Amazon.com Product Description Panasonic's DMR-E500HS high-end DIGA DVD-R/DVD-RAM recorder features a built-in 400 GB hard-disk drive (HDD) with a recording capacity of 709 hours of video (yes, that's more than 4 solid weeks) in EP mode and 89 hours in XP (best-quality). It offers high-speed dubbing from HDD to recordable DVD-RAM media at up to 40x normal speed and onto DVD-R at up to 64x (in EP mode). This means you can archive a 1-hour program to DVD-R in as little as 56 seconds.
DVD-RAM is perfect for instant chapter access and for multiple rerecordings, while DVD-R is regarded as the most widely compatible of the many DVD formats. DVD-RAM offers high storage capacity, high-speed data transmission, exceptional picture and sound quality, fast random-access memory, and rewritability up to 100,000 times.
With its Ethernet port and a broadband receiver, the DMR-E500HS provides a great way to enjoy your home and mobile networking. You can stream MPEG-4 video and JPEG photos from your PC without having to first burn them to optical media. And, with a networked pair of DMR-E500HS decks used in tandem, you can even view full MPEG-2 video from one device on the other unit in a separate room. Broadband Internet access lets you schedule home recording through such mobile devices as cell phones and PCs while you're out and about or away on travel. You can even transfer pictures between the DVD recorder and your mobile device.
The DMR-E500HS has an SD Memory Card slot and a PCMCIA card slot to transfer MPEG data at high speeds for storage or use in other devices. Using an SD Memory Card (or CompactFlash Card, MultiMedia Card, Smart Media Card, and Memory Stick), it's easy to transfer video and still photos recorded by other audio/video products, such as digital still cameras, to the DMR-E500HS for editing or storage on the hard disk or on DVD media. The recorder can simultaneously record MPEG-4 image data to a flash-memory device while recording MPEG-2 data to its hard disk. You can then transfer the MPEG-4 data to an SD Memory Card and play it back on a Panasonic D-Snap SD video camera.
The DMR-E500HS is also a progressive-scan DVD player for use with standard and high-definition or HD-ready TVs. It handles your DVDs, CDs, and homemade MP3 discs, as well as high-resolution DVD-Audio discs (2-channel only). DVD-Audio media offer super high-fidelity (192 kHz/24-bit) sound and provides unique bonus materials not available on regular audio CDs.
You can program the recorder for daily or 1-time broadcasts much as you would a VCR. To simplify programming, the DMR-E500HS includes the TV Guide On Screen Electronic Programming Guide. With DVD-RAM, you can even perform simple non-linear video editing, such as rearranging the order of scenes, skipping over unwanted scenes, and creating custom playlists of favorite scenes on a disc.
Panasonic's Time Slip feature lets you use your DVD recorder like a digital video recorder, viewing the recorded portion of an ongoing program from the beginning, while still recording the program in progress. With Chasing Playback, you can view the recorded portion of a live program, from the beginning, while continuing to record that program until its completion. Simultaneous record & play lets you view a previously recorded program on either a DVD-RAM disc or the hard disk drive while recording a different program.
The recorder comes with an updated Direct Navigator that simplifies the process of previewing recorded programs, letting you access recorded material from an onscreen menu that lists recording dates, times, channels, and titles.
What's in the Box DVD player/recorder, a remote control, remote batteries, an RF audio/video interconnect, a stereo analog audio/composite-video interconnect, an AC power cord, an IR blaster, a user's manual, and a registration card.
Customer Reviews:
For the serious user onlyApril 22, 2006 3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Panasonic recorders are great, I have a DMR-80 and the DMR-500.
I purchased the 500 because of the 400gb drive and the fast burn time, 8min to burn a 2hour dvd. Panasonic recorders sadly have poorly written manuals and useless trouble shooting guides. The good news is they have great software features and virtualy self recover from errors. The 3 secrets to trouble free operation with any dvd recorder is to (1)not clutter the hard drive with hundreds of titles (2) buy brand name blanks such as maxell 8X-16X and (3) use a cleaning disk frequently, most burn errors are caused by static cling particles in the unit.
Not a bad machine, but has some bugs!!December 27, 2005 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I really love my Panasonic DMR-E500HS DVD recorder, but it is not without problems. I've had several errors occur into the recording phase. Usually, with the pull of the plug and letting the unit reset, all worked fine after. I have had several problems with the TV Guide disappearing for days at a time, and even up about 4 months this past summer. I've owned my machine for 13 months. One issue I've had with my unit is the fact the right channel on input does not work. That means if I record from a VCR and want true stereo sound, I only get the left channel. It's been this way since I purchased it. It doesn't matter what input channel you use, the right audio track doesn't record into the unit. Beyond that, the unit is great for taping live television. I love the capacity on the hard drive.
DMR-E500 GETTING A BAD RAPDecember 1, 2005 3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I purchase one of these units when it first came on the market. It worked great so later on I purchased a second unit, that when the problems started.
For no reason I started getting the dreaded U99 error on the first unit I bought and then on the second unit a few days later. I noticed that I could reset either unit in the moring and when I came home, I would have a U99 again. I called Panasonic customer service - no help, tried to do the Panasonic flash upgrade - no help. I did quite a bit of research on the net and found that many people were having the same problem but some had been able to tie the problem together with the TV Guide feature. I noticed that when I had the U99 error, I lost all of the guide info.
I had just about come to the conclusion that I was going to have to live with two bad decisions when VIOLA - the problems on BOTH UNITS WHEN AWAY AND BOTH ARE NOW WORKING GREAT!!.
Based on what I have seen, I feel that all of the problems were related to the programming of the TV guide information which is automatically sent over the cable.
The units work great but to get full utilization, YOU MUST READ THE MANUAL. These units are a bit complicated but considering what they will do, its not a problem.
Product required major work less than 4 weeks after receipt.June 30, 2005 23 out of 27 found this review helpful
I don't advise buying from this product line for the following reasons. I gave it 2 stars because I really liked the features. I felt that we'd given Panasonic a good heads-up and waited long enough before making this post. They never returned our inquiries or offered anything beyond what you'd hate to hear from someone who's given up on you.
- The manual is not useful to customers that need specific help setting up the unit in a A/V configuration.
- The Panasonic Customer Support group was helpful but are not experts. They'll tell you that your repair can be held up to 30 days without their getting involved to help resolve a problem.
- Experiencing a major repair problem is not something that one would care to experience so soon into a purchase.
I really liked the DMR-E500HS features and the price was right. I'd researched the product line, consulted several AV forums, and read the reviews. I was throughly convinced that this was the right model for our AV setup.
I was aware of the comments from users about the less than helpful setup and usage information. I agree that it's not as easy as reading the manual. I eventually threw away the manual and the Panasonic Customer Support line help and did the cabling myself. Just as I shifted into a comfortable state, the unit totally froze up... can't turn the unit on/off from the remote or from the deck.
I have to admit that the Panasonic reps are good at reading scripts, as that's all they were able to accomplish, aside from leaving me with the dangerous task of upgrading firmware on a badly behaving unit. Eventually, after a whole week of calling support and trying various things, I was told to take the unit in for repair. I had to drive 65 miles round trip and it took about 2 weeks to replace one of the control boards.
I have the unit back now and (hopefully) I've educated someone about the risks involved with trying out new technology from vendors who don't want to promote themselves as being comsumer-friendly.
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