Panasonic DMR-ES20K DVD Recorder
2/15/06  This Thing Is Flakey!  BEWARE: Going to Repair Shop  +  Updates  #1, #2, #3 & #4
Cannot believe that no one else has reported a problem trying to record TV pgms.     Panasonic tells me this is a known bug:  when I try to record a number of pgms on the same day/or not, many will not record.  or it may record the 1st and 2nd,only to skip the 3rd (leaving it gray) and record the 4th.    if I am trying to record a 1 hr. show and have 3 or even 4 hrs free on a pana dvd-ram disc, it will not accept the pgm in the Schedule section. it places an exclm pt ! next to the item.    Many, many shows have been skipped or whatever with AMPLE space on the disc. last night, with 4:01 hrs of free space, as shown in Scheduling, at 7:57PM I manually set it to record a 1 hr show, which began at 8:00PM.        set channel, start time, end time, mode =EP with 4:01 hrs of ep tim left on disc.    8:00PM came and went - nothing happened!  when I flipped the disc and gave it 6 free hrs, then it did record!          that is NOT a Scheduling bug, to my mind.              the cpu just does not deal with avail space/time on disc at all properly.    After first call on 11/01/05, pana says a FIRMWARE UPGRADE disc si in the mail, but I have no real confidence that this will correct problems. And have still not rcv'd disc, even after second call, 2-3 weeks after my original call...    will update...    1/03/06  UPDATE #1  STILL NO FIRMWARE DISC! Maybe I Should Just Get A TIVO...  would now give ZERO stars.                 pana has record of my 1st call/complaint on 11/01/05.  Called back 2-3 wk's later w/same problem & disc. not rcv'd. was told disc would be forthcoming. it's now 1/03/06 and STILL NO DISC!  Placed 3d call and spoke to supv.  bad machine and bad service.    1/06/06  UPDATE  #2  FINALLY!!   After speaking to a supv. and getting a bit irate, the firmware disc arrives.         Disc is clearly labelled \\"dmr es40\\".  Instructions state to only use a disc having the same id number as the unit it's to be used with.  I use it anyway, since no damage can result, (according to instructs.) Comes with 2 pages of photos of the display as firmware loads.  Words such as \\"load, firmwre, etc\\" appear.  NOne of these words appear on my unit. Another 50-60 min wait on pana 800-question line. (at least they do provide one - with a real person on the other end!).  Rep goes to secondary group; tells me that the es40 frimware and es20 is the same, but has no idea why I see none of the msg's as provided with the disc.       Have finished a little bit of recording: am now (at last) able to completely fill up a 6 hour side of a disc with normal recording of TV.  did a bit of a torture test by leaving 3 minutes blank on disc, then recording 3 separate 1-minute pgm's to complete the 6 hrs.    Everything appears fine - so far... In other words, it is now recording in the way it should have, all along.       My only question:  HOW COULD PANA HAVE ALLOWED A PRODUCT TO BE SOLD/SHIPPED IN SUCH A DEFECTIVE STATE - FROM THE START?    Update #3  1/27/06   STILL  BUGGY!    Firmware still leaves a bug.  with a ram disc that has 6 free hrs., if one recrods tv pgm's using the record on \\"day of the week\\" setting, say Saturday...  I record 3 pgm's on a Saturday, each of 1 hour length.  these are set to record every sat., and I have now used 3 hrs on the disc - BUT - going to the SCHEDULE function, I see that the 3 pgm's do NOT go away. they are at the bottom of the Scheduling area, but the date, saturday's date, is till next to them - even though they have already finished being recorded.    Now, NOTHING ELSE WILL RECORD ON THIS DISC ON THIS DAY, (SAT).    The machine sees that 3 hrs of the 6 hr disc have been used.  then it sees/thinks that there is/are still another 3 hours to be recorded (these are the same 3 pgm's already recorded, but which continue to show up on today's schedule).  This gives us 6 HOURS!    The disc is maxed-out, so nothing furhter will record.  If I record pgm's as a on-time-only deal, not as a repeating day of the week item, then the pgm disappears and it does not create a doubling of time used/needed.  but then, I have to re-program to record that show every week, rather than just once, and foget it.    Once Sat. turns into Sunday, those 3 pgm's (and the time the machine is mistakenly reserving for them) go away till next week - and those 3 \\"lost hours\\" are once more avail. to be used for recording.    suppose I could go on the 50+ minute wait-que, but would the info ever really get to the appropriate Pana technical staff, and does anybody really care anyway?  Not that I can tell, or how could they have let this thing go out the way it was and is?    Update #4  2/15/06  It's going to \\"repair\\" shop.      got hold of Pana again.  took 15 min or less! product specialist had me do a \\"re-initialize/reset\\" of machine.  says my unit's firmware is/was already at the newest level of issue.  the reset did not help - when recording tv pgm's using the repeating day-of-the-week scheduling, the pgm's already recorded on a given day stay on the schedule as active, until Midnight of that day.  pana rep tells me it's time to dig up receipt and make a trip to the shop.    We'll see...  (I really have my doubts)