Panasonic DMRE50S DVD Player/Recorder , Silver
Incredible
As a new comer to the world of DVD I was a little sceptical about DVD recorders. No more.<BR>This piece of kit has just blown me away! Maybe I'm easily pleased but it just makes Video recorders utterly obsolete. No more dodgy recordings,no more accidental erasures, no more frantically searching for a space on the tape, no more anything you have to put up with using a VHS recorder.<BR>Now, I'll come down to earth for a while and explain why it's so good and be a little more objective about some of the features.<BR>This recorder uses DVD RAM and DVD R discs. Uh? Well DVD RAM discs you can record over and over (approx 100,000 times!!!) and DVD R are record only. Obviously the RAM's are more expensive. However a RAM disc comes with the recorder and I still haven't needed to buy another yet! Well that's just me. You can get 4.7 gig discs (supplied) or 9.7 gig discs. <BR>Still with me? <BR>The Panasonic can record on 4 different resolutions. So this is where the reality comes in. XP, SP, LP and EP. Now the lower the resolution (EP is lowest) the less memory is used and the more you can fit on a disc. So that basically means more recording time. However, the lower the resolution the inferior the picture. And I've got to say that LP and SP are not really watchable for me personally. Others may find it O.K.but the quality resembles a really coarse video streamed off the internet, you know the kind of thing? So generally I don't use these, but SP and especially XP are superb. So, a 4.7 gig disc will give you 1 hours recording on XP, 2 hours on SP, 4 hours on LP and 6 hours on EP. Bored yet? <BR>So the bigger the RAM disc the more you can record at high resolutions. Phew! That's that over with.<BR>Now there is this Time Slip feature. I can't really see the point of this but it's kinda cool. You can watch  something while it's being recorded. WOW. What I mean is that you can sort of rewind the disc to an earlier record time and watch it while the programme is still being recorded. (This is sounding like Quantum physics now) Anyway, if that floats your boat then all well and good. But for me, the really sweet feature is the ability to watch a previously recorded programme while recording a completely different one. Example: Friday night you record ER because you're going out. Saturday night you decide to watch the episode of ER you recorded but then realise that there is something on NOW that you really must watch. Simple. Start recording the programme you wanted to watch NOW and then enter the user friendly menu system, select the recorded ER episode and press play. It plays and records at the same time. Sweeeeeeeet!!! It's that easy and just brilliant.<BR>There's loads more stuff in ther also like, partial erase, moving recorded programmes around, editing etc. etc. Great for people who like editing their own videos.<BR>I know I must sound like a Panasonic PR bod but really, I'm just a humble TV watcher with basic knowledge of audio visual stuff. If i can use this thing then, seriously, anyone can. It's an absolute breeze and for the price (internet [$$$]?)real value for money.<BR>It's the future, buy it.