Panasonic DMR-EZ17K DVD Recorder with ATSC Tuner Black

With the decision to move to HDTV items like this bridged the gap between the older VCRs and the ability to record TV broadcasts in HDTV. The fact that DVD recorders are now rare only shows how short sighted manufacturers can be. Do your part and make it known that these products, including Blu-ray recorders are a must on the market, not things like Tivo or HD recorders. I bought one of these when they first came out, for a lot of money, this one will be a backup. Manufacturers- Put these products back into production!

This recorder worked flawlessly for several years, then finally started having problems. Tried having it serviced, which helped only a little. I liked the functions of this unit so much that I searched and finally found an identical unit with minimal usage, and now have that in place. This worked out very nicely, as the original remote started to have problems. I've now got a DVR installed in my configuration, so this unit is being used only when I want to record two programs at the same time.I recently replaced my television set, and found that the new set will receive and display over-the-air channels that cannot be viewed using the tuner in the Panasonic. I'm a fringe area for OTA reception, with reception sporadic at best, and normally rely on my Dish Network service, but at times there's something of interest on the broadcast channels not available through Dish.

I just had to write a review to counter some of the bad reviews out there. This item is not without its' quirks, as many people have noted, but it's great at what it does. And what it does is make great recordings. When I got fed up with DirecTV and dropped the service, I bought two of these recorders to record programs off air. They are a little slow changing channels, and they did give me a few problems when I first got them, but after an initial breaking in period, they've worked great! I record almost exclusively on DVD Ram and I've found it to be a very versatile medium, with superior editing functions. It's true, it's tuner will only output 480p signals, but I mainly want it to catch programs I can't watch and to archive some shows I'd like to keep. BTW, you can record on DVD Ram thousands of times! Probably the only drawback I have on my units is the clock. For some reason it takes forever to set (about 20 min). All in all, I think most people buying this recorder will be very pleased, but be forewarned, it might have to be reset once in a while and it can be slow. It just depends on what you use it for. It's LP/4 hour mode is really good. I'd hardily recommend the DMR-EZ17K to anyone.

I chose this recorder due to the good reviews it got for the tuner. I have a EDTV 42" Plasma monitor wanted a good picture when watching the game.It has pretty decent functionality, the tuning of digital channels is a bit slow, some channels are fairly quick and others do take 4 or 5 seconds to tune in.The picture does look good and the HD channels look especially good.CONS:Slow tuning on some channelsAspect ratio is not consistent, I have to manually adjust the WIDE, NORMAL, FULL settings to get digital channels to look proper (may be my monitor)Menu for editing channels is terrible, when I autotune off cable, it picks up about 80 digital channels, of which only 5 or 6 work, this forces you to manually delete unwanted channels, you don't get to see the channels when doing this and it is a tedious time consuming process.Finally, when changing channels, there is a "delay" sometimes when passing digital channels, it will get "stuck" and try to catch up, which means if you tune into a digital channel and quickly press up or down, it takes a few seconds, then jumps around wildly to catch up. Also on occasion, some of the digital channels need to be switched back and forth to work.

After a bad experience with a Toshiba VCR/DVD recorder unit, my recourse was to return to my favorite brand that has proven itself to me over the years. After buying nothing but Panasonic VCR's and DVD players/recorders for the past 20 or so years, I bought the Toshiba only because of a very positive experience with a new Toshiba LCD Hi-Def TV set.The Panasonic works as it should and provides excellent quality recordings in most of the time modes. If the owner's manual seems a little disjointed, read it and take out the most pertinent steps and make your own abreviated notes to go by.Anyone contemplating the purchase of a new digital tuner DVD recorder, be aware that they are SLOW. Slow starting, Slow running, Slow tuning! SLOW!!This is the last purchase I plan on making of this type until the Blu-Ray/Hi-Def war is over and some more improvements are made to the digital tuning system.

This is my second Panasonic DVD recorder and I have not been disappointed (my first Panasonic DVD recorder is several years old and still works well). I'm sure there are things that could have been better, or additions that would help it become a top of the line recorder, but if that's what you want, then buy a top of the line recorder. This is a very good recorder that does everything most of us need it to do. I have not used some of the options, such as being able to watch a show from the beginning while you are still recording it, but from reading other reviews, it seems to be a nice option. So if you are looking for an inexpensive recorder that works well and is fairly customer-friendly, the buy this one.