Panasonic DMR-EZ48VP-K 1080p Upconverting VHS DVD Recorder with Built In Tuner (Discontinued in 2012)

The Panasonic DVD Recorder/VCR w/digital tuner for the most part, is excellent. It records DVDs without a problem. It plays VHS Tapes without a problem. It even tunes in digital broadcasts with ease and clarity. I love it. Sometimes, though, it gives me a problem every now and then, when I need to use the "RESET" button to get it out of a jam. For example, I played an MP3 CD on it one time, and then, stupid me, I hit the Open/Close button on the DVD side (without first stopping the MP3 CD playing in it), and it froze up on me. So, that's where the "RESET" button comes in handy--it restored the unit to normal functionality once more. The thing with this unit is, you need to press the "STOP" button at least two times before you Open/Close the DVD drive and take out the CD. I didn't know this at first, but I found this out through trial and error. And when you connect a USB device to the unit. You have to press the "STOP" button before you pull out the USB device, otherwise, it will freeze up, and you'll need to use the "RESET" to get it back to normal again. The bottom line is that it is a great unit and has great playback and recording capabilites. I've had this unit for almost a month now, and I am happy with it.

Simplify Clutter My first goal was to get a machine that would eliminate all the clutter. I had 4 boxes on the TV. A VHS Recorder/player, a DVD player, a Digital Tuner for over the air digital TV signal and an RF converter box. All of these had plugs and cables. This machine met that need perfectly. Built In TV Tuner The TV Tuner found my over the air channels just fine. However, channel surfing is quite slow as the unit has a deley betweens stations. Photos It accepted the SD HC cards from my camera. I am able to scroll through the pictures on my card but it is painfully slow and some of the pictures are upside down or sideways. Copy VHS to DVD I have spent the last few weeks copying VHS to DVD. I have recorded 16 hours of DVD from VHS. There was a bit of a learning curve before I could do the copies just the way I wanted to. I had to call Panasonic a couple of times but they helped me figure it out. Now I am very pleased. I wanted to record in SP mode because each of my tapes hold about 2 hours of family videos. Well, at first it was tricky to get it into SP mode. It wanted to default to EP mode which is much lower quality. I discovered, with the help of Panasonic Tech Support, that you must load the DVD first and let the recorder read the format of the disk, change the mode to SP, then load the VHS tape. I discovered this after burning through several DVDs at EP low quality mode. I thought I had figured it all out when, after recording 6 VHS tapes to a standard DVDs, I discovered that in SP mode the recording stops and the DVD is full right at 2 hours. The recordings failed to copy the last 15 to 20 minutes from the end of each tape. Aparantly, many of my VHS tapes had 15 or 20 minutes more that 2 hours. I had to swithch to DVD +R dual layer. They are more money than regular DVD media but at least now I can get up to 3 hrs 40 minutes before the copying stops. I have chosen to waste the extra 1:20 minutes so that I have an even 1:1 copy from VHS to DVD. The DVDs play fine on my coputers and on the DVD player. Many Features The unit is loaded with features and connections on front and back. It came with a remote, an HDMI cable and audio RCA cords. Price I bought the unit refurbished through Amazon for $166 including shipping. After all my research and experience, I have decided this is a good price for this unit. October 2010 Update... I used some advanced features today and recorded some over-the-air programs onto DVD. It worked like a champ. I had the option of erasing the programs after I watched them on DVD or finalizing them to be saved and watched on other devices. I was especially impressed that when I watched the recorded programs and fast forwarded the picture quality continued to be very high. Even at 200X fast forward I could see the recording very clearly with no distortion of picture quality loss. Not that this is a big deal. Usually you fast forward because you don't want to watch that specific part of the recording. Over-all, I must say that I am very happy and will give this product 5 stars.

I suppose it might have been a 5 star review; but it may be too pre-mature (for reasons discussed) to fairly assess it and its quality and durability. Then there is "the price". Lord knows what a nice unit such as this would cost if I'd purchased it 3 or so years ago, but it was a small fortune (more than $700 -- like the early VCRs) when finally purchased a month or so ago. However, it was the second best of 10 or more reviewed and compared on-line. More importantly, it had a built-in tuner; not just a "recorder only" on less complicated and less expensive units at Walmart or Radio Shack for transferring from VHS-DVD and/or DVD-VHS. So when this appeared -- even at this price -- beggars can't be choosers. This unit was purchased after much research. However, purchasing was; for all sorts of reasons, delayed several years. During that time, even this format has gone the way of the LP, 8-track, cassette, CD and so on. Blue Ray and DVR or TiVo is the popular way to record hours and hours more of TV time than VCRs and even DVDs. I'm even told that Blue Ray is making its exit, too. The good news is, though no longer manufactured, the booklet or info on the unit indicates it was manufactured in 10/11. Say, that is almost brand new! I'm not a techie. I needed it for two reasons: 1) record off TV (I do not have any other recording method for my motor home and 2) copy many VHS tapes and convert them to DVD. Not primarily for movies; but documentaries used for teaching classes. When a decision to buy or do without one with a tuner pretty much painted me into a corner, Amazon was invariably out of stock! Then, in a lucky look again on-line, it was available either used or out of box or the one eventually purchased from someone who had a good reputation from other purchasers of his electronics. The blurb on-line said it was new, had its original box opened -- but never used. I wanted and needed to be sure ALL the manuals and warranty would be available -- and they were. As important as the copy to VHS-DVD or DVD-VHS; in the almost 2 weeks since I've had it installed in my motor home, I've not as yet experimented with the copy feature. The on-line reviews said it was simple, so I'm not concerned about that for the moment. I've used it for recording off my TV (cable and antenna) in the VHS and DVD formats. The recording quality is very good and besides, for the moment, everything recorded is played on a 10+ year old analog Samsung 20" stereo TV. I've had various experiences in attempting to record; but my tech-less self has been able to do it (sometimes); but botched more attempts and been frustrated by it, than I've successfully recorded. And why has that been? I just don't know. Perhaps impatience in failing to check for correct time? I'll just have to keep at it. I may be wrong, but it seems this Panasonic is 'digital', while the 10+ year old JVC VCR it replaced was analog. The old VCR; not even top of the line in 2002 when they were well- past going out of favor, worked easily and simply. But as we know from simply trying to change channels with a digital TV, it does not happen instantly. It has to format and there is an annoying delay for the impatient among us. So with this unit. I attempt to engage a feature and it just doesn't happen the second I push the button. I'm having to get used to that and it is a matter of my impatience. That's my beef with digital vs analog devices. One nice touch is that when you select a channel on "program", it displays that channel in a small corner on the TV screen. Having said that, it is clear the unit is capable; either in DVD or VCR mode, to do more than I believe I'll ever be able to understand or master. There's USB and SD drives and editing features. Wow! At 81/2 x 11", t user manual is 100 pages -- ONE HUNDRED pages long! It is very thorough, the print easy to read -- but if I struggled with the radio in my old 1981 Toyota Celica GT Liftback, what chance do I possibly have for mastering everything this Panasonic is capable of doing? I have no regrets about purchasing it; just wonder if my delay in working with a satellite dish while traveling in my RV means that I'd have been better served with a DVR or TiVo -- but then, my tapes? I suppose a much less expensive recorder would have done the job -- but then, you ought to see how fast this unit rewinds in the VHS mode. Anyhow ... glad I got it. Stay tuned another few months when I begin to transfer over some of my old VHS tapes to DVD. And the question to ask is: "Will it outlast my old JVC VCR at 10+ years?" I even sent it back to be completely serviced "just in case" when the remote wasn't always operating very well and the unit itself needed a good tune-up and internal cleaning.