Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Best-selling in DVD & Blu-ray Players
This recorder has a lot of capability, more features than I need or was looking for. It seems no one is building recorders like this anymore, so the market consists of used equipment. If you want to burn DVDs without a computer, this unit can do it and a lot more. Since these are getting scarce, if I find another unit like this I would seriously consider snapping it up for a spare.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
The product itself is a great product, but unfortunately after trying it out for the first time, the Video and audio out stopped working after a brief picture and sound came on, and then the picture faded to black and no more sound as well. The unit came to me in excellent cosmetic condition, but as it goes with electronics, even new out of the box fail almost immediately upon trying it out. That's why they have warranties. Unfortunately, the unit failed right away, and had it not been for it failing,I would have given it an excellent rating. I have one of the top of the line panasonic recorders of the same year, and that is why I bought the ES20. Panasonic's picture and sound is excellent, and I would say the ES20 would have been just as good as my top rated model that I have. It's slim lightweight design makes it easy to carry it from one room to another as I have several VCRs, one in each room, and I like to use the VCR that a program was originally recorded on for tranferring to a DVD. I've seen the DMR-ES20's in action, and that is why I bought one on ebay. Unfortunately it was defective, and that does happen, but it doesn't take away from the units ability to provide a great picture and sound. Rich SerraRead full review
I bought this unit to transfer all of my VHS video to DVD. I've recorded about 30-40 DVDs so far and everything is perfect. This is a great unit for the price. It has a very easy recording method, just put in a blank DVD, allow the unit a couple of seconds to recognize the disc and press record. Very easy. If I need to record something over 2 hours, just press the record mode button and it can be set up for 4 or 6 hours and then press record, start the source and it's done. The only other thing I need to do is be there when the original material comes to an end. I'm pleased with the unit's performance so far.
I bought this because I have had one just like it for about 3 years and it works well. The only Problem I have had with it is trying to record for more than four hours on a standard DVD. Maybe you just can't do that. I don't know. I like to take the cartoon movies and kid's shows off the satellite and put them on DVD for my granddaughters . They can then play the DVD's in thier own little players and they seem to really like that. I have made over a hundred so far and have had about a 5 percent failure rate. Not too bad i think,the greatest cost is not the blank media but the time involved. I haven't figured out how to write the DVD without having it actually playing off the DVR at the time. so if it is an hour show it takes an hour to do it. I BOUGHT THIS ONE SO i COULD START IT UP IN THE BEDROOM AND GO OFF AND LEAVE IT, AND NOT HAVE TO WATCH. jUST COME BACK AND FINALIZE IT. oop s caps,i'm not typng that over. that's about it.Read full review
This is the third one of these I have owned and the previous two died for the exact same reason. It took me until now to understand how to keep one of these working. If you've ever owned a DMR-ES20, you probably eventually were confronted with its front panel display going through a row of zeros and never powering up properly again. This is a known problem with this model and it cannot be repaired. However, I had several DVD-R discs that needed finalizing so I had to get one more and hope it would stay alive long enough to finish those. What I discovered after I hooked it up was something I wish I had learned sooner. I still have an old analog television and a TiVo with analog outputs so I use one of those little converter boxes that were sold for $40 when broadcast television went digital several years ago, and that converter had been sitting on top of the DVD recorder. Well, I checked the installation a few hours later and the heat from the converter had already made that side of the recorder very warm. I think that's what killed the first two recorders ... I moved the box off to the side with lots of airspace around it and the top of the recorder cooled off and has stayed cool. This is a very good DVD recorder -- the controls are pretty much intuitive (although you absolutely need the remote!) and the picture output is nice and clear, even if you used a non-digital source originally, like I do -- but my advice if you get one is to make it the top of your equipment stack so that it stays cool.Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
I purchased this recorder as a back up for an upconvert unit and am very pleased! The menu is fairly easy to navigate and the quality of the recordings is excellent - vivid colors, great contrast and excellent sound. I especially like the bold time display - easy to see from across the room. The remote is smaller than some, but is easy to use, with clearly-marked buttons and a logical lay-out. While it does not upconvert, the 480p output produces a very nice picture - certainly good enough for all but the most picky viewers. I highly recommend this recorder and feel fortunate to have found such a nice unit at such a terrific price!
Easy to operate recorder that comes with excellent set-up instructions. If you have never used a DVD recorder, I suggest that you read the manuel thoroughly, before trying to use. Like all new electronic devices, there is a "learning curve" to get the most satisfaction from your unit. It will record perfect DVD's with little effort to schedule, and will also play back beautifully. Considering the low cost of this unit, I would highly recommend this entry level Panasonic recorder.
I had previously bought this unit new a our local electronics retailer. After owning and using it for nearly a year, I needed to replace a broken dvd player and opted to purchase this recorder because I like my other one so much. There is a learning curve for this unit, but once learned it works great. It takes patience (5-10 seconds) for it to complete some of its functions, but it is well worth it. I use it to copy older vcr tapes, and record shows off of cable. When it seems to lock up, you just hold the power button for 20 seconds and it resets everything and you are ready to go again. The reason it seems to lock up is my hurry to push too many buttons too quickly and it seems to overload the computer, so I reset and the unit is back to normal. I like the units ability to be set to record for 1 hour, 2 hours, 4 hours or even customized to time in between to optimize the quality of the recording. One limitation I noticed is that I own a Sony mini dv unit and the Panasonic unit does not recognize it through the mini dv port on the front so I have to use the component cables. I found out that this unit only recognizes other Panasonic components in order to utilize the mini dv input on the front. Nevertheless, the copy quality even using this cabling is still very good. Overall, I am very satisfied with this unit and would recommned to a friend who is willing to learn it (not your average vcr technical ability) since it is a bit more complicated to record to dvd. I have never had a problem once the discs are finalized with playing them back on any other dvd units. Also, one of these units is hooked up to an older T.V. with a weak tuner and when I run the signal through the dvd recorder, its much better reception on the T.V.Read full review
This recorder is a replacement for our old one it was going down fast. I bought this product because it looked great and the product specs were detailed and updated then ours. This dvd recorder has a awesome picture and records really easy. It's simple design makes it easy for anyone to use and it looks great to. This Recorder is high tech but simple.
Bought to replace same model that had expired. These DVD recorders are not made any more; at least not by Panasonic. It was a good and versatile unit when functioning properly, but a five year life is considerably shorter than I expected from Panasonic. I guess the next move when this used replacement expires is to graduate into the 21st century, bite the bullet and sign up with my cable provide for a DVR. Seems like another case of planned obsolescence, not particularly an improvement IMO.