The - and + discs are not interchangable on most dvd players. If you just want to record VHS and TV onto DVD-R or DVD-RAM discs and ONLY play them on this very particular machine, you might enjoy the HDD feature and be pretty happy with it. If, however, you want to burn DVDs on your computer and play them on the DMR-HS2, you probably won't have much luck - most pc dvd burners use DVD+R. If you want to record tv programs or VHS, and then give copies to friends or play them on a different dvd player, BEWARE - there is a good chance they won't work.

The only way around this problem is to have two DVD players hooked up to your TV (one - and one +). I, for one, think that it is a pretty lousy thing to ask consumers to do. Plus, it still won't help your friends out with only one player.

I can't help but think there is a conspiracy going on between the electronics and entertainment industries. I was so thrilled to buy the DMR-HS2 since it is the first of it's genre to hit the market, but I urge you to do plenty of research, avoid buying on-line, and put off purchasing something like this until someone offers a more integrated, universal system.

We love the DMR-HS2. We split the cable wire and can now watch TV using the DMR-HS2 without the cable box, and if we put the DMR on it's channel L1, we can watch using the cable box. I can turn the DMR off entirely and just use just the TV or the cable box, plus the TV. I can watch a saved program while another is recording or watch another live program, by switching my connection to TV only, while the DMR records a program. The possibilities are endless. And we use our Picture in picture feature fine. We have no complaints.

We figured out that if we close each DVD-R we record into DVD-Video, we can play it anywhere. We have a DVD player in the car for the kids. We made a DVD of 6 hours of Nick Jr. programming WITH a Menu listing all of the programs. They love it! We love this machine!