Panasonic DMR-ES30VS DVD Recorder/VCR Combo
A few minor problems.
I would have to say avoid this unit.<br /><br />As far as transfer from VHS to DVD goes, it does the job relatively well enough, but, nowhere near as well as it could.  Appears not to have a Time Base Corrector like the DMR lines that do not have a VHS deck in them.  This means that frames are occasionally dropped from the video when transfered from VHS to DVD.  While it's not as serious a drop as seconds of audio and video being missing, such as from Magnavox DVD recorders, it shouldn't be dropping frames to begin with.<br /><br />It's automatic menus, though, are a far step BACKWARDS from the past DMR DVD recorders.  The addition of preview clips changes the way text is entered in on the screen.  So, it makes it that much more difficult to enter titles that appear as \\"English\\" on the screen.<br /><br />It's timer functions are not entirely solid either.  A few times, the timer just doesn't go off when scheduled.  Plus, the incredibly strange behavior of, after a timer recording has gone off, many times when the unit is turned back on, for whatever reason, the channel is set to 9.  When a timer recording is active, it's also not immediately obvious it's recording, either.  You must check for the red box on the display to indicate it is, which is a problem for those moments when the scheduled recording does NOT start.  The red box WILL appear, but it WON'T be recording.  Lastly, there will be periodic times where you turn on the unit and it simply will not respond to any commands.  Nothing from the remote, except power off, and nothing from the front display of buttons, except power off.<br /><br />But, the unforgivable one was the unit required repairs after just 2 months.  It stopped playing any VHS recorded in EP.  Even material it had recorded less than 12 hours before and HAD played back fine would not play back properly.  Brand of tape did not matter.  Cleaning the VCR did not help.  It was not signal interference because the tape had worked before and the DVDrecording still worked fine.  Plus, recording from EP VHS to DVD, while the distortion was not as bad, was still present.  It was as if Macrovision kicked in on playback of any and all EP VHS only recorded material.  The video was wobbly, colors dimmed in and out and changed, and there was an audible background humming wobble.  Panasonic, of course, suggested repairs, so, it's not even certain IF repairs will fix it.<br /><br />In comparison to past experience with older DMR DVD recorder only units, it's better to avoid this unit and just connect a VCR to a pure DMR-Ex0 DVD recorder.  What few things this unit adds over past DMR's are, unfortunately, overshadowed by too many minor errors and a too quick turn over time before major repairs were needed.<br /><br />EDIT: 04-12-2012.<br /><br />I have to be honest and admit I seriously misjudged this unit!<br /><br />My unit had not in fact broke after 2 months.  As another matter of fact, I still use this unit today in 2012!  It's VCR is still recording well, even after all these years with only minor cleaning applied to the heads.  What I said about the menu design still stands, but, I don't know what I saw wrong before in the recording quality of this unit when I first reviewed it.<br /><br />You can't find these units easily anymore, but, I felt I should set the record straight on this product that I initially misjudged.