PANASONIC DMR-ES20DEBS DVD RAM DISC RECORDER REVIEW

Imagine, your DVD player, video recorder and Freeview box, all rolled into one sleak package.

This machine has VideoPlus built-in, but you just don't need it. Hit the "Guide" button to see what's on TV tonight across all of the Freeview channels, select the programme you're interested in, and hit the ENTER button.

A little "T" (for Timer recording) appears next to the programme name, and you've just set this machine to record that programme. The machine will even tell you if there's enough room on your disc to record your programme.

When you have a DVD-Ram disc in the machine, it displays the programmes are on it using six large thumbnail images. When the cursor is over one of them, the video for that recording starts being played in the thumbnail area.

Even better, where possible, the machine automatically displays the NAME of the programme you recorded just under it. So you know that a particular recording is "Little Britain" from December 30th.

When watching a recording, you can "add a chapter" by pressing a button on the remote. I use this when an commercial break starts and ends, as I can then remove this chapter - the adverts are removed from the recording entirely.

As you can tell, I'm a huge fan of this machine, and am surprised at how much I love it. I previously paid £10.50 a month for a "family" cable TV package in Bristol, and am about to cancel it in favour of FreeView. It's simply so much faster and easier to use than the cable TV package. Hitting the red interactive button used to take 30 seconds to display a page, with this box, it's just a couple of seconds.

Very very impressive.
If you're about to shell out for a basic DVD recorder or a basic Freeview box, do have a look at this machine first.

Three devices, one remote control, and fantastic quality.

(Quick disclaimer: No, I don't work for Panasonic, and didn't receive a bribe to say all of this !)

Bad points: Errm, as with all Panasonic recorders, you can't just type in a special code to make it multi-region. You either have to buy one that's already hacked, or find a shop on the internet which'll sell you a remote control to convert it (for about £20)

Mike