With technology racing along with the speed of a three legged donkey with piles it won't be long before the humble 'VHS Video Cassette recorder' will become as obsolete as Beta-max, taking its place in the history books. So, with a quick and easy replacement needed, the boffins soon realised that the next stage to recording your favourite programmes, (apart from these really modern 'Hard drive' systems from sky and the like), is to use a DVD recorder.
Anyway, a few years back I decided to join the anti-VCR revolution and went on the hunt for one of those modern, (at the time), DVD recorders which would be simple to use for a simple soul like myself.
Unfortunately, during my hunt through the concrete jungle which is the high street I came across a several different types of DVD recorders which promised to do exactly what I needed, and this freedom of choice really confused my tiny little mind, so I had to do more research into which one would be best for me at a reasonable price.
So when I came across a branded name, such as Panasonic, I took quite an interest in the DMR-ES10, with its numerous capabilities.
When I got this back home I set about attaching it to my television, using a scart lead (not supplied), to do so and placing it onto a shelf on my television stand, the largish looking silver machine with a black face sitting proudly in place
Then it was a simple matter of following the simple on-screen instructions to set it up so as to be able to record the right channels, this is done with the click of a few buttons on the remote, (and a quick flick through the instruction manual which comes with it).

** TECHNICAL BITS FIRST...

* Plays: DVD Video / VCD / DVD-RAM / DVD-R / DVD-RW / DVD+R / DVD+RW / DVD Audio / CD (Audio) / CD-R / CD-RW / Picture CD / MP3 / JPEG.
* Tunes to the TV signal
* TV resolution: 480i, 480p,576p.
* Video output: NTSC
* Audio DAC: 24bit, 192 kHz
* Video plus
* Parental control
* Remote control
* One touch recording
* SP, XP, LP and EP recording speed
* 1 to 8 hour recording time
* 30 day-16 event programmable timer.


** IN CONCLUSION...

Once the recorder is set up to your television your laughing as it won't be long before your starting to record your favourite shows onto DVDs.
I personally couldn't believe how easy it was to set up and to get used to.
The first thing I did was to set the recording time to its maximum as it does not change the quality of the recording whilst allowing you to fit a lot more on your DVD.
The remote is quite easy to use, being very similar to many standard remotes which most people are used too.
It has the usual channel buttons, stop, play etc and even has a volume control button for your television.
It has two record modes, a direct record, which will record what you are watching at that moment, or a normal record which will record a set channel.
The direct navigation button allows you to set up you DVD which you are recording on, giving you that personal touch to your finished disc, with a sub-menu button for extra editing.
There is many things that this remote can achieve which basically become self explanatory as you play about with the buttons, the instructions coming on the screen as you go.

This great bit of technology is capable of being used with-in minutes of plugging it in, and with it's one touch record process you can begin recording your favourite show in seconds.
When you recorded a show which you want to keep you can change the thumbnails to your own desire simply by following the simple on-screen instructions until you are happy with what you have achieved, (the thumbnail can be any part of the recorded show).
Then, again, following the on-screen instructions, you can add a name for the disc and ass the title of the recording you have made, and with a possible 8 hours of recording time you can fit many movies on one disc without losing any quality of the viewing pleasure.

When you're happy with your recordings and your DVD is full to overflowing with your favourite 'chick-flick' recorded off certain television channels you simply finalise the disc and can then watch the finished product on any DVD player you wish.

The unit itself is a little on the larger size compared to DVD 'players', being 430mm wide, 354mm deep, 64mm high and weighing in at a hefty 3.6kg
When I first bought my Panasonic DVD recorder I got it at a knock down price, just under a hundred quid in fact, although the price these day is a little bit more than that being nearer the £150- £200 mark, (I do believe JXL are selling it for £150 at the moment, although do shop around as there are bargains to be had). But, even for the higher price you are still going to get a bargain as it will last for years and save you a lot of money in the long run in the shape of recording those movies for a rainy day, instead of rushing out to rent one.

One other good and very useful feature about this device is that you can also transfer your video camera footage onto DVD by simply slotting in the appropriate leads into the recorder and your camera, I have made many family DVDs this way.

In all, a great bit of technical kit which will do the same job as a VCR only with much clearer results and is less likely to become as obsolete as analogue television.
It may not have a built in hard drive, or be able to record in blu-ray fashion, but it does what it is programmed to do, it records what you want onto a DVD for future viewing.
The price may seem a little on the high side but for what you get is well worth the cash.