Rating: 
Summary: Horrible
Review: I'm 17 years old, I've never been so confused with technology. It makes me feel like a 90-year-old man! This thing is unuseable, the manual might as well be a manual for a microwave oven because it doesnt help AT ALL. It's impossible to figure out how to get the recording from the HDD to the DVD and it deleted what I told it to save and saved what I told it to delete..... This product is pure electronic EVIL!!!
Rating: 
Summary: So far so good ....
Review: Just as expected. Works great and I found the manual to
this quite complex machine easy to understand.Just a few observations: 1. It is not in the spec but the unit DOES have an RF
output. BUT, you cant get DVD playback through there! 2. Since Panasonic VCRs have automatic advert removal I
assumed "cm skip" on this machine would do the same.
It doesn't. I just skips forward one minute. A great machine.
Rating:
Summary: Compatible with 1-4x DVD-R and 1-3x DVD-RAM!!
Review: Not only does this unit play all 5 DVD formats (DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, DVD-RAM) but it also supports 1-4x DVD-R media and 1-3x DVD-RAM media!! This means that you can high-speed dub onto DVD-R at 4x and DVD-RAM at 3x!! I've been running this unit for a month now without any problems. If you can tolerate the high price than this unit is the one to get. Otherwise I would suggest the Panasonic DMR-E80H but it won't play back those DVD+R/RW discs nor will you obtain the 4x DVD-R speeds or 3x DVD-RAM speeds but the price is a lot cheaper.
Rating:
Summary: WOW!!! BEST PURCHASE I HAVE EVER MADE!!!!
Review: OK, the manual is pretty dreadful, but once you succeed in translating it, you've got the best of the crop of the current DVD recorders. It enables you to do just about everything you'd want to -- with one irritating exception. In an effort to kow-tow to the Hollywood interests, Panasonic deliberately prevented dubbing DVD disks to the unit's Hard Drive. That's a significant nuisance, because it prevents the perfectly legal transfer of ones own DVD content. (To do that, you'll have to use a computer and DVD drive.) But you can dub back and forth from DVD RAM disks -- an excellent media -- and, of course, you can create DVD-R disks.
It's easy to transfer Camcorder tapes (via either the unit's Firewire or analog inputs) though editing them is limited to fairly basic possibilities.
Overall quality of video is excellent, and (once you surmount that manual) the unit is easy enough to operate. Now go bury that VHS recorder (once you've transferred all your tapes, of course.)
Rating: 
Summary: State of the Art!
Review: OK, the manual is pretty dreadful, but once you succeed in translating it, you've got the best of the crop of the current DVD recorders. It enables you to do just about everything you'd want to -- with one irritating exception. In an effort to kow-tow to the Hollywood interests, Panasonic deliberately prevented dubbing DVD disks to the unit's Hard Drive. That's a significant nuisance, because it prevents the perfectly legal transfer of ones own DVD content. (To do that, you'll have to use a computer and DVD drive.) But you can dub back and forth from DVD RAM disks -- an excellent media -- and, of course, you can create DVD-R disks.
It's easy to transfer Camcorder tapes (via either the unit's Firewire or analog inputs) though editing them is limited to fairly basic possibilities.
Overall quality of video is excellent, and (once you surmount that manual) the unit is easy enough to operate. Now go bury that VHS recorder (once you've transferred all your tapes, of course.)
Rating:
Summary: Pros & cons
Review: Pros
- Good compression quality in real time
- Burn upto 6 hours of video on one DVD-R
- Fast forward upto 100x while diving and shorting programs
- DVD-R has good compatibility with all of my DVD players Cons
- Cannot record date/time information with DV connection
- Cannot dubbing finalized DVD back to HDD to burn more copies
- Cannot play DVD+R and DVD+RW (I couldn't play them on other players either)
Rating:
Summary: DMR-E100HS and DV recording
Review: The images the unit records onto its hard drive are very good. The commercial skip function is great, the manual is poor. I purchased this unit to make DVDs out of both 8mm and DV video tape. I have a first generation Canon Elura and the DMR-E100HS
does not recognize the machine - even though the recorded images are seen on the TV. The poorly written manual does state in small print that DV Auto Recording may not work with all equipment. My computer has no problem finding my Canon.
Rating: 
Summary: Great recorder, TERRIBLE DV features (no DVD dubbing)
Review: The other reviews speak much of this great product so I will not duplicate their raves. It IS all that! My main problem, a problem without a "real world" solution, is that these units, BY FEDERAL LAW, are required to PREVENT DUBBING (copying) of ANY DVD to the Hard Drive (HDD), even if it was a PERSONAL DVD made by me with no copy protection technology.
Basically, if you put in a lot of DV video to the HDD, burn it to a DVD or DVD-RAM, then delete the HDD content to make room for new content, you cannot go back later on and make any copies of the DVD you made previously. You can't DUB it, nor can you play it to the HDD. You are FORCED to either pipe it in from the INPUTS with another DVD player at 1x speed (slow) or hook up the DV camera and play the DV tapes back into the machine all over again, as well as REBUILD the DETAILED menus and titles. A BIG WASTE of TIME!!!!!!!
With my primary uses, this is a RESTRICTION that I cannot live with and I returned this unit to Amazon. I now use the excellent PLEXTOR PX-712UF DVD Burner with my Toshiba notebook for all my DVD needs and it works FLAWLESSLY. I make a DVD, then later I make as many copies as I desire, most in less than 15 minutes. Just what I needed!
I really liked the DMR-E100HS and really tried to make it work. Panasonic is bound by the STUPID federal law and it is not their fault. If you don't need the DV functionality, then this unit is AMAZING!!!
Also, don't forget to TURN ON the HIGH SPEED DUBBING switch in the SETTINGS of the unit. Why this is not a DEFAULT is beyond me.
Sorry Amazon & Panasonic... this unit is coming back.
Robert
Rating: 
Summary: How did Panasonic screw this one up?
Review: The unit is well made. The hard drive idea is great!! It only works with DVD-R disks and DVD RAM disks which kind of stinks, but hey, I can live with that. So how did Panasonic screw this one up to make it essentially worthless to me? Well, read on... The primary reason I bought this, and missed this nuance in the reviews/descriptions was that I wanted to time shift rented DVDs. I thought I would be able to back up a limited number of DVDs to the hard drive, watch them, and then delete them later to record another movie etc. I didn't want to buy a DVD burner and have tons of DVD media hanging around, and the integrated hard drive seemed like just the ticket. Panasonic, in all their brilliance, blocked it. You cannot copy a DVD, copy protected or not, to the hard drive unless it is a DVD-RAM disk. I can understand not allowing someone to copy protected material to another DVD, but to block it from copying to the hard drive makes the unit a dust collector. I went out and bought a DVD burner and use DVD+/-RW for time shifting my viewing now. Another negative is that Panasonic made it so the thing won't even play any DVD with a + in it. DVD +R or DVD +R/W, both of which work dandy on my other DVD player and in my comupter. So I have to have a separate DVD player to read DVD +Rs I burn with my DVD Burner. Lamo. I can't even use the thing as an expensive DVD player. This unit is just plain not worth the money unless you have a ton of VHS or taped material you want to move to DVD or if you are into video recording and want to copy that material to DVD. That it does well. You can also record unprotected DVD material through the analog inputs and edit it. And finally, you can use it to record TV shows to the hard drive or DVD, but I already had Replay TV which does a much better job of that. So, the lack of being able to send a DVD movie to the Hard Drive drops this puppy to 2 stars.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Product
Review: This is a fantastic machine. Menus and Remote Control very intuitive, great recorded quality. No Tivo charges, just set my own recording programs and it records every week. I'll never buy a VHS tape again.
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