I just got one today. All of the owners on this board provide so much "peer pressure", I could not resist. I got one at Circuit City because Wal-Mart still does not have one and it could be months eventhough their website has one. Anyway, you can get it cheaper by paying online and picking it up at customer service (saved $15 doing this).

I will provide a very short, first look type review and add more as I use this item.

Here are some things I don't like about it compared to past units:

*The tray seems to be more "cheaply made" when compared to past units (it's not bad and it's better than others out there, but it just doesn't seem as durable as the es20 or e30 that I have).
*The drive is "noisy" and sounds like my Gamecube Drive.
*I can't really single out this issue with this model because the es20 has this too. I don't know when Panasonic started doing this, but apparently, the unit does not have a built-in battery for the "time/ date". I live in Florida and Surge Protectors don't really stand a chance against an evil storm, so I unplug most electronics items after use. Anyway, my DMR-E30 will have the time/ date if you have that thing unplugged for 2 months, but apparently all recent Panasonic Recorders don't have this feature.
*Another annoyance (small) and also not exclusive to the es15 (it's on the es20 too). No PAUSE button on the unit or Chapter FF/RV buttons. Heck, the e30 even had a navigation button on the unit in addition to a return and function button. You could actually still use the e30 if you lost your remote or some of the buttons no longer worked. Now we are limited to REC, Play, Power, OPEN/CLOSE, and Stop. Oh, and the channel buttons :rolleyes:
*The extra comment it makes about finalizing a disc when you try to eject a non-finalized disc.
I know why they did this though. It has to do with the "common consumer". I don't know how many times I would get upset when I saw a review from someone who would give a Panasonic DVD Recorder a bad rating because they could not play the "stupid DVD in their other DVD player". Someone would ask them, "Did you finalize it?" Then they would reply, "What are you talking about? Gee, I have to do that before I can play it on my other DVD players?"

The Things I like about the es15:
*The body style is much more sophisticated than the es20.
*You can "PAUSE" in the FR mode as most members on this board already know.
*An ICON appears on the television screen when you press pause, rec, or play. Yes, a big plus for the es15 because I really had no idea with the es20 unless I pressed the "Display Button" on the remote.
*The cursor does not delete the letters in the title. You can go through the title name and insert letters instead of deleting them like the es20. In other words, the title name will not be deleted when you use the cursor to "go back" and correct a misspelled word or add a name. (anothter big plus).
*The es15 seems to be faster than the es20.

It seems to be a great DVD Recorder despite my little compliants. I will do some recordings this week to put it to the test and write more to this review later.

Nice review, good info in there. Everyone has different expectations/requirements so some of your particular "cons" may not affect other people in the same way. I think overall you will be happy with the general operation of this unit. I recorded a total of about 9 hours (not continuous) of TV with mine just yesterday, and everything was working great. Again PQ and audio sync are 100% perfect with all the various modes I have used.

I personally do not find the drive very noisy, it does let you know it is working, but I can barely hear it. One of my minor nitpicks is the chapter creation intervals, on -R it seems to be every 5 min and on +R it seems to be every 8 min? I didn't see a setting to adjust this, I would like to have had better control over that but it is just a minor issue anyway.

Congratulations on your purchase! Nice review with new informatin about the ES15!

*The cursor does not delete the letters in the title. You can go through the title name and insert letters instead of deleting them like the es20. In other words, the title name will not be deleted when you use the cursor to "go back" and correct a misspelled word or add a name. (anothter big plus).
This is the first time I saw this mentioned since it is not mentioned in the user manuals! This is one of the reasons why user reviews of electronics are so helpful! This change is a great improvement in editing titles. Cursor keys are supposed to be for moving around, not for deleting. Quite a few times I had to delete the whole title because I wanted to edit/fix a letter at the beggining. I'm glad Panasonic made this common-sense fix :-)

As far as the "Eject / Finalize confirmation" on the remote, I think they should have added an option in the SetUp menu to disable it. The "common user" would not even look in the Setup menu and the default would be to ask confirmation. But for anyone who finds it annoying, they could just disable it thru the Setup. Perhaps if there is enough demand from users they can do that with a firmware update. Granted once you Eject a disc you have to go to the device to remove/replace it, but the Eject on the remote had an additional use: you could force a re-read of a disc without physically opening the tray by pressing the remote's "open/close" twice in quick succession. (This is also what the ES20 does to confirm a format/finalization). This was useful in the ES20 because it had a bug with TimeSlip: when you wrote to a brand new -R/+R, TimeSlip would not work unless you either open/close the tray (virtually or physically) or turn the device off/on.

As far as the difference between the chapter marks of -R and +R I am not sure why. Maybe it is because of format differences?

I think overall you will be happy with the general operation of this unit.
Yeah I can be critical. I guess we can't expect too much for $154 and it does things that my e30 can't do that cost $499 which was considered cheap back in 2003. I wish they made a DVD Recorder that could disassembled like a PC, and you could just simply install a new DVD-R/+R/RAM/-R DL/+R DL drive when the old one goes bad.
One of my minor nitpicks is the chapter creation intervals, on -R it seems to be every 5 min and on +R it seems to be every 8 min?
I know the other two Panasonics I own do the same, atleast with DVD-R. I haven't tried DVD+R at all, but I will because I have spindle that I've had since December last year. It would be cool if you could edit your own chapter points though. I think the only solution to this is to use a PC Program and set up your own menu, chapter, and title section that allows input for VOB files. I know that the Roxio DVD Suite allows this, but I don't know how good it is because I don't own it. $99 is too much for me, but it may be worth it since you don't have to change the VOB files into MPG.

Cursor keys are supposed to be for moving around, not for deleting.
I'm a clumsy when making titles. It's not the fun part of creating the DVD-R anyway, but I always seem to spell one of the words wrong at the beginning once I've placed several words before it. I wished these things came equiped with a USB input or a Keyboard plug that would allow one to simply type the title, but this is another thing that can be acomplished with the Roxio Program on a PC.

After doing some recording over the weekend, I am quite impressed with this recorder. The picture quality is very good with good use of contrast and colors. The reds and blues seems to be very accurate. The es20 was already a great recorder, and I don't think the quality is too much different. It's mostly the features and advantages with this recorder over the es20. Being that I'm not sure whether they used an LSI chip, I don't know what Panasonic did to ensure the same quality as the es20. We know the es20 had an LSI chip because it's promoted on LSI Logic's website, but the es15 is nowhere to be found.

I am getting used to the remote. The little analog joystick seems to work really well when navigating. The placement of the keys seem to make sense. I never thought I would say this, but now I miss the "open/close" button. Why? Because it's now a short cut to finalizing a disc now. You just put the open/close button and record, then the disc finalizes. They picked the wrong time to remove this button because I never wanted to use it, until now.

Here is one little tid-bit that I noticed when recording in FR. When you record beyond a certain amount time past 2hrs, the audio will be 256Kbps instead of 384Kbps. I don't really think anyone will notice a major difference between these two audio rates though (256Kbps is a standard rate for most Dolby Digital 2.0 tracks with studio released films). I am guessing that 384 Kbps is only used with 2hrs or less. This is also good because when using FR beyond 2hrs because it will allow more space for video that's needed.

I am guessing that 384 Kbps is only used with 2hrs or less.

The DIGA website says as much. 384 on XP / SP recordings, then 256.

Interesting stuff!

The audio tidbit may be very helpful for people wanting to record music/concerts at the best possible quality.

If I get another Panasonic recorder, I may also get an additional ES20 remote so I can use it exclusiveyl as an eject button :-)

Somehow just three remote codes are not enough for Panasonic! It limits to you to three devices per room, unless you install them at different angles :)

My new ES15 doesn't have an eject button, but when I program my Harmony 659 remote with the ES15 it includes the eject comand which works fine.

The audio tidbit may be very helpful for people wanting to record music/concerts at the best possible quality.

Yes. Music is something to really consider because that's not the high point in sitcoms or dramas.

I forgot to mention. Some of the media that I've used are the following (all DVD-R):

Maxell 8x (Ritek)
Maxell 4x (the original Maxell <Japan> before Ritek)
TDK 2x (Yes, I still have some of these lying around)
Verbatim 4x (the movie reel version, my personal favorite)

Simon,
How does a a store bought dvd look on the ES15?
Thanks.

Simon,
How does a a store bought dvd look on the ES15?
Thanks.

You mean like buying a copy of Star Wars, right? I actually don't really know since I try to exclusively use it as a recorder to prevent extra wear as player. I have Panasonic DVD player that plays DVD-RAM that I got for $39.99 (display model). This is an excellent way to prevent using a recorder more than you have to.

One of the improvements made to the ES15 over the ES20 is an upgrade D/A chip from 54 to 108mhz (12 bit) which I think improves the video.

When I first got my 15, I had a 20 (subsequently sold it).

While testing things out, I used the 20 as the source player for recording some DVDs on the ES15.

The resulting recordings were not as good as the recordings I had made on the ES20, however when recording with the ES20 I had been using a Sony player.

Once I switched the source back to the Sony player, the ES15 got right back in the game.

imo, the lesser video chip in the ES20 is likely responsible for the 20 not playing as well as the Sony, and the ES15 should be on par with the best players in this respect.

I just got one today. All of the owners on this board provide so much "peer pressure", I could not resist. I got one at Circuit City because Wal-Mart still does not have one and it could be months eventhough their website has one. Anyway, you can get it cheaper by paying online and picking it up at customer service (saved $15 doing this).

I will provide a very short, first look type review and add more as I use this item.

Here are some things I don't like about it compared to past units:

*The tray seems to be more "cheaply made" when compared to past units (it's not bad and it's better than others out there, but it just doesn't seem as durable as the es20 or e30 that I have).
*The drive is "noisy" and sounds like my Gamecube Drive.
*I can't really single out this issue with this model because the es20 has this too. I don't know when Panasonic started doing this, but apparently, the unit does not have a built-in battery for the "time/ date". I live in Florida and Surge Protectors don't really stand a chance against an evil storm, so I unplug most electronics items after use. Anyway, my DMR-E30 will have the time/ date if you have that thing unplugged for 2 months, but apparently all recent Panasonic Recorders don't have this feature.
*Another annoyance (small) and also not exclusive to the es15 (it's on the es20 too). No PAUSE button on the unit or Chapter FF/RV buttons. Heck, the e30 even had a navigation button on the unit in addition to a return and function button. You could actually still use the e30 if you lost your remote or some of the buttons no longer worked. Now we are limited to REC, Play, Power, OPEN/CLOSE, and Stop. Oh, and the channel buttons :rolleyes:
*The extra comment it makes about finalizing a disc when you try to eject a non-finalized disc.
I know why they did this though. It has to do with the "common consumer". I don't know how many times I would get upset when I saw a review from someone who would give a Panasonic DVD Recorder a bad rating because they could not play the "stupid DVD in their other DVD player". Someone would ask them, "Did you finalize it?" Then they would reply, "What are you talking about? Gee, I have to do that before I can play it on my other DVD players?"

The Things I like about the es15:
*The body style is much more sophisticated than the es20.
*You can "PAUSE" in the FR mode as most members on this board already know.
*An ICON appears on the television screen when you press pause, rec, or play. Yes, a big plus for the es15 because I really had no idea with the es20 unless I pressed the "Display Button" on the remote.
*The cursor does not delete the letters in the title. You can go through the title name and insert letters instead of deleting them like the es20. In other words, the title name will not be deleted when you use the cursor to "go back" and correct a misspelled word or add a name. (anothter big plus).
*The es15 seems to be faster than the es20.

It seems to be a great DVD Recorder despite my little compliants. I will do some recordings this week to put it to the test and write more to this review later.

According to the manual, after finalization there will a gap of 'several seconds' at of about 5 minutes - i.e 24 times in a full 2 hr recording! If true this would render the box useless for most people.

Has anyone else experienced trying to play DVD+RWs that were recorded on a PC that are unplayable in the ES15S?

I have a few of these that I recorded on my DVD burner on my PC and play without a problem on all the DVD players I have EXCEPT the ES15S. It tells me it needs to be formated. What's up with that?

According to the manual, after finalization there will a gap of 'several seconds' at of about 5 minutes - i.e 24 times in a full 2 hr recording! If true this would render the box useless for most people.

What, exactly, are you talking about? There is 5min increment chapters when finalized on DVD-R and 8min with DVD+R. It can take 5min on average to finalize a DVD-R eventhough it says 15min. It says finalizing can take a long time, but that's when you have a lot of wasted space (say 20min SP) which I would not recommend. 5min of space is good, but beyond that is more than enough. I don't know what you mean when you say "gap". Do you mean between layers of DL or time between titles? It's not useless to me.

"most people" should be so lucky.

Just to let the forum members on some new info. Circuit City is selling the ES15 for $149.99 this week if you buy online and pickup ($5 more than last week), but you get a $10 free gift card and some free discs from Panasonic- a pretty good deal. I just returned my ES15 at Circuit City, and bought one at Wal-Mart. I was able to get them to match the old online price of $144.49 by printing it out- woo-hoo. I chose Wal-Mart because they have a better return policy. You just can't beat a 90 return policy with a receipt if you have problems. SAMSCLUB has lowered the price of their ES-20 to $149.88, so, it will probably go down some more.

Best Buy will price match, and not drive feature content out the window due to incessant demands for lower pricing with the vendor.

Since we brought up where to buy ...

Best Buy will price match, and not drive feature content out the window due to incessant demands for lower pricing with the vendor.

BestBuy is an excellent retailer, but the closest one to me is 50 miles (too far for me). Last time I was there, I saw an ES15 for $140 (display model or open box, I'm not sure). BestBuy usually has some of the best deals on Media. I remember stocking up on some Verbatims at a really good price.

I just got one today. All of the owners on this board provide so much "peer pressure", I could not resist. I got one at Circuit City because Wal-Mart still does not have one and it could be months eventhough their website has one. Anyway, you can get it cheaper by paying online and picking it up at customer service (saved $15 doing this).

I will provide a very short, first look type review and add more as I use this item.

Here are some things I don't like about it compared to past units:

*The tray seems to be more "cheaply made" when compared to past units (it's not bad and it's better than others out there, but it just doesn't seem as durable as the es20 or e30 that I have).
*The drive is "noisy" and sounds like my Gamecube Drive.
*I can't really single out this issue with this model because the es20 has this too. I don't know when Panasonic started doing this, but apparently, the unit does not have a built-in battery for the "time/ date". I live in Florida and Surge Protectors don't really stand a chance against an evil storm, so I unplug most electronics items after use. Anyway, my DMR-E30 will have the time/ date if you have that thing unplugged for 2 months, but apparently all recent Panasonic Recorders don't have this feature.
*Another annoyance (small) and also not exclusive to the es15 (it's on the es20 too). No PAUSE button on the unit or Chapter FF/RV buttons. Heck, the e30 even had a navigation button on the unit in addition to a return and function button. You could actually still use the e30 if you lost your remote or some of the buttons no longer worked. Now we are limited to REC, Play, Power, OPEN/CLOSE, and Stop. Oh, and the channel buttons :rolleyes:
*The extra comment it makes about finalizing a disc when you try to eject a non-finalized disc.
I know why they did this though. It has to do with the "common consumer". I don't know how many times I would get upset when I saw a review from someone who would give a Panasonic DVD Recorder a bad rating because they could not play the "stupid DVD in their other DVD player". Someone would ask them, "Did you finalize it?" Then they would reply, "What are you talking about? Gee, I have to do that before I can play it on my other DVD players?"

The Things I like about the es15:
*The body style is much more sophisticated than the es20.
*You can "PAUSE" in the FR mode as most members on this board already know.
*An ICON appears on the television screen when you press pause, rec, or play. Yes, a big plus for the es15 because I really had no idea with the es20 unless I pressed the "Display Button" on the remote.
*The cursor does not delete the letters in the title. You can go through the title name and insert letters instead of deleting them like the es20. In other words, the title name will not be deleted when you use the cursor to "go back" and correct a misspelled word or add a name. (anothter big plus).
*The es15 seems to be faster than the es20.

It seems to be a great DVD Recorder despite my little compliants. I will do some recordings this week to put it to the test and write more to this review later.

I don't yet have an ES15 but have downloaded the manual. The manual states (p35) "There is a pause of several seconds (time gap) between titles and chapters during play." I hope I am misinterpreting this.

I don't yet have an ES15 but have downloaded the manual. The manual states (p35) "There is a pause of several seconds (time gap) between titles and chapters during play." I hope I am misinterpreting this.
Thankfullly, yes. There is no pause between chapters. There is a slight 1 second gap between titles (depending on the player, I have 2 players where there is no gap), but this is the way titles are with any DVD. You may even notice on Disney DVDs that when the THX trailer ends, and then comes the movie (there is a slight pause on some players here because this is two titles).

Thankfullly, yes. There is no pause between chapters. There is a slight 1 second gap between titles (depending on the player, I have 2 players where there is no gap), but this is the way titles are with any DVD. You may even notice on Disney DVDs that when the THX trailer ends, and then comes the movie (there is a slight pause on some players here because this is two titles).

Thank you! I would hate to think that a machine which seems so smart in all other areas, would be incredibly stupid in this one. However, I do think that the text in the manual could be clarified.

Thankfullly, yes. There is no pause between chapters. There is a slight 1 second gap between titles (depending on the player, I have 2 players where there is no gap), but this is the way titles are with any DVD. You may even notice on Disney DVDs that when the THX trailer ends, and then comes the movie (there is a slight pause on some players here because this is two titles).

In fact the transition between titles is so seemless that if you are not paying 100% attention to the TV you may not even realize you are in a new title. It happened to me a couple of times :)

Thank you! I would hate to think that a machine which seems so smart in all other areas, would be incredibly stupid in this one. However, I do think that the text in the manual could be clarified.

A Manual is a lot like a film. It can be interpreted in many, many ways :D

One thing that I noticed that multiple Panasonic DVD Recorder Owners need to be aware of is the incident that I will describe. I recorded some material with my old DMR-E30, and then put a title on the disc with my DMR-ES15. This week, I popped the disc in my DMR-ES30, and the menu displayed all zeros when I pushed the FR button meaning that no space was available. I placed the disc back in the DMR-ES15, and it showed 2hrs 30min when FR was pressed. So, it must be a lot like saving a document in an newer version of MS WORD and not being able to open it in a older version.

One thing that I noticed that multiple Panasonic DVD Recorder Owners need to be aware of is the incident that I will describe. I recorded some material with my old DMR-E30, and then put a title on the disc with my DMR-ES15. This week, I popped the disc in my DMR-ES30, and my recorded displayed all zeros when pushed the FR button meaning no space available. I placed the disc back in the DMR-ES15, and it showed 2hrs 30min when FR was pressed. So, it must be a lot like saving a document in an newer version of MS WORD and not being able to open it in a newer version.

Interesting... I don't know how old the E30 is, but the 2005 and 2006 are interoperable, right?

Still, Panasonic should have made every effort to keep them interoperable...

Interesting... I don't know how old the E30 is, but the 2005 and 2006 are interoperable, right?

Yes, no problems with the es15 and es30 working together. It's just that once you record on a DVD-R using the es15 which was originally created by an older model such as an E30, there is no going back to the e30. Of course, I don't know why someone would want to, but I did, only because I have them in different rooms.

Yes, no problems with the es15 and es30 working together. It's just that once you record on a DVD-R using the es15 which was originally created by an older model such as an E30, there is no going back to the e30. Of course, I don't know why someone would want to, but I did, only because I have them in different rooms.

I think it is a legitimate point/bug, since people are using them to create virtual multi-tuners, since none of them are available in stores :) (dvd recorders that is)

Interesting... I don't know how old the E30 is, but the 2005 and 2006 are interoperable, right?

Sorry about that, I meant that the es15 and es20 don't have issues working together, but the e30 will have issues with a disc burned with an es15. It will play what's burned on it fine, but it will claim that there is no room left on the disc. It kind of reminds me when I use a Compact Flash Card on my PC. If I take a 128MB card that was used on the PC and it has say 32MB of space remaining, my Canon Digital Camera will say it has no room for pictures when it should be able to handle 12 more pictures at the highest setting.

Sorry about that, I meant that the es15 and es20 don't have issues working together, but the e30 will have issues with a disc burned with an es15. It will play what's burned on it fine, but it will claim that there is no room left on the disc. It kind of reminds me when I use a Compact Flash Card on my PC. If I take a 128MB card that was used on the PC and it has say 32MB of space remaining, my Canon Digital Camera will say it has no room for pictures when it should be able to handle 12 more pictures at the highest setting.

Do ES20-recorded DVDs also have the same issue when they are in the E30 or is it something introduced by the 2006 models?

Simon- does the 15 have the same scheduled recording problem as the 20?

It is easy to check. Add 3 one hour weekly or daily scheduled programs in sp mode. Have two of them on weekly schedule for the same day as today but next week, which means earlier than the current time (like early am) and weekly schedule the last one for after the current time today. Use a formatted disk.

If the 15 has the same problem, you will see, in the schedule, the program scheduled for later today with a ! after it, even though there is plenty of time on the disk.

The two others will be after that program and show they will be recorded (---> 5/28 - if you do it on 5/21), even though it will be next week.

Do disks recorded on this model play perfectly on other DVD players? I have had major compatability issues with the Samsung dvd-r120 and R130 (and its NOT a blank media type issue)

Do disks recorded on this model play perfectly on other DVD players? I have had major compatability issues with the Samsung dvd-r120 and R130 (and its NOT a blank media type issue)

So far YES.

I've burned -R discs that have played well in my brother's Playstation 2, his $30 dollar Polaroid DVD Player, my Laptop, my office's computer and my Roommate's DVD Player (which is "so beat-up" that we can no longer tell who made it or where it came from).

A word of caution though:

I strongly believe that the Firmware Update for my ES20 created compatability issues that basically ruined that unit for me... So now I'm of the mind set of leaving "well enough, alone"; and probably wouldn't do a firmware update (even if it camed with free porn.)

red-ricky : is the good compatability with an ES15 or ES20?

ON the ES20, are you saying that after the firmware upgrade, disks recorded on it no longer played on other DVD players?

With the 2 Samsung players (both likely to be returned), disks recorded play fine on the samsungs, but when played on other DVD players, will play but using menus, pause, fast forward, or even stopping, will lock up the other machines so they have to be powered off to reset.

red-ricky : is the good compatability with an ES15 or ES20?

The good compatability is with the ES15. The ES20 has been discontinued.

ON the ES20, are you saying that after the firmware upgrade, disks recorded on it no longer played on other DVD players?

They would play; but some of them would stop at some point and go back to the Top Menu. Again, the specifics are not important because that unit is no longer available. The lesson learned is to be careful, and be sure that a Firmware upgrade won't fix one problem by creating a worst one.

With the 2 Samsung players (both likely to be returned), disks recorded play fine on the samsungs, but when played on other DVD players, will play but using menus, pause, fast forward, or even stopping, will lock up the other machines so they have to be powered off to reset.

Pauses and stoppages that can be bypassed with the fast forward, as well as skipping (the fast forward effect you described) are signs that a DVD player needs to be cleaned. Remember, they are more sensitive to dust, and unlike the old VCR, there's no tracking button to try and "power through".

Just go to Walmart and buy a DVD cleaner disc. You'll need it for your recorder too (in order to keep burns smooth.) Trust me, it won't be a bad purchase.

disks recorded play fine on the samsungs, but when played on other DVD players, using menus, pause, fast forward, or even stopping, will lock up the other machines so they have to be powered off to reset.

Woah,

Misread your post.

Yeah, sounds like they have compatability issues. Reminds me of how movies burned on CD-R's would play on DVD players (wayback when, before the days of recordable DVD media).

Pauses and stoppages that can be bypassed with the fast forward, as well as skipping (the fast forward effect you described) are signs that a DVD player needs to be cleaned. Remember, they are more sensitive to dust, and unlike the old VCR, there's no tracking button to try and "power through".

Just go to Walmart and buy a DVD cleaner disc. You'll need it for your recorder too (in order to keep burns smooth.) Trust me, it won't be a bad purchase.

This is actually a problem inherent with the Samsung DVD-R120 (has something to do with the chapter creation feature even when that feature is turned off). I have gone through two r120s to no avail.

I'm also looking at the Panny ES15 as a replacement.

There is a new firmware for the ES-15 (and the many of the new line of Panny's) that states it is for correcting an unresponsive freezing problem with receiveing IR remote commands or something like that. I have experienced this problem on my es 15 but not sure if I want to load a new firmware when people have reported that they can make things work.

After I reported the incompatibility with other DVD players issue, Samsung exchanged my DVD-R120 for the newer R130 (and even provided a return mailing label). With the R130 having the same issues, they said they had no fix, and will take the players back, along with a copy of my receipt, and give me a full refund. Not really sure why they don't consider this problem serious enough to fix (or product recall). From previous posts, problem may have started in middle of last model year when they changed from an LSI chipset to a Samsung chipset. Its likely (though not confirmed) that the new R130 has the same chipset as the later manufactured R120s. Lets hope the ES15 will make me happy - and will play the numerous DVDs that I made on my PC

Do disks recorded on this model play perfectly on other DVD players?
Yes. They play perfectly, even better than my old e30.

I will have to check out the programming area sometime since I have mostly been using it for dubbing.

I read (on a different forum) that when using the unit as a "pass thru" - coax from wall to ES15 to TV, in order to watch TV, the ES15 must be turned on. If so, that is a major flaw. Can someone confirm?

I read (on a different forum) that when using the unit as a "pass thru" - coax from wall to ES15 to TV, in order to watch TV, the ES15 must be turned on. If so, that is a major flaw. Can someone confirm?
I don't own the ES-15 but I would think it would only have to be turned on if you were using the internal tuner, as opposed to actually "passing thru" a signal that's already been tuned by a cable box or satellite receiver.

But as I said, I don't own one so we'll have to wait for someone who does to answer definitively.

I read (on a different forum) that when using the unit as a "pass thru" - coax from wall to ES15 to TV, in order to watch TV, the ES15 must be turned on.

Passthru works without the ES15 being powered on.

I Purchased A Dmr-es15. When Playing The Dvd-r I Recorded On It On Other Players The Audio And Video Are Slightly Off Sync, But Aren't When Played On Dmr-es15. Any Advise Or Suggestions Would Be Appreciated.

Suggestion and Advise:

Make sure the other players play other DVD's (other than the ones you burned) without any Sync Problems. Verify that the other players have been cleaned recently. Dusty players can act up in the form of Sync Problems, Skips & Freezes.

Do one more recording, with you there, to verify that the source material audio is good. Then check it as you did before.

If problem persists... Return it, get your money back, and if you feel like it, reset the return policy clock by buying another one on another store.

I don't know if this is good news or bad news, but at least in this forum, nobody else has reported any sync problems with the ES15; and that unit has been reviewed to death.

I have one and I haven't noticed any sync problems... and I am very anal about making sure my recordings play as good on other units.

ps: Make sure you are using good media (i.e. that you are using quality DVD-Rs) that are "liked" by the other players.

ps2: Check the Composite Cables for those other players (just to rule out faulty wiring)

One of things I disliked about VCRs is that after programming you have to remember to turn off the vcr to actually record the program(s). I have lost programs because I forgot to turn that thing off. Is this the case with DVD recorders?

One of things I disliked about VCRs is that after programming you have to remember to turn off the vcr to actually record the program(s). I have lost programs because I forgot to turn that thing off. Is this the case with DVD recorders?
Speaking only for the Pioneer 53x/63x series (maybe all others, who knows?), if the unit is on and a timer program needs to start, a message will appear telling you it needs to change channels to record another program. If you don't answer the message, it automatically changes to the timer program. That would happen even if you weren't watching anything thru the DVR at that time, i.e., just happened to leave it on.

My Panasonic EH50 will start to record a timer program if the unit is on or off. It has switched to record even when I am playing back a DVD or title from the hard drive. The recording has to go to the hard drive of course for this to happen.

One of things I disliked about VCRs is that after programming you have to remember to turn off the vcr to actually record the program(s). I have lost programs because I forgot to turn that thing off. Is this the case with DVD recorders?

No need to turn off the ES-15 (Unlike older units). When the time for recording comes the unit will attempt to record on whatever blank space is available. If there is not a disc with available space in the machine the recording will cancel.

Ok, I just bought this. Setup was very easy and recording quality even at LP is very good (the manual mentions something about 500 lines at LP mode). I also noticed it incorporates Line-in Noise reduction for recording from VCR. I mainly plan to use this as a replacement to my VCR. The other main reason I bought this was to dump my DV camera output onto a DVD+/-R discs. I don't see any mention of how to create a top level menu on these media. Lets say I record two one hour programs from separate tapes onto a DVD+R. Will it let me create a top level menu for these two titles? how?

I was very impressed how easy it was to record onto DVD-RAM, to create chapters at any orbitrary points, delete chapters, combine chapters etc. It would be nice if I can then stick this DVD-RAM in my PC and burn a DVD+/-R there of edited footage. But after deleting some chapters I copied to PC and renamed it as .mpg and played on WMP. I see all the edited out footage there. Hence I feel it is just some book keeping internally - it doesn't really delete it.

hello everyone iam trying to get a new dvdrecorder and i was looking at panasonic Dmr-es15s . I want to get some input on this recorder,basically what i am lookin for is to be able to record on dvd video mode, since iam having a hard time with my liteon 5005 when i try to coonvert the VR+ to dvd video.
thanks in advance
is this recorder able to record on dvd-video mode?

DVD Video Mode is the standard mode that all (as far as I know) DVD Recorders record in. It is VR Mode that is the fancier mode that is not supported by as many models.

thanks alot for your answer bobkart, that is what i needed to know.
i actually went to CC i got the DMR-ES25S for only 17dlls more.
thanks

I purchased one about three weeks ago, and just connected it, etc. this weekend. I am confused about the chapter creation. It's my understanding that you can create personal chapters using DVD-RAM. For the other type of DVDs, the unit is suppose to automatically split the title into 5-8 chapters after finalization. I tried using DVD-R, and DVD-RW, and after I finalized my dvd, I didn't see any chapters. I don't know if I have a defective unit. HOwever, for other individuals with this unit, is it possible to see or create customized chapters. If not, are chapters suppose to be created automatically after finalization? Please advise. or otherwise I may need to turn this in to Circuit City. Thanks for any information.

I purchased one about three weeks ago, and just connected it, etc. this weekend. I am confused about the chapter creation. It's my understanding that you can create personal chapters using DVD-RAM. For the other type of DVDs, the unit is suppose to automatically split the title into 5-8 chapters after finalization. I tried using DVD-R, and DVD-RW, and after I finalized my dvd, I didn't see any chapters. I don't know if I have a defective unit. HOwever, for other individuals with this unit, is it possible to see or create customized chapters. If not, are chapters suppose to be created automatically after finalization? Please advise. or otherwise I may need to turn this in to Circuit City. Thanks for any information.

I don't think there is anything wrong with your recorder. During finalization, you will have chapter points automatically created for you. Depending on the type of disc, it will either be every 5 min or every 8 min and you have no control over that (other than on a RAM disc). I don't think it creates a chapter MENU, but the chapter points *are* there when you press the skip buttons - that is how mine works anyway.

Does the ES15s have the TV Guide On Screen feature?

No, only the Panasonic HDD DVD recorders have the TVGOS. The only exception that I know of was the 2004 E-65, which I have.

I believe the non-HDD recorders have VCR+ Plus.

if you record a program at the enhanced LP mode
and then play it back on another DVD player, will
you still get the hi-res or is the hi-res LP
playback only available on the ES-15?

is this an encoding enhancement or a decoding
enhancement? i'm suspecting the former..

Yes, the former. The DVD should play back the same on any player (assuming it plays back at all).

Are there new Panasonic DVD recorders coming out soon, or was this new earlier this year?

Also, what is the difference between this 15 model and the 25 model?

Are there new Panasonic DVD recorders coming out soon, or was this new earlier this year?

Also, what is the difference between this 15 model and the 25 model?

I think DVD recorders are of the once a year variety, although they could release something before the holiday shopping season. I am not that familiar with the historical patterns of dvd recorder releases.

I forgot what the differences are between the 15 and 25. HDMI?

Just picked up a ES15 for the parents and generally happy with it BUT was terrified to find that anything coming in below black is clipped. (ie: can't record blacker than black). This was not the case with the EH55. Playback of pre-recorded disc was fine though.

Are you trying to record ultrablack? Sorry...I couldn't resist... :D

Has anyone recorded and 16x9 movies on this not using DVD-RAM? According to the manual, the only way to preserve the aspect ratio is to use DVD-RAM. Is that is fact true?

I just bought and set up an ES-15 for a friend since it is very similar to my ES-10.. But one feature I'm surprised the ES-15 doesn't have is an on screen display when after you push stop when you finish recording something and it takes about 30 seconds to write the info to the disc there is no on screen bar graph showing what % is written...I'm guessing since SimonBelmont is the original one who came up with this topic and went through his list of cons of this unit which didn't include what I just described that for some reason the particular unit I got is defective in this respect...All the other on screen displays work and it does show the bar graph when finalizing the disc. It is suppose to show the bar graph when writing the info to the disc. right?

wcpaeb

How does one handle using the remote controls for multiple panasonic units such as es15 and es30 in the same entertainment center. When I try programming the es15, some of my es30 settings change and vice versa ?

Thanks

anyone tried installing a 40mm fan yet?

How does one handle using the remote controls for multiple panasonic units such as es15 and es30 in the same entertainment center. When I try programming the es15, some of my es30 settings change and vice versa ?

Thanks

You need to changes the remote control code for each of the recorders. See page 15 of the ES-15 manual.

Thanks I needed that page 17 in the ES25 manual

You need to changes the remote control code for each of the recorders. See page 15 of the ES-15 manual.

Thanks for the reply. Have been trying to figure this one out foe awhile now.

Wes.

When using the "Chase Playback" feature, can you fast fwd (search fwd?) during playback while the unit is still recording the remainder of a show? This would be great for skipping commercials!

Thx in advance for any insight.
~ peace, Kevin J.

When using the "Chase Playback" feature, can you fast fwd (search fwd?) during playback while the unit is still recording the remainder of a show? This would be great for skipping commercials!

Thx in advance for any insight.
~ peace, Kevin J.

You can do it with the previous year model (ES20), so I assume you can also do it with the ES15. Performance may not be as good as if it wasn't recording; with DVD-RAM only...

You can do it with the previous year model (ES20), so I assume you can also do it with the ES15. Performance may not be as good as if it wasn't recording; with DVD-RAM only...

ES-15 and all other 2006 Pannys will with a DVD-RAM disc- Performance is not affected in my tests. Also all 2006 Pannys are supposed to have full D1 record resolution(16:9) if your box is feeding that and playback is on a WS TV- DVD-RAM or not.

ES-15 and all other 2006 Pannys will with a DVD-RAM disc- Performance is not affected in my tests. Also all 2006 Pannys are supposed to have full D1 record resolution(16:9) if your box is feeding that and playback is on a WS TV- DVD-RAM or not.

That's one of the things I haven't thoroughly tested on the ES20 (16:9 recording), partly because I don't have a 16:9 TV, and partly because I have to restart my cable box in order to tweak display options, and to record something with the different options (16:9, 4:3). Maybe I'll try it during the off-season :-)

Just copped my DMR-ES15S at Fry's Electronics (for $119), and I must say, in the 3 days I've had it I'm quite impressed with this recorder's bang for the buck.

I do have a question regarding scheduled weekly recording. When I set up a scheduled weekly recording, the indication I get in the far right "Check" column is odd... it shows an arrow pointing to a date 2 weeks from the scheduled date.

I.e., I've scheduled the unit to record weekly on Thursdays starting today, 1/11 ... however, the "Check" column shows this:
-> 1/25
which is 2 Thursdays from today. Is this correct?

~ peace, Kevin J.

Just copped my DMR-ES15S at Fry's Electronics (for $119), and I must say, in the 3 days I've had it I'm quite impressed with this recorder's bang for the buck.

I do have a question regarding scheduled weekly recording. When I set up a scheduled weekly recording, the indication I get in the far right "Check" column is odd... it shows an arrow pointing to a date 2 weeks from the scheduled date.

I.e., I've scheduled the unit to record weekly on Thursdays starting today, 1/11 ... however, the "Check" column shows this:
-> 1/25
which is 2 Thursdays from today. Is this correct?

~ peace, Kevin J.

I haven't used that feature much, but that doesn't sound right....

I do have a question regarding scheduled weekly recording. When I set up a scheduled weekly recording, the indication I get in the far right "Check" column is odd... it shows an arrow pointing to a date 2 weeks from the scheduled date.

I.e., I've scheduled the unit to record weekly on Thursdays starting today, 1/11 ... however, the "Check" column shows this:
-> 1/25
which is 2 Thursdays from today. Is this correct?


Well, I discovered the answer to my own question. It's actually explained in the manual...I just hadn't read that far yet. Yes, that is the correct indication. An arrow in the "Check" column with a date shows the date until when recordings can be made, up to 1 month from the present time, based on the available time remaining on the disc.

It pays to read the entire manual -- this manual actually isn't bad...I've been able to find everything I need.

~ peace, Kevin J.

I own a Panny DMR-ES15 which I am quite happy with.

However, I do have issues with disk compatibility with certain kinds of media.

I find that DVD+R DL disks burned on my PC often freeze when I try to play them on my Panny. These disks play fine on my PC. Moreover, other disk formats (except DVD+RW) made on my PC play fine on the Panny, such as DVD-R, DVD-RW.

Anyone else have problems with DL disks burned on a PC?

Thanks

I have no problems with Verbatum DVD+R DL on my ES15

Hi,

On the ES15 I just noticed that the neither the "CM Skip" feature nor the "Time Slip" feature work on a finalized non-RAM disc. Is this as it should be?...it's not really clear in the manual. Thx.

~ peace, Kevin J.

Hi,

On the ES15 I just noticed that the neither the "CM Skip" feature nor the "Time Slip" feature work on a finalized non-RAM disc. Is this as it should be?...it's not really clear in the manual. Thx.

~ peace, Kevin J.

Panasonic DVD recorders seem to behave differently from Panasonic dvd players (at least the ones I have). I have the previous model (ES20), and CM-Skip only works on unfinalized media (DVD-R, DVD+R (slow jumps), DVD-RW(V) and DVD-RAM). Once a DVD is finalized (or with store-bought DVDs) CM-Skip does not work.

Panasonic DVD player (S29) can CM-Skip on finalized -R/-RW and -RAM and store-bought DVDs, but not on finalized DVD+R.

How well does the DRM-15 work with HDTV?

TIA

infael

I have a 2 week old unit and the display has suddenly got these vertical lines going half way up the display. You can still just see the channel it's on or the time if you look closely and it still works.
Does anyone know how to get rid of these lines?

I have a 2 week old unit and the display has suddenly got these vertical lines going half way up the display. You can still just see the channel it's on or the time if you look closely and it still works.
Does anyone know how to get rid of these lines?

Did you accidentally change the Setup where it displays 480p (progressive) instead of 480i (assuming you are using a 480i-only tv/output).

When playing CD audio disks, my player does not show the track number on the display.
Is this normal operation?
I picked this unit up at CC for only $74.99 as an open box, so I am not sure. I can't seem to find anything in the manual for such a basic item such as this.
Can someone play an audio CD and tell me if the display shows the track number?
Thanks

I bought this yesterday and its going back today. I bought this unit because it said it burned to DVD-R DL and DVD+R DL.. However, here was the deal breaker for me. IT DOES NOT DO SEAMLESS Recording on Double Layer Discs. It stops at the end of the first layer and then you have to close it and then start recording to the 2nd layer. That stinks... now I gotta find one that does seemless on DL Discs.

I just got my es15s at CC for $129 and love it, but I see "lock ups" at times after recording or when trying to access menu or even eject prerecorded DVDs - no response to remote or front panel for 2-3 minutes, have to hold down POWER on panel until it forcibly shuts off, then all is fine when "rebooted".
Maybe this is the remote issue the firmware upgrade fixes? How do you get/install the firmware fix on a unit like this?
BTW I have also thought of adding the missing fan...
Thanks for your help/advice.