Panasonic DMR-EX77EB-K - 160GB Hard Drive DVD Recorder - With 1080P Up-Conversion & Freeview - Black

Amazon Customer Reviews

(5 out of 5)

Great Machine, but you need to Understand what you are buying first.

A previous comment said it doesn't perform like a PVR. that's because it isn't a PVR! it cannot automatically buffer like Sky+ because it was never designed to. and the "Time Slip" function on the Panasonic is nothing to do with Pausing Live TV, Time Slip on this machine is only a fancy name for being able to advance through a recording in 10-minute increments (e.g. if you stop watching a 2-hour movie half way through, instead of fast-forwarding to get back to the point at which you left it, you can jump ahead to 50 or 60 minutes (or however many you want). It doesn't say it can Pause Live TV, so a buyer shouldn't be upset when they discover it doesn't have that feature.

if you want an automatic buffer and PVR functionality, then buy a PVR or get Sky+!

and yes, the lack of divx compatability is a licence issue, Panasonic felt that the UK wasn't using this medium as much as other countries, so saved on paying the licence and omitted it from the UK models.

and another reviewer said it was something out of the dark ages because you have to press the button on the unit itself, to automatically record for 30, 60, 90 or 120 minutes. it is made like that so you don't accidentally alter the recording period if you press something on the remote without knowing it (you might be manually recording a movie or sporting event, but unknown to you, you might have pressed the button on the remote which will stop the recording in 30 minutes. having it only work by pressing the button on the unit itself, you can't mess up a manual recording).

if a little research is done beforehand, and you download and look at the instruction manual in PDF format, you won't be disappointed or under the wrong impression of what a machine like this can do.

PS, no dvd recorders outside Japan have twin digital tuners, so don't be harsh on the Panasonic for not having them, they're all like that. the most you can currently get are just 1 digital and 1 analogue tuner, but the analogue tuner will be redundant in a couple of years when the analogue signal is switched off anyway. the Panasonic doesn't have an analogue tuner, but it's no big loss as the analogue signal in my area is very poor.

my tip is to go for the EX87, the 250GB version of this same machine, as you can never have too much hard disc space. ive owned the 77 and it was fantastic, but sold it to buy the 87 and love it, i recommend it to everyone, as long as you don't need to play divx material on it.

(5 out of 5)

All I ever needed!

I've been looking into hard drive recorders for quite a while. By the time I bought this, I had a good idea of what I was after. Integrated freeview was particularly important to ensure greater ease of use and compatibility, with a dvd recorder to burn permanant copies of stuff I decided I wanted to keep (knowing that otherwise my hard drive will eventually become full - forward thinking!).

Auto-set up made installation a breeze, and I have not yet been disappointed. One of my small concerns was not having video-plus to quickly set up recording - but found that I had overlooked using the digital electronic programme guide - setting timer recording is a breeze, only need to find the programme in the guide and press enter, and that's pretty much it (beside a few tweaks if needed).

I've also surprised myself with some features. I plugged my playstation 3 in the front of the machine's phono sockets, the result being able to record my friends making idiots of themselves using the Eyetoy Game and a camera! Going to make a nice DVD of these clips and send to my friends as a surprise to make their day! I've yet to try using the DV port to put the contents of my DV camera onto DVD, which is another thing I was looking for.

Well worth every penny I spent - despite not having tried everything! Good price for such a quality product, jam-packed full of features, with a relatively simple interface and remote. I'm confident this won't disappoint many buyers. Thanks Amazon for yet another great buy, with super-fast free delivery!

(5 out of 5)

Great machine!!

While searching for a Hard Drive DVD Recorder I have noted with interest the comments regarding watching a programme on TV while recording another on the Panasonic. Initial comments seemed to leave some room for doubt.
Have just bought this model and I can confirm that those with a TV with its own digital tuner can watch one digital freeview program on their TV while recording another different digital freeview program on the Hard Drive DVD recorder.Seems only sensible ! Do not have Sky etc so cannot comment on this aspect.

I hope this clarifies the position for future possible purchasers.

Great machine - does what it says on the box, and well.

(3 out of 5)

Panasonic DMR-EX77 plus and minus points

The TV package I purchased recently and with it came the very basic DVD recorder without hard disc, therefore I opted to upgrade to the latest DVD recorder and hard disk, there were two options the 250 GB which would record endless hours of TV.. or the160 GB which would suit most people's needs.

The plus points would be the television guide which is updated every day for the next seven days which makes recording very simple and gives a good guide for the days ahead.. however it should be mentioned this only works by the standard Time it is scheduled to start and finish for each programme , so you still have to do the usual overlap from start and finish for the television channels that fail to keep to their time schedules especially when waffling on after any large sports events
however all of the usual copying to DVD facilities including editing programmes on the hard disk prior to copying is a good asset to this recorder .
And also chapter marks so you can watch the second half of a long film at a different time, and also have the option for title pictures on the play list menu.
Also all the freeview channels its possible to record making this a recorder of the future .

However there are some minus points that should be highlighted as well.
For me the most common button that I would use on the handset is the instant record when watching TV and recording a different channel, and normally pressing two or three times increases the recording time by 30 minutes and up to four hours,
Panasonic with this particular model have decided to dispense with that function and although you can instant record from the handset you have no control of the duration of the recording only by pressing stop, if you wanted to use this then it is only possible by pushing the button on the recorder itself pressing once every 30 minutes... going back to the dark days before we had handset's.

As a package I presumed that the Panasonic DMR EX77 hard disk DVD recorder and the latest 37inch Panasonic Plasma television PAN - TH37PX70B would work in harmony with each other , however on the contrary It is a very different story even when using the latest scart leads to connect,as in the situation that you had your television on watching an one programme and then wanting to record a different channel then switching on the DVD recorder you will suddenly find your television blanks out for about 30 seconds while the DVD warms up which obviously interrupts any programme you could be watching and quite infuriating.

I also have a pioneer analogue DVD recorder which does not affect the same television with any interruption, so the moral of the story could be don't always think having the same make of DVD recorder and television will solve all the problems, as it doesn't seem to with Panasonic.
The display on the front of the unit is quite basic compared with other makes .

The reply from Panasonic regarding these issues were simply a standard basic copy letter, and not answering any points in detail,
So from a large electrical manufacturer I would have expected better customer Service.

Panasonic should have kept up or have the same as other competing electrical manufacturers the few basic controls , and probably forget about be ridiculous greetings " hello" " goodbye" on startup and switching off.

(5 out of 5)

Great Performer

Did a lot of research before parting with my cash. I needed a Hard drive as well as DVD recorder that had to be easy to use. The freeview tuner came as a bonus. It is a simple machine to set up and controls are in logical place. Twin tuners would be an advantage, but I already have a freeview box so I can still watch one channel whilst recording another. Excellent picture quality at LP. ELP gives a picture quality like a video, so still very watchable.

Highly recommended.