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Review: I bought one of these Panasonic DMR-ES10EB-S dvd recorders about 5 months ago to burn movies, etc. that I had already recorded to Sky+. What can I say? It does everything that I want; you connect the Sky+ box to the back with a SCART lead, and away you go. There is the great function of being able to manually input how long the programme is; so you're not stuck with the standard 1hr, 2hrs, 4hrs or 8 hrs. What I do is look at where the actual programme starts (because Sky+ always adds a few minutes at beginning and end), then fast forward to the end to find out how long the actual programme is, so I don't have 3 minutes at the start and finish. However, as with other DVD recorders, you can only record the "on-screen" signal as it arrives; so if you want to record a movie lasting 2 hours 38 minutes, you will need to have your Sky+ box playing the film and the DVD recorder recording for this long; if you change channel on the DVD, or go to the menu screen on Sky+ whilst recording, the recorder will record it all. Set it up before you go to bed and leave it; then give the disc a name, set up chapters, and finalise when you get up in the morning is my advice. All the DVDs I have burned with this player have worked fine with the other DVD players I have; but you need to remember to finalise the disc before it will work. Instructions for doing this and all the other functions are clear; also be aware that, if you want to make "proper" home DVDs, with chapter points, etc., you will need to use a DVD-RAM or DVD-RW disc; this player won't do it with any others. So why am I only giving this 4 stars, not 5? Simply because of the display on the front. I have grown up with CD players that can show you how much time has elapsed, how much time to go, etc etc. This one just won't (and finding out how to see this information even on-screen is fiddly). I tend to burn movies on this machine, and then watch them on the Sony DVD player I had before; this has a bright, fully-functional display, which I like. I know that this is a fussy detail, and I wouldn't want it to take away from the fact that this is a very good recorder and player (of both home-made DVDs and commercial ones). I have certainly had no complaints about anything that I have tried to do with it. Friends who have Sony and Philips DVD recorders tell me that mine makes copies at least as good, if not better, than theirs. It has won several awards, and was recommended by every reviewer that I read before I bought it (and believe me, I read loads of them!) Now it's on sale for less than £150, you really can't go far wrong with this player. As I write, it's just before Christmas; go on, treat someone you love......... |
DVD, TV & Video
