Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I almost didn't but this unit because of bad reviews and that it is more expensive that most recorders. Fortunately, I was able to get the unit for $179 at a local retailer who was willing to match Amazon's price. The bad reviews caused me to buy several units, bring them home and test them. I bought the Toshiba D-R560 and the Philips HDD Recorder. I didn't try the Sony because I couldn't find one with the Divx feature. I didn't try any with VHS features because those where more expensive and I don't own any VHS tapes. The Toshiba's recording function was nice. It was quick to respond and easy to use. Unfortunately, I could never get the Toshiba unit to find channels with the digital tuner over my basic Comcast service. It found zero digital channels. This was disappointing because I looked forward to using the Toshiba's QAM tuner to find clear cable channels.
The one thing that I wanted that was missing on the Toshiba was a USB port. The Philips HDD recorder has a USB port. So, I thought I'd consider it along with it's hard disk recording benefits. Unfortunately, the Philips USB port does not read Divx. It only read Jpeg and WMA files. Also, I found the Philips picture interior to both the Toshiba AND the Panasonic. The Philips picture was dark, on all channels, and graining on many SD analog channels. So, I took the Philips back right away. After all of this, it was clear that only the Panasonic had most of the features that I needed. It has a USB port that can read Divx, in addition to reading Divx in the DVD drive. This way, I have a choice to burn a Divx DVD disk or simply save a video (avi / divx) file to my flash drive and save DVD costs on videos that I just want to look at once. The Panny is also the only unit with a SD slot. I have not used it but will in the future. The Panny also gave me S-Video inputs on the front and back, as well as an optical audio output (in addition to a coaxial output) on the back to connect to my Yamaha amps that uses only optical audio connections. The only thing that this unit lacks in a QAM Tuner for cable channels. Regardless, I found that the ATSC Tuner in the Panny was able to display all of the over-the-air HD Channels, as expected. The only thing it might not get is the "cable" HD channels that are "in the clear". Lastly, though the Toshiba picture was good, I think the Panny picture was the best of all three. To top it off, in contrast to the Toshiba (which found zero digital channels on Comcast Basic Service), the Panansonic found many, many digital channels!!!
I want to address some of the negative comments that I have found on this site about this unit: Yes - Channel surfing on this unit is a little slow. But, my research has lead me to believe that many digital tuners and HD over-the-air stations tune slowly because of the amount of information involved. I don't think it's that bad once you get used to it. Regarding the comment that you "can't split titles and chapters". This is not true. People - This is one of the most flexible recording machines on the market. But, you've got to read the manual to learn about it. If you don't like reading manuals, just do simply records - I'm sure you'll be fine.
In summary, I'm one happy customer. This is a qaulity unit that leads the industry in features to price. It's a great value and a quality product!
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Product Description:
PANASONIC DMR-EZ28K DVD RECORDER WITH ATSCMULTI-FORMAT PLAYBACK - DVD, DVD-RAM/-R/-RW, DVD-R(DL), +R/+R(DL)/+RW, CD, CD-R/RW ; DOLBY DIGITAL(R) ; 1 DV INPUT TERMINAL ; S-VIDEO INPUT ; BUILT-IN SECURE DIGITAL CARD(R) SLOT ; COMPONENT VIDEO OUT; S-VIDEO OUTPUT; OPTICAL & DIGITAL AUDIO OUTPUTS; HDMI(TM) OUTPUT: 480I, 480P, 720P, 1080I, 1080P ; USB SLOT; INCLUDES REMOTE
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