Rating: 
Summary: Record DVDs as easy as recording VHS
Review: I bought this recorder a month ago and have recorded 20+ TV shows and a few movies on it. I was a little skeptical about this device at first, as I read many reviews about how DVD recorders seem to eat through DVD discs with mis rights and have other problems. However, this recorder has worked flawlessly so far. I have been recording on cheap Imation DVD-R discs without a problem.I have recorded in the 2 hour and 4 hour formats. The 4 hour format is actually much better quality than I expected. So much, that I have been recording TV shows (Sopranos, Deadwood, Elmo, etc.) in this mode for later viewing. I do have two minor dissappointments. 1) the technical specification stated that this unit has both optical and coaxial digital audio outputs. This is not true. It only has an optical digital audio output. This is a problem for me, as I don't have enough optical inputs on my receiver and have a coaxial connection to spare. 2) the recording schedule feature is a bit odd in that it requires you to turn off the recorder to record a scheduled program. This is a bit annoying, as I'd like to watch the event when it comes up. Because of this, I have to wait for the recorder to start recording before I can watch TV through the DVD recorder.
Rating: 
Summary: EXCELLENT for the price range!!
Review: I bought this unit primarily to record my video camera recordings to DVD. I really like it so far. It was very simple to get started. I have been impressed with the quality. I have only used the DVD-R discs and have had no problems. I love the fact that you can put titles and edit EASILY. I have started recording off the tv as well. You can't go wrong when you compare the other recordable units in this category. I have been thrilled with this product thus far!!!
Rating:
Summary: Love this machine....but.
Review: I find this machine very easy to set up and use....no problem. Excellent quality. But I have found one problem that the Panasonic help desk says never came up before. After recording and prior to finalization of a disk....the playback picture is perfect. Once I finalize the disk....on playback I get periodic skips in audio and video. Does not seem to matter if the recording was live tv, vhs....plays great prior to finalization of the disk, but after, a skip. Don't know why. Not sure if my machine is defective or not....anyone else have this problem?
Rating:
Summary: Idiot proof DVD
Review: I have a hard time with light switches; yet, I had no problem with this machine. The automatic set-up worked flawlessly, and the manual provided allowed me to quickly record my old VHRs onto DVD-R media. I record sports events on DVD-RAM which allows me to take advantage of all the features this modestly priced unit affords. If I can make this thing work, anyone can.
Rating:
Summary: Reasonably good
Review: I have had no problem with this recorder/player since I purchased it a few months ago. I would have to disagree with a previous reviewer who said that the "eight hour mode looked better than a VCR set on the best quality setting". I would never use the eight hour mode, which is the maximum time this recorder can get on DVD media. At this mode, every other horizontal AND vertical line is taken out resulting in poor picture. In addition there is noticeable jerkiness and picture noise.
I also want to clarify that this recorder does NOT record to CD-Rs as the previous reviewer mentioned. The DMRE55K only records to DVD-R and DVD-RAM.
It plays MP3s but it reads only the name and not the ID3 tags.
Rating:
Summary: Great item, hates FUJI dvd-r media
Review: I have had this machine for about 3 months and am burning about 1-2 discs per day (movies, cable shows, etc). Am very pleased with the recording. Have not had problems with any dvd media except DVD-R Fuji - the machine seems to hate it and won't finalize the disk. Believe me, I've tried. I use Memorex and TDK DVD-R 8x with no issues. I've also used DVD-RAM with no problems. My VCR is collecting dust.
Nitpicks:
- Doesn't 'finalize' with FUJI media
- The quality isn't all that good fitting more than 4 hrs per disc. I think 2 movies / 4 hrs is just fine though.
- Startup time takes a while 5-10 seconds while the machine reads the disc.
Good:
- No problem w/ TDK or other major brand media that I've tried.
- Replaces the VCR, no problem.
- I would rec this machine to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: Best of the under $300.00 class
Review: I just ordered one of these last week to transfer/archive my ever growing pile of 8mm & Hi8 to DVD. The picture quality of the copies are great, even on 4hr mode. A couple of hints which the manual does not cover very well. When recording to DVD-R, which has few editing options compared to DVD-RAM, use "stop" to break the recording into separate "titles"- otherwise you will get one long title broken into 5 minute segments which don't appear on the title navigator (menu) as separate thumbnails. The other hint, especially on dubbing, is to make a (-R) copy first. After finalizing, use this as your master. Play it from another DVD player to your recorder and edit in real time by "pausing" out unneeded material or "stop" for title breaks. On (-RAM) just let it run and go back later to edit it. Use the edited (-RAM) as your archive, to view off the Panasonic machine, or run another (-R) copy for use on a standard player. If you are looking to make multiple copies, or do extensive editing of the master, you might want to spend the extra $300.00 for an internal hardrive machine. This unit will handle all your typical VCR needs and basic dubbing at a reasonable price.
Rating: 
Summary: Works great at first, but then........................
Review: I loved this DVD recorder when I first started using it. Then after about a month or two, I noticed that the recordable DVD was damaged, so I got rid of the DVD and put in another to record on. After about 3 recordings, this DVD became damaged also. I have gone through many DVD's and they all seem to become damaged after using it for about 3 or 4 tapings. I watch many movies on this and they are very clear, but the recording feature is horrible, if you have to keep buying recordable DVD's (which can get very expensive). I have even used Panasonic DVD's, which they recommend, of course, and still have the same problem. I am going to sell this one and go back to using my VCR until something better comes along.
Rating: 
Summary: Great start but sad ending
Review: I was delighted to see the good reviews for this item and the great price. I felt set up was not quite as easy as some reported. I'd looked through the manual ahead of time (nice feature, having it available on this site), but was confused by a second schematic on a separate sheet included in the Panasonic box. Seems like the diagram in the manual and the quick set up sheet contradicted each other.
Anyhow, once I sussed out the correct cabling, it worked like a dream. Nice playback on commerically recorded DVDs and I copied my first 8mm tape to DVD-R without any problem.
However, after I finalized my second DVD-R, I got an error "cannot read disc." From that point on, the unit wouldn't read any disks, DVD-R, DVD, nor music CDs. And it would turn itself off when I tried to eject a disk.
Called Panasonic's customer service who was professional and took my through some steps to reboot and set up the system, but to no avail. Customer Service declared the unit defective.
I haven't given up hope yet; am returning for exchange of a new unit and keeping my fingers crossed that I have better luck with the next one. I hope I won't be disappointed. Panasonic has been a good brand for me in the past and the price and features on this unit are too good to pass up.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT recorder in the low price class
Review: I'm overall very pleased with the picture quality. The variable bit rate encoding is just terrific and the source filtering does quite a good job on ugly VHS tape sources. An especially useful feature is an adjustable quality mode. You tell it how long, like a 2 hour 18 minute movie, and it records with the maximum quality that will just fill the disk. The ability to edit when using DVD-R media is extreemly limited. All disks get a standard menu format with slots for half a dozen titles per page. You can set the preview thumbnail and the title name. On DVD-R media you can't set chapters or edit out anything (like commercials). Chapters are automatically created about on 5 minute boundries, or if you press pause during recording. A title is created each time you press record. After recording a DVD-R, you need to run a finalization process which makes the disk compatable with most DVD players and prevents any further writing. You can set the disk, before finalizing, to play the first title, bypassing the menu (which may only have one title on it). The device does not write to DVD-RW, DVD+R or DVD+RW media. DVD-RAM media (either with or without a protective case) can be used, and greatly expands the editing capability. Unfortunatly DVD-RAM media is not supported by most DVD players, although it did work in another fairly new Panasonic DVD player I own. DVD-RAM also does not work in many (most?) computer DVD drives. DVD-RAM does allow better than VCR functionality though, but does cost more than a VHS tape (but has better quality that a S-VHS tape). Using DVD-RAM media, it's super easy to cut out commercials or other undesirable material. You can also make playlists which allow assembling sequences of scenes into a new virtual title. You can set scene boundries very easily, just play the video and hit a button on the remote. Using pause/slow allows fairly accurate scene positioning. I can also verify the copy protection system prevented recording when trying to record from a commercial DVD played in another DVD player as a source. This was the case for both DVD-R and the DVD-RAM media I used. Some brands of DVD-RAM are supposed to allow a single copy if the original content producer allowed it, but don't know how you can tell if this should be allowed from a specific source. I record most things from a 3 year old DirecTV TIVO source, instead of using my VCR. If you need to edit content to put on DVD-R media, this is not the machine to get. For serious editing, I use a computer. For cutting out commercial from a weekly TV series you want to keep, one of the DVD recorders with a hard disk might be a better choice, as I assume you can edit before writing to a DVD-R. Tests I've read say DVD-R media is the most compatable with DVD players, so think DVD-R media is the one to use. I have 20 year old VHS tapes, so assume I will collect DVD-R's for 20 years.
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