DVD-RAM and FR Recording mode great features!

I'm in Canada and the Panasonic Model is DMR-ES20S so I assume it's the same. Bought as a replacement for the VCR AND the old DVD Player, and it was nice to have one less component box than before. Setup was a little tricky when you have a cable box but I think I figured it out. Never could get the VCR feature working with the cable box but haven't missed it...and have to watch the same channel I'm copying, so maybe I did it wrong.

Making a DVD doesn't seem as easy as it was to make a VHS tape, but that's probably because it's new to me. With DVD-R disks priced about 25 cents now in quantities of 100, it's cheap to make experimental mistakes.

To show the DVD on regular DVD players you have to 'finalize' the disk which takes a few minutes ... that is different from using a VHS tape which you just removed from the machine. I found that copies of VHS tapes were as good on DVD, but not better quality, probably because the source was analog tape and not digital. But finding stuff on the DVD was much easier than on tape.

You have inputs in front for 3 prong cords (red, yellow, white RCA plugs) to plug in your old DVD player or VHS recorder to make new digital copies on DVD disks of your old stuff, but you cannot copy copy-protected material. There's also a 1394 firewire plug in front for your camcorder to make DVD's of them. Again, to show your new DVD on other players you will probably have to finalize the disk.

Recording is similar to using a VHS Recorder - with my cable box I have to set the DVD Recorder to channel 3 and record the channel the cable box is on...which means I can't watch another channel and tape a different one. You might be able to do this with a cable splitter but might not be able to record as many channels.

I didn't realize that you have to completely erase a DVD-RW disk to make space for new recordings and that you can't erase a 30 min program to make room for another like you can on a VHS tape (or on a DVD-RAM disk).

However, you can do this quite easily with the DVD-RAM feature, which I believe is a Panasonic feature not found on many DVD Recorders...so the DVD-RAM disk feature is quite a benefit if you just want to record something while you're out and then watch it and erase it later. DVD-RAM disks are about $7 each in Canada and a bit difficult to find.

There are 5 different recording modes on the DMRES20S - SP is the best quality, like on a VHS tape, (it also has XP which is a 1 hr mode but I didn't see an improvement) which gives you space for one 2 hr recording. The LP is 4hr and not as good quality. The EP is 8 hours and worse. None are really bad if you are recording directly, but there is a difference. Sound quality was the same on all modes.

The FR mode stands for Flexible Recording which is a nice feature if you want to record a 2 hr 30 min movie as it doesn't force you to use the 4 hour mode (LP) - it adjusts the recording to the best quality possible and fills the disk with the 2 hr 30 min recording.

DVD-RAM disks cannot be finalized for play on other DVD players so there's no danger of doing that accidentally, but how you would make a copy of it to another DVD disk is beyond me right now...you may have to get the model with the Hard Disk Drive on it too, but that's an expensive upgrade right now. All other disk formats can be finalized, including DVD-RW disks but then you can't re-record on them. The DVD-R disks and DVD R disks are one-time use only, good only for making an archive copy of a movie. I have a DVD player drive AND a DVD recorder drive on my PC and it's easy to make extra copies of finalized disks that way.

Although it seems like a step backward as more and more TV sets are going widescreen, this Panasonic DVD Recorder DMRES20S warns you quite early in the manual that you CANNOT record a 16:9 format widescreen movie in widescreen on a DVD and will convert it to 4:3 format, losing some of the picture in the process. My friend has a cheaper LITEON 5006 which doesn't have that restriction.

I just got a Personal Video Recorder box from my Cable provider and really like being able to store the programs on its hard disk and then use its 'Copy to VCR' feature which lets me copy the program to this Panasonic DVD Recorder (guess it assumes it's a VCR) and can make multiple copies that way too...in real time (takes 2 hours to copy a 2 hr movie).