Rating: 
Summary: Great digital VCR with DVD burning and no subsc. fees
Review: I have had this product for about a month. Almost all of the TV watching that I do is for time-shifting purposes. This is *so* much easier than using a VCR-- programs are there in full quality, and no searching around the tapes for a program. Hard drive can store up to 17 hours in full quality (no perceptible difference between live, even for basketball game, in my opinion).I have had no quality problems. I have used both VCR plus and manual entering of times (I do the latter mostly because the networks tend to run over with scenes from next week's episode, etc.). I have not encountered a problem with broadcast flag (copy protection), but the networks have the capability to send a signal in the future that restricts your ability to tape a show. So far, nothing has been blocked from me. I recorded a movie off one of the movie channels, edited out the commercials, and burned a DVD-R. My relatives have a TiVo and they love it. This costs about as much as a TiVo with lifetime subscription. But it has less of a cutesy interface and has many more features, especially capability to burn DVD-Rs. And you don't have to subject yourself to TiVo advertising which seems to be creeping in to their service, nor do you need a phone line hooked to it (no usage information beamed back to the mother ship). Download the manual and see for yourself. This is one of those products that makes you never want to go back to what you were previously using (VCR in this case).
Rating: 
Summary: Almost a great product
Review: This is at times a fantastic product and at times an immensely frustrating product. It is true that you can easily transfer your old video tapes to DVD format and that you can record programming and watch at your convenience. Unfortunately, neither of these is accomplished without error. I purchased mine on amazon along with the site-recommended memorex dvd-r spindle. I have used these discs with the DVD burner on my computer and have never had a bad disc. However, my new DVD recorder failed to recognize them. After calling customer service (and waiting on hold for approximately 30 minutes), I was informed that panasonic's discs (which are considerably more expensive) were the only verified compatible discs. Eventually, however, I was able to talk to their service rep long enough for him to concede that TDK discs work as well as the panasonic discs. I have been using those discs since, but the error rate (wasted disc) is approximately 50%. The price of discs is dirt cheap so it's really not the money that you lose when you can only use half of your discs that bothers me. The major source of frustration is that the errors frequently occur after the recording process has been underway for quite some time meaning you have wasted your time and need to try again. Like several other users, I have also had problems with the hard disc. Three times now I have recorded programs only to find that they are either unwatchable, uneditable, or both. I suspect that this might be caused by a "bad spot" on the hard drive and this would somewhat confirm others' issues with poor quality control. To it's benefit, it is really nice to have some of my old video tapes on DVD and I have been able to do that many times. If you are in a hurry to get in on this technology, I would recommend this recorder (with the caveats), but if you can hold out, you might want to let the technology (or quality control) catch up with the great idea.
Rating:
Summary: Hard Drive is a Tremendous Value
Review: I have been enjoying the DMR-E80H for a few weeks now. I ordered the Panasonic E60 but it got delayed for weeks so I switched to the E80H. Now that I am using the E80H I am very happy that I switched. The hard drive makes all the difference because you can timer record or VCRPlus record as many TV programs as you can stand. You only have to burn a DVD-R or RAM when you want to save something permanently or if you want to give the disk to someone else. For any recorder w/o a hard drive you would always be shuffling DVD disks around although a double-sided RAM disk would help that to some extent. But even when I have a program list of 10 programs or more I am still not challenging the hard drive. For recording VCR tapes, the E80H has a nice front interface in case you don't have your VCR wired up permanently to the rear inputs. Initially I was very nervous about recording media since I saw some reviews that said you could only use Panasonic DVD's but I have had good luck with Sony DVD-R's and you can get Panasonic DVD's online and at Circuit City. To do the VCRPlus recording I had to find the VCRPlus Guide Channel list (tvguide.com) and program the channels in one at a time for each Cable channel that I would ever want to record from. It took me about 1 hour to program in the Guide Channels. A nice upgrade would be the ability to download the Guide Channels but I guess this is getting dangerously close to the TIVO thing. On the VCRPlus recording thing I noticed that when recording channels like HBO you can miss a minute or 2 at the end of the show but it is very convenient to get online and find the VCRPlus code for the program(s) you want to record and then just program the code and you are ready to go. I have found that it is very helpful to add a title so when you have several programs in the play list you can tell them apart. Adding titles is a little awkward as you have to move cursor over to each separate character in the title and enter them in one at a time. A futuristic upgrade would be to provide a small wireless keyboard. Bottom line is that I think the E80H is a good deal.
Rating:
Summary: Good for recording TV broadcast or Home Video only
Review: I purchased this unit for 3 reasons 1. dubbing my home video from dvd-ram to HDD (ok)
2. recording TV Life Broadcast to HDD (ok)
3. dubbing Netflix DVD's to HDD (will not do)
4. dubbing CD's to HDD (will not do) it does 2 out of 4. It took about 1 day to setup and burn 1st dvd-r disk. Manual is not very good, you need to read multiple times plus trial and error routine. However by 2nd day I was able to get 80% of what it can do done. Still have problem removing comercials from stored recordings but I need to spend more time doing it. I guess in my case it would have been cheaper to buy dvd recorder for my pc to do all 4.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Buy
Review: I did a lot of reseach before buying this machine. I am glad I did. This machine can do an abundance of things. I have recorded shows off TV and saved them to DVD-R after editing out the commercials. That was the most important function I required of this unit. The DVD-R can save at 4 speeds. XP (1 hour per disc) ,SP (2 hours per disc) ,LP (4 Hours per disc) & EP (6 Hours per disc). I did a test of all 4 speeds on the same clip of a tv show. EX is as good as the originial, SP is also as good as the original (I couldn't notice any difference). LP is what I use for most recording, it is acceptable for most shows. (EP showed noticable glitches, like jumpy movements of people and a grainy picture) I don't think I will ever record at this speed. I have dubbed movies from video tape and they are quite good. You loose a little quality in the conversion process but it is acceptable. You can never improve a video source only maintain it. Editing is time consuming, but if you record the show at the time you want to burn it to disc, you will be able to use the Speed dubbing technique. This technique allows you to burn the DVD-R disc at a fast speed. You can burn a 1/2 hour show in 8 minutes and a 1 hour show in 11 minutes (recorded and burned at the LP mode). The reason editing takes time is because you can very precicely cut a show at the precise moment when a commerical begins, so the edited show will have no notice of a commerical in it. This is the amazing part of doing this. I have been saving the last few episodes of Friends and the 45 minute episodes edit down to only 27 minutes when you cut out the commericals. A normal hour long show usually edits down to 41 minutes. What a waste of time. The time slip feature is great where you can watch anything on the hard drive while still recording to the hard drive. I hope the price drops more so that I can replace all my video recorders with this wonderful machine. It has surpassed my expectations and it sure beats sitting in front of a computer editing video. Thank you Panasonic for giving us what we need.
Rating: 
Summary: Problems Using with Satellite
Review: I purchased this recorder last week. Aside from the manual being the most confusing I've ever seen, the only problem I encountered was in trying to watch one program while recording another. I was forced to purchase a DirecTV Tivo unit with a dual receiver in order to solve the problem. I don't have cable in my area. The Tivo part of the unit is really a waste - I just use it for the dual tuner part. The Panasonic DMR-E80 is well worth the money I spent. The quality of recordings is very good - much better than VHS tapes. The only thing that I haven't been able to figure out is how to dub from the hard drive to a DVD-R without actually playing the movie on the tv. The manual gives very confusing directions on dubbing. There is mention of a "dubbing list", but when I was in that menu I couldn't figure out how to add items to it. I ended up by just doing the "fast dub" while the movie was playing from the hard drive. I would like to find out if there is a way to do this without having to play the movie. So far I've only been using Panasonic disks. After reading many negative reviews about other brands, I'm afraid to try the TDK ones I bought. Aside from this, so far everything else is great!
Rating:
Summary: wish I could watch a different tv show while recording one
Review: Excellent Recorder, only thing I have to say is that I have my my dish network system going into the recorder and then to the TV, this means I can not view another live broadcast while I am recording a Live show, of course I can view previously recorded shows using the great disc navigatar , but I would like to be able to record a live show and watch another live show at the same time.Any one have ANY TIPS ON HOW TO DO THIS SET UP, over all a great piece of equipment, even the wife is using it, and she had problems using the dishwasher. cheers
Rating:
Summary: Throw out the VCR.
Review: You can't set the clock on your VCR? Then this unit is not for you. If you need an RF output (channel 3 or 4) then you will need to buy an adapter for $15-$30, sold by Radio Shack, WalMart and others. There are 3 set of AV inputs and 2 sets of AV outputs all with "S" video connectors. The only digital connection is for Optical audio-out with all the others being analog. An experienced person should have no trouble connecting and using the E80H. The manual is clear but some parts may have to be re-read. Only a "Gifted Few" will be able to use all the features of this recorder without reading the manual. Connections are easy and most of the cables are supplied. If properly connected before you first power-up the clock should set itself. I have used different brands of disks and have experienced no problems. Once you "Finalize" a DVD-R it becomes a DVD VIDEO and should play in any or all stand alone DVD Players. A DVD VIDEO disc is what you would rent at BlockBuster. I record from a Satellite Receiver and the results are great. I would recommend the Panasonic DMR-E80H to everyone.
Rating:
Summary: Exactly what I was looking for
Review: I had been debating about getting a TiVo or just a regular DVR unit. Then I came across this Panasonic unit and said goodbye to TiVo! I read the other reviews here and was a little concerned about the ones that said the manual was hard to follow. I went to the Panasonic website and downloaded the PDF of it to check it out for myself before I bought it. If you're even remotely tech-savy, you'll have ZERO trouble following it. It does do a lot of cross-referencing, but that's only because of how interrelated all the systems in it are. It's got A LOT of options, so it does take a while to absorb it all. But if you just have a little patience, you shouldn't have any trouble figuring out this unit's capabilities. If you have any doubts, just do what I did and go to Panasonic.com and read the manual before you buy it yourself. The other complaint that I read in reviews here was the harddrive failing. Well, I bought my unit at Best Buy and got the extended warranty they offer which completely covers ANY malfunction. I buy most of my electronics from them because of that very warranty. So, if I do have a problem like the others mention here, all I have to do is drive 5 minutes down the road to have it repaired and pay nothing! I've been using this unit for a few days now and am very pleased with it's performance. If it's something you think you're going to want to keep and burn to DVD, just set the record quality to XP and the quality is the same as the original TV broadcast. I set the VCR Plus+ system up today to try it out. Coupled with TVGuide.come, which gives all VCR Plus+ Codes in their listings, setting up a recording is as easy as entering a 2-8 digit code in one step. If it's a series you'll be watching, just set it up to record daily or weekly to the Harddrive and you're set! Sure it might not be as simplified as TiVo has made it, and you will have to pay attention to a rescheduling of your shows. But you're not paying a monthly fee and doing essentially the same thing in the end! AND you can burn things you want to keep to DVD WITH the commercials edited out! Only reason I'm not giving it a 5 is because of the missing firewire port. Still don't understand why they couldn't put in this one when the units below (DMR-E60S) and above (DMR-E100HS) it have them. Would've make it a lot easier to interface with portable digital video recorders. In the end, all I was really looking for was something to let me set up recording shows I won't be home for in the evenings during the week without having to make sure the tape I put in has enough space left on it. With 17 hours at super-high quality recording and DVD burning/editing to keep things I like and free harddrive space, I'll never have that worry again!
Rating: 
Summary: Great for two weeks
Review: I would rave about this, after two weeks worth of great service. But there are just too many stories like mine. I had a hard drive full of stuff to dub to DVDs when the thing crashed and the front panel lit up with "U99." Panasonic politely told me to ship it to Elgin, Illinois. UPS: $11.70. I hope I won't have to do this after every two weeks of use. Also, yes, the owner's manual is an abomination. Come on, Panasonic, take pity on your English-language customers.
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