Don't tell my girlfriend, but I think I'm in love.

I picked this unit up yesterday, so this is obviously a very preliminary review, and I'll update it later if my opinion changes, but this seems like a real winner. And at a list price of $200, a real steal also.

After buying (and returning) one pile-of-junk DVD recorder, I did a fair amount of research and found many horror stories and much dissatisfaction ... except for the Panasonic DMR-E55 (and slightly different models), which almost everyone here and at videohelp.com loved. However, it did have some difficulties for my intended use, in particular that it only wrote to write-once discs and to DVD-RAM. Now DVD-RAM seemed slick as a greased weasel, allowing the DMR-E55 to do TIVO-like tricks such as starting to record a show while you're out, getting home midway through and then watching the beginning while it's still recording the end, but if you wanted to watch the resulting disc on a standard DVD player,... Read more

If you're going to copy a lot of VHS tapes to DVD-R or DVD+R discs, this is the one to get. I tried both a Philips DVDR600VR DVD recorder/VCR combo and a Sony RDRVX500 DVD recorder/VCR combo. The Philips had a couple problems and I returned it, so I'll compare the Panasonic to the Sony:

The Sony had a lot of nice features and overall good quality, but I found that it had a major problem copying VHS tapes from a separate VCR with a GoDVD device. The quality in that case is substantially degraded, with streaks of interference, as with a satellite dish with the polarity or azimuth tuned wrong. This is either with the composite video connection, or using an S-Video cable from the GoDVD to the Sony. The odd thing is a signal from a separate DVD player comes through the same GoDVD device OK, and the signal from the VCR is OK without the GoDVD. The only way I found to get a decent signal from a separate VCR through the GoDVD to the Sony was through an adapter to the coaxial... Read more

Panasonic DMR-ES10 DVD Recorder

Pros: Great low price. Excellent recordings ,even in the LP (4Hr) speed.

Cons: PIP & Commercial Skip wont work on Finalized DVDs.

Full Review :
Unlike all previous Panasonic DVD recorders. Besides being able to record on DVD-R and DVD-RAM. This new model will also record on , DVD+R , DVD-RW. This is a much needed and smart move by Panasonic.

But a word of caution. Due to strict new copy protection laws. Some broadcasts now contain Copy Control signals. They may have one of three signal types: Copy-Free, Copy-Once, or Copy-Never. The recorder limits the recording according to the copy protection signal. Copy-Free encoded signals can be recorded at any time with any compatible blank disk type.Copy-Never encoded signals can not be recorded on this unit. Many of your premium cable stations(HBO,SHO)are Copy-Once programs. This means you may record the program to a disk. But you are not able to take that disk... Read more