Panasonic DMR-ES15 DVD Recorder

I order the cam and it came in record time. The cam was packaged very nice. I have not tried the cam out so i do not no if it works. Yes i would buy from this seller again. Thank you very so much. L.D. from Ohio

As the title states, I purchased one of these at full retail price and it only lasted 14 months. Despite notifying Panasonic during the warranty period, that my unit had off and on problems with error messages (U61) which they said were "normal" ???? during warranty, they would not warranty it when it completely quit two months out of warranty and consistently displayed same error message AND then said the U61 error message meant it had to come in for service. Funny how the same error message was "normal" according to them while I had warranty on it, but instantly meant it had to come in for service when it was out of service. I think I just got a lemon, as I am the only user of the product and it was treated VERY gently. It was used 5 days a week to record one, 1 hour TV program and then used the same for play back. I never put anything but new DVDs in it and used it for recording and play back on those only. When not in use, it was protected from light/ heat/ dust, etc. in a large, vented armoire.

Why did I buy another one? Several reasons. It's an attractive unit. It has lots of options not found on other models. It's menu is easy to use. I really loved it except for the Panasonic customer service issues. It was going to cost $30 to ship to a service center, plus there's a minimum $75 repair fee, so IF it had been repairable, which I wouldn't have known without paying those fees, the bill was already up to $105. I opted to buy another one as I found a new one on eBay for less than that amount. All of that summed up, and the fact I didn't want to spend weeks trying to figure out how to hook up and operate a different unit, made me purchase another one.

Bottom line? As long as you don't get a defective unit and have to deal with Panasonic's customer service, I think you would be more than pleased with the units looks and features. I will not buy a 3rd one if this has the same issues down the road. I see other users have noted the dreaded U61 error message as well. They described it better than I could- the way it says recovering or writing disk and then never recovers, etc.

PROS: Easy to setup, records DirecTv movies, excellent recording qualities. Will record from the timer whether on or off.

CONS: Error message U61, & your instructed to wait while it goes through a "recovery" process. Guess what it never recovered. Everything was working fine until I departed from my reliable Sony DVD-R disk & switched to HP DVD+R/RW disk. I was asked if I wanted too format the disk to a recordable format. Answered yes & after the conversion set the timer. I Shut the unit off. When I went to finalize the disk there was an error message on the display U61, I pressed enter on the screen, the unit went into the so called recovery process, and as I stated earlier never recovered from it. I understand that this is quite a problem with the DMR-ES15. I don't know about the DMR-15s and am unable to find the difference. I will buy another DMR-15 Unit, because I do like it very much. Google U61, or Pansconic DMR-15 and see all of the hits for this error message.

I was worried about my other recorder going bad and I had home movies that were not finalized so I bought this one just in case and it all works the same way and will finalize my home movies or records of events.So it is and will work in conjuction with my other recorder.I hate that everything is going to high definition then to blue ray because I will eventually have to convert everything over and buy lots of equipment.which is slowly making all my equipment obsolete after I just bought it.you buy knew equipment then you realize everything is going to high definition.Hey what about blue ray??Then what is next.It sucks.But hey I got a good price on it..................

When it comes to DVD recorders, Panasonic is one of the finest manufacturers.
They were the first to introduce the DMR-10 back in 2000.

As an owner of 7 Panasonic DVD recorders, including 3 of this model, I have the top-line DMR-E55 ($800 machine) and the basic ones, which this model is. It is the last model to include complete editing features for DVD-RAM's. That feature is lacking on the replacement DMR-ES20, which I have also! This DMR-ES15 also include 2X resolution for LP recordings, which means you can get
500 lines of resolution in the 4-hour mode.

Make no mistake, this is an excellent machine, but not a "top-of-the-line" one like the DMR-E55. There is no HDD capabilities or provisions for transferring digital pictures from a camera. But for an excellent, no frills, dependable recorder, look no further than this model. The fact that it cost $85.00 compared to the basic DMR-E30, for which I paid over $700 in 2003 with less features than this model is another outstanding feature!

One final note: Panasonic (and other makes DO NOT like Memorex media - they work best with Maxell, TDK or Sony discs). For DVD-RAM, stick with Panasonic!

The DMR-ES15S is highly recommended! I have two ones in-the-box still to use, but the present one I am using makes me a firm believer in this model!
You can pay more, but I doubt you can do better! Plus, you have no HDD to worry about breaking!

I am not impressed with the new current line of Panasonic machines because they lack complete editing features, which is what DVD-RAM is for!! The DMR-E10 and DMR-ES15S includes these features, the former lacks the 2X resolution for LP recordings. The DMR-E85H is one of the finest HDD/DVD models for those who want or need a hard disc drive included. The TV Guide feature is something I could do without.

Now that you have read that I have a lines of Panasonic DVD recorders from the top-of-the line DMR-E55H to the humble DMR-ES10, and have used them since 2003, I can and will recommend the DMR-ES15 to anyone who wants a simple machine, capable high-quality recording and playback. If you want editing features, stay away from the DMR-ES20.

I like the DVD recorder for the most part. What I don't like is that it records in a format that none of my other DVD players recognize, so it only plays back DVD's on itself, and it doesn't play back in very good quality. I also don't like that it was advertised as new, and when I received it found that it was refurbished. It works fine, but it's an older model.

The setup is relatively easy. Hard to select rewrite with ease on RW discs.
Was new and yet had no warranty card in it, not sure why.
The seller I used for the purchase of this and a Pioneer DVD player held my "paid on time and in full" combined purchase funds for over a week and claimed I hadn't paid, then filed non payment dispute against me. With the help of Paypal and ebay I was able to prove this,got no apology or reduced shipping and handling for my troubles and still had to wait over 2 weeks before receiving products. Buyer Beware of Corporate Sellers, check their ratings pages if you aren't sure of a COMPANY using ebay. I have never had a problem with private sellers yet, this was awful.

This was a great buy, great price. The DVD recording unit works well and I was impressed with the features. Although the unit arrived in perfect condition, I felt that the shipping material could have been better: more protection around the instrument. However this was a good transaction.

I like the fact that this is very easy to setup as well as use. This may be a small complaint but the one thing I do not care for is the players appearance. The design could have been better. The price was definitely right. The shipping was swift. So overall, I say this is a good buy.

Works great, have owned a couple before, lasts about a year when recording three movies a day, excellent price!

Great vendor. I would purchase from this vendor again with no issues!!! You can purchase from this vendor with confidence!!!

Received item within a week. I was very pleased with how fast the turn around was. The DVD recorder works great and Yes I would buy from this seller again.

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This seller was excellent. I received my item within 2 days after payment. The DVD recorder worked perfectly and was packaged in it's original box with all accessories and manual. I couldn't have been more pleased. I recommend this seller highly. A++++++++++++++.

This unit was shipped extremely fast and securely packaged for shipping.
I highly recommend this seller. Bidders can bid on items with confidence!

I would buy again from this e-bay(er)...Grest service and promptness! And the DVD REcorder is operating perfectly!

this transaction was excellent, if i could give a higher rating i would, thanks!
fast and accurate on shipping and descripion

Hellow,
I have bought this item because I need to write my camcorder captures to DVD.
I have red in description, this equipment can work in NTSC,PAL system. I am living in EU and all my devices are working in PAL system. When I have received in parcel this DVD recorder, and try it to set in PAL system , I describe it have no settings to PAL. This device can work only in NTSC. Can You help me resolve this problem ?

Sincerely Yours Saulius Kvietka

I bought this burning because I convert people video tapes into DVD's and a frined of mine had an older version of this burner and it worked real well. I particularly like the F record feature which allows you to set the length of record time thus allowing you to get the maximum quality in a burn, I was very excited about the firewire input for this burning but when I attempted to use it, it came up with some error. I am sure there is a good reason for this but I have not had time to explore this. Overall I think it is a great buy especially because of the digital TV thing is making the price on this item very attractive. It does NOT have the digital tv ability but that is a minor issue for my uses. The quaility of this product is well worht the price.

The product is excellent performance, better than we had expected.
Besides the seller shipping the product with security for the shipment is safe.
Thank you for the services rendered.

It looks very nice and records fine with lots of options. The remote is limited on the TVs it works with and it doesnt open dvd. For a cheap recorder its very nice.

I should have investigated this product before purchasing. I dislike the fact I could not transfer the VHS movies to my DVD and discovered I would have to purchase another electronic piece to filter (remove the protection). I also had to purchase special dvd's which was difficult to find.

I do not usually review items, but this dvd recorder has been exceptional. I bought it several months ago, and it has worked flawlessly. The dvd ram feature of the recorder is fantastic. With it, you can re-record on the same dvd-ram disk multiple times, can edit out scenes or commercials, etc. The picture quality is good and the menus are easy to learn. I did need to browse over the manual to understand the features that I have not had on other dvd recorders I've owned. I think this is the best dvd recorder I have owned yet, and would recommend it to anyone.