Review 1 for Panasonic Multiformat DVD-R/-R DL/-RW/RAM/+R/+R DL/+RW Recorder
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FEATURED REVIEW
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Powerful DVD Recorder, Amazing 1080p Upconversion!
08/12/2007
By MacMan
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"I tested every 1080p upconverting DVD player Best Buy Sells on a 1920 x 1080 1080p LCD HDTV.
The Panasonic DVD recorder is highly recommended.
Upconversion:
Panasonic 1080p upconversion is astounding, making standard video look almost like HD DVD / Blue Ray.
Playback:
Beautiful HDMI output. Good outputs in other connections (S-Video, etc.) - but the HDMI connection is what you'll want to watch.
Recording:
S-Video input worked best for quality. 1 Hour DVD+/-R recording in 'high quality' mode produced excellent results. Good results for 2/4 hour recording, and fair results for even the 8 hour recording on 1 DVD (high compression). The Panasonic records to many different formats of disks, including Dual Layer disks for extra long recording sessions (put a week of your favorite shows all on one disk).
All recording is done in standard video, but all playback is upconverted to 1080p for HDMI output. (also supports all other modes 480i/p, 720i/p, 1080i)
Controls:
Advanced Remote Control. Lots of buttons to access lots of features - with detailed on screen menus.
Playback is easy, Setup of all the features involves many menus - read the instructions. The instructions were clearly written and understandable.
Scheduling Recording is much easier than most VCRs.
It even tells you if the disk doesn't have enough space or if you forgot to put in the blank disk (with a ' ! ' by your event). Very helpful.
Super Bonus!
SD card slot displays photos from your camera's memory card, and can copy photos from the card to a blank DVD. Best choice for digital photographers. Not as fast as a Macintosh, but useful for just popping in an SD card and watching a slideshow of photos or presentation images.
Excellent Front panel connectors for Digital Camera and Video Camera. Record your home movie directly to DVD.
The Panasonic DVD Recorder is the Best Buy for anyone looking for 1080p upconversion, DVD recording, and working with their digital camera and video camera. Best choice for photographers."
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Would you recommend this product to a friend?:
Yes
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18 of 18 people found this review helpful.
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Review 2 for Panasonic Multiformat DVD-R/-R DL/-RW/RAM/+R/+R DL/+RW Recorder
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good investment
02/10/2008
By kmg365
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What's great about it: price
What's not so great: set up and instructions
"Athought it took some time to get the connections hooked up correctly, basis the overly detailed owner's manual, the recorder is turing out to be a great tool to transfer all of our old VHS and DV cassettes onto DVD's. The remore functions have been a bit of a challenge to use. We have had no problems with the overall function of the unit and quality of the output. Turns out we will most likey need an updated receiver/home stereo system to optimize the HDMI capabilities."
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Would you recommend this product to a friend?:
Yes
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Review 3 for Panasonic Multiformat DVD-R/-R DL/-RW/RAM/+R/+R DL/+RW Recorder
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Big upgrade from VCR
02/10/2008
By jmb1
from PA
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What's great about it: good picture
What's not so great: remote is intense and takes some getting used to
"I was using a VCR on a very regular basis until I got a 52" DLP tv. The VCR picture on a tv this size was horrible as you could imagine so I stopped recording my shows and had to actually be there when they were on, and sit through commercials. Having this DVD recorder lets me record shows again with much higher quality than my old VCRs. The remote is packed with buttons. The way the channel and volume buttons are designed, it would be difficult to make this your primary remote. The features of using a DVD over VHS for those unfamiliar are the abilities to delete and watch shows from anywhere on the disk just by browsing thumbnail videos of what was already recorded. Also you can watch a recording, while recording if you are on the same channel as you are recording on.
I have been using this for the past month and am very pleased with it. I went for the DVD-RAM disks because they have the most functionality but are also expensive."
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Would you recommend this product to a friend?:
Yes
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Review 4 for Panasonic Multiformat DVD-R/-R DL/-RW/RAM/+R/+R DL/+RW Recorder
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Top 250 Contributor
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Good HDMI DVD Player
02/02/2008
By Jackal221
from Madisonville,LA
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What's great about it: Flawless Picture with a Plasma
What's not so great: Is sometimes hard to operate
"I own the silver version of this one with the VCR part in it. It puts out a flawless picture whether with VHS or DVD. Looks like a 1080p with a 720p plasma. Like all DVD/VCRs, they can be hard to operate from time to time. Buy this with your first plasma or buy a Samsung Blu-Ray Player. Your Choice!!!"
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Would you recommend this product to a friend?:
Yes
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Review 5 for Panasonic Multiformat DVD-R/-R DL/-RW/RAM/+R/+R DL/+RW Recorder
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Mine is going back!
01/26/2008
By TheBigT
from Pennsylvania
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What's great about it: Picture quality, Pass through Tuner, Sufficient Connections
What's not so great: NOT DEPENDABLE! Takes forever to respond to remote control
"I purchased this unit to be able to pass through HD TV Signals to my home theater, to replace my VCR, and to copy home VCR tapes to DVD's. When it works it is great, problem is you never know when it is going to work. I set it up to record soaps for my wife on a daily basis, while we were both at work. We would come home to find that it didn't record, and then would have to reset the unit to get it to work again. I read about these problems in reviews around the internet, also read that later models have the bugs fixed.....Not True! Mine was manufactured in August 07. What good is a recording unit that dosen't record when you want it to! Back in the box it goes. I am going to go for a hard disc DVR when I go for FIOS TV, and a straight DVD recorder (without the tuner) for the rest"
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Would you recommend this product to a friend?:
No
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Review 6 for Panasonic Multiformat DVD-R/-R DL/-RW/RAM/+R/+R DL/+RW Recorder
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difficult and "touchy" system
01/22/2008
By oftherecord
from mi
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What's great about it: when it works.....it works well
What's not so great: takes too long to turn on. freezes frequently
"Maybe its just my unit but this thing continually freezes. I bought this to transfer digital camcorder tapes to DVD and to record DVDs from satellite receiver.
It frequently freezes. Set up is relatively well explained in the manual and easily done. After I transferred 1 tape to DVD and recorded a program it started freezing up on me. Numerous calls later to tech support....(by the way...some of them are good and some don't know what they are talking about..just reading out of the manual in front of them) it still freezes up and its difficult to get the hang of what drive to be in to record, etc....I am about 1 inch from boxing it up and returning it to best buy"
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Would you recommend this product to a friend?:
No
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1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Review 7 for Panasonic Multiformat DVD-R/-R DL/-RW/RAM/+R/+R DL/+RW Recorder
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maybe I just had a lemon!
01/18/2008
By boatanchor
from VA
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What's great about it: The few times it worked it was OK
"Constant lockups/freezes requiring the small reset button to be depressed. Digital tuner worked OK when unit wasn't locked up. Returned unit for refund."
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Would you recommend this product to a friend?:
No
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Review 8 for Panasonic Multiformat DVD-R/-R DL/-RW/RAM/+R/+R DL/+RW Recorder
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Good, Confusing, Could be better
12/16/2007
By honestchuck
from Scottsville, VA
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What's great about it: Digital tuner, good picture quality, flexible recording mode, supports multiple disc formats, good customer support
What's not so great: Turner glitches when using up/down channel button, operation not intuitive, slow turning on/turning off
"I bought the unit to record OTA digital programs which the unit does a good job. It has good picture quality, the customer support seems to be good. I like the ability to have flexible recording and the use of multilpe disc formats.
However, the operation of the unit is not intuitive and it is easy to make operator errors until you have used the unit for a while. The manual could be written better.
Have experienced a tuner glitch when using the channel up/down button. Channel number shown on screen does not necessarily match what channel is actually being shown, i.e. channel 29.2 is shown on screen when actually 29.1 is being viewed. This has not occurred with the key pad. I have had turner problems with a digital tv so this could be a problem this digital tuners.
Unit is slow turning on/turning off. Unit acts more like a computer booting up/ shutting down than it does a VCR. Need to compensate for the slow turning on when programming a recording so you don't miss the beginning of the program."
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Would you recommend this product to a friend?:
Yes
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4 of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Review 9 for Panasonic Multiformat DVD-R/-R DL/-RW/RAM/+R/+R DL/+RW Recorder
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DVD Recording for Dummies
11/24/2007
By slh1007
from Clarksville, TN
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What's great about it: Excellent Quality, Simple to Use
What's not so great: None
"I am not the most technology-savvy person out there, so I care about simplicity as much as I do quality. This Panasonic recorder exhibits both. It was simple to set up, simple to use, and everything I record comes out wonderfully. The price may be higher than some of the low-end models out there, but from my experience it's a steal overall at it's price. I can't speak about the technical capabilities like some of the other reviewers, but I can assure buyers that it's a quality product that can be as simple or complex as you want it to be."
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Would you recommend this product to a friend?:
Yes
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1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Review 10 for Panasonic Multiformat DVD-R/-R DL/-RW/RAM/+R/+R DL/+RW Recorder
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Top 100 Contributor
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Vety Nice Upconverting DVD Recorder
10/12/2007
By setupman
from Pensacola, FL
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What's great about it: Playback of recorded dvds are great
What's not so great: Doesn't have an eject button on remote, Menu is not straight forward upon first use.
"Overall I like this dvd recorder. It does everything I bought it for which is upconverting and dvd recording. It does both well. The upconverting feature doesn't produce video of the same quality as a tru 1080p player such as Blu-ray or HD players. It does however improve video to point where its better than standard dvd video played from a non-upconverting dvd player. The video images are crisp and precise especially when viewing newer dvds.
DVD recording is easy once you learn all the control menus and buttons on the remote. The remote is another thing I don't particularly care for. There are four recording modes which give you four diffrent levels of quality. I typically record shows for my son so I personally don't use the highest quality recording mode. I generally use the second lowest recording mode and it produces very good video.
As I said before, the remote doesn't have an eject button on it so you will have to press the eject button on the player itself to get your dvd out. This may not be important to some but it is a nice feature to have. I use a logitech harmony 880 universal remote now where I program this function into the remote. The eject function of the harmony 880 ejects the dvd from the panasonic now so I'm satisfied.
In the end though, I would recommend this dvd player to anyone who is looking for a dvd player with all the features that this panasonic dvd player has."
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Would you recommend this product to a friend?:
Yes
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2 of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Review 11 for Panasonic Multiformat DVD-R/-R DL/-RW/RAM/+R/+R DL/+RW Recorder
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Wonderful recorder
10/11/2007
By starry
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"Love the picture qualty watching a DVD. Low audio can be compensated by turning the Dynamic Range Compression to ON see page 39 of manual. If freezing should occur that is a safety mechanism and the unit can be reset see manual page 66."
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Would you recommend this product to a friend?:
Yes
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Review 12 for Panasonic Multiformat DVD-R/-R DL/-RW/RAM/+R/+R DL/+RW Recorder
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Great player
10/08/2007
By raaraa
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What's great about it: Great converter
What's not so great: Little picky on formats
"I bought this player about 2 months ago and love it. It will do everything that I ask of it.. can't go wrong with this one."
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Would you recommend this product to a friend?:
Yes
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Review 13 for Panasonic Multiformat DVD-R/-R DL/-RW/RAM/+R/+R DL/+RW Recorder
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Unbelievably Easy!
09/18/2007
By RuRu
from Bossier City, Louisianna
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"I traded up to this Panasonic DVD player when the LG player I got at Christmas kept messing up. I called the 800 # to make sure I was hooking it up right and programing it right so I would not have any problems. When the tech told me what to do I was amazed and asked her "is that it?" The player runs perfectly and I just love the ease at which I can play movies and the picture quality is outstanding! I will probably buy another one for my bedroom. I highly recommend spending the little extra to get this quality."
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Would you recommend this product to a friend?:
Yes
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Review 14 for Panasonic Multiformat DVD-R/-R DL/-RW/RAM/+R/+R DL/+RW Recorder
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what a disappointment
09/13/2007
By naknik
from ny
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"the unit freezes, non stop error's, picture when it works is great. i had the unit for two weeks, it goes back to the store."
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Would you recommend this product to a friend?:
No
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1 of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Review 15 for Panasonic Multiformat DVD-R/-R DL/-RW/RAM/+R/+R DL/+RW Recorder
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Very nice HD DVR
09/13/2007
By BillH
from De Forest, WI
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"The Panasonic Multiformat DVR is really an outstanding recorder. We bought it to replace an older 480i DRV and the Panasonic is better in every respect. The recording quality is "near-1080p", giving an excellent picture on our 46" LCD HD flatscreen. It records high quality copies of programs previously recorded on our satellite receiver's built-in hard drive. There is little or no difference in the quality between the h/d recording and a recording (at the highest quality setting) on a DVD+RW. On-screen menus are outstanding with prompts for which remote button to use for the desired task. Even the IR receiver for the remote is more sensitive than in our old DVR. Setup was quick and easily guided by the menu; the manual is clear with handy reference to page numbers for additional info. It even has a good index. Very easy to use. We would recommend this unit to anyone looking for a high quality DVR.
There have been some problems with this unit failing or locking up in use; we have not seen that yet it the short time we've had it. One year factory parts and labor warranty."
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Would you recommend this product to a friend?:
Yes
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4 of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Review 16 for Panasonic Multiformat DVD-R/-R DL/-RW/RAM/+R/+R DL/+RW Recorder
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The Best DVD Recorder on the market
09/12/2007
By buzzbunny
from Albuquerque, NM
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"This is my 2nd DVD recorder, and I now know that all DVD recorders are not created equal. This recorder will record on a mixed bag of media, and the discs will replay on any DVD player, this is the best part since most will only replay on the machine that recorded them. In addition, it is very easy to record from your camcorder to a DVD disc, with an optional fire cord. This recorder is the best deal on the shelf. I have owned it now for 5 months and use it almost daily. Just an excellent way to save TV shows from your Tivo box."
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Would you recommend this product to a friend?:
Yes
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5 of 5 people found this review helpful.
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Review 17 for Panasonic Multiformat DVD-R/-R DL/-RW/RAM/+R/+R DL/+RW Recorder
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Extremely Happy
09/09/2007
By Hubris
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"The picture looks amazing, haven't had any problems with it. It can upconvert to the same quality as HD so why bother buying an HD player? I bought this one because they hadn't decided whether to go with bluray or HD, and I think I'll be waiting longer to get one of them because I love this player so much."
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Would you recommend this product to a friend?:
Yes
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1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Review 18 for Panasonic Multiformat DVD-R/-R DL/-RW/RAM/+R/+R DL/+RW Recorder
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Good DVD recorder with HD and HDMI
08/28/2007
By MJN222
from SF Bay Area, CA
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"You will need a decent HDMI cable to get the best picture with this recorder.
Watching DVDs is a delight and I can get HD broadcast cable stations with only an analog cable connection. They do allow access to about 19 station using their adapter and I can get about 17 using QAM and no adapter. I did have to look for where the active channels were from over 200 channels. The time was well worth it.
I now watch ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, WB and local channels on HD. Once you get used to HD you really won't like analog cable or broadcast anymore.
I don't know if you can do this with Comcast. I have Alamedanet cable in the City of Alameda, CA
I did sign up for the extenced warranty."
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Would you recommend this product to a friend?:
Yes
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2 of 2 people found this review helpful.
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