Panasonic DMRE50S DVD Player/Recorder , Silver
The Less than Perfect DMR-E50
Using top quality discs to test this recorder is a must, otherwise bad media is to blame if something goes wrong. I purchased the Panasonic DMR-E50S at a local store, after a few days of normal usage it started to fail. The machine also rendered my TDK discs unusable even after its &quot;recovery&quot; mode kicked in. I didn't imagine this was normal behavior so I went back to the store to get a different DMR-E50S. The replaced unit has performed much better so far (for a week), it even takes the formerly rejected TDKs, so there is no question that it had a mechanical failure before.  I have seen many complimentary opinions here about this Panasonic model, and it is true that it provides the best compression quality I have ever seen, but it isn't perfect, so I will concentrate on that:<br />1) You must have nerves of still while using this model because this unit lacks a hard drive, so you are always at the mercy of lady luck. i.e. With the DMR-E50 you risk loosing every episode of \\"The Simpsons\\" you recorded if either the DVD-R or the machine fail before you &quot;finalize&quot; the disc. If you record to a hard drive at least you can try different DVD-Rs before erasing the show from the drive.<br />2) The remote control is extremely directional and only works if you are pointing directly towards the recorder. This forces you to do painful contortions.<br />3) The final menu is text only, no picture thumbnails as most DVD+R units do. Hence, you must manually add titles to every entry, otherwise you won't know what your DVD contains except for the date.<br />4) Entering each title letter by letter using the remote is ridiculously time consuming (yet better than nothing).<br />5) DVD-RAM is great for temporary viewing, but even though they can be edited they are hardly compatible with other players, pretty useless, because if you build an extensive library of edited material, you are married to Panasonic forever. So you must use the non-editable DVD-R for permanent recordings.<br />6) I have a hunch this type of recorders have a short life-span (maybe less than a year, hence the failures after a few months of usage), keep that in mind.<br />7) Whatever you do, do not purchase the &quot;store extended warranty&quot; at any local stores. No matter what the salesman promised, they will not give you a brand new unit after 30 days, instead they will take the unit from you and try to fix it for as long as it takes.<br />Conclusion: this unit is easily surpassed by the Panasonic models that come with hard drives, so, just wait until those come down in price and get one of those instead. Other DVD recorders units I tried and failed to work: CyberHome and Polaroid, both notoriously buggy.<BR>6) I have a hunch this type of recorders have a short life-span (maybe less than a year, hence the failures after a few months of usage), keep that in mind.<BR>7) Whatever you do, do not purchase the &quot;store extended warranty&quot; at any local stores. No matter what the salesman promised, they will not give you a brand new unit after 30 days, instead they will take the unit from you and try to fix it for as long as it takes.<BR>Conclusion: this unit is easily surpassed by the Panasonic models that come with hard drives, so, just wait until those come down in price and get one of those instead. Other DVD recorders units I tried and failed to work: CyberHome and Polaroid, both notoriously buggy.