Panasonic DMR-EZ47V Up-Converting 1080p DVD-Recorder/VCR Combo with Built In Tuner

Product Description

Product Details

• Multi Drive Ram + others
• DV Input for transfer
• VCR Record and playback
• HDMI out put, SD card slot
• 1 Sec Quick Start

Customer Reviews

Pricey but delivers the goods

Review Date: September 1, 2007

Reviewer: J. Frank, New York City

I bought this model yesterday after a frustrating week: my professional grade (but 4 year old) JVC bit the dust just when I needed to transfer a stack of tapes for a a client. I initially bought a Sony Sony RDR-VX555, which transferred tapes beautifully...but lacked inputs to get any decent quality from a cable box (unless you wanted to have a S-VHS cable sticking out of the front of your device). And even when it was hooked up to the cable box, the picture stuttered when recorded (or wouldn't record at all. Turns out Sony has a chip that 'protects' cable box signals...so it really is false advertising to have "record from cable box" on the item's box) So I returned it and bought the Panasonic, which was almost $100 more. And I have to say it has been worth it so far. It plays DVDs beautifully and upconverts to my Samsung LCD HDTV like a dream: tested it with "Return of the King" and it looked like the TNT HiDef broadcast. I was able to hook it up to my TV via HDMI with to problems whatsoever (and I've noticed that Samsung is a bit touchy on that regard). And as I was also able to hook it up via Composite out, I was able to test the signal quality HDMI vs. Composite. Personally thought the HDMI was a lot sharper and the colors truer (the Composite signal added a lot of red to the mix). Had some initial problems hooking it up to my cable box and called Panasonic (who really weren't much help...I figured it out while explaining the problem to them for the fifth time). Basically, I kept getting an error message saying that my TV wasn't accepting the DVI source for some reason. So I didn't get picture, just an error message when I tried to run signal from the Cable box to the Panasonic. I was worried for a moment, as the instructions for the Panasonic want you to run the cable into the DVD/VCR first and then output it to the cable box (which caused a huge breakdown in picture quality and doesn't work for most of the channels). So I was afraid that the Panasonic would also prove to be incompatible with signals coming out of a cable box directly. Turns out that it was probably the TV not wanting the signal coming from two HDMI inputs or from the cable not wanting to output it essentially to two HDMI inputs (I had the cable box hooked up directly to the TV and the DVD/VCR hooked up to the TV, both through HDMI). When I unplugged the HDMI cable from the cable box, the signal miraculously appeared through the DVD/VCR. So basically, if that happens to you, just unplug the connection between cable box and TV when you are wanting to record a show (this might be due to the pass-through capabilities of the Panasonic DVD/VCR, and supposedly the signal going to the TV from the Panasonic is going to end up being as good as directly from the Cable box...but I would rather not risk it, since my picture is finally doing great now that Time Warner figured out the problem after a year). Right now I'm copying a VHS to DVD and the picture quality of the VHS to my TV is incredible: much better than it was with the old JVC. One nice feature I already noticed is that the DVD recorder automatically put in a break when it sensed a change between programs. Recording off TV last night produced an excellent result and I'm sure that when this tape is over (in 1:30) I'll find the same (if not...I'll be back!)

Does Everything I Need Well

Review Date: October 2, 2007

Reviewer: N. Gnas,

I needed a dvd/combo recorder for three reasons: 1) To dub family movies from VHS & Hi8 2) To recieve and record HD Over-the-Air programming 3) To playback commercial DVDs in near-HD quality This machine exceeded my expectations in all three areas. Dubbed home movies were easy to do and looked great. OTA reception looked as good as my HDTV's and antenna was plugged into the Panasonic's pass thru coaxial. It is great if you don't want cable/Tivo, and want to schedule recordings of OTA programs. Sure, it has minor issues that I would change, but then, I never had a piece of electronics that was perfect. Also, it was top rated in the just released issue of a popular consumer reporting mag. Nice to see AFTER a purchase. If you need it for the same reasons I did, I think you will be more than satisfied.

Terrific Machine

Review Date: November 1, 2007

Reviewer: doug, nj

The Panasonic DMR-EZ47VK recorder player is fantastic. I would recommend it to anyone. There are all sorts of very complete reviews here, but I just want to say how pleased I was with this machine. It is much better than I expected. I have a VIZIO 47" 1080p LCD TV and digital HD cable. Recordings of HD cable channels made through the Panasonic's tuner and sent to the TV on the HDMI cable are spectacular - they almost look HD ! Colors and clarity are perfect. Recordings from my digital video camera (using the dv cable) are great. The colors of an older, bargain type dvd recorder were faded or just different from different sources. The Pansonic has great color regardless of the source. I use mostly RW dvds and use them over and over. It is true that it does not seem to make any difference whether you use -RW or +RW or -R or + R. The best cable recordings are from the direct cable and the internal tuner and from the HD channels. Even though this is not an HD recorder, direct recordings of HD channels come through in wide screen format (fill the whole screen) and look almost HD ! A lot of our favorite shows come on after our bedtime. We record them and watch them later. Also, I have not been able to see any difference between the 1-hr recording time and the 2-hr SP time. SP looks just as good to me. I haven't tried 4-hr yet. Like others, I had some kind of pass through problem hooking the cable to the Pansonic first and passing through to the cable box. I used a splitter and have the cable go to each seperately. For channels that cannot be decoded without a cable box, I feed the Pansonic with an S-Video connection from the cable box. Unfortunately, this quality is just a little less than the tuner derived signals, but still good. Ease of use: this machine is way easier to use than so many others I've had. The instruction manual is terrific compared to some manuals that seem like they were written in Chinese. The machine does a lot of nice things automatically. If you put in an unformated RW disk, it asks if you want to format it. Commercialy recorded dvds look great too. There is was some mumbling about the 1080p up convert. For me, this works perfectly. This machine is the next best thing to an actual HD recorder. Infact, I doubt if I will ever buy an HD recorder, this is so good. I haven't even tried any VCR stuff yet. But, I am sure it will be good.

If this machine was a person, he/she would be extremely talented.

Review Date: August 21, 2007

Reviewer: R. A. Beverlin, Kansas City, Missouri USA

Good reproductions of VHS to DVD. Has multiple features, uses most types of DVDs, and plays well, too. The instruction book is the size of a manual, but the many features need the explanation and details to make full use of all the features. Not exactly super-easy to learn, but worth learning all the functions. I recommend this for a beginner or novice, which I am.

GREAT UNIT

Review Date: May 22, 2007

Reviewer: stopczewski,

Love this unit.. I have it hooked up HDMI to my Panisonic monitor and it's a superior picture to my Sony Combo DVD/VHS(which I used in progressive scan mode). The picture quality is like I'm seeing the DVD's for the first time... I'd recommend this unit to anyone interested in HD quality.