Panasonic DMR-ES40 DVD Recorder / VCR Combo

Okay, I purchased this yesterday. So my evaluation is only based on all the tests I've run with it in the last 24 hours.

Frankly, I'm very impressed with the unit. I really didn't think they'd come out with a DVD recorder that "any idiot" could use for another 5 or 6 years. Panasonic has done it.

Panasonic's DMR-ES30V was the best selection on both CNET and in the 11/05 Consumer Reports. It had a few drawbacks such as no "chapters" and no DV input. By no "chapters" I mean if you recorded and hour of VHS to DVD, then played it on a DVD player, when you hit the "next" button on your remote, it'd skip to the end. In order to go to a different spot, you'd have to fast forward. UGH.

The 40V has changed all that. It has automatic chapters every 5 minutes. It also has a DV in. With the 30V, you'd have to take your miniDV camera, use the analog outs to the DVR then record that signal to the disc. With the 40V, you plug in via firewire and everything remains digital.

There is a lot you can do with this thing, but most of it I use my TIVO for. Though, now I can TIVO a movie off of HBO, then run the TIVO to the 40V and record the movie to DVD. Not really missing much if I don't want all the DVD "extras" that I MIGHT watch only once. I have not tried this yet though.

What I have tried, and what MOST people will be buying this unit for, is moving home video VHS to DVD. It won't let you record your copywrited VHS collection to DVD. Sorry. Rent the DVD like everyone else and Rip it on your computer. Or record it off of cable/satellite with the 40V.

Where this unit SHINES is saving your analog home movies to a digital format, namely DVD. Not that anyone watches their own home movies, so it's kind of pointless if you think about it. But this unit will do it easily.

The ease of VHS to DVD transfer is actually quite remarkable. Panasonic actually UNDERMARKETS what this thing can do!

I have a collection of my basketball games my dad recorded on VHS in the 80's. I was going to try to preserve them last year using my computer. I got one game done. It took me about two weeks to learn how to do it, get it in there and get it right, and I still had some artifacting. A terribly long, grinding process. You capture in AVI, edit, etc., then crunch it down to DVD size that takes at least twice as long as the footage to do. Then you author the DVD, then burn it. It is a terribly slow process.

Enter the 40V. I took one game that I had messed, and messed with LAST YEAR, and put it in. The Hi-Fi VHS player of the 40V made the picture look much better than my Sony VHS player. I think the Panasonic includes a TBC and a DNR of some sort in the hardware inside, but don't quote me on that. The picture looked great for a 16 year old VHS tape.

So I pop in the tape and it looks good. I fast forward to find out how much time I'll need, and I have less than 1 hour to record on this game. I put a Maxell DVD-R 4.7GB in the DVD drive. I set it to XP, which is the best quality, and will get about an hour on it. This works perfectly for my first run.

After that is set, and the tape is rewound to the start of course, I hit and hold for 3 seconds the "---> DVD" button. And off it goes dubbing away.

I watch the tape until the game is over and I hit stop. That is all that I plan on recording on this DVD, and I'm eager to watch the video on a different DVD player, so now I finalize the DVD. I also select that I want VIDEO to pop on first, after inserting, instead of the title menu. This is an option to change in the finalize menu.

Finalizing took less than 5 minutes, because it's really only one "track". I take out the DVD and go upstairs to my cheap, cheap, cheap $30 Cyberhome DVD player. Flawless. Amazing actually. The picture looks absolutely no worse than watching the VHS, better actually I would say. The picture looks TONS better than the DVD of the same game I made LAST YEAR through my computer. And I made this one in just about real time.

I was stunned. I did two more games just like this in the next hour, then the next hour. Flawless, flawless. Awesome. No editing or anything, or custom menus, but the games are preserved, and just fire right up and look wonderful on TV.

I said earlier that they undermarket the 40V. The manual basically poo-poo's recording to DVD-R. What they don't tell you, I will. The 40V will record on the same DVD-R in a couple of "sessions". What does this mean? Let me explain.

I wanted to see if the 40V would do this little test, and it did just swimmingly. I put in a tape, set the DVD to XP, and hit the VHS to DVD dub. I let it run for about 2 minutes, then I hit STOP. Once it finally stops, it only takes about 10 seconds for the "burn" to catch up, I took the VHS out. I then put in a different VHS tape, fast forwarded to where I wanted it to record from, and hit the VHS to DVD button. Again it actually dubbed, and I ran that for 2 more minutes. Then I stopped it and put in two more tapes.

I ended up with about 8 minutes of "film", just for a test. I then finalized it, and that took a full 15 minutes due to the various "sources" it had to splice together on the menu.

Sure enough, after it finalized, I took it to my other DVD player and it just fired up like a champ. Flawless. When I went to the menu, there were 4 different titles I could choose from instead of just the 1 on my basketball game discs.

What this means is that you can easily record from different tapes, and likely different inputs, all in sequence to a DVD-R. When it's done this way, you can just select the "episode" you want to watch from the menu and watch it.

At the end of the day, this DVD Recorder is going to make it simple to record my old home movies to DVD. Amazingly simple. Unbelievably simple actually. There are a variety of recording quality settings. I have only used XP (1 hour) and SP (two hour) and really can't see the difference between the two. At least with VHS to DVD conversion.

The only con I have noticed with this unit thus far is that occasionally it'll "lock up". This happened a couple of times after pulling out a DVD or VHS. Most likely I did it too quickly after recording or out of sequence or something and just confused the unit. Both times it happened was after recording to DVD, and taking the DVD out. All I had to do was power it down, power it on, and everything was fine again.

This is a very, very, minor con thus far. I will gladly "suffer" through a reboot occasionally to get the quality and ease of conversion this unit offers.

Thanks for reading. Sorry for the length.