Thanks all for your posts & info; bought a Panasonic DMR

[TechNewbie]

Hello All! I am a newbie to this forum. I've been reading your various posts and comments for two weeks now as I was trying to get some first-hand input on the various DVD recorders available. I found your comments very helpful and I just made the plunge and purchased my first DVD recorder!

I purchased online, which worries me a little because if I have problems I cannot easily walk back in to the store to return the DVDR. Riskier yet, I purchased an open box unit, but I couldn't resist the price and I received assurances from the salesperson that the full manufacturer's warranty would apply to my DVDR even though it was an open box purchase. I even called Panasonic to verify and the customer service rep at Panasonic verified that their manufacturers warranty (one year on parts & labor) fully applies to open box purchases. ...We'll see whether they stick to this if the DVDR has any malfunctions.

I purchased a Panasonic DMR-E60 (Silver) from SoundCity in New Jersey (actually their online store is called Audio Video Shopper). I have made electronic purchases from SoundCity in the past and have never had a problem with them...let's hope that continues.

The price was only $287 ($269 for the DVDR plus another $18 for shipping and insurance). SoundCity said the unit has no problems whatsoever, is cosmetically perfect, and is not missing any parts or accessories that come with the factory-sealed units. (Why then were they selling it for only $269? ...I'm keeping my fingers crossed.)

Anyway, thanks to you all for the multitude of insightful comments and info you have posted here; it certainly helped me decide which DVD manufacturer (Panasonic) and models (DMR-E50 and DMR-E60) to look for.

I will let you all know how things turn out.

By the way, if anyone else is interested... SoundCity is selling more open-box Panasonic DVD recorders at very low prices. They still list the DMR-E60 (Silver) for a total of $287 ($269 for the DVDR plus another $18 for shipping and insurance), so they must have had more than one. (That, or they just haven't updated the website inventory to reflect that it has sold).

They also have the DMR-E50 for $266 ($249 plus $16 for shipping and insurance). And if you want a DVD recorder with a built-in harddrive for TiVo-like functionality, they also have a DMR-HS2 for $425 ($399 plus $26 for shipping and insurance).

Here are the links...

DMR-E60
http://www.audiovideoshopper.com/page.php?pg=product&id1=315&id3=93&product_id=14657

DMR-E50
http://www.audiovideoshopper.com/page.php?pg=product&id1=315&id3=93&product_id=14656

DMR-HS2
http://www.audiovideoshopper.com/page.php?pg=product&id1=315&id3=93&product_id=14658

[TechNewbie]

Okay... First update.

I received the Panasonic DMR-E60 (Silver) yesterday. There were no defects that I could see, so I hooked it up to my video system. [I connected it to the outputs from my TiVo, and then I sent the DVDR's output to my TV's inputs.] I have already burned six discs and amazingly I am 6-for-6! ...No coasters, so far! I am using fairly inexpensive DVD-Rs that I bought at CompUSA. They were about 75 cents each after the rebate. Having read many comments about how the reliability of DVD-R discs is hit-or-miss, I am very pleasantly surprised that these cheap discs are working very reliably so far.

It has only been one day, and there is still plenty of time for things to go wrong, but so far I would rate this Panasonic DMR-E60 as a 10 out of 10.

This is my first DVDR and it's just great to be able to save all of my programs to DVD instead of VHS!

Up next... dubbing my old VHS tapes to DVD.