Home > Consumer Reviews > Panasonic DMR-EX77 - 160gb Hard Drive DVD Recorder - With 1080P Up-Conversion & Freeview - Silver

I've had various hard drive machines from Panasonic over the years, starting from the E80 in the pre-freeview days. Their similarity in usage is helpful because you're already prepared for the best way to use them.

Generally this machine seems better than my previous one, which was an EX75, and the menu bug pressing -24 hours in the EPG has been fixed in this model. Also it seems to handle the menus quicker - it zips through the EPG now. One down side is that the titling options are missing - if someone from Panasonic reads this- please put them back and issue an over-the-air update! On previous machines you could store a title for use later, and this made it fast to enter names where for whatever reason you had none (for instance recording from AV2). The whole titling section has now been replaced with the simple, slow, way of entering text for each title, with no memory of favourite names. It also seems more solid at handling different DVDs - the EX75's writing capability went the same way as previous models, descending to only working with DVD-RWs and DVD-RAMs. The recommendation I'd make is no cheapo generic discs, because although they might work for a while, they might be causing damage - stick to certified verbatim, genuine panasonic (hard to find with whitetops) or TDK, and ALWAYS use 16x media.

One thing I've noticed, and this is true of the EX75 too - these machines require a SCART for operation - they don't modulate the signal out onto UHF any more. Of course there are very few of us using non-SCART tellies - but just for a while I wanted to use an old portable with no SCART, and had to find another way. Of course you can use some other video device to provide a workround, and it hardly affects many people.

Overall, I'm happy with this as a VHS video replacement and freeview box. However, recording from hard disk to DVD is a real art, one I've not managed to master yet. There are so many conditions as to what you can and can't do when wishing to record in high speed mode (otherwise you burn in a very slow real time mode), I've found it frustrating.

Other annoying features:-
1. Pause live tv is possible, but not as easily as some other products
2. If a program has already started, you can't simply record to the end automatically (you have to set a manual time)
3. The 'press for each 30 minutes of recording time button' only works on the unit, not the remote - most bizzare!

All said, if you're not too fussed about recording DVDs then its a good unit - its just a shame the software guys who designed it didn't think about it a little more.

"What Home Cinema" magazine gave the DMR-EX77 a rating of 90% in their August 2007 issue, and it's easy to see why. It's a stylish, well-made, reliable, fully featured machine, that you really WILL use on a daily basis. The three main features that I continually use are:

- Recording live TV Shows to HDD
- Archiving TV Shows from HDD to DVD-R
- Playing DVD and DVD-R discs

Recording live Freeview TV Shows to the internal Hard Disk Drive (HDD) is super easy. If you want to record what you're currently watching, just press the REC button on the remote. If you want to set a Timer Recording, you can do it in literally 3 presses of the remote, starting with the GUIDE button. Once a Timer Recording is set, it is guaranteed to record reliably. I've never had it fail on me once. Just set it and forget it. It doesn't matter if you leave the machine turned on or off. If it's off, it will automatically turn itself on, execute the Timer Recording, then turn itself off again.

With the 160 GB HDD, you can record for 36 hours in XP Mode. What this means is, you can make technically flawless, perfect recordings, indistinguishable from the original broadcast. If you want to record for longer than 36 hours, you can drop the quality down to SP Mode. But I challenge you to find more than 36 hours of content worth recording on Freeview!

To see all the TV Shows you've recorded, just press the DIRECT NAVIGATOR button on the remote. This takes you to a list of all your recordings, presented in date order. You can Play any recording, you can Delete any recording, and you can Edit any recording.

The Edit feature is very useful. It enables you to tidy up your recordings, by trimming the start and stop points and cutting out the adverts. While the technicality of this isn't for Gran, it's pretty quick and easy to do. The Divide Title option lets you split one recording into two; perfect for choosing the very first frame of your recording. You can repeat the same procedure for the end frame of your recording, so that it finishes exactly where you want it, such as on a solid black. Finally, the Partial Delete option lets you cut chunks of video out of the middle of your recording; perfect for seamlessly removing adverts.

Even though the HDD can store 36 hours of TV Shows, it's best to think of this storage as temporary and archive anything you want to keep safe onto a DVD-R disc. And this is where having both an HDD and DVD drive in the same machine is extremely useful. You don't have to worry about cables, or connecting two separate devices (e.g. Sky+ Box and DVD Recorder) together. Everything's already set up and ready to go. By using the Advanced Copy feature, you can automatically copy an entire list of TV Recordings to a DVD-R disc in one go, without having to record them one by one. This saves a ton of time.

Finally, DVDs played on the EX77 look very clear. They're automatically upscaled to 1080p and output via HDMI, making the difference in quality between DVDs and Blu-ray Discs less obvious. To be honest, your ability to appreciate High Definition all depends on how large your TV is, what resolution it supports, and how close you sit to watch it. For a lot of home users, there won't be any discernible difference in detail between a DVD played on this machine, or a Blu-ray Disc in a Blu-ray Player. That's not what companies selling Blu-ray Players want you to hear, but it's true.

On the whole have been very happy with the machine, agree with the comments on slow start but we are learning to be patient! We haven't gone too much in to detail but have found one big problem with DVD playback- it doesn't do Region 2 (which is what Europe comes under). Being not technically minded and checking the manual there doesn't seem to be any reference to dealing with this. Can anyone tell us how to change this or have we been completely ignorant and not paid attention to the details and it isn't possible? Just took it for granted that it would automatically play DVDs from UK when we bought it.

Spent ages deciding which DVD recorder player to buy as wanted one which would record freeview while I was also watching freeview.
Would definitely recommend this, to record and view another freeview station at the same time you will need a separate digital set top box. Took me a while to work out how to do this as doesnt explain in the manual, but by pressing AV in the TV part of the handset it switches from the DVD freeview to the separate set top box so when recording from the DVD recorder you need to watch through the separate set top box. Also wasnt sure whether to get one with hard drive but am glad I did as don't have to bother with DVDs. Have option to record from hard drive onto DVD if you wish though - and if you can work out which type of DVD to buy!
Really clear screen shows what you have recorded. Can set programmes to record easily by going into TV guide and clicking on the programme you want.
A big advantage is that while a programme is recording you can watch it from the start - even while its still recording. So if you have to miss the first part of a programme you can press record then just press play when you are ready to watch, even if its not finished recording the programme.
Have had same problem as last reviewer and havent worked out how to set timer on recorder. Tried what it suggested in manual but didnt work. Anybody else had any luck?