Panasonic DMR-EX97EB-K DVD Recorder (MULTIREGION PLAYBACK) with Freeview HDD and 500 GB HDD Inc. Maxell P-11

Brilliant dvd player. Before I got this, I was renting a panasonic player with twin recorder but it started to pack up, and when the rental company couldn't replace it with a new one (they offered me one that was 5-years old!) I decided to buy my own new one. This is basically the same as the one I was renting, but you can transfer programmes to disc with this one, which is a real bonus (I didn't think they made them anymore) so, very pleased.

Replacement for 4th of DVD writers Ive had over 20 years. Prefer to be able to keep hard copy, Hard drives go bad after a few years, It can record HD Chanel's. Only HDMI out. Easy to set up. small size, low power. This is region free.I think DVD writers are disappearing, local Currys didn't have any. Get one before they are discontinued.

This is an excellent HD and DVD recorder, easy to set up (if you are reasonably confident with gadgets) and with some useful features. But I still have my DMR-EX77 which had a SCART socket and could therefore record from a Sky box and liberate some of the space on your Sky hard disk. That functionality has been lost. There seems to be no way of recording from a Sky box or from a VCR. The DMR-EX77 was also able to record direct to DVD but this one always records to hard disk and lets you copy your recordings to a DVD later. I don't totally trust recordings that are kept only on a hard disk, because my DMR-EX77 was damaged by what I think was a power spike and I had to buy a replacement internal power supply (a small circuit board) on ebay. Since then, I have always used a surge protection device with my TV and connected devices.This model can record two programmes at the same time (which is similar functionality to my Sky Plus HD box though without as many channels) and the picture quality is better than on the earlier DVD recorders. Apparently it can also copy video files from a USB stick onto its hard disk but I haven't tried that and would probably not have any use for that. The remote is able to operate non-Panasonic televisions which is also an improvement over earlier models.

Having had our previous dvd recorder for 15 years it finally gave up on us. I saw this one and read the reviews and made the purchase...what a difference. Less cables to set up, better picture and sound quality. When you make a change after so many years you really spot what you have been missing. We had it setup and working fully within 10 mins. Add to this and the fact it arrived a day earlier than expected. It was like a second Christmas day. Can't recommend enough.

I bought this to replace a DVD/video recorder combi I had had for many years which had stopped recording. This machine is also Panasonic so the handset is similar. I find it easy to use and have recorded and watched and deleted many programmes in the 2 weeks I have owed it. You can save up to 32 programmes to the hard drive so plenty of room if you are going away. You can record 1 show or a series. I especially like that you can record 2 things at once and watch a DVD while recording to the hard drive.

Good enough for recording but not too sure about copying. I had bought a pansonic recorder but it broke 2 years lated. When I bought this one and tried playing recorded discs from the previous recorder they would not play as it showed that they were only 90% formatted.All discs were Maxwell so I have bought a different brand now. I formatted a blank disc on it and to make sure if it was fully formatted I formatted a second time - guess what, it showed that it also was only 90% formatted. On the previous recorder anything copied did not have to be finalized. Hopefully this one will last longed, and there will be not spoiled films etc.

A very good upgrade for my old DVD recorder. With the inclusion of the internal HDD it proved very easy to set up and operate.

I have bought many items made by Panasonic over the last 30 years or so and this is the first not to work straight out of the box, and go on working for years. The spec of this model made it a very useful bit of kit, very disappointed that it did not work and the attitude of the seller when told the item was faulty was one of total disbelief , and that I was not capable of plugging an ariel cable in- I bought my first TV in 1958 and have had all kinds of tv and recording equipment over the years more than he has set eyes on I would wager, then when finally returned I get less than the full refund, with no explanation why, or apology for wasting my time.I have since bought a similar item from another seller which was up and running in moments, proving that there were no faults with my ariel set-up at all.