Customer Reviews
Panasonic Recorder 
2008-02-02
I purchases this recorder and had it for about 1 month before I had to return it. I returned it because the DVDs would get stuck in the recorder and not open for several minutes.
Also the open/close buttons were slow to operate. You hit the open button wait several seconds before the DVD would open.
Finally, I own a Panasonic DVD Player also and it would turn on whenever I turned on the Panasonic DVD Recorder. The remote codes are the same for power.
What I Liked
The remote control is nicely designed.
Ability to watch a program which is being recorded at the same time.
Good quality recordings.
Panasonic DMR-EZ17K DVD Recorder 
2008-01-23
This is a second generation DVD player/recorder from Panasonic. I originally owned a Panasonic DMR-ES15S DVD Recorder (1st generation) in which the recordings were darker and would hang up.
This unit shows that they have come a long way on improvements...
Pros
1. Good TV reception on the TV channels
2. great recordings from on the air programs
CONS
1. SLOW startup, but you get used to it.
2. Sometimes slow changing channels..
OVERALL an excellent purchase..
Help!!! 2007-12-17
Ive seen some reviews on this and its all on the recording and tuner. I havent tried recording yet but the Tuner makes my analog Cable excellent even with just the Tv turned on and not the dvd recorder. However my problem is with playing DVDs. None of mine play. It says cant read disc. These are computer made as well as store bought. Any one have this problem and is there something I missed I need to hit. Honestly my 40 buck dvd players play everything no problem. Why do higher end ones always have problems playing all types of dvds? Thanks
Good, but could be better 
2007-12-11
I chose this recorder due to the good reviews it got for the tuner. I have a EDTV 42" Plasma monitor wanted a good picture when watching the game.
It has pretty decent functionality, the tuning of digital channels is a bit slow, some channels are fairly quick and others do take 4 or 5 seconds to tune in.
The picture does look good and the HD channels look especially good.
CONS:
Slow tuning on some channels
Aspect ratio is not consistent, I have to manually adjust the WIDE, NORMAL, FULL settings to get digital channels to look proper (may be my monitor)
Menu for editing channels is terrible, when I autotune off cable, it picks up about 80 digital channels, of which only 5 or 6 work, this forces you to manually delete unwanted channels, you don't get to see the channels when doing this and it is a tedious time consuming process.
Finally, when changing channels, there is a "delay" sometimes when passing digital channels, it will get "stuck" and try to catch up, which means if you tune into a digital channel and quickly press up or down, it takes a few seconds, then jumps around wildly to catch up. Also on occasion, some of the digital channels need to be switched back and forth to work.
Love it! 2007-12-04
I bought this product after reviewing several DVD recorders. It does exactly what I wanted. I have several videos that I wanted to put onto DVD and this was easy to do with this product.
It is a little slow to start up, but that is a small price to pay for the wonderful DVDs it creates!
Very good DVD recorder 
2008-06-30
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.
Unreliable 
2008-04-28
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.
Great Recorder!!! 2008-03-27
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.
DVD Recorder 2008-02-29
I love the Panasonic DMR-EZ17K DVD recorder. I was able to set it up without any problem (I am technically challenged) and record my home movies from my Hi 8 cassette tapes to the DVDs. I was able to do 11 years worth, onto approximately 32 DVDs, within two weeks, working on them at night and on weekends. It was everything I hoped it would be!
Frustratingly Disappointing 2008-02-08
I have been a loyal Panasonic user for decades. I bought this product in the expectation I could replace my DVD player, HD tuner and VCR. I am sadly disappointed. The unit is frustratingly bad in user functionality. Setting functions, changing channels, even powering on or off are painfully glacial. You have to wait a long time for it to power up and read the disc before you operate the unit. If you switch channels too fast it gets confused as to what channel it is on; the unit display will show one channel yet the TV displays another. The HD tuner is only 480p. The unit has unexpectedly hung to where you have to unplug the unit to reset it. If I could return this unit I would, but the Amazon affiliate supplier will not take it back. This is an extremely poor engineered product from Panasonic. It should be avoided.
UPDATE
This unit continued to have problems. I shipped it back to Panasonic for service. They replaced the digital board and fully tested it. Two weeks after getting it back it started to exhibit other problems including dropping the received signal and stopping in the middle of recording. Again, this is a poorly designed unit and should be avoided.
UPDATE II
Problems continued. I sent the unit back to Panasonic a second time. Within hours of receiving the unit it back it started to exhibit other problems. The product design is flawed.
