Rating: 
Summary: Great item (works great with DirecTV and HD)
Review: I have this for 2 months now and am recording like crazy! I connected it to my DirecTV High Def receiver and the quality is great. I can record West Wing and it looks like I bought a commercial disk (except for the NBC in the corner). It is a bit complicated but once you get used to it you can breeze through the editor cutting commercials and spliting up shows. Overall this machine is great.
Rating: 
Summary: Benefit of the Doubt
Review: I too was persuaded by the reviews here to select the DMR-E80HS; unfortunately, when my unit arrived it did not function at all. Happily, there was an authorized Panasonic repair service only 12 miles away (all the others are 40+ ). Several days later I got the unit back--its hard drive was replaced. So far everything looks ready to go, so I'm hoping for the best. Given the complex technology today I can expect a few glitches here and there, so I won't be condemning this model for its intial stumble.
Rating: 
Summary: Directv?
Review: Could somebody please let me know how well this machine works with Directv? I do not want to purchase a TIVO unit. I am having a difficult time in researching the Directv compatibility as store salesmen do not have a clue and even the manual is not clear. Will the machine recongnize satellite channel 503? etc. Thanks, I really want to purchase this machine.
Rating: 
Summary: Forget it!
Review: If you want to use this unit, go to college and get a technical degree first or you will go insane trying to make it work. Nothing is easy these days, nothing! To use this kind of unit, you better make sure you have everything Panasonic first, then you better go to their training schools to learn the ever expanding technical complications of these units and all units in this or any area. It's insane, nothing works easily or simply. All I wanted to do was record my VHS collection to DVD...good luck. I can't even get it to play a dvd! Tech suppost is obnoxious. But hey, this is only Panasonic, try SOny..or Dell, the are hidious and horrible. TOO many companies, too complicated, too much BS. Life shouldn't be this crazed!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, Versatile Recorder
Review: I watched DVD recorders for a long time, waiting for them to come down in price. This recorder advertised the functionality I was looking for, and was much more reasonably priced than any of its counterparts. So, I took the bait.I was not disappointed. This machine has essentially replaced my VCR, and I am now in the process of transferring several hours of analog video tape. At the SP mode (next to highest quality level), the videos transfer beautifully, and offer tremendous flexibility. There are so many features on this machine that the menus are not entirely intuitive, which would be one of my two small complaints. However, I was able to master them fairly quickly with a bit of repetition. The editing features work well, and the responsiveness of the remote control is very good when you are trying to pinpoint an exact frame. (IOW, when you push the button at a certain point, it stops almost immediately.) This is one great feature of this machine. The editing controls are fairly simple, but it takes several steps to cut, splice, and title any segment you record. This is my other small complaint. Again, with repetition, the process becomes easy to master. The hard drive is another outstanding feature. I wouldn't recommend buying a recorder that didn't have one. All in all, I would highly recommend this recorder, both for it's functionality and economy.
Rating:
Summary: No Complaints, but question meaning of VBR compression!
Review: This player performs excellently, simply put. It is Panasonic afterall, the inventors of DVD, which is why I bought the brand. Although the picture and audio quality is very good indeed in both automated and fixed VBR modes, the accompanying booklet does not elaborate on the difference between the two settings. I don't consider the booklet defining automated VBR "efficient" and fixed VBR "smooth" helpful in this respect at all. As if this weren't vague enough, just what is Hybrid VBR? This is what we get, yet none of these things are explained. Does anyone actually know the answers instead of just "knowing" that fixed VBR is more suited for supposed higher quality images and action movies(due to increased motion)? I'd reeaally appreciate it if anybody could be so kind as to attempt to clear this up not only for me, but that man in the store whom was buying some DVD-Rs for his Panasonic(wise choice)and didn't even know that there was such a thing as VBR. Help! Still, this is a product superior in craftsmanship and performance over any other brand in or near its price range.
Rating:
Summary: Just a WARNING
Review: Before buying this product, be aware that it comes with CPRM that is the copyright protection technology that is used to protect broadcasts that are allowed to be recorded only once (e.g. some CATV broadcasts). This means that if you recorded the broadcast of Law and Order, for example, (and if this program is braoadcasted with this protection,) YOU WILL BE UNABLE to record it to a DVD and keep it for later.
I can understand the reason why they implement this protection, but in my case when I record a movie I do not have time to watch it until after a month or more. In this case, keeping it in the hard drive of the unit, will make the movie disappear when is overwritten by another one.
Analyse your needs first, perhaps your option is to build a Entertainment Center Computer, without retrictions -Which is a little more expensive- or continue using with your old Video Player.
Rating:
Summary: Superb recorder for reasonable price
Review: The Panasonic DMR-E80HS performs exactly as I had hoped. The multiple inputs, front and back, make it possible to transfer programs from other media, such as VCR tapes and cameras. The documentation requires a bit of thinking at times, but the quality of the machine makes the effort worthwhile. For programs off of satellite, for example, capturing the programs at the EP speed (extended speed) is more than acceptable. Great machine at a good price. I only need a VCR now to watch old tapes.
Rating:
Summary: So far the best dvd recorder
Review: Before my purchase of this dmr-e80h panasonic reocrder I read all the reviews I could get hold of in the internet. Several month ago I bought the Philips dvdr985 which to me was a big mistake; I had numerous problems with it. I finally decided to buy the DMR-E80H despite some of the negative comments about it.
Having used it for almost two weeks at which time I was able to familiarize myself with what it could do, I will say this is one of the best DVD recorder around at its price range (there is a panasonic with 120 gb costing more $1000). It could do what I expect a dvd recorder should do. As long as you read the manual thoroughly you should have no problem with it. The manual is very thorough in detail. I have no problem recording TV movies and keep them on the hard drive. I taped old home movies and was able to store them at long play mode with excellent result and very good resolution (4 hours of video in one disk). You could edit and remove the commercials from the TV movies (by using the "dividing method")in the manual. The bottom line is that this unit is good as advertise. I have not exprienced any of the negative comments I have read in some of the reviews. By the way, I hardly use the DVD-Ram disk which is the rewritable disk. After editing I usually just transfer the finished product (by dubbing) to a DVD-R disk. I used the Memorex DVD-R disk (not the one recommended by Panasonic) and it works in all dvd player I have tried including my laptop dvd player. I gave unit a 5 star as I could not find anything negative about it.
Rating:
Summary: Great Reccorder
Review: I have had a wonderful time with this DVD recorder. The fact that it has a hard drive makes recording a snap. I could not record the many programs I like without having a hard drive. The only problem I found with it was the documentation on operating the device. Any problem I had with it was overcome by reading the reviews on Amazon. They allowed me to see how others dealt with problems and saved me time.
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