Panasonic DMR-E55-E55S or E55K?1st DVD recorder/1st time posting

[ToeTagged]

Hello,

I've just joined this forum. I'm also a novice when it comes to DVD Recorders/Players. I am mechanically inclined & catch on fast, but right now, I'm still learning. This forum has been particularly informative & helpful, but to honest, the buisness of choosing a DVD recorder is still a bit confusing, not to mention frustrating.

I have a question that may seem a bit dense, but please bear with me. It's about the Panasonic DMR-E55. I've read a lot of pros & general good reviews about it. In fact, my main question is about the number DMR-E55. Among the reviews on this site, it's referred to as DMR-E55. BUT, when I look it up in online I get either DMR-E55S or E55K. Which one of these is the one referred to in the Lists section under DVD Recorders? (Or) which is preferred?

I'll briefly go into detail --
This will be my first DVD recorder. Until now I've been using VHS and have accumulated quite a few over the years. (Over a hundred. A mix of movies, home movies, videos, etc.) That's my main reason for buying the DVD Recorder. (Using my video camera to transfer is out of the question.)

I've been going quite mad researching this topic, trying to find the right one for me. I don't want to pay too much, but am willing to pay a bit more for quality. (Nothing over $400.)
I also suspect that I'll have to buy extra wires, etc. because my TV is about 6 yrs old and only has video and audio imputs. That's fine, but I'd just like to know beforehand.

I hope I've provided adequate information and was clear enough. If there are any questions or anything else you need to know, please let me know.


Thank you,
~ ToeTagged ~

[p_l]

S stands for silver (color) and K for black, but good luck finding one for under $400. They're such good (and now rare) machines that you'll probably pay about twice that, if you can still find some.

[lordsmurf]

Panasonic machines generally encode with poor quality. You'd be insane to pay twice the MSRP (as it wasn't worth even half the MSRP to begin with).

[Joakim_A]

Panasonic machines generally encode with poor quality. You'd be insane to pay twice the MSRP (as it wasn't worth even half the MSRP to begin with).

Thats one thing i have noticed too, How come older discontinued models are going up in price? where they of better quality then current recorders?

It seems to me they where inferior!

Oh and lordsmurf you helped me last time with choosing a good DVD recorder a couple of years ago but now I once again wouuld want your insight in this thread I made about LG Recorders 8) :

https://forum.videohelp.com/topic344461.html

[classfour]

If you're set on a Panny, I've had good service out of mine. If you look over at amazon.com, you can find them for about $80. I wouldn't pay more than that for an E55. The one redeeming quality of the E (not ES) models is they were made in Japan, not China. I had my hands on an ES15S, and while it recorded well, it did have a lighter, cheaper feel to it (no fan, either). I did also note slower DVD-RAM loading times than either of the older models. Not certain if it was unique to that machine, or all of them. I had the same issues with a Toshiba last year. Sold them both.

[p_l]

Panasonic machines generally encode with poor quality. You'd be insane to pay twice the MSRP (as it wasn't worth even half the MSRP to begin with).

From AVSforum.com.:

For you owners that have excess units I just sold my Panny DMR-EH75 HDD unit for $750 on an auction site. I would expect all USA Pioneer and Panasonic HDD models to fetch very good prices at this time. One of the factors imho that make the 2005-06 Pannys and 2006 Pio 640 highly desirable is the 500 line record capability at the 4 hour LP record mode and of course their HDD. I tested my Pio 640 against the Pannys and it essentially equaled the Pannies at LP.

Furthermore, Panasonic, Pioneer and Toshiba no longer make HDD DVD recorders for the US market, and no HDD models whatsoever were announced at CES this year.

[lordsmurf]

People who think using 720x480 at 4 hours is a benefit are dumbasses. The video is even more blocky that normal at that recording mode, and Panasonic already has chronic issues with encoding blocks from your video.

To use Panasonic LP mode, and think it looks good, you basically have to be blind.

Pretty much any machine encodes better.

Panasonic very much has an Apple-type following when it comes to DVD recorders. Even if it's an inferior piece of crap, they love it, because it comes from their favorite company.

[trhouse]

It is a bit unclear about whether you mean DMR-E55 or DMR-EH55. The E55 is a 2004 model year product with no hard drive. The EH55 is a 2006 model year product with a 200 GB hard drive.

I would avoid the E55. The ability of any of the older model recorders of any brand to handle newer media like dual/double and even higher speed x8/x16 media is problematic. Also, the mpeg encoders of Panasonic recorders changes every year, so the performance is not the same. For example, the late 2005 introduction of several models used an LSI processor but those models could not handle vertical and horizontal instabilities as well as either the earlier or later models but they were the first Panasonics to go to 720x480 resolution from 704x480.

The EH55 has been tested on this thread,

https://forum.videohelp.com/topic279460.html

Up to SP mode most recorders have similar performance. At LP mode, some manufacturers drop resolution to half ( 352x480 ) to keep a higher bitrate and others like Pioneer and Panasonic keep resolution but drop the bitrate. How it affects your transfers depends on what is being transferred. For example, cartoons which are large blocks of color with little detail can transfer fine at full resolution, but lots of motion or detail will create macroblocks at full resolution.

Dropping resolution decreases blocking due to being able to maintain a higher bitrate but then detail may be lost depending on your source material.

Here is a list of modern-day, digital-type measurements (and traditional, analog horizontal resolutions) for various media. The list only includes popular formats, not rare formats, and all values are approximate (rounded to the nearest 10), since the actual quality can vary machine-to-machine or tape-to-tape. For ease-of-comparison all values are for the NTSC system, and listed in ascending order from lowest quality to highest quality.

* 350×240 (250 lines): Video CD
* 330×480 (250 lines): Umatic, Betamax, VHS, Video8
* 400×480 (300 lines): Super Betamax, Betacam (professional)
* 440×480 (330 lines): analog broadcast
* 560×480 (420 lines): LaserDisc, Super VHS, Hi8

* 670×480 (500 lines): Enhanced Definition Betamax
* 720×480 (520 lines): DVD, miniDV, Digital8, Digital Betacam (professional)
* 720×480 (400 lines): Widescreen DVD (anamorphic)
* 1280×720 (720 lines): D-VHS, HD DVD, Blu-ray, HDV (miniDV)
* 1920×1080 (1080 lines): D-VHS, HD DVD, Blu-ray, HDCAM SR (professional)

Whether you can see the loss of detail will also depend on the quality of the rest of your equipment. Some inexpensive color TV's cannot even reproduce 300 lines.