Panasonic DMR-E30S vs. Panasonic DMR-HS2

[fvnesscafe]

I am so torn. I talked to my hubby and I have decided (for sure I think) I want a standalone dvd recorder (which I wanted most anyway) and I have decided I want a panasonic, but I don't know whether to get the DMR-HS2 or the DMR-E30S. Can someone tell me from experience which is better? Are the extra features on the HS2 really that much better. If I get it from amazon.com it's only $799 as opposed to the $999 in stores. But the E30S is only $499 from Circuit City.com as opposed to $699 in stores. Is the price difference worth the extra features for the HS2 and just what is the difference cause I'm not exactly sure.

Thanks yet again and sorry to keep bugging everyone I just want to make a good decision this time!

[verchad]

Hi. I've had the HS-2 for about 3 1/2 months and love it. It depends on what you want to use the machine for. If you just want to record things as you would use a vcr for then the E-30S model would be okay. Having the hard drive in the HS-2 gives you alot more flexibility. I do not own a tivo or similar machine, so it was nice to get the hard drive to save over the air programs to and use the time slip feature to watch while recording was going on. The hard drive also lets you edit out things you don't want in your videos. It is not as good as what you can do on a computer so that's a compromise you make. You also don't get the nice menus that commercial dvd's have. Also, keep in mind if you want to make copies of say a family video to give to others, some older Dvd players won't play the dvd-r's you make. I don't know about the capabilities of the tivo but if you have a tivo or pvr machine then maybe you would just want the E-30S, if not, then the HS-2 ( you can record lots of stuff on the hard drive plus the Dvd-Ram disc ). That's just my opinion, hope it helps.

[pan-dmre30s]

I agree with the other poster.
panasonic e30 is just fine for most people and is more cost effective.
I choose this model over the HS2 myself
because of not needing the extra features in the HS2.

My only 2 Uses.

1.
backing up my older VHS recorded tapes to DVD-R

2.
recording from off air sources.

I personally dont care about editing commercials off the DVD.

You need to weigh if the extra HS2 features are important for you versus the price.

[gtrman]

My opinion.

I don't know how people are getting by with the E30 or whatever it's called. I love the hard drive feature of the HS2 and would have paid the extra money no matter how much it was.

Here's why:
1) Once on the hard drive, you can edit as much or as little as you want. When you tape a show using the hard drive and edit the commercials out before making the DVD, the DVD plays back professionally. It looks just like a commercial DVD. With the E30 whatever you tape is on the DVD-R forever. I imagine they look like VHS tapes with pieces of commercial before you hit pause and then missing a bit of the show before you unpause.

2) No wasting of DVD-Rs. Once you get it perfect on the hard drive, you KNOW what the DVD-R will look like. For instance if you are taping from a VHS, and the tape glitches in any way, (i.e. someone turns on a sweeper) with the HS2, you just retape to the hard drive and no DVD-Rs are wasted. With the other one, you mess up one disc.

3) If you need 2 copies of something from TV, I'm pretty sure you need the show to be on TV twice with the E30, Whereas with the HS2 once it's on the hard drive, you can make as many copies as you want.
Personally, I still don't totally trust the DVD-R medium and do not want to trust an important show to one disc that may be a bad disc. With the E30, you tape a special event, say the Grammies on a bad disc, too bad. With the HS2, if you get a bad disc, you just put it on a second disc before erasing from the hard drive. Remember, many people report as many as 10 bad discs per hundred.

I would get the HS2 if you are a perfectionist, which I am.

Lenny

[Erwin]

gtrman has a very valid point. However, I can only afford soo much and paying $300 less is more tempting to me. Now, if the more expensive model had features like connecting a PC keyboard (for inputing titles) or allowing one to personalize their own menus...I would get the other one. Maybe if it was just $150 more, I would consider it because it does have a fire wire port for digital cameras, but $300 is money I could be using towards 150 DVD-Rs Quality. Either model is good though.