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You must press Record AGAIN to finalize it. I would recommend it but be prepared to scratch your head a bit at the beginning.(Note: Be sure to hold the record button down a good 3 count until you see "copy".
I did not need a tuner for digital reception (and saved quite a bit by passing on that option). The machine did this conversion accurately and and I am pleased with it.
I am a video professional and needed this unit to convert a stack of VHS to DVD. it did the job and the price is right.
However, the instruction manual is a hot mess of options, weird graphics and hard to follow logic which made the initial set up confusing and very annoying. But.
It will NOT Finalize when finished copying, despite what the manual says. The DVD will not play on other machines unless you finalize)
I say almost, because I don't really try to figure out exactly how to start and stop at specific points, nor do I do chapters. I wanted a dvd/VHS deck as most reviewers suggest, to copy VHS tapes to DVD. I found the unit to be a little hard to figure out, but this might be my own expectations that it's more complicated than it really is. It copied my tapes almost perfectly. It also has a power save mode, which when set, takes about 60 seconds to power up rather than the full power mode which uses a little more power even when it's turned off. The manual attempts to describe what are really simple controls in a somewhat confusing way.
As said in other reviews, the finalizing to ensure it plays on "most" other players works fine and I have no complaints, having played the dvds on other players. I should begin by saying I have worked in television broadcasting for 40 years and can figure out most electronics (as well as Ikea furniture). That I do on Mac's Final Cut Pro editing system.What I didn't like is that sometimes the screen has mixed commands and I often pressed record several times before I realized it had already started. Since I use it only for copying VHS, I don't get into the detailed technology, suffice it to say that it won't satisfy techies completely, but then I'm buying a unit that copies tape to dvd all for $239 as compared to the real thing that costs broadcasters a hundred thousand dollars and more. So you really can't expect professional-standard equipment.Given that, after I went to a Panasonic forum and experimented a little, it was easier than I was making it out to be. And as I've read before, the dvd copies seem to look better than the original VHS although I don't think that's really possible as the VHS original is as good as it gets.Overall, it's a good machine, haven't had any stalls or any of the problems others complain of, and it has lots of inputs for UBS, S-Video, even memory cards and has more recording features than I'll ever use.
One great feature is "Flexible Recording", which allows the user to set the time to be recorded, such as 2-1/2 hours on one DVD, instead of 2 hours on one, then the remaining half hour on another DVD. I first became acquainted with a Panasonic DVD recorder about 2 years ago,when I bought the DMR-ES30V. It's so easy to transfer recordings from VHS to DVD. As with all electronics, it had a limited lifetime, but what a great unit it was---I recorded over 300 DVD's.No hestitation to buy another Panasonic. This DMR-EA38VK is easy to set up, and especially easy to use. I gave it 4 stars because there's no battery backup for the clock. So, if you're in the market for a DVD recorder, I highly recommend this Panasonic.
This machine worked great for copying VHS to DVD. The only thing I don't like is the inputs are limted.
I would highly recommend Panasonic DVD-RAM disks for recording broadcast shows. I can view video and photos from my DVD camcorder, or view photos stored on disk or a flash drive.
The online description said you could record television broadcasts to vhs for analog, and digital broadcasts to several kinds of dvd. What it didn't say was that in order to do this, you need a set top box or converter box attached to the recorder.
While this is an excellent product, it was the wrong choice for me. Amazon promptly refunded the full cost of the original purchase.The recorder is very versatile, and since I use it with a Panasonic 32 inch widescreen TV, it is easy to hook up and to use.
I knew it was a tunerless recorder, but I didn't think you needed a built in tuner if hooked up to a TV set. For another $20 I got the same Panasonic model with a tuner and sent this one back.
The only mentionable downside to this recorder is that after turning it on, it takes about a minute before you can open the DVD tray. The recorder's user interface allows for ease of use for deleting previous recordings and scheduling new ones.
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