Panasonic DMR-HS2 (40 GB) DVD Recorder

Pros: Permanently saves digital video to DVD-video, TIVO-like television playback, plenty of disk space
Cons: No component video-in, limited DVD-video menu options, records no faster than real-time

After purchasing the recorder/player at Best Buy for $999.99 plus 7% tax, I hooked it up easily and was able to figure out the functions fairly easily. I am technically inclined, though.

I bought the recorder to transfer video from my digital...

Pros: Great Archival Device, Manage all that content easily.
Cons: Recording restrictions that make no sense.

I have a satellite receiver (DSS) and a Tivo. Despite upgrading my Tivo to a bunch of storage there are shows that I want to keep but don't want to keep online wasting valuable hard disk space. The only option was to roll off the shows to Tape. Now why...

Pros: Versitile HD,DVD/R & DVD/RAM recording. Real time DV/mpeg2 encoding for complex, high speed scenes.
Cons: No optical 5.1 surround inputs. No firewire for file transfer to PC.

If you have been waiting for the first truly versitile Optical Video Recorder, this is it. My first DV/HD transfers went perfectly, along with dubbing to DVD/R & DVD/RAM. The DV from your camera is automatically broken down into individual scenes for...

Pros: Flexible and fun - has tons of features
Cons: Lot to learn, takes awhile to sink in

I just bought the Panasonic DMR-HS2 and my VCR will soon see the dumpster. If you aren’t up to speed on DVD-RAM technology and recordable DVD, then you should get to an electronics store and test drive the HS2. First of all, since these units are...

Pros: Wonderful for archiving tapes. Multi-tasking. Very stable and quiet.
Cons: Entering titles and editing capabilities at a primitive stage.

Great product. Great design and operational concept - well thought out and very stable and solid performance.

I record a lot of TV and also have a lot of tapes to archive. With this unit I can record TV while either watching another channel...

Pros: Excellent video quality, fast way to archive tape to DVD
Cons: User manual sucks (who wrote this thing). Basic editing

Easy way to archive those home videos to DVD before they deteriorate. Incredible picture quality. Flexible recording automatically adjust bit rate to best picture based on available DVD space.

I have a total of 87 (yes 87!) family videos....

Pros: Better than VHS anyday and tons of features
Cons: Need to learn the features, but well worth the investment

For those of you out there still using VHS to record reruns of MARRIED WITH CHILDREN or use tape based camcorders to shoot your movies, you really need to catch up on home entertainment. I just bought the Panasonic DMR-HS2 and now I am officially...

Pros: Unbelievable features and amazing flexibility!!
Cons: Lots of features to learn about!

Think about this new entertainment appliance this way: DVD player and recorder, VCR, TIVO and Photo Viewer. With that said, in many ways the HS2 brings the benefits of total digital entertainment right into the comfort of your living room. This unit is...

Pros: Exceptional recording quality on dvd-r and hard drive with XP or SP modes.
Cons: Menu selections limited and inflexible, editing is inexact, no Dolby 5.1 or DTS recording capability.

The DMR-HS2 provides exceptional recording quality in XP (1 hr per dvd-r) and SP (2 hr per dvd-r) modes. DVD-Rs created with this machine play well in most dvd decks (I have not tested the model with DVD-RAM discs due to the excessive cost of these media...

Pros: Groundbreaking, decent-priced equipment - Excellent quality recordings to hard drive, DVD-R and DVD-RAM.
Cons: Many functions are severely limited depending on your usage. Gaudy-looking thing.

It is a great machine in some aspects and unusable in others...

As you probably know the machine has a sizable hard drive and a dvd-r/dvd-ram burner.

The color is "silver" but it really has a mirrored front faced (welcome to the...

Pros: Picture quality at XP and SP outstanding. HARD DRIVE.
Cons: No dolby 5.1 recording. No component in recording. No zoom. Silver color.

I bought this unit because I am an electronics junkie. I did not need this. I did not have hundreds of home movies to copy and distribute to family and friends. But, I am happy with it and it works well. And the extra cost for the hard drive is well...

Pros: Great addition to your Home Theatre System; DV and PC Card Input on front
Cons: Mirror Finish, limited editing,dosen't live well w/Satellite receivers

THE Home Theatre Appliance WOW! What a concept. A DVD-R burner with a 40GB Hard drive. The "concept" is a good one, and since this is the FIRST appliance of its kind (Panasonic's E-20 and E-30 are its older brothers, without the hard drive), t ...

Pros: Excellent picture quality, easy editing of source material via Playlists.
Cons: Chapters not preset. Playlists not dubbed from DVD-RAM to HDD. No thumbnail pics on DVD.

I am enjoying this machine, and I will get immediately into its PROs and its CONs. HDD means HARD DISK DRIVE. DVD-RAM is a re-writable disk and DVD-R is a standard DVD disk (requiring finalizing to play in other players):


PROs
...

Pros: DVD-R/Ram and Hard Drive recording, backward compatible with previous models
Cons: Cartridge discs can get stuck, occasional (but avoidable) software glitch, re-encodes some recordings

I purchased the HS2 at Best Buy for about $900. This is the second of my three Panasonic recorders and was bought as an upgrade to the E20. What I like: Since this unit has a hard drive it's possible to edit programs before saving them to disc -- ...

Pros: you can edit before transferring to archival medium; every flavor of input
Cons: poor interface; no way to tell cable/sat box to change channels; minimal multitasking

...and you can also cut out those parts of your camcorder recordings where you forgot to turn it off and filmed the floor. You can't edit frame-by-frame (you may keep or lose an extra 1/2 sec maximum) but it's still a wonderful feature you can't get on...