Panasonic DMR-EH55S DVD Recorder with 200 GB Hard Drive, HDMI, SD Card, and DV Input
By: Panasonic Average Rating: 4.0 Total Reviews: 51
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 On: 2008-08-25
Love it ! This has a great tv-guide feature but the only draw back is it only goes a week in advance. so if you go on a 2 week vacation you may miss a thing or two. You can make your recordings daily,weekly,or monthly which I thought was a nice feature! You can edit anything you record so if you record a show or movie you can edit the commercials out! I found the best way if you are particular like me you can pause it just before the commercial or after then rewind or forward (in pause) to a black screen to start or end your edit! This took me a few tries before they were faded well. Then of course you can put it on a dvd! The best feature is you can record anything then edit it or not, then put it on a dvd for a friend or your collection! All in all this is a great item!
On: 2008-07-25
Ive been a fan of DVD-RAMs for 4 yrs. I have hundreds of them and record hrs ea. day. I havent had a failed recording nor problem of any kind. 4 yrs of disks and no failures is something I can live with. Panasonics are the main DVD-RAM recorders available.
Thus my interest in this discontinued product.
If you view video recording as a disposable medium, youll love the DMR-EH55. I record hrs while Im at work, then can easily edit titles. I mainly work with my own video recorder titles and cable TV recordings. If I want to eliminate commercials or edit my own video, DVD-RAM or HDD recording works great.
I cant argue with those who want the highest video quality and arent happy with this recorder. But for an easy to use, program, and review videos product, this one is excellent. TV Guide Online gives me more program listings than my cable companys deficient Onscreen Guide which barely exceeds 24 hrs of program listings.
This year Ive returned three modern Panaonic DVD recorders before I got this older model. It seemed as if Panasonic fired all there good programmers. The newer models were complete crap compared to this model- no unusual delays, no buggy operations. This recorder is the real deal for me.
 On: 2008-02-25
This is a great product, but it does have a few glitches.
I love the huge hard drive, no worrying if you have enough space on the dvd/disc for recording all your shows.
Easy to set up for recording if you set it to download the programming from your provider.
Mine makes an error on my channel lineup, it downloads the wrong channel for my location. I get details for a shopping channel not the actual available programming, but this, luckily is a channel I dont watch.
Also several channels are downloaded with times from the wrong time zone, rebooting or clearing and downloading programming again does not correct the problem. This is frustrating as setting up a timed recording is more time consuming to do than just clicking on the show in the line up.
My cable box shows the correct lineup and times of shows.
It also occasionally will record the wrong channel. Two minutes before recording starts the system selects the channel it will record, then again as it starts recording it will reselect the channel. Many times at this second selection it chooses the wrong channel ( 2 instead of 12 for example). This can be frustrating. It cannot be the infra red you set by the cable box being in the wrong location or it would not have selected the correct channel first time around. You see the correct channel momentarily, then it changes to the wrong one.
Sometimes, it just does not to record the show at all, and gives an error message of "Recording was stopped by the system. Reason: Error has occured / stopped recording".
This recording of the wrong channel and / or no recording has been very frustrating at times.
Overall, I do like the item.
On: 2008-02-01
Easy to setup. Easy to use. Reduced my cable bill by $27.00 a month. And to top it off, when used when an HDMI cable to your HDTV, it upscales to 1080i. Youll notice things in movies you never noticed before. And the audio output is second to none. DVD movies and TV are a whole new experience. Well worth the money. Im extremely happy with the DMR-EH55. Theres not a better unit out there. In fact I own 2 of them.
On: 2007-12-05
I was successful in downloading the TV Guide, although last minute broadcasting changes will not be updated. You must use input 3 and have the dvd recorder parameters set-up for your satellite box. No, you cannot use HD receivers but I was able to connect with a standard DirecTV TiVo unit. I also have the DMR E55H controlling the channels on my DirecTV TiVo unit from the scheduling as well as direct channel access. The TiVO unit must remain on at all times!
 On: 2007-11-25
I bought this unit to replace the panasonic DMRE85HS - which froze up after two years of use.
When it works, I really like it. However it is really really annoying when it decides not to record a program - about 10-15% of the time.
I check to make sure the system is setup to record a program, however it will record 5 seconds and then stop. This is true for both recordings selected using the TV guide, and programs manually setup to record on a particular channel at a predetermined time.
This leads to disappointments once or twice a week. Which at the $428 price I paid a year ago for this unit from Amazon, is frustrating.
I am astounded they are now asking close to $2000 for a new unit!
On: 2007-11-24
I bought this unit a year ago to replace the panasonic DMRE85HS - which froze up after two years of use.
When it works, I really like it. However it is really really annoying when it decides not to record a program - about 10-15% of the time.
I check to make sure the system is setup to record a program, however it will record 5 seconds and then stop. This is true for both recordings selected using the TV guide, and programs manually setup to record on a particular channel at a predetermined time.
This leads to disappointments once or twice a week. Which at the $428 price I paid a year ago for this unit from Amazon, is frustrating.
I am astounded they are now asking close to $2000 for a new unit!
On: 2007-11-07
Is it so hard to ask for a HD PVR? They got all the pieces out, just not together. I own the older E80H which I use as a PVR, a free TIVO if you will. Except this is NTSC only (standard analog), which works fine. However I had a nicer HDTV now like many do and I have plenty of HD content available with the addition of an HDTV antenna on my roof.
All this guy wants is a non-TIVO, non-cable, non-sat HD PVR. I dont care if they offer such a product that you can use with TIVO, cable, sat if you choose to. I dont care if they add a DVD burner or not (Ive never used my DVD burner feature on my E80H), Ill pay the extra for this feature if I have to. Just make the damn thing have a HDD recording PVR type features that can do the same with HD content!!
Am I the only one? Actually I know I am not, there are plenty of folks on avsforum that want the same. Why pay 100+/mo for something that is freely available (provided you have the equipment, which is what this review is about)?
I actually have such a product from LG, its an HD PVR with a 250gig HD. Its UI blows though. Its the most gawd awful thing to figure out how to program. My panasonic E80H though is simple, logical and fun to use. Even my wife programs it! I just want the modern equivalent of the E80H! Anyone at Panasonic listening? Or are they all in bed with TIVO and the cable companies?
On: 2007-11-06
This is a great product and I would definately recommend it over the new Philips recorders/dvrs that are on sale. It may cost a lot more but if you want all of the features this is a must-have!
On: 2007-10-12
like most panasonic product i ve had this is a good recorder just 1 thing that is dissapointing you only can read a dvix on dv r or cd r cd rw
On: 2007-06-18
I did a lot of searching for information on many DVD recorders before settling on this one last year. Im definitely not disappointed. I read a lot of reviews of other products of people having endless nightmares with extremely complicated and/or poorly made machines, and it looked like this one was going to be very durable and relatively simple to use compared to other recorders.
It was a bit of a pain learning to navigate my way around all the different menus but thats to be expected from a product that has so many features, and almost everything is done in as simple a way as possible so even the technically challenged can use it. The easy set up guide left out a few things that could have been included like the fact that extra long play programs only could be copied to DVD in real time, but with long play, high speed mode can be used (4 hours of program copies in about 15 minutes). Also it took me a while to figure out some very basic stuff like the importance of having the drive select in the right mode before doing various things.
Its really nice when having programmed recordings not to not have to have the cable box or DVD recorder on the right channel, not have to have worry about whether the DVD recorder is on or off, whether theres a tape or disk in, whether its going to record over something else, etc. Also its nice to have the option of watching something once off the hard drive then deleting it, or copying it to a disk, and nice to be able to watch something on the hard drive while something else is recording. The tv guide feature is great, it didnt work for while, but its been working for a good while now, so I think that was a problem with the cable company and not the DVD recorder. There are no complaints with the picture quality on the hard drive and on recorded DVDs (in long play). Im not sure why Amazon hasnt had this product available, maybe they will soon. I had to buy mine somewhere else.
On: 2007-06-17
I did a lot of searching for information on many DVD recorders before settling on this one last year. Im definitely not disappointed. I read a lot of reviews of other products of people having endless nightmares with extremely complicated and/or poorly made machines, and it looked like this one was going to be very durable and relatively simple to use compared to other recorders.
It was a bit of a pain learning to navigate my way around all the different menus but thats to be expected from a product that has so many features, and almost everything is done in as simple a way as possible so even the technically challenged can use it. The easy set up guide left out a few things that could have been included like the fact that extra long play programs only could be copied to DVD in real time, but with long play, high speed mode can be used (4 hours of program copies in about 15 minutes). Also it took me a while to figure out some very basic stuff like the importance of having the drive select in the right mode before doing various things.
Its really nice when having programmed recordings not to not have to have the cable box or DVD recorder on the right channel, not have to have worry about whether the DVD recorder is on or off, whether theres a tape or disk in, whether its going to record over something else, etc. Also its nice to have the option of watching something once off the hard drive then deleting it, or copying it to a disk, and nice to be able to watch something on the hard drive while something else is recording. The tv guide feature is great, it didnt work for while, but its been working for a good while now, so I think that was a problem with the cable company and not the DVD recorder. There are no complaints with the picture quality on the hard drive and on recorded DVDs (in long play). Im not sure why Amazon hasnt had this product available, maybe they will soon. I had to buy mine somewhere else.
 On: 2007-05-23
No matter what I do,I cannot get this unit to record or playback widescreen.I have a Comcast Cable box and I used the cable box to DVR to TV hookup.Panasonic tech,well just forget it!I used all RCA cables (red,white,yellow) for hookup.When I try to record a HD program I get black bars all around the screen.And yes my hi-speed record feature is off.The only way I have ever gotten WS is by using the TV fill/zoom feature.Anybody w/any ideas?
Bob T.
Greensburg,Pa
On: 2007-05-15
We purchased this unit to replace a Philips HDRW 720/17 "Piece of Junk". The Panasonic we purchased has performed exactly as advertised and actually exceeded our expectations. It has a Huge Hard Drive (HDD) that stores over 250 hours of recorded material. I love the DVD RAM media, that can be recorded to, as you can store over 6 hours of material on one DVD RAM and you can re-record on the fly without having to seperately erase the disc first. The TV Guide Online feature truly works (more than I can say for my previous Philips unit) and is very easy to schedule recordings for. This, Panasonic DMR-EH55S, unit can record to and play back from, more types of media than any other unit I have seen. I LOVE MY PANASONIC!
On: 2007-05-08
I purchased this Unit In January, Ive used it for about 4 monthes now. I love the ease of this unit, and the amount of room on the hard drive. I have some issues with channel listing, but from what I can figure its because of the fact the area I live in has differnt channel listings and it loads more than one, thus giving us 3 different listings for channel 5! Other than that I find that I love it!
On: 2007-05-07
I purchased this Unit In January, Ive used it for about 4 monthes now. I love the ease of this unit, and the amount of room on the hard drive. I have some issues with channel listing, but from what I can figure its because of the fact the area I live in has differnt channel listings and it loads more than one, thus giving us 3 different listings for channel 5! Other than that I find that I love it!
On: 2007-05-04
I have been using the Panasonic DMR-EH55S for about 6 months. I have found my new experience with this DVR (vs VCR) to be extemely positive. I found it easy and straight forward to setup and use on a routine basis. I cannot, however, imagine using a DVR without a big Hard Drive. I believe I can recommend this model very highly.
On: 2007-03-24
This actually is a great unit, I have had it for 7 months. The playback image was very good from both the DVD and the hard drive also the component video in connections make for a great picture.. It was fairly easy to navigate through the menus and set up. The one drawback was that the on screen programming never worked. I have cable and the TV guide never would load even when trying several different RF, IN3, composite, component and svideo connections. The coding did not load. Then one day the DVD player quit working and I could not get the DVD out of the unit. There is a force open code through pushing buttons simulaneously which got it out. After that the unit would not operate. I reset the unit as the manual described and it never worked again. I took it in to get fixed as it was still under its one year warranty. It has been over a month and I finally got word that they are waiting on parts that wont be available for 3 months. Panasonic did offer to refund my money which I think I will take them up on it. I like the unit but I wouldnt want it to fail again. I did a search on the item and found out it was discontinued.
On: 2007-03-11
This review covers three DVRs for comparison purposes:
Panasonic DMR-EH55S (200 GB hard drive) (Most expensive)
Phillips DVDR3455/37 (160 GB hard drive)
Polaroid DRM-2001G (80 GB) (least expensive)
Here are some of my observations on these three DVRs. I would call the Phillips and Polaroid "half-baked" and I returned them and would not recommend them. The Panasonic is nice and I recommend it, but its not perfect.
In my review, strengths are marked with a +, weaknesses with a -.
Panasonic DMR-EH55S
Over all opinion: Good. Reliable, high quality and studded with features, although missing some no-brainers. I dont expect any glitches. Probably the best available at this consumer level price point, but unfortunately has many limitations that reduce its usefulness to a heavy editor like myself.
+Text entry is very good, with great use of the remote control buttons to allow hot key shortcuts for various operations and screen positions. Its a clever system and fast and fun to use.
+Remote control is strong and the unit responds to its commands without fail.
+The scrubber for finding an edit point is great.
+The manual is very good, 77 packed pages with detailed technical information on all aspects of operation. Its much better than the "user friendly" Sony manuals that avoid tech talk. It also carefully lists the many limitations of this unit and the technology, including what burn speeds you can expect.
+The on screen TV guide is da bomb. Its far superior to the scrolling cable channel we have been watching for the last ten years. In spite of reviews here to the contrary, it worked perfectly for us, setting up with just few easy questions, one minor glitch requiring a glance at the manual, and then video nirvana. It finally makes it possible to reliably set programs for a recording device. I love it!
+The fan is whisper quiet.
+The manual warns you that high speed burn will be louder than normal. For me its not bad. The high speed burn usually sounds like someone running water in the sink, with loud portions sounding like an electric shaver.
-In some disappointing passages, the manual points out that although this unit is "compatible" with 16X recording speed disks, "this is not the copy speed." (However, in many cases it can get better than 16x speed if you record at lower quality.) The manual also points out many other limitations such as: you can not record to the SD card, movies can not be played from the SD card, the Firewire port can only be used with digital video equipment and not computers, DVDs are copied to the hard drive only in real time, the advanced feature "flexible recording" fits the highest quality footage possible filling all DVD space but only burns in real time, the system is not smart enough to juggle overlapping record programs and will just drop earlier programs even if there is only a small overlap, it can not play DIVx files while recording other programs, it can not play still pictures while recording other programs, you can not rename/delete/edit/divide titles while recording other programs, it will drop scheduled recordings if you have the unit busy editing photos, finalizing the high speed burn may take four times longer than estimated on the finalize screen HUH? and various other limitations. I dont want all that...just make it work!
-Multi-tasking challenged. You cant edit any previously recorded tracks, not even renaming them, while the unit is recording. You cant even watch tracks while high-speed burning a DVD with finalize, which is silly, since you can watch without finalize. Whats in this thing, an 8080 microprocessor? During high speed burn with finalize it wont even play TV from the tuner! This is a serious limitation for me, greatly reducing the utility of this expensive device.
-Copies DVDs to the hard disk (HDD) only in real time and with loss of a generation. The Pioneer DVR also copies in real time, I assume also losing a generation. I think what they are doing here is playing the DVD and routing its signal through the analog circuitry to allow any copy protection scheme on the DVD to confuse the input circuitry and cause that brightness fading in and out and color shifting. This is another serious limitation for me since I like to consolidate my home movies and etc.
-Will not pause live TV! Instead you have to start recording and then chase playback. Thats an odd oversight on Panasonics part and a sorely missed feature.
-When you divide or edit a track you have to do it in a small preview screen. Thats silly, sacrifices a lot of usefulness, and so needless. They sacrificed screen space for useless stuff, including a useless title bar at the top, another one on the bottom, useless edit/divide preview windows, and huge on screen buttons for "divide" and "preview" operations. I like to edit and divide my programs while watching them, but since Panasonic has a special screen for editing/dividing, where the program is shown only in a small preview window, I have to view my program once, then go back and edit or divide it later. If you edit much video you know that editing time is a big problem, e.g. another reviewer mentions fifteen minutes to edit the commercials out of a one hour show. If you record many shows, thats hours of editing. So a needless time waster like this edit/divide screen is a problem. For me, this needless limitation is a fatal flaw. Today I had to bite the bullet and watch Americas Funniest Videos in the preview screen because I just cant afford to watch a one hour track twice to get my edits. Also another problem, the system recomputes your track location with each edit. Thats bad because it makes it impossible to have any idea of an edit decision list (EDL), where you might jot down approximate times of things you want to save or cut. Because it recomputes all times with every edit, what used to be at the one hour mark of your program will change.
-Does not show program length nor time remaining while viewing a program. The current track time is displayed on the front panel and available on screen.
Regarding the Phillips and Polaroid DVRs:
These two DVRs are similar. They may be the same machine. They use the same operating system and the on screen menus are all identical in the two units.
General comments first and then I will comment on the differences in the units.
+Tracks are easy to select for burning to the DVD
+As you select tracks for burning it shows you how much room on the DVD you have left.
+Its always recording, so even if you dont hit the record button until halfway thru the show you can still get the whole show.
+It pauses live TV and this feature is full featured and effective. Live TV behaves just as if you were playing back a disk with pause, rewind, slo-mo, and fast forward all available.
+Does not delete edits, but simply hides them on playback. When you write out to the DVD it does not write the deleted portions. This would allow you to go back and rethink your edits. Panasonic deletes them immediately. On commercials this is probably no big deal but on home movies it might be useful to keep those deleted scenes handy in case you change your mind.
+Allows editing tracks while recording a show. Since the machine is always recording it must support this feature, so its not surprising, but it is way handy since we keep ours recording shows almost all the time and I am a heavy editor also. If I could only edit while not recording it would be hard for me to get it done. What is surprising is that my more expensive Panasonic DMR-EH55S does not support this feature.
+Technical support is good. I called them twice, got through to someone and they gave intelligent answers.
+Dividing tracks works well, unlike the Panasonic. Its easy to simply select "divide" instead of "view," and then divide the track at your stopping point for today and then youre ready for next viewing to start where you left off.
-Takes 15 annoying seconds to boot while you miss the kick off of the super bowl.
-fluorescent display is small with only medium readability from across the room.
-There are not many buttons on the front panel
-Track titles are only 10 chars - thats not enough
-The operating system is primitive, buggy, missing many useful features and has a generally clunky feel, as if they programmed only the bare minimum features required to allow operation. For example, holding buttons down on the remote will not repeat the key. This feature is sorely needed when inputting text with the on-screen keyboard because its torture to have to keep repeatedly pressing the buttons on the remote to scroll from one side of the keyboard to the other. Another example, the editing screen has a bug where you hit the edit button to start an edit and the prompt correctly displays "hit edit to stop editing." Then you search forward to find the end of the commercial and you hit edit and it slices out that portion and the prompt correctly displays "hit edit to start [your next] editing." Thats not a bad system, but the OS has a bug in it so that if an edit is started, when the info screen goes away it comes back incorrectly displaying "hit edit to start editing" when it should say "hit edit to stop editing." However, the edit feature still works correctly in spite of the display. But this can be confusing enough to make you forget where you are and make you exit the edit screen and start over.
-The info pop-up screen is really annoying. Its giant and its never there when you need it and always there when you dont. Theres no way to turn it off or on permanently. Especially when you are viewing something frame by frame - its maddening.
-Text is slow/torturous to put in, made worse by the weak remote control.
-The machine crashes and locks up, sometimes without provocation, and you have to unplug it to get it going again.
-The machine crashes and trashes the DVD when trying to append tracks to a non-finalized DVD.
-remote control is weak and thats really annoying when you are editing text. You have to be close and at small angle from the sensor.
-Does not show new track time after you edit out the commercials.
-Only allows 9 characters per DVD track title.
-It has a manual, but its not very good.
-It has a useful time shift buffer, but its interface uses arbitrary buttons on the remote, there is no on-screen help, and sometimes you have to use the hidden "hold down the button for 3 seconds" technique.
Now to highlight some differences:
Polaroid
+Has a way handy feature to jump to a specific time in a show. You just hit "go to" and then enter a time like 35 minutes, and it goes to it.
+DVD burner on this unit seemed faster than on the Phillips.
-Earlier version of the operating system - has bugs, features that dont work, and missing needed features
-No progress indicator as it burns to DVD, and you cant watch the program as its burning
-Manual is rougher.
-Fan on this unit is too loud.
-A bug in the OS prevented me from entering the tens digit of a recording program start time.
Phillips
+Has an updated operating system with some welcome enhancements and bug fixes. More stable, but still crashes and trashes disks.
+Will show a progress indicator as it burns the DVD.
-Has a T/C (time code) button to jump to a specific time in a track, but it does not work.
-DVD burner on this unit seemed slow.
On: 2007-03-08
Nice unit, but needs some updated firmware to correct some glitches. Such as not changing channels while TV Guide screen is displayed. Getting rid of TV onscreen display "junk" after recording starts on HDD from TV.
 On: 2007-02-21
Ive had the EH55S for a week and have yet to figure out how to download the TV Guide. Im connected via DishNetwork (Vip 211) and have followed the setup according to the manual and it never downloads. I left it idle for over 24 hours and nada... Panasonic tech support was useless. They basically said it works on some boxes but not all DishNetwork recievers. WOW no lie!!! They recommended using the DishNetwork Guide to record .. From what I see to that is Im manually recording and referring to the DishNetwork Guide while mashing the DVDR record button.. Again... not impressed.... This POC may very well be going back!!!!!!!!!
On: 2007-02-20
Ive had this unit for about 3 months. Everything worked great initially. The TV Guide is not keeping up on updating. The TV Guide is down to only having the next 12 hours instead of 8 days. Ive read that other people have the same problem. Also changing channels is slow and there is no go back button to jump back to the previous channel.
Everything else on the unit works great.
On: 2007-02-20
Ive had the EH55S for a week and have yet to figure out how to download the TV Guide. Im connected via DishNetwork (Vip 211) and have followed the setup according to the manual and it never downloads. I left it idle for over 24 hours and nada... Panasonic tech support was useless. They basically said it works on some boxes but not all DishNetwork recievers. WOW no lie!!! They recommended using the DishNetwork Guide to record .. From what I see to that is Im manually recording and referring to the DishNetwork Guide while mashing the DVDR record button.. Again... not impressed.... This POC may very well be going back!!!!!!!!!
On: 2007-02-19
I have used Panasonic products for many years and have had great serivce. But now I must say that I am not to happy with my DMR-E80H DVD Recorder. It worked very well and I was happy with it until it CRASH ON ME. I was not in a good mood when this happen lets say I WANTED TO ??? But I made it after the SHOCK. Now having said all that my DMR-E80H is better to work with then my DMR-EH55S DVD Recorder. It looked as if someone was thinking when they made this Recorder. Now my new DMR-EH55S has more to work with and it seems to be a little Better then the other one. My DMR-EH55S has a Better picture then the other but NOT BY MUCH. I do like the SD Card system it works Great and the copy setup I like it also. There seems to be a lot more to this Deck that I have not work with yet. BUT I WILL NOT LET ANY OF MY PANASONIC DMR-DVD RECORDERS GO THEY WORK THAT GREAT. They have a Customer for Life.
On: 2007-02-19
Ive had this unit for about 3 months. Everything worked great initially. The TV Guide is not keeping up on updating. The TV Guide is down to only having the next 12 hours instead of 8 days. Ive read that other people have the same problem. Also changing channels is slow and there is no go back button to jump back to the previous channel.
Everything else on the unit works great.
On: 2007-02-18
I have used Panasonic products for many years and have had great serivce. But now I must say that I am not to happy with my DMR-E80H DVD Recorder. It worked very well and I was happy with it until it CRASH ON ME. I was not in a good mood when this happen lets say I WANTED TO ??? But I made it after the SHOCK. Now having said all that my DMR-E80H is better to work with then my DMR-EH55S DVD Recorder. It looked as if someone was thinking when they made this Recorder. Now my new DMR-EH55S has more to work with and it seems to be a little Better then the other one. My DMR-EH55S has a Better picture then the other but NOT BY MUCH. I do like the SD Card system it works Great and the copy setup I like it also. There seems to be a lot more to this Deck that I have not work with yet. BUT I WILL NOT LET ANY OF MY PANASONIC DMR-DVD RECORDERS GO THEY WORK THAT GREAT. They have a Customer for Life.
On: 2007-02-15
Purchased this DVR two months ago. Could not be happier - and Im hard to please! Ive read that the TV Guide feature does not work well. Ive had no, zero, absolutely no issues and it couldnt be easier to use. This has changed the way I watch TV. I can now watch one hour in 40 minutes. I start recording and use the catch up feature. This is also very easy to burn home movies onto DVD - which is the real reason I purchased it. However, because it is so easy to use the TV Guide feature, I dont watch "live" TV anymore. Do yourself a favor and purchase this. Not sure why anyone would pay for the cable company DVR recorder.
On: 2007-01-30
Expected a lot of problems after reading other reviews but everything has worked as advertised. I receive my signal through a HD cable box. Once I realized that I needed to use the code for the cable box remote rather than the cable box itself (they are different manufacturers), the download of the TV guide was flawless and fast. I utilized the kookup diagram from the instruction booklet.
I have done recording of TV programing and have transfered camcorder material to DVD to date. Consider the unit well worth the cost.
On: 2007-01-23
I was looking for a DVR with a hard drive. I have not been disapointed. Once the TV Guide feature downloaded it takes 24 hours. I learned to love the product and the feature. I am retired and the search feature is a great way to find and record shows I would have missed. The operation in fairely simple after a small learning curve. I have had it only a couple of weeks and feal it was worth every cent I paid. The quality of play on DVDs and the hard drive is better then my TV.
On: 2007-01-16
Easy to install and use, set up recording schedules, long recording times, only problem is one can only view previously recorded programs while in process of recording a new one. Current TV programs must be viewed directly via TV input line.
On: 2007-01-15
Easy to install and use, set up recording schedules, long recording times, only problem is one can only view previously recorded programs while in process of recording a new one. Current TV programs must be viewed directly via TV input line.
On: 2007-01-14
I bought this one 2 months ago because I have direct-TV and want to have some movies and shows on DVD. It can do so. Quality is OK. Convenience and easy to use, OK.
Biggest defect is TV-Guide. It absolutely can not. Thats kind of delusion. Besides, quality is not as expected.
On: 2007-01-13
I had no problems in setting up the recorder including the TV Guide function. The recorder has recorded all scheduled recordings without problems. The picture quality is excellent even on the LP setting. I have not used the Disc recording feature yet but I am sure it will work fine as well. I wish that it would have had a XD input rather than SD as most of the smaller digital cameras now use this media.
On: 2007-01-13
I bought this one 2 months ago because I have direct-TV and want to have some movies and shows on DVD. It can do so. Quality is OK. Convenience and easy to use, OK.
Biggest defect is TV-Guide. It absolutely can not. Thats kind of delusion. Besides, quality is not as expected.
On: 2007-01-11
I sent this to my daughter as a gift. It was sent from J and R Music. She is definitely a techie, but had problems from the start. She spent many hours on the phone with tech support, but it never worked. She wound up sending it back. I hope I get my money refunded quickly.
On: 2007-01-10
This is my first DVR, so I cant compare to any other type or brand of DVR. Relative to a VCR though, its fantastic and based on my experience with it over the past couple of months, it is a very good product.
My wife works third shift at a juvenile detention facility. For six hours a night, they basically watch TV between 15 minute checks. I was constantly recording shows to VHS for her to watch at night. I had stacks of tapes in our living room and bedroom and was often scrambling to find a tape that was rewound and could be overwritten. All that hassle is gone with the this DVR. Now I have most of the shows scheduled to automatically record to the HDD and I periodically copy them to a DVD+RW. The added beauty of DVD+RW is that you do not have to finalized the DVD to watch it on most newer DVD players, so my wife takes them to work, watches them there, brings them back and I delete the shows off of it and copy new shows onto it. The benefits are numerous for my wife as well. The picture and sound are better, the shows are displayed in a menu that she can pick from, DVDs are more convenient to carry back and forth to work etc... Im also using it to time-shift the shows I like to watch. I wish we would have bought this sooner.
Anyway, more about the DVR itself.
- The TV Guide On Screen works well with our Charter Cable (analog service)
- We have never come close to filling the drive(recording in SP & LP).
- Recording with DVD+RW allows playback on other DVD players without finalizing
Wish List for future models
- Automatic buffer to rewind live TV
- "go back" button for channel surfing on remote
- A more comprehensive manual
- I would like it to save the show description from the TV Guide listing with the show when it is recorded. Currently it saves the title and date/time it was recorded.
- It would be nice if it copied from HDD to DVD faster when downconverting from say SP to LP to fit more shows on the DVD.
On: 2007-01-10
I had an older model panasonic dvd recorder for years and was very happy with it. Eventually the dvd drive died out so I needed an upgrade. Before I Purchased this model I decided to try a similiar Toshiba model. I hated it! I found it very complicated and hard to get use to so it went straight back. I purchased this panasonic model and absolutely love it! Setup was a breeze, picture quality is great, and its very user friendly!
The only gripe I have is the Tv Guide feature. The guide actually worked right away. It worked like a charm for a good two months. It started to lose listings or only pick up partial listings and eventually it just stopped picking up the listings all together. I dont know if I can blame Panasonic for this issue as I have heard from a few people that it may be Comcast Cable. While it is defintely more convenient I dont mind using the manual feature to record programs.
On: 2007-01-10
This was the first DVD recorder I ever owned and I love it. The guide is easy and allows you to directly choose the shows you want to record, along with how frequently (weekly,etc). Editing titles and length is very easy. I also like the self-adjustment where it will squeeze a longer recording on to a DVD. Very handy when you can give up some quality for the convenience of having everthing on 1 DVD. No complaints... except it is a bit pricy, but compared to a DVR (from Cable company), at least I can record to DVD
On: 2007-01-09
Excellent overall quality. This unit has lots of features, so it might take a while to learn to use all of them. The manual is well-written. The video quality is excellent and relative ease of use.
On: 2007-01-09
A nice unit with plenty of features, but I have a unit I have to return to base so I will be without it for a couple of weeks as it gets fixed. It could have been a very nice unit, the features are rich, the capacities are large the interfaces and media support are varied. The tech support from Panansonic was fair, but they tried the setup and it failed so its a straight retuirn to base... thats what lets it down.
On: 2007-01-04
I have a DVD+RW recorder and a combiDVD-RW/VHS recorder, but this gadget is infinitely better. First of all, you can program it to record more than eight shows. Secondly, it does not heat up as much as the other recorders. Thirdly, you can watch a show that is being recorded.
On: 2007-01-04
The Panasonice DMR - EH 55S DVD recorder is a sweet product. I especially love having the 200 GB of hard drive space for recording. But having used TIVO, the TV Guide recording menus dont come close. So, dont expect TIVO features like wishlists and two week scheduling. Another quirk is that the TV Guide may not list all the stations that you recieve in your area. For example, here in Portland, Oregon, ESPN 2 HD is channel 736 but TV guide on the panasonic did not program it in. So, obviously I cannot record anything on 736. But the HDMI, SD Card and DV inputs are very nice features to have.
On: 2006-12-15
Everything about this purchase was rewarding: 1)We bought it at the best price (right here) 2) J&R Music had it to us in 1 day (though we only paid for reg.ground svc) 3)the set-up was as simple as could be (we were able to use HDMI) and 4)The unit does everything its supposed to easily and un-complicatedly (really important to us, since were beyond the age where new technology is easily understood), to include the on-screen TV Guide function which makes recording TV programs unbelievably easy.
On: 2006-12-08
Dubbing DV footage via the DV input, recording ESPN highlights show, dubbing tapes via the composite inputs; I had picture breakup and pixels too many ruining my DVDs. This unit is NOT for archiving or any serious DVD recording. If you can live with inferior picture quality you should spend way less. I was ripped off.
On: 2006-12-01
I bought this DVD recorder about three months ago. The unit has worked great compared to a $60 DVD recorder I bought at Frys. I initally had nothing but good things to say about the unit so I figured I wouldnt comment so soon before I got to know the unit. The TVGOS worked as advertised.
After 3 months of owning it, I do have a gripe - the unit would lose the TVGOS data and take me to the initial TVGOS setup screen. This happened at least 4-6 times already. At first I thought it was a fluke, but it kept happening. I know the night before, the unit had a full load of schedules, the next day it was all gone?!?! What the ?!?!? I was clueless on whats going on thinking it was probably an issue with the cable. Tonight it happened again and it caused me to miss my survivor episode. I was a bit pissed esp since the scheduling info got lost again a few days ago.
Besides the TVGOS glitch, I love the unit. I do need to somehow figure whats going on. Maybe I need a new firmware.. Not sure if I can just flash the bios.
Just looking through all the comments a minute ago, it doesnt seem like Im the only one that has this TVGOS losing memory problem. Should call Panasonic about this....
Gary
On: 2006-11-21
Arrived quickly but in trying to get it set up in my config - I had to turn the unit off and on a couple of times trying to get it hooked up to my older TV via a RF Modulator. When I finally got all the connections correct - the setup program always hung on the TV Guide setup. Would never go into it. Unit would reboot. Returned for refund. Have a previous Panasonic DVR that I am very happy with.
On: 2006-11-20
Arrived quickly but in trying to get it set up in my config - I had to turn the unit off and on a couple of times trying to get it hooked up to my older TV via a RF Modulator. When I finally got all the connections correct - the setup program always hung on the TV Guide setup. Would never go into it. Unit would reboot. Returned for refund. Have a previous Panasonic DVR that I am very happy with.
On: 2006-11-10
Ill keep this simple. The capacity is great with so many choices of recording speeds. I even at the extra long play mode, where I can store hundreds of hours of recordings, you still get quality. Easy operation compared to my Toshiba that got fried.
On: 2006-11-05
Over all not a bad machine,there is 1 major problem,you can not open or close the the disk by remote control.Also if you are waiting to begin recording the macine turns itself off if it sits idle for more than 5 minutes,which means for manual recording you better not begin the process any earlier than 5 minutes otherwise when you press record you will find out the machine is not even on.
On: 2006-11-04
I use this as a VCR replacement, and it offers most of what I would expect: better recording quality, ability to hold lots of stuff on the HD for time-shifting. It has the ability to copy things from a DVD-R that it created back onto the HD, an important feature that some DVD recorders lack.
My complaint is with its programability. It allows you to select a show for recording every day or every week, but it sometimes fails to record because its TV guide system has incorrect information and it sometimes loses programmed requests entirely. Ive given up on that and now program it to record only based on time. That seems reliable, but if you start one minute before the show it mislabels what it records.
Overall, just what I was looking for, but frustratingly close to perfect.
On: 2006-11-03
I bought the unit in August. I have been trying to get the unit to download TV Cuide. Its now November and no luck so far. Now the unit needs to be sent in for service. The unit is real slow to commands and locks up after a while.
I owned a DMR-E100H for years and never had a problem. This is disheartening to say the least.
On: 2006-10-27
I purchased this DVR about six weeks ago and am 98% happy with it. At the rate Im using it now, I will have got my moneys worth if it lasts two years.
The TVGuide programming works great. It took a day to load up two days worth of programs, and the next day had downloaded all 8 days. Every once in a while it will have a program gap of a few hours (i.e. not listing the names of programs 4 or 5 days in the future), but that never lasts long.
Ive tried everything it can do--recording at different qualities and in different ways, burning to DVDs, connecting to a DV camera, copying off a SD card, taking videos off previously recorded DVDs--and have had no problems. Ive had two shows that recorded sketchy, but otherwise no problems with quality.
I think the most surprising thing about it is how easy it is to connect and use. My wife, who is only moderately tech-savvy, already has it mastered. She can quickly record programs, edit out commercials, and burn to DVDs. Im not sure about the complaints about the complexity of the instruction manual since I found it to be fine.
There are one or two things I wish it did, but theyre mild complaints (and may actually be possible). Id like to do things like "Record this program and replace it with the new episode each day." I wish it let you permanently adjust how it lists the programs (e.g. by name instead of date recorded). However, Im sure every other DVR on the market would have one or two small things that I dont completely like.
Overall, an amazing purchase. I have never owned a DVR, and it has completely changed the way we watch television. I suddenly realized that the TV has always been in control, but that things have now changed!
On: 2006-10-25
It would have gotten a 4.5 had there been a choice and since I know people are overly critical, Ill be overly rewarding.
I have only been able to use it for a few days now. So this is going to be sorta of a preliminary review and will update after I have tried out more things.
Pros: 1) If the TV Guide ability works, its quite awesome - 8 days in advance of programmable listings and user friendly! I probably would have sold it on ebay right away, if it didnt and been forced to go my cable providers DVR, which has a montly subscription. 2) No subscription fees per month. 3) Recording to a HD quality from non HD quality. (Although, the TV I have the dvr on isnt HD and my bedroom tv, which is I havent tried it on there yet.) 4) Huge harddrive. I put it on the 2nd best quality and that gave me 92.5 Hours of recording (thats like 92 HOUR long shows!)
Cons: 1) Little pricey, but you can make up the costs from recording your own dvds, saving time, and knowing youre not being stuck from the cable companies or TIVO monthly fees. 2) to NITPICK, not as swift as my friend who does subscribe to the cable cos dvr - lots of button pression and no quick ways of doing it. 3) another NITPICK, I didnt like how I couldnt use it for 24 while the TV Guide service updates, and takes almost a whole week for it to update all 8 days of listings.
Overall: I dont know of a way to know if your cable company blocks the TVOGS to know in advance, but if you can use the TVGOS, then this is a great peice of equipment. I had heard people complain about the owners manual, which is a little deep. (Its definately not a Dell - for all those who love their beautiful well illustrated guides that are easy for the idiots idiot.) But the manual (while i havent used a lot of its functions still) it not too hard to understand if youre patient. ITS VERY MUCH WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR IN A DVR AND I ENJOY PROGRAMMING IT AND USING IT.
On: 2006-10-17
I bought this DVR DVD recorder with high expectations. Previously I had a pioneer dvr dvd recorder with Tivo and it was a real workhourse. I used it for two years without a problem. I decided to upgrade to the panasonic for several reasons. HDMI output was one; also if the TV Guide programing work as well as Tivo, I would save 12.99 a month on Tivo fees. Also I might mention that I have an excellent skill level with hooking up my home theatre equipment. First I must mention that the instuction booklet must be the worst ever written. This unit is theoretically capable of many operations. I would venture to say that the instruction booklet was written for a product engineer to decipher. I could not get the TV Guide programing to function no matter how many calls to panasonic tech support and each time you must shut down the unit for 24hrs to reset the TV Guide. It would not record from my SD card onto the Hard Drive as it is supposed to do, it would not read my SD card. It cconstantly changed channels while viewing and on occasion when manually programmed to record a specific channel at a specific time would record a differnt channel. I finally had to throw in the towel, it was just taking to much energy to deal with this unit. I was within the grace period for a return and shipped it back a wiser and more experienced person. I will replace it with a Tivo unit which unfortuneately wont have an hdmi output but after the panasonic debacle I have lowered my expectations.
On: 2006-10-09
After 3 phone calls to Panasonic, they finally told me that this unit will not set up TV Guide if you have a DirectTV HD satellite receiver. They tell me that TV Guide is working on fixing this problem, but no timetable was given. Also, it will not record HD quality programming even if you bypass the TV Guide to record HD programming. No where is this explained or noted before you purchase this item.
On: 2006-10-03
Just received and started to use this recorder. So far it combines the best of HDD and DVD recording.
Install was straight forward if you have hooked up other recording devices before.
The Gemstar/TV Guide in my area is out-of-date due to Comcast -> Time Warner swithover. Hopefully, in time that will be taken care of.
The options for burning to removeable media are tremendous.
Will post more info with more expierence with the product.
On: 2006-10-02
Just received and started to use this recorder. So far it combines the best of HDD and DVD recording.
Install was straight forward if you have hooked up other recording devices before.
The Gemstar/TV Guide in my area is out-of-date due to Comcast -> Time Warner swithover. Hopefully, in time that will be taken care of.
The options for burning to removeable media are tremendous.
Will post more info with more expierence with the product.
On: 2006-09-11
Note: After a week, so far, so good. Originally gave this 4 stars...would give it 4.5 if I could. I was gonna drop the rating to 2 or 3 stars if the TV Guide features did not work well, but Im getting to like it a lot.
Why did I buy this product?
1) Picture quality.
It was time to upgrade my DVD player. I heard HDMI capable players did a pretty good job of "up-converting" DVD pictures to close to HD quality. It also supports digital audio (TOSLINK) to my A/V receiver, which does not have HDMI.
VERDICT (UPDATED): Very Good.
- Recently got and installed HDMI (to TV) and optical digital audio (TOSLINK to A/V receiver).
On HDMI Video, my father had claimed his Panasonic does a nice up-convert job. It is a *slight* improvement over component video, but it does a nice job. My test case was "War of the Worlds", which is shot a bit rough and grainy. Picture was much better on HDMI and new DVD player. Ditto for 2nd test case, anniversay DVD of "JAWS".
On digital audio, cant say the TOSLINK is any better than my coaxial digital, but it handles 5.1 surround from DTS or Dolby Digital very well (it also looks cool - red fiber optic - and sure beats old analog Dolby which is what I had to put up w/ temporarily).
P.S. at my fathers recommendation I got HDMI and TOSLINK A/V cables online at prices about 1/3 to 1/5 what you might pay in stores for "name brand" cables. I must say he was right. The cables were very good quality and they work perfectly.
P.P.S. (off topic) it was a challenge to figure out how to enable the HDMI input on my Mitsubishi WD-52525 on my own. Mitsubish TV support was *very good* (as has always been my experience).
2) Free TIVO or TIVO-like service.
My cable company is rich enough. The idea of paying an extra $21 / mo (cable box / dvr, digital service fee, dvr fee) as an "improvement" do recording stuff to my old DVD player/recorder was not appealing. Panasonic unit uses the *free* TV Guide service.
VERDICT: Good, unless you just *have* to have TIVO
- I have many friends who have and *swear* by TIVO; from what I have seen, it has a nice remote, great interface, including the "sliding time bar" feature (you TIVO guys know what Im talking about). You TIVO addicts will find the interface and functions lacking in the TV-Guide / Panasonic combo. In fact, many rental DVRs from cable companies dont stack up well to TIVO either.
- *However*, as long as your cable operator passes along the TV-Guide signal to your DVR, I have found the *free* TV-Guide programming service is pretty good (I have Cox Cable and it works fine w/ TV-Guide). For the first time, I can search for all Sci-Fi movies for the week and decide if I want to record some of all of them to the hard drive, then burn to DVD if I want to keep them. Also, watching playback / fast forwarding / skipping commercials is definitely easier w/ something recorded to hard disk than a DVD+/-RW.
3) Home video use and format compatibility
- My old DVD recorder uses DVD+R and DVD+RW; I have some old VHS to DVD home movies and wanted something that could still play them and I wanted to be able to still use my remaining DVD+R and /RW discs.
- I have also multiple digital video / picture cameras - some using MiniDV and some using mini SD cards. I wanted the option of transferring recordings to DVD w/o necessarily having to do use my PC all the time.
Verdict: Very Good..so far (partially Incomplete)
- I watched my old DVD +R home movies and they work just fine (whew!). Apparently this handles, DVD-RAM, DVD+/-R, and DVD +/-RW. This also supports recording for the hard drive to dual layer +/- DVDs....so pretty much all the current bases are covered, format-wise.
- Have not tried the Firewire or SD card inputs yet, but as with my old DVD recorder, I expect no problems w/ transfer and recording to DVD. Apparently, you can also do some minor editing on the hard disk source prior to burnign to DVD...usually this is kludgey, but nice to have once you learn how to do it. Makes for better home movie archives w/o "junk".
Any downsides?
- HDTV on my 52" is stunning; non HD signals vary from poor to mediocre (good enough). This unit does not have an HD tuner and total time would be limited (even w/ 200GB HD). This is most notable on sports event where HD is stunning. On standard digital cable, the results are good enough (for now).
- Every DVD remote should have a button to instantly access the top menu.
OVERALL:
This unit is great if your needs are like mine above and you are not a TIVO fanatic. I paid $420 for this unit, which is fair value (aside from the DVD playback, the other functions will probably pay for themselves in about 8-10 mos. - faster if I end up not buying 2-3 DVD movies because I was able to find / record them using this unit).
I expect prices may continue to drop. If you could ever get it for about $100 less, it would be a great deal and that alone could warrant 5 starts vs. 4. If my TV-Guide experience over the long haul is bad (i.e. incorrect timing, problem w/ updated information), then this would drop to 2-3 stars.
Wild card: cable companies have been rumored to be working on playing back recordings from a single DVR to any TV in the house. This would be a nice capability that would really threaten commercial-based TV and gives really lets you watch what you want, when you want, how you want. Duplicating this yourselve would currently require a lot of know-how and $$$$. This would give DVR rental a unique benefit...Of course, this capability would be only available to cable customers for another "additional fee"... ;-)
On: 2006-09-07
The unit itself is excellent, but the promo descriptions are false. We didnt know the menu system will NOT work with DishNetwork. All recording must be done manually. Getting anyone who knows anything at Panasonic is an absolute nightmare. They have perhaps 4 generalized options leaving the caller to try each one on a specific topic (ordering Panasonic DVDs) with those who answer knowing nothing, transferring, disconnecting, sending to other morons who knew nothing and repeated the pass-the-buck process. ONE HOUR and six calls later I finally got somebody who knew something and provided wrong answers anyhow. At issue was their website refusal to accept a discount code (packed with the unit) on DVDs. THEN it refused to accept the 10% membership discount. BizRate rating complaint prompted an email from Panasonic asking for the discount code, saying she would apply it immediately My response was ignored; the discount was never applied.
I pointed out their BizRate rating had plummeted to 59% during the prior week. They didnt know. Strangely now BizRate has been changed to have them at 85% for the same timeframe. Guess I alerted them and money buys good ratings, eh ?
This company is too big and has too many varied products to fit their customer service and tech support system. We have MANY Panasonic products and have never had a problem. Heaven help us if we ever DO. Might as well throw the unit in the trash and buy another brand replacement. Am no longer a Panasonic fan.
On: 2006-08-29
I did alot of research before purchasing this product, and I have to say it is everything I hoped for and more.
Everything has worked exactly as advertised.
In addition, I can record from another DVR from DirectTV, which gives me twice the flexibility and functionality.
It records to DVD extremely fast, and the menus are very simple.
Hook up took less than 1/2 an hour.
The TV guide is simple, easy to use, and set up in the 24 hours it said it would.
With the Direct TV set up, I think this may be the perfect set up for an NFL junkie like me.
On: 2006-08-28
I did alot of research before purchasing this product, and I have to say it is everything I hoped for and more.
Everything has worked exactly as advertised.
In addition, I can record from another DVR from DirectTV, which gives me twice the flexibility and functionality.
It records to DVD extremely fast, and the menus are very simple.
Hook up took less than 1/2 an hour.
The TV guide is simple, easy to use, and set up in the 24 hours it said it would.
With the Direct TV set up, I think this may be the perfect set up for an NFL junkie like me.
On: 2006-08-15
Got it last week, and I love it. This is my first experience with a DVD recorder. Easy to set up.
I have not tried recording on a DVD yet; I am too excited to just use it as a VCR. All the programs record on the 200G HD (2-4 days worth of video), and I delete them after watching it. The TV Guide feature is great, especially to program the recording. BTW, it also works as DVD player.
Easy to skip commercials! I record the shows even if I am home at showtime; I start recording them, and start watching it 20 minutes after a one hour shows start time. This way I can skip the commercials and "chase" the show. This also allows you to pause "live" TV, or rewind if you think you missed something. I believe thats how "TIVO" works also. My cable company was offering something like that for a $20 monthly fee, plus it had no DVD recording feature.
It lets you "edit" the commercials out of a show, so if you want to put your favorite show on to the DVD without the commercials, it is possible. I plan to do it with music videos.
The only thing that was a disappointing was the LED Display in front of the player. From todays advanced standards, it looks primitive (80s style), and the light stays bright even at night (no auto dimming). For a $450 price tag, they should have updated that.
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