Panasonic DMR-ES25S DVD Recorder with DV Input with HDMI and SD Card Slot

This lightweight and inexpensive component is incredibly powerful and capable given that the price would have gotten you only a barebones DVD player just a few years ago. My primary goal is that of transcribing a videotape collection now several decades old to DVD for better archival storage and ease of transport when moving. The DMR-ES25S has a variety of other features, such as the SD Card Slot input, which I've not taken advantage of. First: Setup is a breeze. Plug it in, hook up your choice of outputs to your preamp, your choice of inputs from your preamp, and you're good to go. There's no question that this is potentially complicated for an A/V novice but Panasonic makes it easy by allowing a simple RF (coax) cable input and output so that the unit will essentially replace a VCR in a simple VCR/TV setup. That is, you can take the cable from the wall, plug it in to the back of the DVD-R, then take another cable and run it to the TV, and you're done. This type of setup works, but doesn't provide the unit's full audio or video capabilities. The player has component, digital optical, S-Video, and composite connectors all available. For my setup, I ran the cables directly from the VCR into the DVD-R, then from there to the pre-amp. This allows me to watch my videotapes as they run through the DVD-R, which is what I want because I'm recording as I go. Functionality: This part is straight-forward once you get the hang of it. Push the record button and start your source. That's it. For DVD-R's and their assorted brethren, you simply keep recording until you run out of space. I find that the 4-hour mode for a single sided 4.7GB DVD-R is fine and doesn't lose any quality over videotape. DVD-RAMs give you much more flexibility at a price. (At the moment, DVD-R stock runs about a quarter per disc while DVD-RAM stock is about 1.35 per disc). The flexibility of editing, adding chapters, and so forth is quite good with the -RAMs, and this is the way to go if you plan on moving your home videos to disc. As others have mentioned, this is a consumer grade DVD recorder, so don't plan to use it to transfer pre-recorded commercial macrovision-encoded VHS tapes. Although there are workarounds for this out there, it's simply easier to replace your tapes with commercial DVD's. The remote control isn't the most intuitive one I've seen, but it gets the job done without a lot of waiting around for recorder response time. Some actions, like finalizing a disc, take several inputs to accomplish, but again, for the most part, the remote is fine and offers some universal support for TV's. Instructions are complex but well-written. Again, this is a very complex component so plan to take some time studying the documentation. If you plan to use just a few functions, you'll be off and running within an hour, but if you want to get into the details of editing a DVD-RAM, you'll be experimenting for the better part of a day. The only downside of the unit that I've found is that there's no indication that it's turned on! It displays the time of day, like a VCR, when it's off. Push the power button and it displays a message saying hello, then reverts to the time again. There's no little green light or other indication that the unit is turned on. Picture quality is excellent. The component itself runs quietly and without generating excess heat. Overall, I'm very satisfied.

There are lots of reviews of this product, so you should get a pretty good sense of its capabilities and limitations. Keep in mind that different people have different expectations for a product like this, with its wide variety of possible uses. I can only add a few reactions based on the way I have personally tried to use the product. I use this unit mostly as a VCR replacement, recording standard-def TV programs from analog cable channels. I use DVD-RAMs because they're durable, and individual programs can be erased easily after I've viewed them. The DVD-RAM format also provides DVR-like features, such as the ability to start watching a program from the beginning before it has finished recording, or recording a program while watching a different program on the same disc. You can trim and split programs easily and add chapter marks with the press of a button (good for "bookmarking" your current location, if you need to remove the disc and return to it later). This unit really shines with the DVR-RAM format. (I have even discovered that the DVD-RAM recordings can be read and encoded to DivX by AutoGordianKnot, if you have a DVD-RAM-capable drive on your computer, so there is a way to get DVD-RAMs into another format if you really need to.) I also occasionally record programs to DVD+R or DVD-R for "archiving." Some reviewers have reported compatibility issues with some media or other DVD players, but I have had no problems. Even using cheap spindled media, the +Rs and -Rs from this unit play fine on my other DVD players. You have to finalize the discs, of course, before they'll play on another player. I have used the SD card slot to view pictures from my digital camera, and it works as advertised. I have also used three different video output connections - S-Video, component, and HDMI - at various times, and they all seem to work fine. This is not a high-def product, so don't expect HD quality, but the video quality is about as good as one can expect from SD source material. I think the best features of this unit involve the recording modes. Recordings made using XP (1-hour) and SP (2-hour) are excellent, as is probably the case with almost any DVD recorder. This unit, however, has a surprisingly good LP mode (4-hours), with quality almost as good as SP, and a very useful FR mode (flexible record), which adjusts the quality to achieve the best possible recording with the space remaining on the disc. As a DVD-Video player/recorder, I consider this unit a solid performer with a basic feature set. I give it five stars because of the DVD-RAM performance and the outstanding LP and FR recording modes.

I would rate this product minus stars if possible. It has been returned for credit, with me being out of pocket for freight both ways. This recorder either refused to recognize my blank Memorex DVD+R discs, or did recognize them, but stopped recording in a few minutes, flashing a message that the disc may be bad. In either case, the disc was rendered henceforth unusable. I was very leery of buying another stand-alone DVD recorder after this experience--my Mac burns DVDs with ease. It's not the money (shipping costs) or even the hassle in repacking and shipping, but the time consuming frustration in trying to get it right, thinking, somehow, that I may be doing something wrong. Well, I wasn't doing anything wrong. I left all my interconnects in place when I shipped back the Panasonic; I bit the bullet and went out and bought a Sony RDR-GX330 (which lacks a card reader, which I don't really need). The Sony works beautifully with discs from the very same spindle as those I used with the Panasonic, while being connected with the very same interconnects. I heard rumors that Panasonic is pushing the use of DVD-RAM discs which they manufacture; at first, I thought that that might have something to do with their DVD recorder eating my +R discs, but when I tried the DVD-RAM disc, which Panasonic included in the box with the DMR-ES25S, it, too, was rendered unusable.

This is my first DVD recorder. I am extremely happy with it. It makes excellent high quality DVD's , it is very versatile, reading and writing most types of media, and I love the DVD RAM discs. You can use them over and over again, without reformatting them. The recording is very high quality, even on Long Play, which is 4 hours per DVD. I haven't used Extended play, 8hours recording mode. It is easily programmable for TV shows, though there is a learning curve. It is not perfect though, and is missing a few extra features, but for the price, I am very satisfied and glad to be using it, which I do on a daily basis. Good Bye VCR!!!

I recently became so disgusted with my Comcast DVR and didn't want to invest in a TIVO 3 at this time due to potential upcoming changes in July regarding cable cards, etc. I ordered this DVD recorder and returned my Comcast DVR. Since I have limited time for television, I also used this time to decide what I really MUST watch each week. At any rate, this DVD recorder is perfect for my needs. I can record one program using my HDMI input on my Sharp Aquous TV and watch another program from the TV input at the same time. The DVD-RAM discs provide excellent recording media even using the 4 hour setting. You can easily name the programs; and even though I have not wanted to actually keep anything I've recorded yet, it seems that you can edit, etc. easily. The unit works flawlessly and plays DVD Video well also with the upconverting HDMI. The instruction manual could be a little clearer in some cases; but that's true with most of them. I thought I would miss the HDTV that I was able to get from my Comcast DVR; but honestly, I don't. Something has changed recently with that because the picture simply coming out of the wall is very sharp and clear while at one time it was not on non-HD channels. (Are they really simply sending HDTV now and not telling people so that they continue to believe they need a box for that? Who knows?) Anyway, I recommend this as an inexpensive solution for anyone who's fed up with a cable box and not ready to commit to a more costly alternative. UPDATE: I continue to be very happy with this recorder. I almost wonder if I ever need anything more, considering that I only watch about 10 hours of TV a week. ONE MINOR MIRACLE: Years ago I purchased a couple of homemade DVDs that someone had recorded from video tapes of programs in the 1960's on the Kennedy Assassination. I always had to play these on my computer; no DVD player I ever had would read them. THIS ONE DOES! They play perfectly! WOW!

My Sister and I bought this to surprise our parents, because they wanted to replace the one they had that stopped working. Well, our parents were surprised and we were too. It wasn’t expected to arrive until next week or so, but it arrived today. And, the set up was so easy that our parents are recording with it already! They are very pleased, because it looks new, has the remote, cabling, and DVDs, and the picture quality is great. Thank you for the pleasant surprise!

The good: it works with almost any media, and the quality in the 6- and 8-hour recording modes was way better than I expected (or have experienced with other DVD recorders). The "flexible" mode, where you tell it how long the recording will be and it picks a speed that will exactly fill the disk, is brilliant. Also, Panasonic's customer service for the problem I had (keep going) was excellent and prompt; my only complaint is that they're not open 24/7. The bad: it hung up with two randomly-picked commercial DVDs from my library, and so did the replacement unit. Panasonic tech support sent me a firmware upgrade disk, and that solved the problem. Still, the unit hangs occasionally, requiring you to hold the power switch on the unit (not remote) for 10 seconds to reset it. The included SD reader only works with still pictures; it would be nice if it could process audio and video clips as well. The ugly: it's SLOW - some functions take tens of seconds to execute, and it's not obvious that the unit "heard" you while it processes. Most operations are only semi-intuitive; I've seen much better user interfaces (and some worse, too). The internally-generated menu screens tend to warp, although video from media does not have this problem. Summary: for the price, I'm satisfied, but I still find this a touchy, surprisingly hard-to-use technology -- and I'm a geek. If Grandma can't program her VCR with her eyes closed, don't dream of getting her this. But if you don't mind some quirkiness, you should get very good results from this unit.

My wife is a disabled vet and she keeps loads of videos stored on her DVR. The cable company is dumping their DVRs for the cloud, so all of her videos would be lost. This recorder was set up in 2 minutes, hooked to the DVR and a separate tv to monitor, and it works great. Thank you. Everything was in the box, including a couple of free discs for recording, a very nice touch totally unexpected, as well as a self-recorded disc containing the factory Manual, great. In a single word, outstanding!