I have the earlier DMR E50 and I have just taken the lid off to see if there is anything an engineer can fix in the troublesome peice of expensive kit. Its sort of reassuring to see so many others here who had had EXACTLY the same problems...the machine crashes, locks up, can't recover even by pulling the power out, just because it dosn't like a disc, but then it won't let you get the disc out. It has consumed hours and hours of my time. It will only work with Panasonic discs..nothing else.... but now after 12 months it is just more and more choosy about exactly which disc...indeed it is now no use at all. 400 down the drain, I used to like Panasonic. Don't buy it.