Page 1 of any review`s on panasonic E55

Thinking of buying a panasonic E-55 ,and by now a few have been sold so if any one can tell me what this machine is like I would be very grateful.It seems to be a good price at £229.? But what concerns me that two earlier message`s were saying that the machine was noisy.
paul :/ :/ :/

I picked up my multi-region E55 from Richer Sounds last Thursday (15/04/2004) for £219 (I had a £10 discount voucher because they were out of stock when I was at the store on Good Friday). That`s £130 less than my E50 cost me in April 2003.
The E55 is more stylish than the E50. The disc loading tray is slightly slower & noisier on the E55 than the E50. The new remote control smaller & feels less substantial than the old machine`s RC.
The cooling fan is as quiet on the E55 as it is on the E50. Overall the new machine is not noisier than the old one & unless you are in a room with no other sound whatsoever, you`ll not notice the slighty increased noise when loading a disc. It`s a lot quieter than your average PC & the cooling fan only comes on when the Recorder is in use.

Picture quality is improved with progressive scan capability(component input) & 2 RGB in/out Scart sockets.
The Direct Navigator is improved with the addition thumbnail pictures of recordings instead of just lists. Titles are still automatically added if you`ve got teletext.
During Playback of a recording (RAM, DVD-R) the television image is displayed as a picture-in-picture. this is in addition to the picture-in-picture display during recording & playback (RAM). You can now erase more than one program at a time (Just highlight the programs you want to erase & press enter on the erase button). You can also erase the whole disc as well. The time-slip button can now be used to skip a specified time on DVD-R as well as DVD-RAM. You stll get your Quick View (1.3 times playback) with RAM discs. DVD-RAM discs have a 30 year shelf life ,have 100,000 rewrites and now cost just £3.00 per disc at http://panasonic.co.uk 4x DVD-R discs cost as little as 32p per disc for a pack of 25 at http://ukdvdr.co.uk Overall at £229, the Panasonic DMR-E55 (multi-region) is excellent value, it`s an improvement on the award winning E50 which is the number 1 in " What Home Cinema" Magazine`s (latest issue) top 10 DVD recorders. It`s also "Which" Magazine`s best buy DVD recorder.

This item was edited on Saturday, 17th April 2004, 14:42

Thanks for that GCXBOY.
Its just before i go and buy one you like to here good news not bad.It sounds like you are happy with yours.Tell me would you spend the extra money on the E65 with hard drive?
paul ;) ;) ;)

It was myself that `complained` about it being noisy,compared with my existing E50.
However the noise that I noticed on first use ( a fan-like noise ) has not happened again,at all.
Perhaps I was rash to put it down as a fault.
It`s a cracking machine and I love it even more than I do my E50.
They`ve really thought about improvements.
I have it connected using the RGB method,which is different from the way I had the E50 connected.
The loss of the `direct link` function is surpassed by the improvement in picture quality using this connection method.
Chuffed to bits now.
I`ll put the initial `noise` down to it doing a self-test or something ! :/

Not wishing to re-open old debates I have, based purely on the great advise I obtained from this forum, recently bought a Panasonic-E55 from Richer Sounds circa £230.00 And as you do, tried to use it without looking at the instructions book (who uses them these days?).Insuring that it has great playback capability on Region's 1 and 2. Now to the difficult bit: Recording. Off course I have had to revert back to the instructions!

My problem is I often record TV programmes like 24, Touch of Frost, etc for future reference. My main bane however, is adverts. With my VHS come advert time I stop, go back and record/pause until the programme resumes, then start recording again giving a seemingly seamless recording. Making playback therefore an uninterrupted experience.
Can I do this with my Panasonic-E55? If not what machine can do it?

This item was edited on Wednesday, 21st April 2004, 12:35

You can do partial erasing on the E50/E55 :)
Now,how you do it is another question ! :/
When you call up the direct navigator menu,there is a `partial erase` function.

You can use "Pause" while recording (not timer recording) on the E50/E55. However, I prefer leave the machine on "Record" for the whole programme & remove unwanted adverts with "partial erase". On the E55, from the direct navigator, you can access partial erase by pressing the sub menu key, & choosing the edit option.

Quote:
The loss of the `direct link` function

Why have they removed it?

Now with most people recording from Sky or a Freeview box the need to set the digital box timer is essential if you need to record 2 or more programs on different channels. You would need to set both box and recorder to achieve this now? More work!

Also with this you will not get the programs named as you would if you record from the normal tuner. Can`t they get the info from a connected digital box?

Quote:
Why have they removed it?


They haven`t.
If you choose to connect using the RGB method,you lose the direct link function as you are connecting from the `TV` socket on the SKY box to the recorder.
Obviously the `TV` socket on the SKY boxes doesn`t send a recording signal.
If you connect from the `VCR` socket on the SKY box to the recorder you will get the `direct link` function,but you don`t get RGB picture quality.
A case of what is more important,Direct-link or RGB.
I chose RGB this time,and the increase in picture quality is noticeable.
Plus,a spare scart cable now ! :)

Quote:
However, I prefer leave the machine on "Record" for the whole programme & remove unwanted adverts with "partial erase"

Can you do this with a straight burnt version say DVD-R as well?