Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 35
 The World's Best AV Manufacturer Delivers a Stunning DVD Recorder May 31, 2009
G. J. Oxley (Tyne & Wear, England)
162 out of 166 found this review helpful
I recently bought a 42" Panasonic plasma TV with in-built FreeSat and wanted a DVD recorder to complete my all Panasonic AV set-up - which includes a separate Home Theatre system and Video recorder (essential for the hundreds of old VHS tapes I still own!)
This is NOT a technical review - I'm very much a layman in such matters - however, I did want to express my satisfaction with the product, so here goes:
I opted for this model and I'm so glad I did. For well under £300 you get a machine that produces stunning picture quality - virtually indistinguishable from the source. However, I would advise that you budget around £30-£40 extra for a good quality HDMI cable - it's worth it.
Set-up was a piece of cake, and once I'd read the essential sections of the 'War and Peace'-sized operating manual, I was away and able to do everything I wanted out of the machine in an hour or two; and that's without any previous experience of a DVD recorder. However, I would point out I bought it for very basic recording/playback purposes only and if you want to do anything fancier with it, it may take a good while longer to master all the functions.
The HDD is capable of storing close on 60 hours of downloaded programmes in 'XP' mode. However, it's double that for 'SP' mode and I hardly noticed any degeneration in image quality at that speed, and very little in 'LP' also. However, the 'EP' setting is another matter and you may wish to avoid this.
Ease of use is an important aspect of the machine: programming using VideoPlus+ was a revelation - it's so easy to get the hang of and very convenient. And the remote is clearly and simply set out and after a few goes I found I was using it almost intuitively.
When you want to view what you've recorded, simply press the 'Direct Navigator' button on the remote and this allows you to view six downloaded programmes per page on either HDD or DVD. Once you've finished with these it's easy to delete them from the HDD forever, although you'll need to use a specific type of re-writeable DVD if you want to delete from this medium.
I've only recorded onto HDD so far, then copied onto DVD where a programme (or film) is worth keeping. However, don't make the mistake I made (before someone kindly put me right) of copying onto a DVD+R disc where a title was recorded in 16:9 aspect. There's no high speed transfer to disc this way - it copies in real time. If you've saved a 90 minute film it takes 90 minutes (plus additional formatting time) to copy.
On Friday of last week I went out for a drink, but pre-recorded the last semi-final of 'Britain's Got Talent' (I'm sorry to admit this), 'The Jonathon Ross Show' and 'Later with Jools Holland'. I watched these on Saturday morning, in glorious quality playback, decided none were worth keeping, and deleted them simply and without fuss from the hard drive.
So much better results than a VHS recorder, and so much less faffing about too!
Although a previous reviewer reports sound issues with non-standard DVD playback, this is not something that would affect me: I'm using this to record to, and playback from, HDD - or copy to disc to play on my home theatre system, which offers superior sound quality. But as a player alone, it's still pretty good and also features an excellent in-built Freeserve tuner.
Once again, my apologies to those expecting a run-down of technical aspects etc, but this is aimed specifically at those, like myself, who previously didn't own a DVD recorder and wanted a basic summary of features - and comments on how good the recorded results were.
The best just got better! Buy it! June 15, 2009
Music Guy (UK)
120 out of 123 found this review helpful
This is a wonderful machine which is packed with useful features. The picture quality is outstanding and it up scales pictures to high definition very well. Incidentally I am currently using a cheap HDMI cable from Amazon and it works very well. You can set up program recordings (both one off and entire series) with about 2 clicks thanks to the 7 day TV guide. It also has a feature which allows you to skip adverts through playback!! (simply put the machine into fast forward then click the skip button) To cap everything off the machine uses less energy than previous models and runs very quietly. It is a neat slimmed down design and will look great with any other equipment. The remote can operate my Samsung TV thanks to an automatic link system (amazing). Buy this, it is an absolute bargain and one of the finest recorders around.
Worth buying August 22, 2009
V. Hedge (UK)
23 out of 23 found this review helpful
Since we bought this fabulous machine a few months ago my husband stopped complaining about me spending too much time on my computer. He is thrilled with this clever gadget and spends hours recording and sorting his favourite programmes. We used to have an analogue version (home cinema), so we are familiar with all the controls and useful features. We had to invest into home cinema separately to achieve the full effect, but still are very happy with our purchase. I must say though, that this is our second unit. The first one was replaced due to a fault when viewing on hd settings. Left top corner pixellates a bit. The replacement unit is the same, but we like it so much that we don't mind that tiny fault. Since our tv is only hd ready and not full hd, we don't often put it on hd. I still gave it 5 stars. It is fabulous for basic editing and transferring old videos on DVDs (apart from copyright protected ones/ I am referring to home videos).
The more you read the manual there more you will find yourself pleasantly surprised with what this machine is capable of.
Take no notice of the one star review... October 8, 2009
Jf Peachey (UK Sussex)
18 out of 18 found this review helpful
I have used its predecessor, the EX75 and that was good but this is even better. Believe the reviews. Take no notice of the one star review because until all TVs come with their own digital tuner, it will always be necessary to provide a second digital source; one to view whilst recording another. I have tried most of the DVD/HDD recorders and Panasonic seem to produce the easiest, most intuitive machines on the market - beating even Sony.
The DMR-EX79EB is a joy to use!
Excellent PVR September 5, 2009
David Walbridge (Southampton)
39 out of 40 found this review helpful
We're very pleased with this, excellent service from Amazon as always, it arrived by courier in a sealed manufacturer's box inside a padded plastic bag.
Recording quality is the same as the original on XP setting. You can only watch or record one channel at a time from the PVR, but you can record on the PVR tuner and watch the TV on its own tuner at the same time if you want. You can't record a program and play a different recording or a DVD at the same time though, or if you can we haven't worked out how to yet!
The series record option works brilliantly. It identifies all instances of the named program on the selected channel, even if they are at different times.
Plays DVDs and CDs well, can connect the RCA output to a stereo amplifier with no problems. The CD quality is about the same as a £200 budget CD player. Music DVDs are very good, and you can play American imports as well if you change the setting to NTSC. We don't know how well it upscales, as we only have an ordinary TV.
Loses a star for the advert panel on the program guide. We discovered that the grey Diga picture changes to an advert once you put your post-code in. The panel really does spoil the use of the guide, we'd gladly pay a bit more to be rid of it. Many people have commented on this, Panasonic will start losing out to Sony if they don't take notice soon I think.
But it gets the star back again for the button on the remote that skips adverts in recorded programs! This works so well that we now choose which channel to record on this basis, e.g. watch BBC and record ITV when the programs overlap.
People have said it takes a long time to switch on, but it doesn't if you keep to the default Stand-by option for the power button. Then it sits there silently, showing the time on its digital display, and switches on in about 2 seconds when requested, the same as a VCR.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 35
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