Home > Consumer Reviews > Panasonic DMR-EZ17K DVD Recorder with ATSC Tuner Black

I'm amazed. I was able to set it up and negotiate through the instruction manual with no problem. As a fity-eight year old physician I usually spend a lot of time using bad language before anything works. This was by degree a pleasant experience for me. And it actually works!

Does not respond to my remote. Does not respond to on/off switch. Does not play music CD. Does not work!!!

Mine fail within a year.

This DVR is the worst electronic appliance I have ever purchased in my life.

Channel changes take number of seconds, probably 2-3 at best.

The unit is noisy to the point where watching a DVD is distracting.

Startup takes ages - probably about 10 seconds to open the disc tray to place a DVD. I found myself not sure whether I had pressed the button correctly, waiting a long time for the response, and then pressing it again - and having the tray pop open and close shut - being forced to press it once again - with probably about 20+ seconds transpiring.

The documentation is sub-standard.

MP3, JPEG and other standard format files are unplayable - just check the documentation - there is a very brief section which states its shortcomings.

I've been very disappointed with this - and will be steering away from other panasonic products in the future, even though I have had a string of good experiences with them. Like I said, this is without doubt the very worst electronic appliance, I have ever wasted my dollars on.

I purchased my Panasonic EZ17 in May 2007 and it worked quite well up until one sad day in August 2008. The picture froze during playback of a DVD+R DL disk and after trying EVERYTHING (eject, reset, reboot, etc.), the unit would simply not eject the disk. The disk doesn't even spin and the front display indicates the tray is "open" even though it isn't. The only useful info provided by Panasonic Customer Support was the name of a local "authorized" independent repair station, which so far has been unable to solve the problem. Oh well, looks like it's dead and ready for burial, and after only a year of infrequent usage. Before it died, I really liked the features except that the unit required an awfully long time to start-up when you press Power-On. Overall, I think it is an inferior model compared to competing brands and products. I suspect that Sony and Toshiba both make DVD recorders that work better and longer than Panasonic.
Disappointing reliability. Internal software/hardware doesn't seem very robust.

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.