Panasonic DMR-E80H Progressive-Scan DVD Player/Recorder with Hard Drive , Silver
enjoy very much, yet beware of over-use....
I've had the panasonic dmr-e80h for 3 months and have used it extensively (several hours every day: recording, editing,archiving,<BR>collecting more and more dvds). I enjoy it quite a bit and have mostly praise for its features and functions. <BR>I have a couple of points of criticism. One is regarding editing. The 'shorten segment' feature does not allow for precise frame<BR>cuts.  Adding from 1 to 7 additional frames usually does the trick;<BR>yet this haphasard way of editing is somewhat frustrating and not<BR>always satisfactory. The 'play list' has more precision, yet lacks<BR>the 'high speed' feature (I must add that I am pleased with the home videos that I recently edited).<BR>My second point is a bit more distressing.  One two occasions, I had spent the whole day recording/editing/archiving and the hdd...<BR>crashed. I could not access anything I had recorded and the newly recorded material was routinely erased . Following the 'recover' instruction  (issued when an error is detected) did not reactivate my files. <BR>Read through everything in the manual concerning similar problems - could not find anything on hdd crash, spent a few hours trying everything that came to mind - and finally decided to format the hdd. Yes, friends and neighbours,the dreaded format<BR>function erased everything on the hdd but - joy of joys - everyhing came back to normal afterwards.  I've learnt since then - especially after the second crash - not to overwork the hdd<BR>and to archive quickly anything I wish to keep.<BR>I suppose crashes are inevitable on any hdd. It's just good to prepared for them! All in all, I am satisfied with my hdd/dvd recorder.