Customer Reviews

Panasonic DMRE50S DVD Player/Recorder , Silver

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I purchased my panasonic dvd recorder in February of 2003. For the most part the system has worked extremely well. You do need to test and make sure the "finalized" dvd-r discs will be read by the dvd player you wish to play them on.

As far as discs, the quality and experience has varied. I have had mediocre results with Imation, Memorex. I have had excellent results from Verbatim. Most of my recordings have been on the DVD-R, but I also record on DVD-RAM, edit and copy onto the DVD-R discs(because they are less expensive).

The only issue I have had, if you begin to record, and stop recording quickly (15-30 seconds), the disc sometimes becomes unusable. An easy solution to this problem is it let the recorder continue recording for a minute or two, then stop the recording and the erase it.

All in all, this unit has exceeded my expectations. It has allowed me to copy many programs and films to dvd.

One other recommendation, I also purchased the Panasonic DVD player (Less than $100) that had a rebate ($30) that will play DVD-R and DVD-Ram. So anything I record can be played on the player and watched, or (are you ready) can be played on the player and recorded on the recorder, for mixing dvd's or editing and then copying the dvd-ram recording to the less expensive dvd-r discs.

And, I have sucessfully been able to keep my dvd-r cost down to about $1.50 each, and the dvd-r to just above $4.00 each.

This DVD recorder makes 2 hour recordings on DVD-R that I cannot distinguish from a live satellite tv broadcast. The unit was able to use one dollar generic brand DVD-Rs disc. It was possible to playback both on my computer DVD drive and on other home DVD players The unit is compact and quiet. There are three line-in inputs (RCA and S-video). A minor negative is the lack of a firewire connection for connecting a miniDV camcorder. I have not tested the DVD RAM feature that allows re-using the DVD RAM disc repeatedly. It comes with one free DVD RAM disc; these cost about Five dollars each. Set up is quick and straightforward. The remote is comlicated but does everything it's supposed to do. There is a "flexible record" (FR) feature that use the complete space available on the disc so that recording are of maximum quality. The unit is able to ecord up to 6 hours onto a single 4.7 GB DVD-R but the instuctions say that quality deteriorates noticeably if you go much over the two hour limit. Recordings that I have made in the 2 hour range looked great, better than anything I've seen from a VCR, but not as perfect as a store bought DVD. The source material affects the appearance: a broadcast of a grainy, faded movie looks grainy and faded on the recording whereas newer material looked very good.
I bought this from Amazon. The item was in my PO box four days after I ordered it. The price was the lowest I saw from a major source. Shipping was free and the price came to nearly one hundred fifty less than I would have paid had I walked into C*rcuit C*ty to buy the exact same thing. A minor shipping negative: Amazon sent this expensive item thorugh the mail in it's own box which obviously identifies it as an expensive piece of electonic equipment.

I have been watching the market for a DVD recorder for a couple of years. I'am really glad that I waited for this model (DMR-50). You will not have a problem with this unit if you will read and re-read as necessary the owners manuel. The other thing is DO NOT USE CHEAP DISCS. I've been using Ritek 1X DVD-R blanks and have not had that first problem with recording or playback on anything that is DVD-R compatable. The picture quality is good if not great at all recording speeds. The Sound is the same and agree with all the other reviewers. I wish we could record in surround sound , but I guess they are saving that for a later model. I Play back through a surround system that takes the sterio signal and makes it 4 channel and it is close to the surround effect. All and all I'am impressed with this unit and recomend it highly. Thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope it helps you to decide if this is for you.

Using top quality discs to test this recorder is a must, otherwise bad media is to blame if something goes wrong. I purchased the Panasonic DMR-E50S at a local store, after a few days of normal usage it started to fail. The machine also rendered my TDK discs unusable even after its "recovery" mode kicked in. I didn't imagine this was normal behavior so I went back to the store to get a different DMR-E50S. The replaced unit has performed much better so far (for a week), it even takes the formerly rejected TDKs, so there is no question that it had a mechanical failure before. I have seen many complimentary opinions here about this Panasonic model, and it is true that it provides the best compression quality I have ever seen, but it isn't perfect, so I will concentrate on that:
1) You must have nerves of still while using this model because this unit lacks a hard drive, so you are always at the mercy of lady luck. i.e. With the DMR-E50 you risk loosing every episode of "The Simpsons" you recorded if either the DVD-R or the machine fail before you "finalize" the disc. If you record to a hard drive at least you can try different DVD-Rs before erasing the show from the drive.
2) The remote control is extremely directional and only works if you are pointing directly towards the recorder. This forces you to do painful contortions.
3) The final menu is text only, no picture thumbnails as most DVD+R units do. Hence, you must manually add titles to every entry, otherwise you won't know what your DVD contains except for the date.
4) Entering each title letter by letter using the remote is ridiculously time consuming (yet better than nothing).
5) DVD-RAM is great for temporary viewing, but even though they can be edited they are hardly compatible with other players, pretty useless, because if you build an extensive library of edited material, you are married to Panasonic forever. So you must use the non-editable DVD-R for permanent recordings.
6) I have a hunch this type of recorders have a short life-span (maybe less than a year, hence the failures after a few months of usage), keep that in mind.
7) Whatever you do, do not purchase the "store extended warranty" at any local stores. No matter what the salesman promised, they will not give you a brand new unit after 30 days, instead they will take the unit from you and try to fix it for as long as it takes.
Conclusion: this unit is easily surpassed by the Panasonic models that come with hard drives, so, just wait until those come down in price and get one of those instead. Other DVD recorders units I tried and failed to work: CyberHome and Polaroid, both notoriously buggy.

After seven days and recording 20+ DVDs, the Panasonic E50S is fantastic. It's superior to a VCR, not only in picture quality, but ease of use. This deck has three inputs (all S-video) plus a tuner. As an electronics nut, I've connected a dedicated VCR and a DVD player to the inputs. I can copy/archive VHS tapes while watching other media on the television. This machine even cleans up old home movies. I'm using Ritek blanks (about $.89 each)and ordering them in bulk. I've recorded old (18+ years) VHS recordings and they look very good. DVDs from a cable/satellite are perfect. Needless to say, as a collector of old movies, I'm extremely pleased with the flexibility and easy-of-operation in this unit. The DVD-R discs are playing on all my DVD players. This is a great DVD recorder for all purposes although it is your basic model - no hard drive - but a perfect machine to start. Congrats to Panasonic.

I bought the Panasonic DMR-E50S to transfer my old VHS tapes to DVD and I am absolutely thrilled with this unit! While the instructions are somewhat difficult to get through, the results are amazing! Using XP speed and copying one of my VHS-C cartridges to DVD-R (Memorex, by the way), the copy was wonderful! I also like the added feature of being able to put titles on each segment of a recording, that is pretty neat.
Amazon.com has a very good price. I paid the $12.00 s/h because I wanted to get the unit fast, even though I could have had free s/h. I ordered it on a Monday, and had it at my house that Thursday! The only problem I had was when I hooked up a newer DVD/VHS player to it and tried to copy my old tapes. I believe because of copyright issues with the DVD/VHS unit, it couldn't be done, which doesn't make any sense, since they are MY recordings! However, when I hooked up an older VHS model, I didn't have any problems. All in all, I am extremely happy with this product. Can't wait to try out all other cool editing features.

As a new comer to the world of DVD I was a little sceptical about DVD recorders. No more.
This piece of kit has just blown me away! Maybe I'm easily pleased but it just makes Video recorders utterly obsolete. No more dodgy recordings,no more accidental erasures, no more frantically searching for a space on the tape, no more anything you have to put up with using a VHS recorder.
Now, I'll come down to earth for a while and explain why it's so good and be a little more objective about some of the features.
This recorder uses DVD RAM and DVD R discs. Uh? Well DVD RAM discs you can record over and over (approx 100,000 times!!!) and DVD R are record only. Obviously the RAM's are more expensive. However a RAM disc comes with the recorder and I still haven't needed to buy another yet! Well that's just me. You can get 4.7 gig discs (supplied) or 9.7 gig discs.
Still with me?
The Panasonic can record on 4 different resolutions. So this is where the reality comes in. XP, SP, LP and EP. Now the lower the resolution (EP is lowest) the less memory is used and the more you can fit on a disc. So that basically means more recording time. However, the lower the resolution the inferior the picture. And I've got to say that LP and SP are not really watchable for me personally. Others may find it O.K.but the quality resembles a really coarse video streamed off the internet, you know the kind of thing? So generally I don't use these, but SP and especially XP are superb. So, a 4.7 gig disc will give you 1 hours recording on XP, 2 hours on SP, 4 hours on LP and 6 hours on EP. Bored yet?
So the bigger the RAM disc the more you can record at high resolutions. Phew! That's that over with.
Now there is this Time Slip feature. I can't really see the point of this but it's kinda cool. You can watch something while it's being recorded. WOW. What I mean is that you can sort of rewind the disc to an earlier record time and watch it while the programme is still being recorded. (This is sounding like Quantum physics now) Anyway, if that floats your boat then all well and good. But for me, the really sweet feature is the ability to watch a previously recorded programme while recording a completely different one. Example: Friday night you record ER because you're going out. Saturday night you decide to watch the episode of ER you recorded but then realise that there is something on NOW that you really must watch. Simple. Start recording the programme you wanted to watch NOW and then enter the user friendly menu system, select the recorded ER episode and press play. It plays and records at the same time. Sweeeeeeeet!!! It's that easy and just brilliant.
There's loads more stuff in ther also like, partial erase, moving recorded programmes around, editing etc. etc. Great for people who like editing their own videos.
I know I must sound like a Panasonic PR bod but really, I'm just a humble TV watcher with basic knowledge of audio visual stuff. If i can use this thing then, seriously, anyone can. It's an absolute breeze and for the price (internet [$$$]?)real value for money.
It's the future, buy it.

I've had this unit for a year and am very pleased. I haven't recorded anything for permanent storage, but I use it practically every day to watch the evening news. Here's how: my wife and I are usually still eating dinner when the program begins, so I simply turn the Panasonic on when the news starts, and go back to the table. When we are done eating, and the news isn't finished, we start watching from the beginning while the recording continues. This way we don't miss anything and can skip the stories we don't care about. The picture is essentially broadcast (cable) quality. It works!

Several years ago I purchased a capture card and video editing software and a cd recorder so that I could transfer my 8mm videos to something close to a DVD. It, in theory, would make mpeg1 videos to put an hour on a cd and format it in Video CD form to play on "most" DVD players. Well, it worked once, though mpeg1 wasn't great, I thought I was off to a good start. The second one I tried failed to play in the DVD player and subsequent ones failed to even finish formatting on the computer and the next I knew, I had about a dozen fouled recordable cds. I gave up, figuring the computer couldn't handle the go between, capturing the video to hard drive and then writing it out without error. All I could do is capture the video and transfer the file to cd to play on my computer. I didn't want that. This machine does exactly what I wanted without the tedious processing of the computer. You hook up your video camera (if you have dv and want a fire wire you have to look elsewhere, I think Panasonics E60S has that. I have analog video.) start playing and hit record with a DVD-R in the machine. I don't want titles or dissolves or whatever, I just want my tapes on DVD that'll play on other DVD players. That's what I have now, plus a great recorder for television with VCR plus. If you've been frustrated by computer manipulation of video files trying to make DVDs or Video CDs to preserve your home videos, you will be thrilled with this machine.

This recorder was great when it worked right. Unfortunately, that wasn't very often. The first unit I got would just shut off for no reason during recording. I returned it and got another. This one stayed on at least, but it ruined a disk for every one it created successfully. I've had enough of the Panasonic and am going to try another brand.

One bit of good news is that Amazon.com's return mechanisms work wonderfully. So at least that part wasn't frustrating.