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Recording media | DVD±R/RW |
written by Sar Castic on 26/10/2010
This machine a Panasonic DMR75EX was bought 18/05/2007. Very good interface and features, epg superb. Error U80-81 often experienced, Panasonic's Tech dept said it was an antenna problem. The DVD drive stopped working 02/2010. Complained several times to Panasonic who eventually sent me a Firmware update disc! This was despite telling them the disc drive had stopped working. Was also told that I had to pay for an examination, transport to the approved repairer and I will be expected to contribute to the cost of repair. Really!It only was then I investigated the Sale of Goods Act and found out that my contract was with the shop that sold it to me and not the maker. The dealer, Currys (through their Complaints Dept) tested the machine free of charge and offered me £110 gift voucher. I have used it to buy a Samsung SH897M that is more advanced,has twice the HDD capacity capacity and many more other useful features. I paid out £129 for this. I could have gone to the Small Claims Court but I doubt I would have got much more and I would still have been left with a machine and make that I didn't trust. I have kept the Panasonic for now as it has a very good HDD made by Western Digital which I could use as an external drive and bin the rest. Time will tell with the new one. In conclusion I have found many complaints about the DMR75EX on forums and there is a company in Glasgow that will sell you a replacement laser assembly for £40 to fit yourself and say that they have sold 195 so far! Panasonic is not on my purchase list now,what a pity!
written by ianginn on 10/11/2009
very easy to set this dvd recorder up.ive owned mine for 2years and would buy it again if it was still a current model.even my partner finds it easy to use and thats saying something.you are able to be on and recording within a few seconds.the editing of adverts and any recording is so easy.the time slip function is superb,this allows me to watch a film at advert time we enter 4 minutes and we at the end of aLL adverts.
a nice size hard drive allows plenty of storage.recording to a disc in fast mode takes 15 mins.otherwise its as long as the film being recorded.
The only slight and it is slight downside is the fact that when watching your pre recorded films the hard drives plays through them all rather than stop at the end of the one you are watching.(but hey, thats a minute particle for this machine)
written by diablo944 on 13/06/2007
Sold in the UK as a region locked unit, many are region free now due to demand for a region free recorder/player. Occasionally struggles to play DVD's that other players have no issue with, usually resulting in green artefacts on such awkward discs. As a recording device though, it is a very capable contender. EPG is OK, not earth shattering but OK. Editing facilities for hard drive recorded items are exemplary once you get used to the controls, allowing easy editing out of any portions/adverts that may ruin the flow of the programme. Single tuner is a bit limiting, but if two tuners are needed, you should look elsewhere. On first setup for the recording preferences to HDD, it is essential you choose carefully so as to allow fast record from HDD to DVD later. Get it wrong or fail to address this early on, and all recordings from HDD to DVD take place in Real time, ie:- a 1 hour programme will take an hour to record. Get the settings right and the same hours recording will transfer to DVD in ten minutes. Some aspects of the recording from HDD to DVD do not flow as nicely or logically as you may expect, but again, once you are used to it, it is an OK setup. Displaying the HDD recordings menu:- whichever of the recordings is highlighted begins playing in the window allowing you to see what the program is without having to actually play it. Recordings made via the Freeview EPG take the title from the EPG for the recording. Items done with quick start record use 'recording 1' 'recording 2' etc. Selectable compression for writing to DVD gives results from excellent short play to truly low quality long play at the maximum compression. That said, if you are trying to stretch a DVD to 6 hours, you would expect a massive reduction on quality, the fact that the option is here is a bonus. The auxiliary input allows for the HDD recording of an exterior source (video/tivo etc), and the obvious ability to then edit the adverts out of these recordings. All in all, the Panasonic is a good machine, occasionally not as intuitive as I would like (if set to record to DVD, pressing record brings up the device not ready if no disc is inserted rather than just commencing a recording to the hard drive as a default, it can mean missing the start of a programme). With the amount of features crammed into the box, it isn't really a surprise to find that there is a bit of a learning curve involved in getting the most out of it. I wouldn't recommend it to someone technologically challenged, but otherwise it is a nice machine. As with any device with a hard drive recording facility, the bigger the better. models sharing the same name with a different number are identical barring the hard drive size. Only get a smaller drive model if your budget is tight. If region free is important to you, make sure you get one that is already sorted, the task of doing this is not simply a remote code. The remote control is initially quite a busy item, but again, it doesn't take long to get used to what you need to use.
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