Not user friendly and lasts less than two years
I bought this DVD recorder thinking I'd get a lot of use out of it and, hopefully, many years of use. I was wrong. I'm about to throw this into the garbage because, after a year and eight months, it shows a 'U99' error message on the machine. I called the service center and Joe talked me through some steps such as turning it off/on, unplugging it, pressing on this and that button for some period of time, only to be told that I would need to mail in this product to the service center to have it fixed for more amount of money than it cost me to buy. The warranty is only a year. I advise anyone against buying this product and brand. It worries me that Panasonic can make such a disposable product. I expected this to last about four years...definitely not less than two. This product is not worth the money.

Disappointed
I doubt that there are many people at this date shopping for a new DVD recorder without a digital tuner, but if you are thinking of getting one of these despite that, I would advise against it. I've had mine a year and a half and it has lost its ability to record to or read from any re-recordable disc, including DVD-RW, DVD+-RW, and its own RAM disc. When I try to play any re-recordable disc, even a brand new one, an error message alleges that the disc is bad. As of today, the problem has spread to DVD-R and DVD+R discs as well, so basically this machine is now usable only for playing pre-recordeed discs. I could get something at the nearest CVS store for that can do the same thing. I've never had a bad experience with a Panasonic product before, thus the title of this review.

Avoid this unit.

The DMR-ES15S is a great product.
I've owned several DVD recorders, (Sony, LG) and have had problems with all of them except the Panasonic DMR-ES15S. In fact, I have been so satisfied with its performance that I presently own 3 of them. The last one I purchased was well after Panasonic had upgraded its dvd recorders to a newer model. I patiently searched on line until I was able to purchase another DMR-ES15S. It may not have the most attractive design, however if you are looking for reliable & dependable dvd recorder, I don't think there is a better dvd recorder on the market. And the DMR-ESA5S' capability to record in DVD-RAM, sets it head and shoulders above its competitors. Great product, you can't go wrong with this purchase.

Good unit- a bit outdated, though.
Had this unit for over 2 years now, it's been good to me, with the exception of one "U61" error, which forced me to take in for repairs.

I was not pleased.

But, overall, it has worked great. The price is a bit prohibitive nowadays though- if you look around here on Amazon, or other sites like newegg etc, you can see more advanced units for much less- ones that upconvert regular DVDs to more HDish quality, etc.

Overall, I am very pleased with the unit I bought, but I'm looking to move onto something a bit newer (but still cheaper than Blu-ray, because I'm a big cheapo still), and you might consider doing the same.

Do not buy this product until you know what a U61 error is
There is not a lot to add to what others have said about this unit, except to let anyone know buying this unit that there are a lot of units failing out there. I liked the unit, but it only lasted about 18 months. I got the U61 failure code and it is a physical failure of the DVD unit. You can put it into Google with the model DMR-ES15 (or other Panasonic models)to understand more about the problem. If you are happy paying the going price for a DVD recorder with nice features, but having it last only about 18 months then buy it. Do not buy the unit thinking that it is an isolated problem.