» Panasonic DMR-EZ17K DVD Recorder with ATSC Tuner Black

Panasonic DMR-EZ17K DVD Recorder with ATSC Tuner Black Reviews

Customer Rating:
Summary: pretty good but loud
Comment: After contacting Panasonic for the firmware update necessary to make the unit actually record (it seems that a factory refurb'd unit would have the factory update, but alas..) the unit records great. When I can find a DVD-RAM disk I'm eager to try the slip-time recording. I agree with several of the other reviewers: the unit has the loudest drive that I've ever heard in my life. I haven't yet tried the HD tuner: Panasonic tells me that my rabbit ears are too old for HD channels??

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Customer Rating:
Summary: freezes, will not eject disk
Comment: 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.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Very good DVD recorder
Comment: 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.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Unreliable
Comment: I have had this for awhile. When it works, it works well, but they way they have the circuitry set up, it checks the disc before ejecting, which can make the player lockup and you can't get the disc out.
I ended up throwing mine away and buying a different brand.
Be forwarned, not a reliable product.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Recorder!!!
Comment: I just had to write a review to counter some of the bad reviews out there. This item is not without its' quirks, as many people have noted, but it's great at what it does. And what it does is make great recordings. When I got fed up with DirecTV and dropped the service, I bought two of these recorders to record programs off air. They are a little slow changing channels, and they did give me a few problems when I first got them, but after an initial breaking in period, they've worked great! I record almost exclusively on DVD Ram and I've found it to be a very versatile medium, with superior editing functions. It's true, it's tuner will only output 480p signals, but I mainly want it to catch programs I can't watch and to archive some shows I'd like to keep. BTW, you can record on DVD Ram thousands of times! Probably the only drawback I have on my units is the clock. For some reason it takes forever to set (about 20 min). All in all, I think most people buying this recorder will be very pleased, but be forewarned, it might have to be reset once in a while and it can be slow. It just depends on what you use it for. It's LP/4 hour mode is really good. I'd hardily recommend the DMR-EZ17K to anyone.

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