Rating: 
Summary: The VCR is Outta Here!
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Beware: For DVD-RAM enthusiasts only!
Review: After spending a few hours getting to know this unit, I boxed it up and took it back to the store for a refund. They say that it takes DVD-R, but what you can do with that format is very limited. Do not buy this expecting that you can use it with the same freedom as a VCR. The unit does not take DVD-RW's, so you can't erase and re-use in that format. It doesn't allow you to create chapters or menus with the DVD-R format -- just a straight, plain old record. No markers (after you finalize the disc), no chapters, no multiple programs, nothing! On the other hand, it allows you to do all that with the DVD-RAM format, but it's not a format that's compatable with other DVD players, so you can't share things with your friends & family because it's got this obscure format that nobody can use! So, unless you're in love with the DVD-RAM format, stay away from this one.
Rating:
Summary: Incredible
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent DVD Recorder,
Review: Easy to use and record. The quality of the recording is perfect. I converted all my Hi8 tapes to DVD and able to play on all kind of DVD players. I was also able to create the menu on my recorded Disk. It won't record the movies, If they are copy protected, otherwise you can record the movies from TV.
Rating:
Summary: Great product!
Review: Easy to use, and perfect quality recordings. I purchased additional Fuji DVD-RAM and Memorex DVD-R discs and they work fine. The DVD-R recordings are also compatible with my other (Sony) DVD player.
Rating:
Summary: Recording on to high-capacity DVD-RAM
Review: Finally an animal that is reasonable priced that used the DVD-RAM format like the one on my computer. I can also replace the VCR and have my favorite programs in pristine digital quality. Oh and if you just happen to have those other formats like DVD-R or CD-R they will view also.
Rating:
Summary: DVD-Ram lens cleaner kit for this Panasonic DMRE50 model
Review: I already wrote a glowing review for this Panasonic dvd-recorder model DMRE50, but was wondering if anyone knows how to use the LF-K1231CA1 dvd-ram lens cleaner kit that was recommended in the information kit, which I found aftermarket, but which was NOT packaged with instructions! Panasonic has discontinued the item, so they are no help.
Thanks!
Rating:
Summary: Panasonic DMR-E50S
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: What a great piece of technology!
Review: I bought this DVD recorder for the sole purpose of transferring my home videos onto DVD. I was concerned at first that it would be rather complicated to achieve this...boy was I wrong. For me, it was a simple as plugging the camcorder into the front loaded set of audio/video ins (SVid and standard RCA). I pushed play on the camcorder and record on the DVD player. 2 hours later, I had a DVD copy of my video! I have found no issues with DVD playback capability. The DVD played on my Xbox, my computer DVD drive and the kicker, an 8 year old RCA DIVX (yep, that is right Divx) player. It was simply fantastic!Now for the breakdown: The Good: Looks sleek, recording is a breeze, no apparent compatability issues with my other DVD players. With Tivo, this beauty really shines! The Bad: The remote. Not very ergodynamic for the hand. The buttons are rather small, with more buttons hidden by a slide out compartment. The Ugly: Initial setup into an existing home entertainment center. This piece of equipment wants to be the main hardware that you run all of your audio and video through. I have DirecTV, Tivo (seperate units)and a A/V receiver. The initial setup screen wants you to plug in your video source directly into the back of it. Well, thats not really possible/practical with my setup. In other words, it wants to be like the old VCR days where you take your signal and run it into the box. For me, Tivo accomplishes this and I don't need to have my cables running from the satellite to this to TIVO or whatever. That being said, this unit will not complete the auto set-up where it detects all of your channels etc. You must have this plugged into your main video source in order to take advantage of the timed recordings and the VCR+ features. So, everytime I shut it down, when I restart it, it goes back to the initial setup screen and I have to cancel out of it. For the piracy enthusiasts out there: good luck. This is not a DVD copier. It will proudly display it's inability to record since the source has copy protection on it. Although I'm not sure how it knows this (it can even detect it on VHS tapes)you can't use it to copy your DVD movies or VHS movies. Now I'm sure there is some workaround or other gadget you can buy to decode that stuff, but for me, I don't want it for that. All in all, this is a sweet piece of hardware for my entertainment system. I have no problem recording from the satellite or from recorded Tivo programs that I want to save on to DVD. Oh, and by the way, even with Super Saver shipping (free) this baby was on my doorstep in FOUR days!
Rating:
Summary: Ability to record gets worse and worse
Review: I bought this recorder to keep movies and shows I had recorded from my Ultimate TV (similar to TIVO). At first it did okay, failing about 25% of the time. It started having a higher and higher failure rate using the same types of discs. I have tried many brands of disc and had the same results. It is especially bad with long recordings over 3 hours. The failure rate now is probably 80-90%. I will not be buying another Panasonic audio/video product.
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