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I just purchased a Panasonic DMR-E85H. The price was $529. The service contract was $75. I could have ordered online for much cheaper but I figured if I wanted to take it back within 15-30 days or it was incompatible with the TV GUIDE features that I would return.
So far the unit looks good. There was a working demo in Circuit City that I could play around with. I went to walmart and bought a 30-Pack spidle of DVD-R's for ~$21 which is very cheap considering how prices have come down.
So far I am impressed with the playback ability however there are some very annoying things which I can probably live with but I will mention them as there may be workarounds.
1) There is an Infared Glink device which you have to put in front of your cable box. I am using Charter with a General Instruments box. Even through their Charter cable changing channels is soooooo sluggish. When you change channel it has to change channels on the DVD recorder then change the channel on the cable box.....vvvvveerrrry slow if you are channel surfing. Is there a way to improve this?
2) What I find annoying is how when I switch into the TV Guide mode it changes to the 04 or the first channel in the lineup. So if I wanted to see what was on the next channel I have to go all the way through the TV Guide back to that channel which takes forever going from one channel to another since it insists on switching to that channel despite the fact I am simply seeing what's on it. There are apparently no options to change with regards to this. It is faster if you are navigating ahead on one channel which is good because sometimes it's necessary to go ahead to the evening time slots to program a show.
3) I attempted to burn a DVD-R from a CSPAN show and the EP 6HR did have better sound quality but does occasionally have some pixelation. The LR speed seemed to have excellent quality on another channel. I had to finalize the DVD but after doing so I was able to watch on my computer with very good results. I would like to take all of my 6HR tapes and convert them over to DVD. However buying an additional unit that has a one touch feature might be a better option for this due to the time involved. With the editing features one can split a clip into separate parts.
4) Overall it seems like I will push a button and think nothing is going on and in fact I was not patient enough. In some cases I have to move up close to the unit to see what is being displayed as the on screen options are not shown such as recording speed. These are rather minor issues.
I really wanted a unit that did not incorporate CRPM or whatever it was that the broadcasters can use to block you from recording. I really do not think this will be a large problem until the High Definition recorders come out next year. If anyone know of a unit which does not follow any copy protection (tv recording not necessarily DVD copying/dubbing) whatsoever please let me know. I still did not find one mentioned on this website and so Panasonic was really my only option right now. That is the only thing that scares me about this unit.
So far the unit looks good. There was a working demo in Circuit City that I could play around with. I went to walmart and bought a 30-Pack spidle of DVD-R's for ~$21 which is very cheap considering how prices have come down.
So far I am impressed with the playback ability however there are some very annoying things which I can probably live with but I will mention them as there may be workarounds.
1) There is an Infared Glink device which you have to put in front of your cable box. I am using Charter with a General Instruments box. Even through their Charter cable changing channels is soooooo sluggish. When you change channel it has to change channels on the DVD recorder then change the channel on the cable box.....vvvvveerrrry slow if you are channel surfing. Is there a way to improve this?
2) What I find annoying is how when I switch into the TV Guide mode it changes to the 04 or the first channel in the lineup. So if I wanted to see what was on the next channel I have to go all the way through the TV Guide back to that channel which takes forever going from one channel to another since it insists on switching to that channel despite the fact I am simply seeing what's on it. There are apparently no options to change with regards to this. It is faster if you are navigating ahead on one channel which is good because sometimes it's necessary to go ahead to the evening time slots to program a show.
3) I attempted to burn a DVD-R from a CSPAN show and the EP 6HR did have better sound quality but does occasionally have some pixelation. The LR speed seemed to have excellent quality on another channel. I had to finalize the DVD but after doing so I was able to watch on my computer with very good results. I would like to take all of my 6HR tapes and convert them over to DVD. However buying an additional unit that has a one touch feature might be a better option for this due to the time involved. With the editing features one can split a clip into separate parts.
4) Overall it seems like I will push a button and think nothing is going on and in fact I was not patient enough. In some cases I have to move up close to the unit to see what is being displayed as the on screen options are not shown such as recording speed. These are rather minor issues.
I really wanted a unit that did not incorporate CRPM or whatever it was that the broadcasters can use to block you from recording. I really do not think this will be a large problem until the High Definition recorders come out next year. If anyone know of a unit which does not follow any copy protection (tv recording not necessarily DVD copying/dubbing) whatsoever please let me know. I still did not find one mentioned on this website and so Panasonic was really my only option right now. That is the only thing that scares me about this unit.
