Panasonic DMR-ES40 DVD Recorder / VCR Combo
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- Number of Discs: 1
- Progressive Scan: With Progressive Scan
- TV Tuner: With TV Tuner
- Playable Disk Types: DVD Video VCD DVD-RAM DVD-R DVD-RW DVD+R DVD+RW CD (Audio) CD-R CD-RW
- Playable File Formats: MP3 JPEG
- DVD Type: DVD Recorder / VCR Combo
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I must have bought a lemon
Pros
Plays VHS tapes and DVDs and that's about it.
Cons
Unable to dub anything as all home movies shown as "protected"
Recommended it?
No
The Bottom Line:
I might have bought a lemon but help from Panasonic absolutely hopeless. This model now discontinued and the ES45V is far far better but operating instructions still confusing
Bought this for Christmas 2005 and it worked perfectly for a week or so. I was able to dub home movies to DVD. Could also dub to DVD copies of movies and sports on VHS which I taped from TV. Out of curiosity I also tried dubbing store-bought VHS movies and was able to do this. So far so (too) good !
After a couple of weeks I was dubbing a football game which I had copied to VHS from TV. The first two quarters worked fine then suddenly up cropped a"this tape is protected" message which didn't make much sense.
My next dubbing efforts were of two family weddings which I had filmed on VHS. In both cases up came the same "this tape is protected" which made no sense at all. I tried various family travel movies which I had filmed myself all on VHS and got the same dreaded "this tape is protected" message which by now was absolutely ridiculous.
Panasonic technical support by 'phone was useless (send it back to us) and Panasonic did not answer e-mailed requests for help and ignored separate letters which I wrote to them.
The manual is like ploughing through IRS tax instructions.
UPDATE 3/1/06 - After ignoring my e-mails and letters, Panasonic today sent me a customer care plan costing $150, the ultimate insult. Before delivering their product to the nearest "Panasonic" service center, I decided to try dubbing one last time and it suddenly decided to dub a home movie plus a movie which I had taped from TV to VHS. However, in both cases it sloppily divided both movies into totally unnecessary segments. My opinion remains the same, a totally unreliable product with absolutely no technical back up from Panasonic.
UPDATE 5/2/07 - I have replaced this model which I note is now discontinued with a new ES45V which has worked perfectly. I was about to discard the old ES40V but, out of curiosity, hooked it up to a cable box and a new LCD (Panasonic !) TV. I encountered the same problems transferring VHS to DVD but, to be honest, it does a good job of copying TV programs directly to DVD.
After a couple of weeks I was dubbing a football game which I had copied to VHS from TV. The first two quarters worked fine then suddenly up cropped a"this tape is protected" message which didn't make much sense.
My next dubbing efforts were of two family weddings which I had filmed on VHS. In both cases up came the same "this tape is protected" which made no sense at all. I tried various family travel movies which I had filmed myself all on VHS and got the same dreaded "this tape is protected" message which by now was absolutely ridiculous.
Panasonic technical support by 'phone was useless (send it back to us) and Panasonic did not answer e-mailed requests for help and ignored separate letters which I wrote to them.
The manual is like ploughing through IRS tax instructions.
UPDATE 3/1/06 - After ignoring my e-mails and letters, Panasonic today sent me a customer care plan costing $150, the ultimate insult. Before delivering their product to the nearest "Panasonic" service center, I decided to try dubbing one last time and it suddenly decided to dub a home movie plus a movie which I had taped from TV to VHS. However, in both cases it sloppily divided both movies into totally unnecessary segments. My opinion remains the same, a totally unreliable product with absolutely no technical back up from Panasonic.
UPDATE 5/2/07 - I have replaced this model which I note is now discontinued with a new ES45V which has worked perfectly. I was about to discard the old ES40V but, out of curiosity, hooked it up to a cable box and a new LCD (Panasonic !) TV. I encountered the same problems transferring VHS to DVD but, to be honest, it does a good job of copying TV programs directly to DVD.
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