Customer Reviews
Riddled with bugs 
2008-04-24
This DVD recorder gave me problems right out of the box so I returned it to Best Buy in exchange for another. The next one had the same problems. It will freeze up on you to where you have to actually unplug it to reset. It will also randomly pop up an info box in the top right corner during the middle of watching a movie or tv, pretty ridiculous. The HD channels also have bad reception which apparantly gets fixed with their firmwirm update. (You can download the update on the website and then burn it to a CD). The first time I tried recording from an external device was this week. I was using a dual layer disk and everything was fine until the third episode I was adding. After it I have tried to view the three things I have on the disc (with plenty of empty room left on it) it now no longer lets me do anything with the disk. It gives "Unsuported disk" error, so now the disk is wasted and so was my time. I can't view or record on it. Not impressed with this equipment.
Panasonic DMR-EZ27 DVD-recorder 
2008-04-24
So far I am fairly happy with this machine. I have not yet done much editing of my family tapes onto DVDs (really, the ONLY reasonable purpose for one of these machines), but it seems at once powerfull and simple enough to use. It has pretty good upconversion of DVDs to 1080p, but then so does my Denon amp.
On the downside, this machine has a fairly steep learning curve vis-a-vis editing features. In addition, it is VERY slow to start up and, in an astonishingly stupid move, has no open/close button on the remote! You must go to the machine and push that button. Fortunately, I have a Harmony universal remote which DOES allow me to open and close the DVD drawer. Go figure. It has DIVx capabilities, but these work intermittently for no good reason.
Would I buy it again? Probably not. I'd wait for the Bluray version (if such a thing ever comes out) to be able to play AND record in that format.
Worked fine for just three weeks 
2008-04-10
There is a design or manufacturing flaw in this model. I've since found from Circuit City's owner comments at their website that many other people have had this happen. During a timer recording, the unit froze up and would not reboot or release the DVR-RW trapped inside. My unit is now at Panasonic's service facility in Illinois. Although I've owned four other Panasonic DVD recorders that had no problems, I strongly recommend against purchasing this particular model.
Works very well with my other Panasonic gear 
2008-03-14
I purchased early in the HDTV game. So my Tau is "Ready" in 2004. Still a great TV but no tuner. I tried a Samsung that looked great but ABC HD station did not come in over the QAM tuner. We sent it back. Read the reviews of the EZ27K. Downloaded the manual and the firmware patches. Once I was happy I had all the stuff I needed (based on the reviews of errors) I purchased the unit. Very happy. The quality of the HD is great and NTSC stations are no worse than the TV's tuner. The auto setup worked fine. (I only have basic cable, up to channel 26 in my town.) I picked up all the free HD channels, and it intergrates the NTSC channels as well. (So i only need one remote to run the stuff.) I put "CARS" DVD in the system, set it for wide screen and 5.1 EX sound. The picture looks 10x better than the 480p Panasonic DVD player I have. (TV is 1080i) The upconversion is very inpressive. The optical out put activates 6.1 or 7.1 sound correctly.
The down sides are few. The manual does not mention an ATSC or QAM so I thought I got the wrong unit. The settings for the TV screen are a little confusing. I just kepts making changes until it looked the best.
It did not detect time using the auto function. That will be a problem when we lose power. My cable company does not seem to send Guide info so that is kind of sad to see that field empty. All in all i would recommend the unit.
bad packaging 2008-03-11
If you buy something from j and r all the will do is put your item in gray plastic bag and ship it. The packaging sucks, the packaging from the original manufacturer is the only packaging protection you get. I get a warm fuzzy feeling when I hold my DVD recorder up to the ceiling and hear things moving around on the inside. I guess it is perfectly normal for electronic components to settle while shipping.
Thank You
Newegg Customer
Ups and downs... 2008-06-03
This item records well, but the menus take a couple of seconds to come up, and they're not well-organized when they do. The entire unit takes 15-20 seconds to power up and accept commands from the remote (say you're turning it on, then trying to view the DVD menu on a disc you've recorded), and like many DVD recorders, it will refuse to copy a manufacturer's original VHS. So if you want to turn those old VHS copies of your favorite Hollywood movies into DVDs, you don't want this recorder. Honestly, this is a stupid function, and if I would have known about it, I would have purchased a different brand that didn't infringe on my legal right to make a backup copy of a movie I already own. I haven't tried to record from HBO or anything like that, but recordings from PBS, SciFi, History Channel, and a few other cable channels have come out fine.
It's not a bad recorder, but there's plenty of room for improvement.
Worthwhile Investment 2008-05-20
Unlike the Sony, LG and Samsung DVD recorders I tried, this one actually works right every single time when burning dual layer discs. Those other units could only burn about 5% of the dual layer DVD's I used, where as the Panasonic has yet to have a failure. Picture quality is good, plenty of input and output options and the fact that it works every time is a major plus. Highly recommended!
Pulling my hair out. 2008-05-16
Problems right out of the box in December, 2007. Froze up during certain aspects of operation. Had to reset and reprogram unit to get it to work. Same problems persisted. (Being that this is my first dvd recorder, and was trying to learn and understand how to operate the unit, this was all very confusing and frustrating.) Tech Support sent firmware. Ran firmware and unit worked well for 4 months, or so. Then, unit dropped all digital TV channels. Analog channels fine. Reset unit and reprogram several times over a couple of days before channel scan finally gave me digital channels back. Turned unit off, then immediately back on and digital channels gone, again. Tech Sup sent second firmware. Ran firmware to no avail. Four days later, was getting ready to unhook unit and pack up to send to repair depot. Suddenly and magically, channel scan gave me digital channels back. Been working fine for a week, now. Decided not to send unit in for repair at this time. Self Healing? Intermittent problem? I have been aware of Panasonic's electronics since early 70's--they have always enjoyed a reputation for excellence. This unit changes all of that in my mind. This unit has design and engineering flaws and it should never have been put on the market in its present condition. Although I got a marked down or discounted (great) price on the unit, and although I really enjoy some of the features of this unit, it is not worth all of the headaches--I have no hair left. I have lost considerable amounts of my time due to malfunction. I am disappointed and I recommend you choose a different brand. The only reason I gave it 2 stars is because when it is working properly, I really enjoy it.
DVD recorder 
2008-05-09
It's working great, only a little bit slow when turn it on, just be patient.
Panasonic DMR EZ-27 I Like it ! 2008-05-02
This is a replacement for an earlier version, a DMR ES 20 that I wore out, very heavy user. A couple of new features improve it for my viewing habits, and some bugs in the earlier version seem to have been eliminated, but unfortunately so was one of my favorite features, the ability to monitor what you are recording in split screen while watching a different selection or earlier portion of the recording at the same time - a sad loss to me, I really liked that feature and regret its loss. But aside from that, overall I am very pleased with it.
I use it mostly to timeshift tv shows and to keep and edit some for sharing with friends who do not have access to them otherwise (like when I got mentioned on a national cable news show for a contribution - HAVE to send that to family and friends).
Right off the bat, use DVD-RAM discs. In the older model I had it came with a sample DVD-RAM which got me hooked on them, far more versatile and useful than regular dvd formats and is the media this review is based on. Don't know why they did not include a complimentary disc with this product. They can be tricky to find but can be purchased from Panasonic's website for the same or less as store price using coupon code in owner's manual.
Picture and sound quality are fine to me but what I really like is the versatility. I especially like the 1.3X playback feature, watching recorded shows at 130% normal speed without screwing up the sound by raising its pitch. In other words, seeing a 1 hour program in about 32 minutes (including the commercial skip feature to jump over ads), that is sweet. This even works while recording the same program which is a new feature in that it lets you use the timer recording and come in during the middle of the program and start watching it and perhaps catch up to it before it is over. Lets you see more in the same amount of time and has me hooked to the point when I am watching live tv I keep wanting to ramp it up to the 1.3x speed but can't. Makes regular conversation seem a bit S L O W on some shows, especially newscasts.
The DVD-RAM discs let you erase ANY portion of them and you regain that space/time for immediate reuse, whereas with the regular -/+ RW you can only regain space/time if you erase the latest part recorded. With DVD-RAM discs you can also place your own chapter marks where you want, and erase individual chapters, in other words, you can erase the ads from a tv show or movie which is very pleasant, and or mark where you left off if your viewing is interrupted.
Programming the timer recording is pretty straightforward and easy and has nice titling ability for recording.
One really minor thing I found annoying is a nag screen when using +/- R/RW discs asking if you want to finalize them before ejecting. That is kind of handy the first couple of times you use them, but once you are familiar with the device, I find it very annoying.
Have yet to find any bugs which really surprised me. Read the reviews of other DVD-RAM recorders and hear all sorts of problems about not
being able to read discs and locking up. Have had none of that and I am not using anything like new discs. My DVD-RAM discs are well used, I just clean them once in awhile and keep them in sleeves or jewel cases when not in use and no problems.
Very happy with this machine.
