Panasonic  DMR-ES40VS VHS / DVD Recorder Silver
Amazing but problematic
First off, let me say that DVD recording technology is amazing.  With a little effort, you can create your own DVD library from old videotapes, directly off the TV, etc.  That's the good news.    Now for the bad news. The Panasonic DMR-ES40VS has the following problems/flaws (At least I have experienced them with mine) or is missing features.    No High-speed dubbing?  Either I haven't found it, it doesn't have it, or it has this feature but forget to tell the user how to get to it.  Therefore, anything you record, you have to record in real time.  Meaning a 2 hour videotape must run for 2 hours.  If the Panasonic does have this option, they don't display it in their meager owner's manual.  I've been thru that thing 50 times and haven't seen it.    The recorder locks up on me about once or twice a day.  When it does, I turn it off (as tech support told me to do).  Often, that locks up on me too, so I have to unplug the power at the wall.  It always begins working again, so I'm thankful for that, but it's a ridiculous situation.  It reminds me of the computer crashes of the early PCs in the late 1980s.    You can only set your own chapters with -RAM discs.  I went out and bought 200 DVD-R dics.  They record great, but this unit doesn't allow you to insert CHAPTER breaks on any discs other than -RAM.  Therefore, it's back to the old fast-forward, like the old VCRs.  I can't believe someone couldn't have figured out a way to enable \\"custom\\" chapter breaks.  If you're not familiar with this, it is probably the biggest problem and is truly a dealbreaker.  It means, unless you solely buy DVD-RAM discs, if you record a 2-hour family picnic, you won't be able to \\"earmark\\" your favorite 5 or ten scenes.  You must fast-forward thru 2 hours of film --- EVERY SINGLE TIME!    Meager owner's manual and instructions.  I'm a technical writer, and I'll admit, it would be very difficult to fully document all of the mechanics of this recorder.  But their index is only 2/3rds of a page.  Troubleshooting is incomplete and gives patronizing fixes like \\"Check power cord.\\"  Come on.  I think most of us are a lot smarter than that.  I think Panasonic could have easily supplied a navigatible system DVD that would have walked the end-user thru each operation.    Problematic other features like:   - No eject buttons on remote control (for VHS or DVD).  All of my other DVD and VHS players have them on the remote also.    - No counter when you are recording.  Supposedly, there is a way to enter several commands and go thru multiple menus if you want to decipher this.  Why couldn't they have just put it on the unit like my old VCR?  It couldn't have been that difficult since that technology has been around since the early '80s.    Overall, I'm happy that I have a device that can record to DVD.  But, consider yourself warned, they are still working the bugs out on this model.  If you're desperate to get a DVD recorder (like I was) you might be happy with this one.  But if you can wait, you might want to put off getting one until the next generation.  I'm assuming next year's models won't lock up every 6-8 recording hours.    EDIT (February 4th, 2006)  TWO new disturbing developments with my Panasonic DVD recorder:    a) The DVD recorder has started \\"eating\\" some of my VHS tapes.  These tapes were previously in decent (or new) condition, but in this Panasonic DVD recorder, they locked up or the tape spooled off the reel.  Luckily, nothing irreplaceable yet, but it's rather upsetting.    b) I do a lot of my VHS tape to DVD dubbing at night, after I go to bed.  Since some of these tape to DVD transfers take several hours in real time, I find that it's more efficient to wake up in the morning, after the main dubbing has occurred, then \\"finalize\\" the DVD.  This saves me from sitting around for hours waiting for the transfer process. This system usually works well, but I've found in the last two weeks, at least 4 times, when I attempt to FINALIZE the DVD with themovie(s) on it, the DVD recorder will lock up.  Obviously, I'll attempt it several more times, but I've found, if the Panasonic locks up on the first Finalize try, that DVD will need to be scrapped.  It only costs me about 35 cents in DVDs (each time), but because of the Panasonic's real-time only dubbing, I lost the entire night's taping.  What's worse, concurrently the VHS player half has starting \\"eating\\" my VHS tapes so, if the DVD transfer didn't work, what was on that VHS tape originally is lost forever.    I just wanted everyone to be aware of these two additional problems.