Review by DEREK MCCARTHY:

This unit is really great! We recently got a 40″ HD TV and needed a replacement for the VCR — we wanted to record shows (and On-Demand movies) at a good enough quality for HD viewing.

One option was DVR from Comcast for /month (which might or might not allow recording of On-Demand movies and transfer to computer for disc-burning). Another option was using a computer with a video acquisition device and record to hard drive. The third option was this unit for 0, delivered, from Amazon — hands down the most practical choice.

Though this unit doesn’t record in true HD resolution, the quality is about the same (in 2 hour mode, 16×9) as regular 16×9 enhanced DVDs. At first I was worried the recorded discs might not play on other DVD players; but they did, no problem at all on any of our equipment (that is, after the recording is finalized). The recording time for a DVD-R disc (on high quality mode) was 2 hours and 8 minutes. (On lower quality modes, it’s 4+ hours and 8+ hours.)

Navigating the menu system is easy enough, and each recorded disk is given a simple menu with the various recordings available to choose from (which by default have the date & time of recording as the title, but can be renamed).

Upconversion of commercial DVDs is quite good (enough so that we’re not that motivated to get a Blu-Ray player yet .

Our only complaints (which are very minor) are that the tray-eject is a little slow & noisy and that there isn’t component video inputs (just composite video & S-Video inputs). But it was easy enough to hook up to our cable box (or TV) to record from their outputs.

This will be a great unit to have until Blu-Ray recorders become less expensive.

Review by Ulf Axmacher:

I bought this unit to transfer videotapes to DVD, and to save TV shows on DVD from my cable DVR. For that purpose, it works perfectly. The setup is simple, and the controls are very easy to use. The manual is very clear, with nice big pictures to show you where the relevant buttons are. I had it set up and dubbing within 15 minutes.

I only use DVD-R format discs (due to their universal compatibility), so I cannot comment on how the recorder works with other formats. But when I played back my recorded DVD-R on other machines, I had no compatibility issues, they played perfectly, and the picture was sharp and clear.

DVD-R discs have to be “finalized” before they can be played in other machines. This unit finalized a 3/4 full DVD in just a couple minutes- much faster than other DVD recorders I have used in the past.

The recorder only offers Composite and S-video inputs. It would have been nice to have Component or HDMI inputs as well for higher quality. However, I used the S-Video input and the playback quality was still excellent.

The recorder does offer Composite, S-Video, Component, and HDMI outputs, which gives you lots of options for connecting to your display. I went with the HDMI connection because it is simple (just 1 cable for both audio and video) and provides the highest quality.

As a bonus, this unit is also a very good upscaling DVD player. With the HDMI connection to my display, I was very impressed with the quality of the 1080p upscaled image.

For the very reasonable price ([...]), this is a nice piece of equipment which performs as advertised.

Review by Barry:

The auto scan flawlessly found all the analog and unscrambled digital channels offered by Comcast in my area. It does not have an HD tuner but does capture the widescreen 16:9 signals. If you record on DVD-RAM (not -R, -RW, +R, or +RW) it will record the widescreen picture. Three added bonuses for using DVD-RAM are “Chasing Playback,” which allows you to watch a program from the beginning while the machine continues to record the remainder of it; more editing options; and the ability to selectively erase individual programs from the disc and then record new shows in the deleted space. You can find 10-packs of Panasonic DVD-RAMs online (item #LM-AF120LU10) for about ; Amazon has a 5-pack (LM-AF120LU5) for about . The discs are rated for 100,000 re-recording cycles, versus about 1,000 for R/RW! Don’t expect to find them in stores (which baffles me).

I found the menus and remote control to be quite intuitive. This is also the quietest DVD recorder I have used. The machine is loaded with features, including upconversion all the way to 1080p if you use the HDMI connection. One of its best capabilities is that Panasonic engineered the 4-hour LP recording speed of the DVD drive to provide the same playback quality as the 2-hour SP speed! No, the VHS recorder does not record digital broadcasts, but who cares with the great playback quality of the DVD drive? I’m using the VHS to dub my old tapes over to DVD.

We interrupt this review for a helpful note…a couple years ago I learned from personal experience (and a Comcast technician) that digital signals are more “fragile” than analog ones. My first lesson occurred when I was connecting my new Panasonic HDTV. Some of the digital channels were very unstable and would cycle between displaying and going to black, or showed significant digital artifacts. That problem was caused by my brand new high end surge suppressor, which included f-jacks for cable protection. The suppressor’s internal cable protection circuitry altered the signal slightly, causing the problem. The tech connected the TV directly to the cable wall outlet, bypa*sing the suppressor, and the signal was perfect. (Note: always plug your AC power cords into a surge suppressor!) I had to recall my second lesson when hooking up my DMR-EZ48V. At first, a couple of the digital sub-channels in my area (21.1, 33.3) could not be received. I remembered that I had used an existing push-on type coax for my cable connection from the wall outlet to the machine. My bad. I replaced it with one of the cables the Comcast tech had made for me for future use, with screw on f-connectors, and all reception was perfect! We return now to my review of the DMR-EZ48V…

I have not seen any digital artifacts during playback on my Panasonic HDTV. The instruction manual gives you details for tweaking the machine and fixing many possible problems (I had none) by using the large array of accessible menu options. This machine may not be right for a technophobic individual, but for an enthusiast it is great!

Review by Kinetic:

Finally a DVD recorder that actually works and is pretty easy to operate. Thus far I have tried recording from VHS to DVD several times with out any problems. One just can not beat the two button recording sequence. You press the specified VHS->DVD record button located on the front of the unit then you either press the record button to play until the DVD is maxed out and finalize the recording automatically or the play button that will allow you to stop the recording, finalize at a later time, add VHS content from another VHS tape, etc. My pops that is not tech savvy at all has managed to work the unit. He is smiling that he can now convert his 20 year old VHS tapes to DVD

A must have is DVD-RAM discs. Allows one to tape broadcast content to view at a later time then delete and record again. I am still trying to find a PC program that will allow me to take DVD-RAM content and edit it on a PC. I have tried Adobe Premiere without any results (does not recognize the file format. If anyone knows please advise.

Update 11/21/2008 After many months of use I can say that the unit has worked very well for the purpose that we purchased it: Transferring homemade VHS tapes to DVD. First the footage is transferred to a DVD-RAM disc. (I purchased a pack of 5 and have only used 2 that still work). I have used with great success the authoring software called: TMPGEnc Authoring Works. It allowed me to take the raw unedited footage that was transfered from the VHS to the DVD-RAM disc then using TMPGEnc Authoring Works to edit footage and then burn it on a regular DVD.

It is also a decent VHS and DVD player.

Review by Captain Dan:

Great unit,especially for the price. Even though it only does DVD-R/-RW(at least thats what the manufacturer says) it does an outstanding job.Several speeds to choose from, although I recommend staying with the 2 hours as quality loses luster after that point. Handles DVD-r like a champ,even though I have been told you cannot stop recording once you have started or it only recognizes the last starting point, I found this to be false. I stopped several times and it replays it all after finalization.

Editing seems to be a nightmare somewhat. I haven’t been able to figure out the ins and outs. So far, record what I have,leave it alone. The remote is pretty good,and setup is not too complicated if you know a little about recording.

The one bad thing is having to use nothing higher than 4x discs for DVD-R,although I am awaiting a firmware upgrade from Sylvania to remedy that probelem.

Video quality is excellent. Sound quality is pretty good,but could be a bit louder. Doesn’t play JPEGs but does cd-r MP3s great.Progressive scan is better than average and makes the picture quality VERY good! Best feature on this unit!

Not the best unit out there,but for the price,well worth it to us “just starting out” in DVD recording!

Review by Claudio D’Amato:

My only purpose for getting the Sylvania DVRDEA DVD Recorder was to watch TV on an HD monitor (Westinghouse LVM-37w3) that doesn’t have a built-in tuner. So I am using the NTSC tuner in the Sylvania to watch TV, as well as recording programs on DVD occasionally.

While not the best unit I have used, it’s certainly great for the price and very user-friendly. The unit tuned and stored all 100+ cable channels in under a minute. Viewing is a breeze, as is recording. I’VE BEEN USING 8X DVD-Rs BRANDED “IMATION” AND HAVE NOT HAD A SINGLE PROBLEM. It writes to disc quickly and the quality is VERY good for such a cheap product.

Of course, watching TV @ 480i on a large HD monitor isn’t going to be the best quality, but it’s the TV’s “fault” for being so darn high-quality, and not the recorder’s. Overall, this is a great purchase for anyone who needs either an entry-level DVD recorder with all the basic functions and a lot of inputs/outputs, or anyone who needs a cheap, reliable, and very simple external TV tuner.

PROS:

+ Very easy to use

+ Price

+ Scores of inputs/outputs, and does 480p over component

+ Comprehensive manual

+ Decent remote

CONS

- Not great for DVD playback if you have an HDTV set; good otherwise

- Somewhat limited media compatibility

- Larger than it seemed (about two Letter-sized sheets side-by-side)

Review by FairMinded:

I almost didn’t but this unit because of bad reviews and that it is more expensive that most recorders. Fortunately, I was able to get the unit for 9 at a local retailer who was willing to match Amazon’s price. The bad reviews caused me to buy several units, bring them home and test them. I bought the Toshiba D-R560 and the Philips HDD Recorder. I didn’t try the Sony because I couldn’t find one with the Divx feature. I didn’t try any with VHS features because those where more expensive and I don’t own any VHS tapes. The Toshiba’s recording function was nice. It was quick to respond and easy to use. Unfortunately, I could never get the Toshiba unit to find channels with the digital tuner over my basic Comcast service. It found zero digital channels. This was disappointing because I looked forward to using the Toshiba’s QAM tuner to find clear cable channels.

The one thing that I wanted that was missing on the Toshiba was a USB port. The Philips HDD recorder has a USB port. So, I thought I’d consider it along with it’s hard disk recording benefits. Unfortunately, the Philips USB port does not read Divx. It only read Jpeg and WMA files. Also, I found the Philips picture interior to both the Toshiba AND the Panasonic. The Philips picture was dark, on all channels, and graining on many SD analog channels. So, I took the Philips back right away. After all of this, it was clear that only the Panasonic had most of the features that I needed. It has a USB port that can read Divx, in addition to reading Divx in the DVD drive. This way, I have a choice to burn a Divx DVD disk or simply save a video (avi / divx) file to my flash drive and save DVD costs on videos that I just want to look at once. The Panny is also the only unit with a SD slot. I have not used it but will in the future. The Panny also gave me S-Video inputs on the front and back, as well as an optical audio output (in addition to a coaxial output) on the back to connect to my Yamaha amps that uses only optical audio connections. The only thing that this unit lacks in a QAM Tuner for cable channels. Regardless, I found that the ATSC Tuner in the Panny was able to display all of the over-the-air HD Channels, as expected. The only thing it might not get is the “cable” HD channels that are “in the clear”. Lastly, though the Toshiba picture was good, I think the Panny picture was the best of all three. To top it off, in contrast to the Toshiba (which found zero digital channels on Comcast Basic Service), the Panansonic found many, many digital channels!!!

I want to address some of the negative comments that I have found on this site about this unit: Yes – Channel surfing on this unit is a little slow. But, my research has lead me to believe that many digital tuners and HD over-the-air stations tune slowly because of the amount of information involved. I don’t think it’s that bad once you get used to it. Regarding the comment that you “can’t split titles and chapters”. This is not true. People – This is one of the most flexible recording machines on the market. But, you’ve got to read the manual to learn about it. If you don’t like reading manuals, just do simply records – I’m sure you’ll be fine.

In summary, I’m one happy customer. This is a qaulity unit that leads the industry in features to price. It’s a great value and a quality product!

Review by Dan R. Wojciechowski:

I got the Panasonic DMR-EZ28K for two main purposes: to watch standard DVDs, and to record Digital Over-the-air broadcasts. As would be expected, the EZ28 does a fine job of playing DVDs, so I won’t say any more about that.

As a recorder for OTA broadcasts, 3 things seem to matter: How good is the ATSC tuner? How reliable/easy are recordings? What is the quality of the recordings?

As far as the tuner goes, I couldn’t be more pleased. The EZ28 easily has the best tuner of any device I own. I have a 5 year old Panasonic Plasma TV, a 4 year old Sony HD DVR, a 2 year old Viewsonic LCD TV, and a 1 year old Panasonic EZ17 DVD recorder. Only the EZ28 can reliably lock the one fairly low power, distant station that I get off the *back* side of my antenna. The EZ28 also reliably locks a very low power “oldies” station from the correct direction that none of the other devices will lock. Clearly, the EZ28 has a superior tuner, even compared to last year’s EZ17. (I use the EZ17 DVD recorder as a digital-to-analog converter for an old TV and the EZ28 would be even better, although if I only needed SD output, I’d probably look at the cheaper EZ18.)

On to recording ease and reliablity. The EZ28 is programmed VCR style. The menus are completely adequate, though a few things could have been improved to reduce the number of button presses. All in all, nothing to complain about. So far, recordings have been 100% reliable; I haven’t missed anything I’ve programmed. I have used single use 16X DVD-R disks (completely reliable and convenient), single use 16X DVD+R disks (require 30 seconds of formating before use), and multi-use DVD-RAM disks. I found multi-use DVD+R/W disks to be unreliable in the older EZ17, so I haven’t tried them in the EZ28. The RAM disks are more expensive, but do allow “DVR like” functionality: chasing playback, watch one while recording another, etc. I did encounter a one lockup, which was easily cured with a front panel reset button. For the record, I’ve has a few lockups with the EZ17 as well, but so far the EZ28 is better.

I’ve viewed disks I’ve recorded on both the Panasonic Plasma, the Viewsonic LCD, and an old fashioned analog TV. One and two hour recordings are superb, and even 4 hour recordings easily beat VHS tape recordings. I prefer the “up scaled” out put to the SD output, not because I see any real improvement in detail on my plasma TV, but because the color and contrast seem better, though this may simply a difference in the way my TV processes a 1080i input versus a 480p input.

I’ve also used the EZ28 to record some of my old HI8 home videos to DVD, using the front panel S-Video input, and the results are as good as the original tapes (though that doesn’t say too much). I’ve copied a few things from my HD DVR to DVD via the back side SD S-Video input, and the results are once again, quite good.

One of my favorite features is the Flexible Recording length. This is particularly nice when my HI8 tapes are 2 hours and 2 minutes long, or when I’m recording a 2.5 or 3 hour segment from my DVR. If I used the 2 hour record setting, I’d miss some of the material. If I went to 4 hours, I’d waste quite a bit of disk space and the quality would be reduced. With the Flexible Recording, the disk is filled with exactly the amount I specify, giving the best available record quality.

Summary: I highly recommend this DVD recorder, particularly if you want to make recordings of Digital OTA TV.