Editorial Review:

Item Description:


Amazon.com Item Description:
Panasonic's fourth-generation DMR-E50K DVD recorder sports many of the features and technology benefits people expect from digital recording and merges them with a user-friendly interface and an unexpectedly low price. The DMR-E50K's joint support of DVD-RAM and DVD-R media provides the best of both worlds: DVD-R for the highest compatibility (letting you share video recordings with virtually anyone with a DVD player) and DVD-RAM (for rewritability and benefits like Time Slip, chasing playback, and simultaneous play and record). DVD-RAM offers the perfect solution for recording and re-recording favorite programs--over 100,000 times on the same disc.

In addition to an attractive price tag, the feature-rich DMR-E50K offers the benefits of progressive scan (for use with high-definition and HD-ready TVs), MP3 playback, enhanced time-shifting, instant access, and on-disc video editing. When connected to home theater components, you'll enjoy playback of multiple digital entertainment formats, including DVD Video, CDs, and audio CD-R/CD-RW discs.

With instant recording onto a DVD disc, there's no need to have to find blank space, as with a VHS tape. Just press record and the unit automatically finds space on the disc, much like a computer's disk drive. Panasonic's Time Slip feature lets you replay a scene recorded earlier while a program is still in progress, without disrupting the recording process. And chasing playback makes it possible to watch from the beginning a show whose recording is still in progress. It's also simple to transfer favorite VHS tape recordings to space-saving discs, and personal movie libraries and family videos can be archived, preserved, cataloged, and accessed.

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Rating: - * Best purchase I've made in the past year ...
This unit isn't perfect, but I'd say it was money well spent. I had a TiVo already so I didn't see the need to spend the extra money for the hard drive equipped model; I just wanted a quick and easy way to lay shows off to DVD without capturing and authoring them on a computer, and this unit did the trick. The only part I don't like is having to manually enter the program name with the remote--manufacturers should add a USB connector to any device that requires typing so you can plug in a keyboard and do it that way. More editing options for DVD-R would also be nice, but for $279 I'm pretty happy with what it does.

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Rating: - * A Second Shot ...
I purchased a E50 about two months ago and couldn't have been happier with it! It did everything it promised...recorded, played back...I could even play my discs back on other (even relatively older) DVD players. Then, it all started to change. I had been using Memorex discs, and in a pack of five, usually the recorder would turn one into a coaster. Then the ratio got higher until finally it wouldn't record at all. I started troubleshooting, tried different disc brands and even used the *supplied* Panasonic DVD-RAM disc, but no dice. It just wouldn't record anymore.
I took the unit back and it was replaced...and...so far so good. It's been about a month now with the new unit, and every disc I've recorded has come out working. Just for giggles I bought some cheapie CompUSA discs...even they work! TMC has been showing classic Oscar winners all month, and vintage Charlie Chaplin...which I now have on DVD thanks to this recorder!
I also enjoy having the front end inputs with S-video & RCA. Great for hooking up my MiniDV Camcorder to caputure vacation videos to DVD...so now we can share them with friends without having to hook our cam up to their TVs.
From reading the reviews here, there seems to be a problem in the manufacturing of these units, because when they work, they work wonderfully. I guess it's Russian Roulette as to whether you get a working model, or a paperweight.

*** out of ***** Because of the Forrest Gump rule on these recorders..."You never know what your gonna' get."

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Rating: - * A Second Shot ...
I purchased a E50 about two months ago and couldn't have been happier with it! It did everything it promised...recorded, played back...I could even play my discs back on other (even relatively older) DVD players. Then, it all started to change. I had been using Maxell discs, and in a pack of five, usually the recorder would turn one into a coaster. Then the ratio got higher until finally it wouldn't record at all. I started troubleshooting, tried different disc brands and even used the *supplied* Panasonic DVD-RAM disc, but no dice. It just wouldn't record anymore.
I took the unit back and it was replaced...and...so far so good. It's been about a month now with the new unit, and every disc I've recorded has come out working. Just for giggles I bought some cheapie CompUSA discs...even they work! TMC has been showing classic Oscar winners all month, and vintage Charlie Chaplin...which I now have on DVD thanks to this recorder!
I also enjoy having the front end inputs with S-video & RCA. Great for hooking up my MiniDV Camcorder to caputure vacation videos to DVD...so now we can share them with friends without having to hook our cam up to their TVs.
From reading the reviews here, there seems to be a problem in the manufacturing of these units, because when they work, they work wonderfully. I guess it's Russian Roulette as to whether you get a working model, or a paperweight.

*** out of ***** Because of the Forrest Gump rule on these recorders..."You never know what your gonna' get."

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Rating: - * Almost perfect ...
Picture and sound are first rate. I am using the unit for backups of my video tape collection and for dumping programs off my Tivo unit. I am completely satisfied with the results except that I have also had the problems experienced by several of the negative reviewers. The unit worked fine for me on Verbatim, Sony and Panasonic disks but rejected 1 out of 3 of Fujifilm DVD-R. When it locked up on the Fuji disks it went into a "death spiral" where it would attempt to recover, fail but would not allow you to eject the disk. I had good luck unplugging the unit for 10 minutes and then holding the open button during the recover phase. This allowed me to remove the offending disk. Seems to work fine afterwards. Lesson is good disks mean good results. Anything else is at your own risk.

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Rating: - * Not Perfect, Sometimes Great, Sometimes Disappointing ...
I've recorded over 200 movies on this recorder, and the results are usually excellent, but sometimes there are disasters.

This recorder is not for everybody because sometimes it's glitchy, even with Panasonic's disks. If the recording passes the first 111 seconds, it usually will continue, but don't count on it. When it reaches that magic moment, it will sometimes bomb, meaning the laser lens is dirty, or the disk quality is not to the recorder's liking, or the power is too spiky, or it's the wrong day of the week. Maybe this touchy behavior is unique to my recorder, but I missed getting a few treasured movies off the cable. Who knows when those will be aired again. Recordings of broadcast t.v. are not nearly as good as those on digital cable, but sometimes the network presentations have good quality broadcasts almost worthy of DVD recording.

Sometimes the recorder mistracks, getting the temporal sequencing out of order. That's annoying. However, if the recording is ripped to the PC, then the re-recording can smooth out this problem and a few others such as stuttering and pixelation madness.

It's touchy. Sometimes DVD players have trouble playing the finalized disks. Frequent cleaning of the recorder's laser lens is necessary to prevent the problems given above.

I suppose this glitchy nature is because of the power in the laser. Lower power increases the lifetime of the burner, but the disks being burned have to have a perfect surface and disk opacity has to be very high so the low burn power of the laser doesn't pass through the disk but gets concentrated. I'm not sure this is best explanation for the recorder's malfunction with other manufacturer's disks, and occasionally with Panasonic's. The 50-cent disks from other manufacturers will work most of the time, but expect a few failures.

When it records timed events, most of the time the final product is excellent. However, it would be nice to have a keyboard to type in the titles. Using the telephone-like keypad is inconvenient. What was Panasonic thinking? An infrared keyboard would be a big help.

While the DVD-RAM disks can be edited, using the keypad makes editing inconvenient. In order to make RAM recordings watchable on DVD players, I had to purchase Panasonic's inexpensive and versatile player that can read RAM disks. Playing the RAMs on the player makes DVD mastering possible with the DVD recorder.

I wish Panasonic had software that would allow editing of recordings prior to finalizing. That would make things more convenient.

When I buy my next recorder, I'm going to be looking for greater ease of use and for features that address the problems I've had. I don't want to mislead anyone, because this unit has many good features.

Should people buy this machine? Yes, oh yes! Low price, high quality. It is very good most of the time, but you should know the things I and the other reviewers have to say, so you know what to expect, and so you won't be as disappointed and frustrated as I was initially. Keep the laser clean and most of the time it will behave well.

While superb recordings can be made with the SP (standard play setting), the LP (long play)setting is perfect for most recordings. The recording quality of LP is very good. That lowers the cost of recordings, so the more expensive Panasonic DVD-R disks are more affordable. The same cannot be said for EP (extended play), but even EP recordings are remarkably good.