Panasonic DMR-ES30VS DVD Recorder / VCR Combo

Below is my original review, in 3/05, after only a few weeks of testing and use. I'm much less enthusiastic a year and change later, having a better appreciation now for some of the reviews I've read of similar machines, which seem to deteriorate rapidly after a year or so. I too am seeing more and more "disk error" messages with new DVD's, and unexplainable loss of some tracks, and other anomalies. This follows my finally resigning myself to using it primarily to do what it does best: dubbing from old favorite VHS tapes to DVD (which in real-time is real time!) I've probably dubbed about 100 DVD's from T120 and T160 tapes, in EP and SP, and while the quality was good, and the setup not so difficult after a little practice -- the reliability lessens and the glitches increase, rather rapidly after about a year, or did so in my case as well, inspiring me to join the chorus of non-fans for this Panasonic line of hybrid DVR/VCR machines at consumer prices. I think they're fine for light duty vhs and dvd watching, and *occasional* dubbing of cherished tapes, but after several dozen dubs, I'd be careful not to throw out the original until you've finalized and copied a backup dvd, as the process is both quirky and risky. This was the case for me, and apparently (as I'm skimming the reviews) others as well. So even as a simple dubbing tool, it's far from industrial-duty ready! I'm going to get a DVR and video interface the way it looks now, more reliable and versatile, though I did like the feel and ease of this machine, and still stand behind what I wrote. But it's not as solid on the inside as it looks and feels on the outside, and not likely to last long if used actively for recording. I'd remove a star and a half now.

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Original review follows, and probably is still valid for a new one meant for only occasional use. (But I'd not buy one used on E-bay!)
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3/05

I've had the DMR-ES30V just about a week now, and would contribute some first impressions which might resonate with other shoppers looking for a VHS Player/Recorder & DVD player/recorder.

As with buying a car or camera or home, of course one's own needs are what's important, and like many others I want to convert mountains of videotape into DVD's, and also shift away from video recording to DVD recording (I think), or at least I'm having a go with using a DVR for recording/time-shifting television, and since my VHS HiFi Recorder (with editing) died, I really had no way to access or transfer tape->DVD, or even watch the existing mountain of VHS tapes. Folks, even with easy dubbing, transferring a few dozen 8 hour VHS tapes to 2- or 4- or ?- hour DVD's is not a bowl of cherries. Nor will it necessarily save space, though saving valuable VHS tapes or other digital media for posterity is of course for many people (including me) an important goal.

That said, after 30-something years of experience with Betamax, Umatic, VHS, PCM, and other home/professional tape systems, I've concluded the ideal way to fully digitalize multimedia from many years and formats is to have a DVR with hard-drive for editing, and burning important DVD's. But in the meantime, there's still a need to own a VHS player in order to dub out to digital media. And this is one way, for sure. There's no video capture card required, no real technical skills necessary. This unit will provide an easy way to convert VHS tapes to DVD's for both the "typical consumer" who is moderately to extremely computer savvy these days, as well as for those who are not. (For the latter, there is a great instruction manual and this machine is easy to use, with results you'll likely be very happy with.) It can do a lot more too, for both media wizards or those just entering the digital era.

This VCR/DVD player is awesome for what it's meant to do, and what it does for $300. It replaces and upgrades one's VCR by adding DVD-recording capability as well as basic dubbing, and allows an easy shift to "going digital" from old video as well as other forms of videocam etc. input.

Out of the box it was such a pleasure to navigate through unpacking and consulting the "quick setup" guide, which had wonderful key numbers throughout referencing the manual, should it be needed. The manual is actually written in coherent language! But the screen says "hello" when you turn it on, and the menus are more like installing software on a PC or Mac than struggling through setting up the inputs and VCR plus on a traditional VCR. It walks you through setting up the channels, it automatically taps into television signals to set the clock, and immediately (as others have said) strikes one as being carefully built and engineered. I've been a Sony person for decades (well, I could be 25 and say that, right?) and while I've gotten used to their system and remote controls, etc., I've also gotten used to them dying young and developing weird glitches along the way. Not to mention the inscrutable instruction manuals.

The physical unit is thus a joy. Others have given detailed reviews of all the things it *can* do, which I've not scratched the surface of. BUT... I did test the DVD-RAM recording, with a few mediums, and used as a VTR while I was away for a few days. First, Panasonic makes a big pitch for using the RAM format (easiest, with no choices to program and easy to find chapters, etc.) I recorded off the TV -- within 15 minutes of opening the box, I might add -- and it was flawless on DVD-RAM, producing 4 little icons of chapters after I recorded a few samples on different channels (hitting pause in between). When I was looking at the chapters (as thumbnails with screen shots), the last thumbnail was live (the source), giving it the feel of a live editing session. I don't think editing is a forte here, though, and only do-able really using DVD-RAM.

So I think the strength of this unit (besides being more functional than my last 3 Sony VHS's so far -- and to be fair, my Beta HiFi is still working quite wonderfully!) is that it is ideal for dubbing VHS to DVD, or vice versa (if the copy protection technology permits). It also works very nicely to simply tape from the tv, as a program comes on.

I had a good experience using a Maxell DVD-RAM (same specs as the supplied Panasonic DVD), taping off the TV, erasing a chapter, adding more. Then I tried making a recording using a JVC DVD-R. I mention media type because the user manual is both a bit scary in the description of all the compatibilities and incompatibilities. Well, the Maxell DVD-RAM worked fine. The JVC DVD-R recorded well, played back well, and I saw I could go fast-forward, backwards, etc, all well using this DVD Player/Recorder. No problema.

However... after a not-so-quick but also not-so-difficult "finalizing", I found that the DVD-R is not recognized by my PC. :-( Not necessary, actually, but something I affirmed after reading of others' experience. Computer-VHS/DVD system intercompatibility is not a given, and as they say ymmv.

Other minor glitch. I went away over the weekend and set the
DVR to record a few shows, which it did. On a Panasonic DVD-RAM DVD. Quality is great (mostly - keep reading) and it is simple to go right to the show beginning, by seeing the graphical chapter icon (or whatever it's called! the gui...)

Setting up the recording manually was simple. Same with the VCR Plus, which I was pleasantly surprised to see, as I don't recall seeing it on the features list. It's there.

What I found on the last show I recorded was that about 20' from the end (is this a function of the binary sampling?) there were 3 or 4 spots in the recording which were distorted -- or actually I'd say had sampling errors, as it appeared "frozen" or garbled or as fragmented pictures of the whole picture. For about 3-10 seconds, enough so I missed most of a sentence as it was spoken. This was using a DVD-RAM (Panasonic, at that), unattended and un-interfered with while it was recording. I wonder what that's about...
[Adding this: the next week I also had an experience of recording on a DVD-R, from the TV tuner, and on playback the video played lurchingly while the audio track played perfectly. I think I'm going to stay away from DVD-R!]

My only other "gripe" -- which I know I'm not entitled to at this price, and given that this is a consumer product -- is that playing back VHS tapes is just adequate. No problem. Plays and displays fine. But put a frame on hold, it is not stable. Try viewing freeze frame or slo-mo... Is it possible? Maybe, but haven't found out how yet. (RTFM?)
Playing back DVD's, home-made and commercially made, is straightforward and not a problem, nor is the sound, played back through a basic home stereo system. Just don't look for fancy bells and whistles in terms of editing, zooming, etc.

So, there's not the best of all words (advanced editing, some preferred input/output types or locations, glitch-proof performance), but some of the many things it does adequately, are the most important things: It has a good feel to its tape mechanism (solid); it is ergonomically a pleasure to use; it is simple to follow either the quick guide or full manual or both, using the key; there is a choice of media for a choice of purposes; it is made for dubbing, and dubbing it does well, while giving us a DVD player, VHS player, VHS Recorder, TV tuner, and timer/recorder all for the price of one gizmo which nearly does it all, and does a lot of it quite well from what one sees at first glance.

So overall I'd say this machine is very impressive as a dubbing assistant.

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Follow-up (3/06) after 8 months. The above is still valid, and overall *for the price* and for the primary purpose of doubling as a dubbing tool and straightforward playback device, for the most part it is fine. After a lot of recording from old VHS tapes to DVD I can share a few bugs:

(1) It cannot record in FR (flexible recording mode) while one is away, without "locking up" the DVD. That is, if I record 2 one-hour shows while away, I can return to watch the shows but the DVD will say there is no more space to record anything new. Sometimes it will not finalize.

(2) Sometimes, after hours of recording (again, in FR mode) it will suddenly show that the DVD is full, when it isn't, and I've had to finalize a short-recording DVD or at times was unable to finalize at all -- despite having recorded half the DVD, the next effort to record yields an "incompatable disk" error message, a shut-down, launch into self-check mode, and then back where it started.

Aside from these frustrating occasional glitches, it has been a mostly-reliable workhorse in terms of massive copying from VHS to DVD, and I've used it occasionally in reverse, from DVD to VHS, without any problem. As I said originally (above) there's little in the way of editing or other bells & whistles, for which I suppose a full-fledged DVR and compatible digital-output VCR are the key, but for what it is supposed to do, it does it, (mostly) reliably. I'd say out of every 100 recording efforts, 2 or 3 I've had to re-do due to the glitch above.