 "Not so great" | 2009-08-29 |
| - Reviewed By D. Butler from Richardson, TX |
| I've had this DVD Recorder for over 2 years, and I have to say, there's got to be something better out there somewhere. While it does record DVDs just fine, and works with many different types of disks, including DL disks and DVD-RAM disks, the tuner has always been flaky. In fact, I sent it in to be repaired by Panasonic soon after I got it, because half the time the ATSC tuner just flat wouldn't work! The NTSC (analog) tuner never seemed to have a problem, but I wasn't interested in using it. And of course, now that the digital transition has occurred, the NTSC tuner is pretty much useless unless you're using it to record off of cable TV. But anyway, although things were better with the ATSC tuner after it was repaired, the unit is still flaky with regard to that tuner. It is basically useless if you want to schedule it to record something off the airwaves. Most of the time, those recordings are completely unwatchable and useless, recording perhaps one frame every 3 to 5 seconds or so, and there is no audio at all. Sometimes it will successfully record a program using the scheduler if I first power-cycle it a day or so before the program is scheduled to record. But I shouldn't have to do that. I've basically given up on using it that way. I guess I'm just going to have to get a new one sometime, because this one sucks. If all you want to do is play DVDs on it and occasionally record from some other source (not involving the ATSC tuner), I suppose it would probably work for that. |
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 "Good recorder, some bugs" | 2009-05-18 |
| - Reviewed By M. Nelson from CA, USA |
I have had this recorder for over a year.
Found setup to be easy. It does take a while to scan for both digital and analog channels and is straight forward. It also picks up many QAM unscrambled digital cable channels on Comcast. You can then disable channels you don't to watch. You can manually name the channels if you wish.
It does sometimes freeze up and I have learned to work with it by holding down the power on button. Usually when it starts back up it is OK.
I have also found that it is necessary to leave at least a minute between scheduled recordings or the second probably won't start. You also MUST shut off the recorder for it to start recording.
It does take DVD-RAM disks which I love. I found Fuji DVD-RAM disks online for a reasonable price so do look around.
When you erase one program on a RAM disk that disk space is then reusable. That does not happen with DVD+RW disks unless it is the last recorded program.
The unit tends to freeze up most when I attempt to watch a previously recorded DVD-RAM disk while recording a new program. Mostly, I don't do that anymore. It is really not necessary, just useful.
All in all, I am glad I purchased this unit.
I have looked at the current model, the DMR-28EZ and it looks to be quite similar. |
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 "Don't do it." | 2009-01-17 |
| - Reviewed By Me from STL |
This item should never have been brought to market. Would you buy this device if you knew that within a few months, just after your opportunity for a hassle-free refund expired, there would be a <10% chance that your scheduled recordings would work? Or that this device would FREEZE without explanation repeatedly, even with Panasonic RAM discs. Those were my experiences last year. Don't do it. Don't waste your time or money on this piece of junk.
This item scores a rating of 1 star...on a scale of 1 to 5 stars. Unfortunately, zero stars ain't an option on this website. |
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 "Great Picture quality but it has its flaws" | 2008-08-01 |
| - Reviewed By corythecouger |
This Recorder is still working after 5 months but any Panasonic recorder will eventually break down after 5 or 6 months.
The LP speed is great and better than almost any other DVD recorder on the market.
The bad thing is it won't recognize DVD+RWs
I inserted several DVD+RWs and the recorder did not read them
luckily none of the content on the DVD+RWs were erased.
3 or 4 times a recording got messed up and the DVD-R discs ended up being unusable.
Maybe there were flaws on the DVD-Rs or there was a problem with the recorder.
Another flaw is that you can't preview how a title will look in the finalized menu after you type the name of the show you recorded after you edit a title so if a title is more than 16 spaces long some of the letters might end up on the next line.
This is a big problem.
Previous Panasonic models had a preview window where you could see how the title would look like before the DVD was finalized.
I hope they bring back the preview window in future models.
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| "Ups and downs..." | 2008-06-03 |
| - Reviewed By An Amazon User |
This item records well, but the menus take a couple of seconds to come up, and they're not well-organized when they do. The entire unit takes 15-20 seconds to power up and accept commands from the remote (say you're turning it on, then trying to view the DVD menu on a disc you've recorded), and like many DVD recorders, it will refuse to copy a manufacturer's original VHS. So if you want to turn those old VHS copies of your favorite Hollywood movies into DVDs, you don't want this recorder. Honestly, this is a stupid function, and if I would have known about it, I would have purchased a different brand that didn't infringe on my legal right to make a backup copy of a movie I already own. I haven't tried to record from HBO or anything like that, but recordings from PBS, SciFi, History Channel, and a few other cable channels have come out fine.
It's not a bad recorder, but there's plenty of room for improvement. |
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| "Worthwhile Investment" | 2008-05-20 |
| - Reviewed By wannabemls |
| Unlike the Sony, LG and Samsung DVD recorders I tried, this one actually works right every single time when burning dual layer discs. Those other units could only burn about 5% of the dual layer DVD's I used, where as the Panasonic has yet to have a failure. Picture quality is good, plenty of input and output options and the fact that it works every time is a major plus. Highly recommended! |
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