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DVD Recorder/VCR Combination

Not only does the DMRES45VS record and play a very wide variety of DVD and CD formats, it even has a built-in VCR that makes it easy to dubb your VHS collection onto DVD for archiving. The DMRES45VS features and HDMI output and even has a built-in SD card slot so you can view JPEG and TIFF files from your SD-compatible digital camera on your TV.

About 2 months with unit

Reviewed By: H Smith - Chicago, IL

First tried a Sony unit. Recorded DVDs well for only about 30 minutes then quality deteriated. Returned the unit.

Have transferred about 20 VCR and camcorder tapes to DVD with this unit and all worked well. Process for putting in titles does not make sense and not in manual. You need to stop the VCR or external source and DVD. Then restart both. This puts in a chapter you can change before finalizing. If there is an easier way I cannot find it.

Using HP DVD-R disks purchased on sale at one of the office stores. No problems so far. Have also recorded some DVDRW discs without problems for testingdont know brand

This unit is complicated to use as all VCRDVD recorders seem to be. If you are not willing to spend some quality time with the manual dont buy it. This is not a machine for your grandmother.

Some features are annoying

-The remote is very complicated with many buttons and not intuitive. To set the recorder you need to go into functions, then program then press the enter and return keys numerious times in the proper order to complete the programming.
-When you change channels there is a small delay
-I prefer to use a third party remote for so that I dont wear out the expensive remote that came with the unit. Can not change channels directly with 3rd party remote must use channel up down buttons.

Has some pros and cons

Reviewed By: Melissa Wolf - Dickinson, ND

Pros
- Has more then enough ways to connect to devices.
- It has an easy access front DV port to connect directly to a video camera
- It automatically detected my JVC Mini DV camcorder and asks to record each time the camera powers on
- Menus are fairly easy to understand and maneuver around

Cons
- There is no button on the remote to open and close the DVD drive which isnt a big deal since you have to get up to take the disc out anyway I guess, the buttons on the remote are kind of slippery and sometimes hard to select
- It does not let you un-finalize a disk which I have worked with a Sony box similar to this one and it let me un-finalize if I made a mistake or wanted to record more on a disk later. I found this to be a big nuisance in some cases
- It is very picky on the type of disk you record on too, if you are dubbing from VHS to DVD and you plan on making more copies of the disk using your computer you have to use a dvd-r or dvd plus r, my pc wouldnt even play a dvd-rw dubbed from a vhs tape but it would play a dvd-r, if you dub directly from a camcorder to a dvd you can use a dvd-rw, plus rw, -r, or plus r and it lets you copy the disk on the computer to another disk just fine, not sure why it would make a difference.
- Comparing it to the Sony model I tired it seems way more dificult to use and is missing some features that I would like.

I have not tried to record directly from a TV show or tried using the SD memory card slot yet but for my purposes it works after some struggling.

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