Panasonic DMR-E50 EBS Review

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Panasonic DMR-E50 EBS
2.9 stars
Average rating for this product is: 2.9 out of 5

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Batman.'s Review of Panasonic DMR-E50 EBS DVD Recorder

28th May 2003

Overall Rating

4 stars
  • Value for money
    4 stars
Good Points

Great design, easy to use, Good menu driven functionality, instant on-touch record


Bad Points

Cannot record onto DVD-RW, Remote Control looks and feels cheap.


General Comments

The Panasonic DMR - E50 EBS is a well designed and easy to use recorder. Can store up to 6hrs on a DVD-R or DVD-RAM in EP mode with virtually no perceivable loss in picture quality.
The functions available while recording on DVD-RAM are comprehensive. They include Time-Slip which allows you to playback what you are recording with a 30 second (or more) delay. This is great for confirming what is being recorded but has limited use otherwise. Since the playback process is independent of the recording process, it is easy to play a previous recording while you record a new track or play a track which has been recording for some time, even before it has finished. Recording on DVD-RAM also offers other features such as erasing a track and re-using the space, partially erasing a track, splitting a track and building scene driven menus.

DVD-R discs are easy to use. Tracks can be added until the disc is full. Disc and Track titles can be entered to later provide an on-screen menu. You then "Finalize" the disc so that it can be read on other DVD players. My cheap old DVD player plays the discs without any problem but my PC based DVD player will not - This is probably a software/firmware driver issue.

The only criticisms are the cheap plastic looking Remote Control and the inability to record on DVD-RW discs. Otherwise, a great piece of kit.

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Members' Comments onBatman.'s Review

  • Batman. on 9th Jun 2003

    I downloaded a new driver for my PC based DVD player off the internet. It now plays DVD-R discs recorded on the Panasonic DMR - E50 EBS.

  • Bartman on 30th Jan 2004

    With -R disks do you have to use 1x speed formatted disks or will the unit accept 4x speed?

  • culfy Rank: Staff Sergeant on 1st Mar 2004

    Bartman,
    I use 4x on mine (DMR-E50A Australian version) and so far it hasn\'t had any dramas.

  • culfy Rank: Staff Sergeant on 1st Mar 2004

    Hey Batman,
    Are you seriously saying you can\'t see the difference in quality between the 4 modes? I use the highest quality (XP) for archiving my Mini DV tapes and even then, lose a little quality.
    I have used the LP mode but would only use it for TV I wanted to watch once then record over. I haven\'t tried the EP mode as I can imagine it would be terrible. The LP mode was bad enough.
    I\'ll be getting some RAM discs soon and will have a further play but I am so far unimpressed with the 2 higher compression levels.
    There is definitely a big difference between the levels.
    I would not recommend the use of EP based on the quality I\'ve seen on LP.

  • kasio Rank: Corporal on 3rd May 2004

    what are the best blank dvd disk to buy?

  • I Sayles Rank: Lance Corporal on 12th Jun 2004

    I've used both TDK and Mirror disks and found them to be 100% reliable. The Mirror have the edge as you can get them for less than 75p a disk from XLShop whereas the TDK disks retail for around £2.00 a disk although you can get them from Tesco.