Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)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 I'm 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, can't 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 father's 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 I'm 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 don't 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"... ;-)
Click Here to see more reviews about: Panasonic DMR-EH55S DVD Recorder with 200 GB Hard Drive, HDMI, SD Card, and DV Input
With the Panasonic DMR-EH55S, you'll never by bound by TV schedules again. With the 200 GB hard drive and DVD recorder combined with PVR (personal video recorder) functionality, you can save all your favorite shows for later, more convenient viewing. It includes the TV Guide On-Screen programming guide, which lets you easily search through programming and set up either the DVD or PVR (hard drive) recorder to record them unattended. Explore program listings up to eight days in advance, searching by genre or keyword to help narrow down your choices. Once you've found what you want in the listings, simply select the program and the DMR-EH55S will automatically begin recording at the preset time. The 200 GB hard drive can store up to 355 hours of programming (when recorded at the most compressed EP setting).
This unit also includes an HDMI digital audio/video output, which can "up-convert" standard DVD movie discs to near HD resolution. Where standard DVD players (even progressive scan models) provide just 480 lines of resolution, the DMR-EH55S up-converts the picture up to 720p and 1080i high-def video formats--taking full advantage of your HD television's sparkling resolution. (Note that your TV must have an HDMI connection; HDMI cable not included.)
Choose from a full spectrum of recordable DVD media--write-once DVD+R and DVD-R discs or rewritable DVD-RW/+RW and DVD-RAM discs. (For temporary storage, such as your favorite weekly shows, DVD-RAM discs are a great choice as they can be rewritten more times than DVD-RW/+RW discs.) In addition to standard DVD movie and CD audio discs and its compatible recordable formats, the DMR-ES25S can play back CD-R/RW, dual layer DVD-R/+R, and VCD disc formats as well as JPEG, and MP3 digital formats.
Panasonic's Time Slip function consists of two features designed to give you added flexibility and control when making DVD recordings: Chasing Playback and Simultaneous Record & Play. With Chasing Playback, you don't have to wait for an entire program to be recorded before watching it from beginning to end. This feature allows you to watch a program that's currently being recorded from any point that's already been recorded--while continuing to record the live program in progress. Simultaneous Record & Play allows you to record a program onto a disc while simultaneously watching any other program that's previously been recorded on the same disc.
You can set your recorder to one of five different recording speeds, each varying in recording quality and length. EP mode yields the most recording time, LP & SP modes provide less recording time with higher quality recording, and XP mode gives you the highest quality recording. There's also the FR (Flexible Recording) mode that lets you record with the best picture quality possible for the recording time and remaining space on the disc.
The Direct Navigator feature makes it easy to find a previously recorded program on a disc. A list of recording dates, times, channels and (user-entered) titles are shown on screen. With the Playlist Playback function, you can perform simple non-linear video editing using, such as rearranging the order of scenes, skipping over unwanted scenes, or copying selections
Jump directly to any spot on a disc and begin playback or recording right away with the Rapid Random Access function when using DVD-RAM discs. Even if there is no sequential area of empty space available, this DVD recorder can record data on available space throughout the rest of the disc. You will also avoid searching for a blank spot to start recording, or accidentally recording over desired material.
Enjoy a great picture on you flat screen LCD or plasma HDTV using the component video output, and immersive surround sound via the optical digital audio output for Dolby Digital and DTS home theater effects. It also offers a FireWire port (also known as IEEE1394 or i.Link) for direct connection to a digital video camcorder, enabling you to download footage directly to disc. The full lineup of video and audio connections includes:
RF input: 1
Composite video/audio input: 2 (1 front)
Composite video/audio output: 1
S-Video input: 2 (1 front)
S-Video output: 1
Component video output: 1
HDMI audio/video output: 1
Digital audio output: 1 optical
Tech Talk HDMI is a lossless, uncompressed, all-digital audio/video interface to link any audio/video source (such as a set-top box, DVD player, or AV receiver) with your TV--all over a single cable. It provides up to a 5 GB per second bandwidth for transmitting pure digital video and audio signals with no degradation in the transfer. It can carry up to eight discrete audio channels, making it compatible with 7.1-channel surround sound systems. Signals are encrypted with HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection) to prevent recording. HDMI is fully backward-compatible with most DVI connections .
Component video (also called Y/Pb/Pr) features a three-jack video input, which provides separate connections for luminance (Y), blue color difference (PB) and red color difference (PR). This results in increased bandwidth for color information, resulting in a more accurate picture with clearer color reproduction and less bleeding than you would get with S-Video or composite (RCA yellow video plug) connections. You will need a separate RCA left/right audio cable for sound.
High Definition Formats: The most common high-def (HD) video format is 720p, which displays video at 720 vertical by 1280 horizontal pixels. The "p" denotes that it is progressive scan, meaning that all video lines are filled at the same time. The 1080i format displays video at 1080 vertical by 1920 horizontal pixels, and the "i" means that it is interlaced (the old-school way of presenting video where the screen scans the odd-numbered video lines first, then the even-numbered lines). The 1080p format has the same pixel resolution as 1080i, but it is a progressive scan format and thus has a constant vertical resolution of 1080 lines.
What's in the Box DVD recorder/hard drive, remote control (with batteries), AV cable, RF cable, power cord, one DVD-RAM disc, printed operating instructions
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