Panasonic DMR-E50M DVD Recorder

The Panasonic DMR-E50 DVD Recorder / Player is a very advanced piece of technology. Its shows just how far that we have come from VCR's. DVD players are now not just the thing of the future, but are quickly becoming a must-have if you are a movie viewer interested in seeing movies at top-notch capabilities. The Panasonic DMR-E50, is my latest installment in my attempt to catch up with the technology world around me. Unlike most other huge movie fans, it has taken me quite a while to get around to the purchase of a DVD player. Having had access to a Playstation 2 for a number of years now, that was what I used to watch DVD's. It was not quite the quality that I was looking for, but it did the job so I did not care too much about purchasing a real DVD player of my own.

Now I fully realize that my knowledge of DVD players is not as extensive as many other people who are technology savvy. My review of this product must be taken just as that, a review of this product. My comparisons of this product to other DVD players on the market is therefore limited to those, which I have used at a friends house, and not as vast as someone who has purchased a number of different players. That being said, I hope to show the real highlights of what this product has to offer, and why I ended up deciding to purchase it in the first place.

First off, one of the things that I look for in my electronics can be boiled down to two things: aesthetic appeal and brand name. I want something that is going to look nice with the system that I already have, and I want it to be made by a dependable company. Some quick background, is that I have a 27-inch picture-in-picture Sony Trinitron television, to go with my Sony VCR, and a JVC CD-Receiver System. With my television being silver, the Panasonic DVD player stuck out right away when I was browsing. In addition, I was also looking for something that would be simple enough for me to use, but have a lot of "extras" that I may want to learn how to use in the near future. The E50 was right up my alley, because I liked having a nice, crisp clean look to the machine, but at the same time having it look like an electronics wiz was the owner.

Cost was not going to be a huge issue to me when purchasing my first DVD player, because I now have a job that would allow me some freedom with expenditures such as this. I also wanted to make sure that I was going to purchase something that would last me quite a while, so I would not have to go DVD-player shopping again any time soon. The E-50 had a shelf price of $259.99 where I went, and despite what I had been thinking prior to going into the store, I found it to be a little on the expensive side anyways. I knew then, that I would have to put it to very good use, and make sure that I took advantage of everything that it had to offer if I was going to make this a purchase that I would not regret later on. With other DVD players at less than $100, and even more between that and the price of this one, there were a few more key selling points that got me to make my final decision.

As I started stating before, this DVD player is not just limited to viewing DVD's, but also has many functions available while recording on DVD-RAM. This includes "Time-Slip" where you are able to playback what you are recording with a 30 second delay. This is great for confirming what is being recorded, but has limited use otherwise. That way unlike with VCR's, you don't have to turn it off, rewind, and see if something is recorded correctly, and restart the tape. Instead, you can use this to check, and then only correct it if you find a mistake has been made. Since the playback process is independent from the recording process, it is easy to play a previous recording while you record a new track or play a track, which has been recording for some time. This allows you to do multiple things before one of the tasks is completed.

The benefits of the recorder do not end there though, as the DVD-RAM also offers additional features such as erasing a track and re-using that opened space, partially erasing one of the tracks, splitting tracks and building scene driven menus. All of these are really cool options that I had been missing out on by not having a DVD player for so long. When recording with this player, there are several different "modes" that you can use to make the discs. First we have the high quality XP mode, which allows 1 hour on a one-sided 4.7 Gb disc. Then we have the SP mode which gives 2 hours, but which I was not able to see a difference in the quality. So, to me XP and SP both offered the same capabilities when it came to recording. In addition to those two modes, there are the LP and EP modes, which give you 4 hours, and 6 hours of recording time respectively. Unfortunately, it gives a less-than spectacular picture, and the colors don't come out as bright. This can be used better for TV shows that you don't plan on watching again, or you just plan on recording over them.

This DVD player has exceeded the expectations that I had for it when I purchased it. Being that I waited so long to get my first DVD player, it was a great feeling to be able to use one that was so easy to understand. It comes with its own remote that matches the player, but it's not as flashy as some of the ones for my other systems. I do love the ability to slow down scenes with it, and skip ahead chapters, but I am guessing that it is standard with any other DVD player / remote out on the market. Being a huge fan of television, I love recording shows while I am watching other shows at the same time. That is where this player really comes in handy for a person like me. With the ability to check at any moment if I am recording the correct shows, I make sure that I am never missing anything.

As I stated before, depending on what you are recording on the machine, you can differentiate between the different modes of recording. For movies less than 2 hours, I like to stick with SP, and for television shows I use the LP mode, so that I can record many on the same disc, and then watch them later. Once I have watched them, I just record right over them, and move on to my next thing. I highly recommend this player to people that like to do a lot of playing with their DVD's in regards to recording on, over, or with other things. The player really allows you to do most anything you can think of, and is well worth the money that you spend on it. In addition to the main attributes that I recommended, or talked about, I have a list of other features (along with the ones I mentioned) at the end of this Epinion for people just looking for Specs, rather than an opinion. But, as I said earlier, for a first-time purchaser of a DVD player, this one not only fits the bill for me, but does anything I could possibly want a DVD player to do.


Features of the Panasonic DMR-E50 DVD Recorder / Player

*Plays pre-recorded DVD's & CD's.

* Analogue TV tuner built in with RF pass through.

* Chasing playback allows you to watch the start of a program while still recording it.

* Non-linear minidisc-style editing.

* MP3 Playback.

* Records on DVD-RAM & lower cost DVD-R.

* Makes discs that will play in most existing DVD players (DVD-R only).

* Simultaneous playback while recording is possible (DVD-RAM).

* High speed transfer (22 Mbps) to and from DVD-RAM for time-shifting.

* Uses the single layer 4.7GB DVD-R (once only) system and.

* DVD-RAM 4.7Gb systems.

* Records in real-time using MPEGII compression-Up to 6 hours per.

* DVD-RAM disc.

* Quick recording function automatically finds the blank part of the disc.

* Variable Data rate settings.

* Flexible recording mode (VBR) for optimized bit rate for the type and length of recording.

* Built-in time base corrector that delivers highly stable, natural images.

* Front A/V input.

* Full RGB in and out.

* Flexible recording mode allows you to manually enter a time for recording and the player will set the best possible bit rate for that time, say 1 hour 15 minutes to fill a disc.

* Can record and playback NTSC and PAL.