Panasonic DMR-ES25S DVD Recorder with DV Input with HDMI and SD Card Slot

This lightweight and inexpensive component is incredibly powerful and capable given that the price would have gotten you only a barebones DVD player just a few years ago. My primary goal is that of transcribing a videotape collection now several decades old to DVD for better archival storage and ease of transport when moving. The DMR-ES25S has a variety of other features, such as the SD Card Slot input, which I've not taken advantage of. First: Setup is a breeze. Plug it in, hook up your choice of outputs to your preamp, your choice of inputs from your preamp, and you're good to go. There's no question that this is potentially complicated for an A/V novice but Panasonic makes it easy by allowing a simple RF (coax) cable input and output so that the unit will essentially replace a VCR in a simple VCR/TV setup. That is, you can take the cable from the wall, plug it in to the back of the DVD-R, then take another cable and run it to the TV, and you're done. This type of setup works, but doesn't provide the unit's full audio or video capabilities. The player has component, digital optical, S-Video, and composite connectors all available. For my setup, I ran the cables directly from the VCR into the DVD-R, then from there to the pre-amp. This allows me to watch my videotapes as they run through the DVD-R, which is what I want because I'm recording as I go. Functionality: This part is straight-forward once you get the hang of it. Push the record button and start your source. That's it. For DVD-R's and their assorted brethren, you simply keep recording until you run out of space. I find that the 4-hour mode for a single sided 4.7GB DVD-R is fine and doesn't lose any quality over videotape. DVD-RAMs give you much more flexibility at a price. (At the moment, DVD-R stock runs about a quarter per disc while DVD-RAM stock is about 1.35 per disc). The flexibility of editing, adding chapters, and so forth is quite good with the -RAMs, and this is the way to go if you plan on moving your home videos to disc. As others have mentioned, this is a consumer grade DVD recorder, so don't plan to use it to transfer pre-recorded commercial macrovision-encoded VHS tapes. Although there are workarounds for this out there, it's simply easier to replace your tapes with commercial DVD's. The remote control isn't the most intuitive one I've seen, but it gets the job done without a lot of waiting around for recorder response time. Some actions, like finalizing a disc, take several inputs to accomplish, but again, for the most part, the remote is fine and offers some universal support for TV's. Instructions are complex but well-written. Again, this is a very complex component so plan to take some time studying the documentation. If you plan to use just a few functions, you'll be off and running within an hour, but if you want to get into the details of editing a DVD-RAM, you'll be experimenting for the better part of a day. The only downside of the unit that I've found is that there's no indication that it's turned on! It displays the time of day, like a VCR, when it's off. Push the power button and it displays a message saying hello, then reverts to the time again. There's no little green light or other indication that the unit is turned on. Picture quality is excellent. The component itself runs quietly and without generating excess heat. Overall, I'm very satisfied.

There are lots of reviews of this product, so you should get a pretty good sense of its capabilities and limitations. Keep in mind that different people have different expectations for a product like this, with its wide variety of possible uses. I can only add a few reactions based on the way I have personally tried to use the product. I use this unit mostly as a VCR replacement, recording standard-def TV programs from analog cable channels. I use DVD-RAMs because they're durable, and individual programs can be erased easily after I've viewed them. The DVD-RAM format also provides DVR-like features, such as the ability to start watching a program from the beginning before it has finished recording, or recording a program while watching a different program on the same disc. You can trim and split programs easily and add chapter marks with the press of a button (good for "bookmarking" your current location, if you need to remove the disc and return to it later). This unit really shines with the DVR-RAM format. (I have even discovered that the DVD-RAM recordings can be read and encoded to DivX by AutoGordianKnot, if you have a DVD-RAM-capable drive on your computer, so there is a way to get DVD-RAMs into another format if you really need to.) I also occasionally record programs to DVD+R or DVD-R for "archiving." Some reviewers have reported compatibility issues with some media or other DVD players, but I have had no problems. Even using cheap spindled media, the +Rs and -Rs from this unit play fine on my other DVD players. You have to finalize the discs, of course, before they'll play on another player. I have used the SD card slot to view pictures from my digital camera, and it works as advertised. I have also used three different video output connections - S-Video, component, and HDMI - at various times, and they all seem to work fine. This is not a high-def product, so don't expect HD quality, but the video quality is about as good as one can expect from SD source material. I think the best features of this unit involve the recording modes. Recordings made using XP (1-hour) and SP (2-hour) are excellent, as is probably the case with almost any DVD recorder. This unit, however, has a surprisingly good LP mode (4-hours), with quality almost as good as SP, and a very useful FR mode (flexible record), which adjusts the quality to achieve the best possible recording with the space remaining on the disc. As a DVD-Video player/recorder, I consider this unit a solid performer with a basic feature set. I give it five stars because of the DVD-RAM performance and the outstanding LP and FR recording modes.

This started out as one of the best electronic components I have ever purchased. Was very pleased with the ease of operation and many different ways to burn dvd's. Unfortunately after about 200 dvd's the unit ceased to operate. Fortunately I had saved all the paperwork on the item. When looking over purchase date I noticed the warranty had expired in the previous month. Beware of a unit with many features like this one. I ended settling on a Toshiba of lesser price, purchased the extended warranty to insure at least a couple of years of use. Happy to say after 300 dvd's Toshiba unit is still plugging along even though it doesn't have as many features and the ease of operation.

This is my first DVD recorder. I am extremely happy with it. It makes excellent high quality DVD's , it is very versatile, reading and writing most types of media, and I love the DVD RAM discs. You can use them over and over again, without reformatting them. The recording is very high quality, even on Long Play, which is 4 hours per DVD. I haven't used Extended play, 8hours recording mode. It is easily programmable for TV shows, though there is a learning curve. It is not perfect though, and is missing a few extra features, but for the price, I am very satisfied and glad to be using it, which I do on a daily basis. Good Bye VCR!!!