Panasonic DMR-E80H Progressive-Scan DVD Player/Recorder with Hard Drive , Silver
Panasonic quality control
Conceptually, the unit is 5 stars. As shipped, everything worked fine except the DVD part would not recognize the DVD RAM disc that came with the unit. Messages on the screen were \\"cannot read disc\\" and \\"incompatible disc\\". I attempted to format the disc, but this was not possible because of the \\"incompatible disc\\" message. The Unit had the same response to a RAM disc purchased separately and to a prerecorded DVD. I tried the Panasonic \\"customer sevice hot line which had no useful advice other than the name of a local panasonic certified repair shop.<br />I am very dissatisfied with such lax quality control by the manufacturer. Perhaps if it can be repaired, I will be slightly less dissatisfied, but not much.<br />One lesson learned: If I had spent the extra money to buy from a local retailer rather than on the web, I would be able to take the unit back to the store and get a replacement. I don't know if all web retailers have the same policy, but the invoice from ABE's Of Maine basically says their standard policy is they won't take back a defective unit and it's up to me to get it repaired. I later foundd that Abe's was willing to exchange the unit, although I had to pay for shipping to them. <BR>The second unit shipped worked and I am still experimenting with its features. So far I am not impressed with the logic of the controls or options available. For instance, if you are interupted when watching a recorded DVD you must remember to push the \\"remember position\\" button before you turn the unit off. If you don't you will start at the beginning of the DVD when you turn it back on again later.<BR>I recorded some old 8mm tapes on an DVD-R disc and found that after I finalized it the disc may have been subdivided into chapters as the manual said it would. However, those chapters are inaccessible from any button I've been able to find. So far the only way I have found to get to a particular part of a disc is to use the high speed playback button. There is no \\"go to\\" button. Seems pretty clunky to me. \\"Playlists\\" can be created and edited on DVD-RAM and I think you can access particular scenes via the play lists, but I'm still experimenting with that.<BR>You can't dub from a finalized DVD-R to the HDD. If you try to erase a segment via the \\"erase\\" button it erases the entire program. If you try to erase another way by shortening a segment, you hit the buttons and it takes you back to the beginning of the DVD rather than starting from the point you paused play. Actually, I can't believe the editing functions are as bad as they seem and hope that as I become more familiar with the device it will be easier to use.