Panasonic DMR-ES20DEBS DVD RAM Disc Recorder

Panasonic DMR-ES20DEBS DVD RAM Disc Recorder
Customer Review: pathetic
I rang this retailer up abou this product and the staff were very un professional and also hung up on me as they were unable to answer my comments i would recommend NOT to buy any products from this supplier as if this is the way they treat customers before they buy god help us if we folk out money then this behaviour occurs.

Customer Review: 6 months then bang
I purchased the Panasonic recorder because it had good reviews and also did all the things I wanted - play DVDs’ ,record plus freeview all in one neat box. But all I had is trouble.

From the start the machine would not keep any preferences when it is turned off, so it has to remain on all the time unless the machine decided to turn it self off - for a self check - which it does, often.

Now 7 months since purchase it no longer records or plays any disk!

DO NOT BUY THIS MACHINE - YOU WILL WASTE YOUR MONEY!

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80GB Hard Drive DVD Recorder model with Digital Tuner.
Used Price: ?122.99
Customer Review: Super piece of kit but slow menu system.
Having previously owned the excellent non-freeview forerunner to this model I didn’t hesitiate in choosing this freeview model so as to cut down on the number of remotes confusing my wife! Absolutely no problems with setup. Made a positive choice for 80GB rather than 160GB - you’re not going to leave stuff you want to keep on the hard drive - you’ll want that on DVD so having more disk just delays that initial cleanup you have to do when the disk is full and you want to record something. 80GB gives plenty of HQ recording time IMO. My only disappointment is with the speed of response when starting up and from the remote. When in standby, pressing any function will wake it but takes about 30 seconds. Operating the menu system is inexplicably slow when compared to the previous model - e.g. each down-scroll through the title list takes a second or two whereas the non-freeview version was pretty much instantaneous. This is true of any command issued from the remote so can become tedious. Other than that it is an excellent machine: - Superb EPG, weeks in advance. - Series timer that works properly. - Well designed menu system. - High speed dubbing and automatic re-formatting if the source is too big for the DVD capacity (4.6GB = 1.5hrs in high quality). - Low/no noise. - Separate TV controls on remote. - Even my wife can program it (no offence ladies) - just make sure you’re clear which device is the target i.e. hard drive or DVD!
Customer Review: Switches off every 5-10 minutes - stay away from this!
It is too late for me to return the product to Amazon, but I will see what I can do with the Sony customer services. I have used it for a month and, with a few minor problems, it has worked OK for 3 weeks. In the last week, however, it keeps switching off VERY frequently. It does so when I watch TV and also when I am watching TV. On the TV, it freezes for a few minutes, so you lose 5 minutes every time it switches off - frozen image, switch off, switch on again and bring it back to the right channel. I am going back to my cheap freeview box + dvd player. If I cannot return the dvd recorder, I will only use it for the occasional recording, but then it is far too expensive for this!
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Customer Review: Rubbish
I bought one of these for ?100 from a catalogue and it has been nothing but trouble. The remote wont work anymore, if I put a blank disc in, it locks the machine up, last time I had to take it apart to get the disc out! Never again would I buy one of these makes, everything I have ever had from Alba has been rubbish.
Customer Review: Good for the price
I bought mine for ?89.99 from a supermarket. I had read lots of reviews of various budget DVD recorders, and concluded that there seems to be something wrong with all of them, so in the end I bought the cheapest I could find. I was pleasantly surprised. The unit is slim and silver. It looks cheap on closer inspection, but from viewing distance it is not obviously cut-price. The instruction manual is of average quality, although I would have liked more information on recording from different sources (Sky/Camcorder). In the end, I worked out that pressing the INPUT button on the remote toggled between SCART (Sky) and AV (Camcorder). The menu system is a bit tortuous, and not helped by fiddly buttons on the remote, and the unit not always responding to the remote (for some reason, every DVD unit I have ever used has this problem). The quality of playback seems fine for the price. Overall, I was prepared to accept some poor features, so long as it actually recorded without problems. I was pleasantly surprised to find features like editing titles, choosing your own thumbnails, inserting chapters (in fact the recorder did a pretty good job on its own of organising my camcorder footage into sections), and protecting/unprotecting titles.
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PROGRAMME DELIVERY CONTROL (PDC)
Amazon Price: ?125.94
Customer Review: GOOD VALUE
easiest device to set up I have ever come across, handy really because every few days it loses its settings & it has to be switched off at mains & re tuned, you could leave machine on but as previous reviewer writes, the fan is quite noisy. Also confirm you need to set timer early as disc has to be set up by recorder before recording starts, so EPG is not as useful as it could be. Overall I am happy with performance
Customer Review: Good dvd recorder -Value for money.
If you are thinking about buying a dvd recorder - get one with a ‘built in’ digital receiver (like this one). The images and recordings are great with this machine. You can record using the Electronic Programme Guide (EPG), which lists programmes up to 8 days in advance. The fan is a little noticeable, but nowhere near as bad as previous reviews have complained. It also records in most disk formats. Note that the DVD-R/RW & the DVD+R formats must be finalised before you can use the disk on another machine(same for all recorders - bit annoying). The DVD+RW format does not require to be finalised before playing on another DVD player/recorder, therefore this is the best format for frequent use. I would recommened this recorder as it represents good value for money. Steer clear of machines that dont have built in digital receivers. Machines without digital receivers will only record the 1-5 analogue channels and the recordings will depend on the quality of your current reception.
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