Panasonic DMR-E10 DVD-RAM Recorder

By Grant Clauser
The one thorn in the side of DVD, the lack of recordability, has finally been removed, sort of. While nearly everyone who's jumped onto DVD has been thrilled with the ride, VHS could still count recordability as the one thing its digital successor couldn't do. Until now. Panasonic has come forth with the world's first home DVD recorder, the DMR-E10.

It was inevitable, considering how similar DVDs are to CDs, that a recordable format, or formats, would eventually emerge. Recordable DVD has arrived, though the category is ripe with controversy. Primary among the controversies are copyright and compatibility.

Before we get into the meat of the Panasonic DMR-E10, a brief synopsis of recordable DVD is in order. There are currently three competing recordable formats: DVD-RAM, DVD+RW and DVD-RW (read the "-" as dash, not minus). Philips and Thomson are backing the DVD+RW format and claim that, when available, home recorded discs will be compatible with most existing DVD players. DVD-RW, backed by Pioneer and Kenwood, claims a similar level of compatibility. I've seen demonstrations of both, with discs recorded on the units then played in other brands' DVD players. DVD-RAM, on the other hand, is compatible only with other DVD-RAM players and some PC drives. While that may appear to be a liability for the format, as of this writing DVD-RAM is the only recordable format available, so the competition's claims are moot.

A trip to an electronics expo in Japan last year revealed that several other companies are putting their energy into DVD-RAM as well, including Toshiba, Mitsubishi, JVC and Hitachi, which has a DVD-RAM camcorder. So if RAM does become the format of choice, then compatibility will be less of an issue.

The copyright controversy is of more importance to filmmakers and their ilk than to the average consumer, but it's a good part of the reason DVD recorders have taken so long in getting here. The fear is that someone with a home DVD recorder making perfect digital copies of movies could potentially flood the black market with illicitly made DVDs. Does this scenario sound familiar? The DMR-E10 protects the interests of Hollywood by automatically rejecting anything with the Macrovision stamp on it. Second, there are no digital inputs, so at best it can only make a digital copy of an analog source. This is all well and good, and I can live with the logic of it, but there is one digital input the DMR-E10 lacks but shouldn't. I'll get back to that later.