Panasonic DMR-EX78 250GB Storage, Upscaling DVD Recorder Reviews

+ I have gone through the whole range of PVR's, DVD recorders etc........ this one is quite sleek in design, and has many functions either not listed or not explained. The big one being - the USB port on it. You CAN take an AVI film from your PC and put it onto the supplied 1GB memory stick and play it on your TV without transcoding it. You can record to the stick, or from the stick too. The remote control also has a few of your TV functions too, one being the AV button. If like me - you have loads of gadgets attached - then you will be only too familiar of switching channels with the TV remote to find other AV gadgets attached. With this - you only need one controller

- Big hang up for me - It only has one digital freeview decoder. If you record something - you cannot change channel unless it is to another non freeview input. I have plugged another freeview box into my set up so that if i am recording a freeview channel - i can flick to another AV channel with the spare freeview box attached.

+ Other than the EPG Its very good, i have always been a Panasonic person,But this EPG sadly lets it
down

- Its got the worst electronic program guide EPG i have ever seen. Its grainy and one third of the screen
is taken up by advertising.Who wants Gardeners World advertising on an EPG

+ So far easy to use and replay. Not used disks or 2 x programme recording yet. Teenages cottoned on very quickly!

- Buttons and disk slot very earily accessable for my toddler. No guard.

+ I carried out a lot of research before choosing this model. At time of purchase (Dec 08) this is the best I can get for the price. 250G is more than ample for everyday use. Lots of good features, good image quality. As a relatively complex piece of kit it is very easy to use, particulary the very sensibly designed remote and the on screen Navigation Menu. Even a HDMI cable and a 1G memory stick is in the box. Be warned this unit is 100% digital and cannot receive analogue TV (which will not be broadcast by 2012)

- The only very, very, very trivial criticism is on the EPG there is a sizeable portion reserved for onscreen advert. The EPG is not as informative as my Samsung TV's EPG.

+ It works as it says it should, unlike my old Sony

- Colour black, would have liked silver better

+ Simple to use. Easy to set repeat programmes. Easy to find and watch recorded programmes.

- Instruction book missing some minor detail: less clear how to watch tapes from separate VCR. Digital guide marred by unnecessary advertising.

+ This is a lovely machine, which looks good and does everything that I had bought it for. The freeview component works well, and recording has so far done as I have asked. It is very quiet whilst recording also, you can only here the slight sound of the fan working. This machine is very easy to use, and has so much memory, more than enough for the average person.

- The open button for the dvd player is on the machine and not the remote. You can't view the TV whilst looking through the guide, which is something that most freeview boxes allow. You cannot have 'favourite' channels, and so when loking through the guide, you have to look through all channels, even the ones that don't work most of the time, which can be a bit annoying. All very minor points, and despite these, I would still recommened this machine to anyone looking for a simple, easy to use DVD recorder.

+ reproduction from hard drive, upscaling is superb.

- pity it isnt a twin recorder

+ one button recording facility. many hours of recording on hard disc.

- advert section on ALL the time when viewing guide spreadsheet showing whats on and prior to setting thr record. would like to turn it off but it does not seem possible

+ Easy set up

- Despite an easy set up, its then takes time to figure out the basics. Not so much getting into a programme, but getting out of one.

+ Very user friendly. Don't need the manual it's all on the remote.

- need to turn the sound up very high

+ All good with the exception of that below

- 1. Unable to cancel stored programmes when you have watched them if you are still recording
2. Cannot get information on stored programmes whilst recording

+ Uses DVD RAM discs.
Very easy to use.
Good copying functions HDD to DVD and vice versa.
Fast in operation e.g. deleting unwanted recordings.

- On/off switch is next to disc tray at left, switch to open disc tray is on other side at right
Annoying differences in terminology in on-screen displays compared with other Panasonic units e.g. delete instead of erase.
Annoying differences in remote control layout compared with other Panasonic units.

+ * Ability to record from any input at the same time as playing back recorded content or DVDs
* Timer record/series record generally frees you from being the TV guide's slave!
* UI is fairly responsive
* All pretty easy to hook up and use
* Massive 250GB harddisk doesn't fill up too quickly
* A choice of different quality settings on recordings (LP, SP or XP) allows for 'as broadcast' playback for high detail recordings (e.g. sports!) whilst SP quality is fine for most other programs.
* Pause live TV

- * Digital terrestrial broadcasts look poor and bland compared to cable-TV (though much of that may just be that freeview is of lower quality).
* Lack of colour/contrast/brightness type settings for Digital tuner makes blandness unfixable
* Takes a few too many clicks to record a program from an external source, and having to seperately set the cable box to change channel at the right time, and then to set up the HDD to record from AV2 can get a bit annoying!
* Auto-set clock is sometimes a few seconds early so can miss the start of programs unless you set them to start recording at 19:59 rather than 20:00, for example.
* Sound on DVDs is a lot quieter than anything else on the box
* Haven't worked out how to save 'paused live TV' for later, if you decide not to continue watching immediately.
* Somehow, sometimes flicks our TV to a different input source when exiting the 'Record Setup' screen!
* Can't record from Freeview whilst watching Cable box through HDD - though that's fairly easy to get around with a SCART splitter...

+ Slim design,on screen recording guide easy to use,250GB hard drive gives hours and hours of program storage.

- Twin tuners would be useful to record to hard drive or DVD at the same time. and there is no SD card slot.