Home > Consumer Reviews > Panasonic DMR-EX79EB-K Freeview+ 250GB Hard Disc Drive 1080p Upscaling DVD Recorder

This is a wonderful machine which is packed with useful features. The picture quality is outstanding and it up scales pictures to high definition very well. Incidentally I am currently using a cheap HDMI cable from Amazon and it works very well. You can set up program recordings (both one off and entire series) with about 2 clicks thanks to the 7 day TV guide. It also has a feature which allows you to skip adverts through playback!! (simply put the machine into fast forward then click the skip button) To cap everything off the machine uses less energy than previous models and runs very quietly. It is a neat slimmed down design and will look great with any other equipment. The remote can operate my Samsung TV thanks to an automatic link system (amazing). Buy this, it is an absolute bargain and one of the finest recorders around.

I recently bought a 42" Panasonic plasma TV with in-built FreeSat and wanted a DVD recorder to complete my all Panasonic AV set-up - which includes a separate Home Theatre system and Video recorder (essential for the hundreds of old VHS tapes I still own!)

This is NOT a technical review - I'm very much a layman in such matters - however, I did want to express my satisfaction with the product, so here goes:

I opted for this model and I'm so glad I did. For well under £300 you get a machine that produces stunning picture quality - virtually indistinguishable from the source. However, I would advise that you budget around £30-£40 extra for a good quality HDMI cable - it's worth it.

Set-up was a piece of cake, and once I'd read the essential sections of the 'War and Peace'-sized operating manual, I was away and able to do everything I wanted out of the machine in an hour or two; and that's without any previous experience of a DVD recorder. However, I would point out I bought it for very basic recording/playback purposes only and if you want to do anything fancier with it, it may take a good while longer to master all the functions.

The HDD is capable of storing close on 60 hours of downloaded programmes in 'XP' mode. However, it's double that for 'SP' mode and I hardly noticed any degeneration in image quality at that speed, and very little in 'LP' also. However, the 'EP' setting is another matter and you may wish to avoid this.

Ease of use is an important aspect of the machine: programming using VideoPlus+ was a revelation - it's so easy to get the hang of and very convenient. And the remote is clearly and simply set out and after a few goes I found I was using it almost intuitively.

When you want to view what you've recorded, simply press the 'Direct Navigator' button on the remote and this allows you to view six downloaded programmes per page on either HDD or DVD. Once you've finished with these it's easy to delete them from the HDD forever, although you'll need to use a specific type of re-writeable DVD if you want to delete from this medium.

I've only recorded onto HDD so far, then copied onto DVD where a programme (or film) is worth keeping. However, don't make the mistake I made (before someone kindly put me right) of copying onto a DVD+R disc where a title was recorded in 16:9 aspect. There's no high speed transfer to disc this way - it copies in real time. If you've saved a 90 minute film it takes 90 minutes (plus additional formatting time) to copy.

On Friday of last week I went out for a drink, but pre-recorded the last semi-final of 'Britain's Got Talent' (I'm sorry to admit this), 'The Jonathon Ross Show' and 'Later with Jools Holland'. I watched these on Saturday morning, in glorious quality playback, decided none were worth keeping, and deleted them simply and without fuss from the hard drive.

So much better results than a VHS recorder, and so much less faffing about too!

Although a previous reviewer reports sound issues with non-standard DVD playback, this is not something that would affect me: I'm using this to record to, and playback from, HDD - or copy to disc to play on my home theatre system, which offers superior sound quality. But as a player alone, it's still pretty good and also features an excellent in-built Freeserve tuner.

Once again, my apologies to those expecting a run-down of technical aspects etc, but this is aimed specifically at those, like myself, who previously didn't own a DVD recorder and wanted a basic summary of features - and comments on how good the recorded results were.

I have had Panasonic recorders in the past and have been unhappy with the opweration. Having spoken to close family and friends who have bought and own Pansonic products I decided to give them another go and plumped for this model.
The instructions were reasonably clear (albeit in broken English at times) and the device was very easy to set up and use. The unit was connected, switched on and set up within half an hour. You may be able to set up quicker but I always take my time so I don't make any mistakes! A lot of the functions I had on my previous recorder were still here with the new model which meant operation was easy to pick up.
I then recorded a program onto the HDD using the Guide+ system which worked as expected. The picture quality was excellent and due to the excellent digital reception there was no blocking on playback. The same with DVD record and playback too.
The only niggle I have (and does not reduce the five star rating) was for 'non-standard' recorded DVD's. Upon playback I found that the picture was OK but there was no sound. I had to go into the devices menu and change one of the sound settings before I got sound. Apart from that an excellent product.

Since we bought this fabulous machine a few months ago my husband stopped complaining about me spending too much time on my computer. He is thrilled with this clever gadget and spends hours recording and sorting his favourite programmes. We used to have an analogue version (home cinema), so we are familiar with all the controls and useful features. We had to invest into home cinema separately to achieve the full effect, but still are very happy with our purchase. I must say though, that this is our second unit. The first one was replaced due to a fault when viewing on hd settings. Left top corner pixellates a bit. The replacement unit is the same, but we like it so much that we don't mind that tiny fault. Since our tv is only hd ready and not full hd, we don't often put it on hd. I still gave it 5 stars. It is fabulous for basic editing and transferring old videos on DVDs (apart from copyright protected ones/ I am referring to home videos).
The more you read the manual there more you will find yourself pleasantly surprised with what this machine is capable of.

this new panasonic DMR-EX79EB is probably the best yet.the quality of play back is second to none, and the large 250gb makes storage of films and full program series runs effortless.I like many copy films from sky+ to DVD and play them back when we are out and about in the caravan and its a breeze with this machine.Unlike my noisy sky box this unit is very quite.The only reason not to give full 5 stars in my review like many have said before
the EPG is to cramped much of the screen guide is taken up with adverts. But apart from that would i have another? most definitely