Review on Panasonic DMR E50K Player Recorder Black by Jerry Frey

If you're looking for a DVD burner to record non-copyright material, the Panasonic DMR-E50K is for you! If you are new to DVD, I would not recommend it. as the first player. The instruction manual is a little confusing if you're not already familiar with the wiring and general setup. Burning a DVD is similar to burning a CD-R in a CD burner. You must finalize a DVD-R before it can be played on (most) other DVD players. If you don't, it will not play on any computer other than the DMR-E50K. Picture and sound are very good. Recording times vary from 1, 2, 4 or 6 hours to a single sided 4.7GB DVD. The top two speeds (XP and SP) look great! The two low speeds (LP and EP) really do look like the VHS equivalent. After reading other reviews and specs for other DVD recorders, my biggest concern was disc/player compatibility. The DMR-E50K works with Panasonic DVD-RAM (playable only on the DMR-E50K) and allows you to edit and overwrite the same disc multiple times. Regarding DVD-R, the DMR-E50K has no problem writing to TDK brand DVD-R. I have 3 DVD players (without DMR-E50K) and after finishing the DVD-R the finished DVD worked on all: Audiovox, Panasonic (another model) and high end McIntosh. Panasonic DMR-E50K works. exactly what i expected. It offers progressive scan, S-Video, composite video, DTS output, Dolby Digital 5.1 playback (on pre-recorded discs) and the convenience of burning to a single DVD-RAM disc over and over again. records only in Dolby Digital 2-channel stereo (Pro-Logic compatible) and offers only optical digital output (not coaxial). I would not consider this player for "causal" consideration. However, if you're into DVDs and want to record, then the Panasonic DMR-E50K might be for you.