Buy Panasonic DMR-E55S Progressive Scan DVD Recorder / Player , SilverPanasonic DMR-E55S Progressive Scan DVD Recorder / Player , Silver Product Description:
- Records DVD-R, DVD-RAM for best of both worlds; plays DVD-Video, DVD-R, DVD-RAM, CD-R/RW, and MP3 CD
- Up to 16 hours on a double-sided 9.4 GB DVD-RAM disc; up to 8 hours on a single-sided 4.7 GB DVD-RAM or DVD-R
- Offers one-touch record, TimeSlip, chasing playback (watching a recording in progress from the beginning), on-disc video editing
- Progressive-scan video output for seamless, flicker-free picture on high-definition and HD-ready televisions
- Measures 16.9 x 3.125 x 11.2 inches (W x H x D)
Product Description
Move into the medium of the future with this Panasonic DVD player and recorder. The sleek, home-theater-size player allows you to record, edit and store digitally on DVD-RAM and DVD-R discs. A high-quality way to preserve your invaluable home movies or record your favorite shows, it also performs as a basic audio and video player with DVD, CD, CD-R and MP3-on-CD playback capabilities. Features progressive scan, hybrid variable bit rate video recording technology with Dolby 2-channel audio recording, 4-mode record (XP/SP/LP/EP) plus FR, 2-channel DVD-Audio play, DVD-Video with surround play, DVD-R and DVD-RAM play, 1-touch record and play function, Time Slip features with chasing playback, playlist playback, 3D Y/C separation, 3D noise reduction, block noise reduction, mosquito noise reduction, A/V and S-video inputs and outputs, and optical digital audio output to Dolby Digital and DTS. Includes remote control. Silver. 3-1/2Hx16-15/16Wx11D".
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
111 of 111 people found the following review helpful.
High-quality DVD recorder
By Gadgester
This Panasonic DVD-R recorder is the best way to get started on DVD recording. This is not to say this is a "basic" unit. It has lots of features like time slipping. But I'm the kind of VCR users who never went beyond basic playback, recording, and programmed recording. The Panasonic is very easy to use, esp. if you already know how to use a VCR. If you want to get sophisticated, the advanced featuers are there for you to play with.What's important is the Panasonic works very well. I transfered my old VHS tapes to DVD-R, and all the discs burned without a hitch. I also record a couple TV shows on the machine, and it's never failed me. Panasonic was the first company to come out with DVD recorders and the maturity of this product means it's also reliable.Yes, this model is identical internally to the black DMR-E55K model. I personally prefer silver.
45 of 46 people found the following review helpful.
Consider the highly improved replacement, Panasonic DMR-ES10
By avoraciousreader
The Panasonic DMR-E55 is highly rated, but with some limitations, and I was considering getting one. But Panasonic just came out with a replacement, the DMR-ES10, which not only fixes most of the problems/limitations of the E55 but is also a mind-bendingly reasonable $200 list price. It just hit the shelves a few days ago, and I was lucky enough to be there at the right time and ended up with a unit. I love it. See the review I'm writing under the ES10.Even if you find a good deal on a used/refurbished/closeout E55, you might at least want to consider the ES10 for its improved functionality.[I gave the E55 a 4* rating to avoid skewing the ratings. I've noticed that when people don't rate a product, that counts as 0 *'s]
40 of 41 people found the following review helpful.
Recorder is VERY flaky
By E. Park
I bought this DVD player over the summer in the hope of burning DVDs for programs that had been originally recorded on TiVo or VHS tapes.I found the device for the most part to be relatively intuitive. The process of recording is straightforward. The recorder can record onto DVD-R (basically, record once) discs. I stayed away from using DVD-RAM discs because they are expensive and not widely used.Recording onto a DVD-R disc is a 2-step process:1. you record 1 or more tracks2. at some point, you finalize the disc. When you finalize the disc, the disc is no longer writable, and you are able (theoretically) to play the finalized disc in any DVD-R compatible playerI was, initially, quite happy with the product, until we started to run into problems.A huge issue is that the recorder occasionally craps out when you are recording tracks. Once it craps out, you can't finalize the disc, which means you either can only play it on this recorder or not at all.Here are the specific problems I've run into:1. For one disc (TDK), the recorder can play the disc but can't finalize it. So I am stuck with only being able to play it on this recorder. That's bad. The disc also skips in the same places during playback2. Another disc (TDK) skips in the same places every time during playback. We were able to finalize the disc, but the skipping is annoying3. For another disc (Memorex), the recorder crapped out while I was trying to set the thumbnail clip for a particular track. Now the recorder says the disc is empty. I can't even play the tracks I've already recorded on the recorder. The sad thing is I already deleted those tracks from TiVo (which is what I use to record TV programs), so now those tracks are lost.I ran into problems #1 and #2 using TDK DVD-R discs. So I bought a different brand of disc (Memorex), but I ran into the problem #3 using a Memorex DVD-R disc. My strong impression now is that it is the recorder that is the problem, not the discs. Believe me, I wanted this recorder to not be the problem. It's affordable and like I said earlier, fairly user-friendly, and I don't like wasting time with the learning curve of a new device.Once the recorder hoses the DVD-R disc, it seems extremely difficult to get the data back. I tried a bunch of Windows programs (e.g. Isobuster) with no luck. I even tried some command-line utilities on Linux.If you purchase or own this device, my strong advice to you is to only record 1 or 2 programs before finalizing. And don't delete your original copies until after you've finalized the disc. Obviously, you shouldn't have to worry about not being able to finalize. You should be able to record as many tracks as you want until the disc is near full. But my experience is that you increase the likelihood of hosing the disc irreparably.Do a search on "Panasonic can't finalize" and you'll see lots of other Panasonic recorder owners who have run into similar problems like I've described.Problem #3 caused me to lose clips that I REALLY want to have. I am going to have to resort to paying a company to try to recover the data, which isn't cheap.As a last piece of advice, if you can afford it, I recommend that you get a -RW or +RW recorder. Since researching the problems, I've read a lot of stuff on the Internet that say that the process of finalizing discs is fraught with issues, regardless of the recorder manufacturer.I did call Panasonic customer service, and they were entirely unhelpful. They got value out of the call (by collecting marketing information about me: where I live, my name, when I bought it) but they were entirely unhelpful. The CSR said there is no way to recover the data. Their simple advice was: use only Panasonic DVD-R discs. That's garbage, and this whole experience was so frustrating I want to spare others my aggravation.
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