Panasonic DMR-EA18K Tunerless 1080p Upconverting DVD Recorder

Completely satisfied with unit. 4-hr recording on DVD excellent. DVD-RAM disks work like a hard drive and you can watch another title on same DVD while recording or start recording and later start watching from beginning while the recording continues. 1.3x playback perfect for the history or science lecturers who speak soooo sloooowllllyyyy- it makes them sound almost normal.

I was looking for a DVR to replace my old TIVO unit and after much searching I decided on this unit. Since I was connecting it to a cable TV input I didn't need a tuner. In a nutshell the unit has performed very well. I didn't have any problem setting it up as the instructions were pretty clear. The picture from bought DVD's is very good. I am using the HDMI output to my AV Receiver. My input is the s-video. So far the shows I have recorded in the 2hr (SP)mode (using a RAM disc) have been very good. Since the recorder can control my cable box (a great plus!)I tried programing and recording a HBO movie at night. The setup was like a VCR and after a short while becomes easy. The next day I checked and the movie recorded and when I looked at it I thought the quality was good. It should be noted that I am not a expert in reviewing pictures but to me the picture was clear and the sound was good. Since I use a seperate connection to my TV along with the connection thru my AV reciever I am able to watch a show using my TV's tuner while recording a different show. I am very happy with this unit so far (approx 2mths) and the only negative is that I don't have the TIVO guide I was used to for setting up programs. This unit does have a better picture quality than my old TIVO both normal program viewing and recorded viewing. Another slight negative is that it is slow in starting up although this might be my fault as I have it in the low power mode. A great plus is that you don't have to pay a monthly fee like TIVO now (my old TIVO was free for basic). The unit works fine with the Harmony 880 remote. There are many functions I haven't tried yet such as copying old VCR's but if the unit performs as well as it has so far I shouldn't be disappointed. One last thing the unit didn't play a audio slide show I made up although the show does play on my Sony DVD player. Not sure why?

I bought this as I was upgrading my home theater, and I needed an upscaler to upscale my SD Tivo for my video projector.

Sadly, the upscaling quality is quite poor - it bears significant artifacts, in particular vertical banding on primary colors such as red or green.

Also, in seemed to crash more other than I'd like, and wouldn't always handshake correctly over HDMI.

As such I returned it, and instead purchased a Sony VX535 from Costco for 199 - it has substantially better upscaling quality, easier to use menues, and is an overall better product.

The panasonic menus are cumbersome and not well laid out.

Overall a very disapointing product.

A

I'm pleased with Amazon.com for providing free shipping and the unit arrived intact. As an HDD recorder the unit works flawlessly. As a DVD player/recorder... well, not so good. I have yet to be able to play any DVD in it all the way through and have only been able to record anything to a DVD once. I'm disappointed. The DTV tuner works amazingly well. I'm able to pick up all the local digital signals over a simple pair of rabbit ear antenna. That is incredible to me. If I had purchased this unit at a local store, I would be returning it for a refund/replacement. However since I am in Alaska, and returning it to Amazon.com for a replacement could result in me getting a worse performing unit in exchange, I'll stick with my excellent digital tuner and HDD recorder as it is and just invest in a standalone up-converting player. I'm sad that Philips couldn't get it 100% right in one package. The remote is easy to understand and the menu for setting the timer to record shows is easy. I gave this unit a rating of only 2 stars because of my disappointment.

To say I was surprisingly disappointed is an understatement. I have owned Panasonic products before and was very pleased. However, I can not say the same for the EA18. I worked as an IT professional for over 30 years, so I am not a novice when it comes to technical expertise. The manual is almost worthless in my humble opinion. After 3 separate calls to support, I had the recorder working. BUT, when next I attempted to set a scheduled recording, I spent 5-10 minutes trying to get manipulate the recording set time, when I gave up in frustration. I returned the recorder!

I would NOT recommend the EA18 recorder to anyone.

HOWEVER, I would very HIGHLY recommend Panasonic's support personnel. They were very patient and professional in providing answers to all my questions.