Rating: 
Summary: The HS2 is an amazing digital entertainment unit!!
Review: The best way to think about this new entertainment appliance is this way: DVD player and recorder + VCR + TIVO + Photo Viewer. With that said, in many ways the HS2 brings the benefits of total digital entertainment right into the comfort of your living room. This unit is great for anyone who wants to edit their own vacation, family fun or "life" videos, record high-quality video either from television, VHS, or camcorder as well as archive digital photos! So if you've cam-corded thousands of miles of kid birthday parties or recorded 5,000 old TV shows, the HS2 gives you the ability to edit right on the RAM disc or hard drive, and then make a DVD-R to view, share with your friends or even archive. One particular feature I really like about the unit is "time slip" recording, which is truly remarkable, because it allows simultaneous recording and playback of the same program at the same time-thanks to DVD/RAM technology. For instance, you can watch the beginning of a TV show while the end is still recording, which I think is very cool. Now contrary to some misconceptions, you CAN record onto popular DVD-R discs using the HS2 that WILL play on your buddy's DVD player, or your grandmother's DVD player for that matter.But if you really get to know the HS2, you can easily title your programs, choose a menu color, set it to skip commercials, divide programs, all while recording very high quality video. The internal hard drive can record up to 52 hours for normal or standard recordings, and for the highest quality video it will store 8.5 hours. If you're looking for a DVD recorder that really does it all, this unit that is quite versatile and covers all the bases very well, I recommend the HS2 highly.
Rating: 
Summary: Panasonic DMR-HS2
Review: 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!
Rating:
Summary: The BEST addition to the home theater
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome machine, if you know how to hook it up
Review: 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!
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