Home > Consumer Reviews > Panasonic DMR-ES20DEBS DVD RAM Disc Recorder

I can't add much to the previous reviews other than confirm that it does indeed record in very high quality from freeview onto DVD - and for less than half the price of any equivalent product (that I can find). It costs about the same as a GOOD freeview recorder and DVD writer combined, but don't under estimate the value of having the two integrated like this - timer recordings from the freeview channel listings are a doddle. There is a lot of duff freeview equipment swirling around at the moment, but this is streets ahead and fantastic value for money.

A week or so later..

It's cheesy, but this machine has changed the way I watch TV now.

ER was on Channel 4 last night, 10pm to 11pm, but with the usual 15 minutes of adverts throughout it.
I set my Panasonic recorder to record it, then came downstairs to start watching it at 10.20pm. Whilst I was watching it from the start, and skipping through the advert breaks, it continued recording. So, by 11pm, I'd caught up with the live transmission, with the advantage that I hadn't just wasted 15-20 minutes sitting through the adverts.

The worst thing is still that you have to hit the "Timer" button to make it record any programmes you've asked for it, and in the meantime, you can't watch Freeview anymore... the machine is now in standby, so won't let you do anything.

And, strangely, after setting the machine to record programmes, it won't scream at you that you have a non-recordable DVD in the drive, or a disc without enough disc space on it.

And you can't help noticing the slightest whirring sound coming from the small fan at the back of the machine, even when you're just watching Freeview. This seems to keep going 24/7, unless you put the machine into Standby. I can't help wondering if that's overkill.

But, still in love with it, still worth every penny.
Get ordering.

Oh, and don't be put off by the cost of DVD-Ram discs.

This is a very clever machine with all these recording options but it takes a while to understand how to do things. I don't find the remote or the menus very intuitive and had to read the manual several times to find out how to do things.
Panasonic's bumph convinced me that RAM disks were a great idea so I bought loads but then found out they don't work in other DVD players! Am I expecting too much? If Apple can make computers easy to use why can't someone make DVD recorders easy to use?
Still it works fine and it's great to have Freeview built in.

Very good quality recording and plenty of inputs for other devices but some programming flaws.

If you press the eject button an hold it slightly too long the door won't shut again without switching off the entire machine.

If you have timed something in and say come home early and decide you do not want it or notice you are on the wrong channel you cannot interrupt the recording if recording has already started.

RAM discs surface are more fragile than -R or -RW, one fingerprint or the tiniest of scuffs and the recording freezes and jumps, if you go for the RAM discs choose the ones in the cassette so you cannot mark them, the extra expense is worth it to keep the excellent flexibility that RAM discs offer.

If you are recording on a disc other than RAM then you cannot even watch the freeview programme you are recording (not as silly as it sounds, I was recording a programme for a friend but personally wanted to watch it as it was broadcast - this might be nitpicking though)

I have just read the review by I Lavery and there are a couple of things I would like to correct. If you have set the recorder and you want to keep on watching something, I have found that it gives you a warning to tell you a recording is about to start and if you ignore the warning it automatically starts to record so you don't really have to switch the machine off if you are watching something on freeview. Also if you want to tape a two hour and ten minute film, try using the flexi record function. The machine detacts how much time is left on the disc and adjusts itself automatically. I think the things he finds annoying very trivial personally and I still think it is a very good DVD recorder.