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Panasonic DMR-E85HS
Panasonic DMR-E85HS Progressive-Scan DVD Player/Recorder with 120 GB Hard Drive Recording |
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Reviews:
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Great recorder, easy to use
5 out of 5
I bought this unit a year ago. I did not want to be tied to yet another monthly charge such as Tivo and I wanted the ability to burn DVDs. This has been a great machine for me. I hooked up my (not-so-old) VCR/DVD combo and transferred home videos to DVD. I can also burn DVDs of shows I want to keep indefinitely, but not take up space on the hard drive- thus I can have the entire season of my favorite shows on DVD, commercial-free once I take the time to edit them.
What I love: I am no longer tied to a tv schedule so I can watch a favored show anytime I want and not get sucked into some horrible show just because there's nothing on; I don't watch commercials anymore; I don't have a monthly fee; I can save anything indefinitely on DVD and edit it to my liking; I have a large selection of PBS shows saved for my kids to watch anytime that is convenient; and it's easy to use (once you spend a day or two with the manual in one hand and the remote in the other).
The DVDs I have burned work on at least 4 different players that I know of, including a tiny $20 Cyberhome model. The only player they don't work on that I know of is a portable DVD player made by Durabrand (about the cheapest I could find in August 2004). Once I found out the machine only accepts DVD-R (not DVD+R) for recording, which I thought was not adequately explained in the manual, every brand I've tried has worked- Sony, TDK, Panasonic and a very cheap generic brand.
The only caveats:
Initially I had a little trouble with the TV Guide messing up which required resetting the device- the default was for that to come on first thing. Once I changed the setting to only bring up the TV Guide when I pressed the button, I haven't had that problem anymore. The biggest down side is that sometimes the tv guide listings don't load and that the machine must be off for them to do so. Having said that, it's only been an occasional problem and you can completely avoid that using the timer recording instead (the only downside to the timer recording is that the name of the program doesn't appear on the thumbnail screen- but of course you can add that manually). I have had the U99 message pop up a small handful of times over the year. At first I would unplug the machine and it would reset, but then I discovered you could hold the power button down for about a full 20 seconds and it would reset.
The default setting for recording is EP. This is really too low quality for most people. You can see and hear it just fine but the resolution is very low and so you won't get crisp images. I reset mine to one setting higher and it's perfect for me and I still get plenty of room for a huge number of shows.
Overall, based on my personal experience, I can highly recommend this machine. It has performed very well and I am mystified why this type of device hasn't become more popular. It has far more flexibility than a DVD recorder without a hard drive or the DVRs like Tivo or the ones you rent from cable companies. I can't imagine watching tv according to 'whatever's on' or making sure I watch my 3 or 4 favorite shows when they air. It's by far my favorite electronic device I've ever purchased.
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Totally changed the way I watch TV
5 out of 5
I have had this unit for well over a year. It has really changed the way I watch TV. Sometimes I sit down on a Sunday and scan the TV guide for channels I like for the week ahead. The machine records these on the hard drive. At my convenience, I watch the shows. Naturally, I speed through the commercials. Most often, I erase the show after watching. However, it is something I want to save, I either leave it on the huge hard drive or dub it to a disc. I hope the price will come down so that I can buy another one for another room in the house.
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Started out bad - REAL bad...
5 out of 5
Maybe not all owners are aware - so here is a quick tid bit. I had nothing but trouble with my new E85HS DVR. Response to the remote was sporadic, frequent hangups, required many resets. Essentially, it was unusable. Then I found out about a firmware upgrade that was available from the Japanese panasonic website. You burn this to CD (from your computer) then place it in the DVR. The dVR recognizes it for what it is and begings firmware upgrade. This fixed all of the problems I was having with the unit.
By the way, US Panasonic tech help will not tell you about this firmware (this was true as of 3/2004 when I purchased my unit).
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Great Buy
4 out of 5
I really enjoy the flexibility and features of this recorder. It was a great value.
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U99 Error Messages
1 out of 5
I, too, have had many problems with this unit since it was purchased in January 2005. I've called Panasonic so many times that I don't even bother any more because the wait is so long and they are absolutely no help and sometimes even rude. They ask the same questions over and over until I actually start feeling intimidated. They assume everything that you report is YOUR error, not the recorder's. Now the U99 message pops up randomly and resetting according to the Owner's Manual does no good - it just happens again, so we never get any listings. Panasonic did refer me to a "local" dealer for repair, but the "local" dealer happens to be over 100 miles away. Big help. Buy another recorder.
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Buy at Amazon.com
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