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Panasonic DMR-EZ17K DVD Recorder

Sat, Jan 5, 2008

Panasonic DMR-EZ17K Review:

The Panasonic DMR-EZ17K DVD recorder features Accutune high-precision analog/digital tuners for recording and viewing digital broadcasts without a set top box. With the built-in Digital Tuner, Panasonic DMR-EZ17K will also allow the consumer to record one digital broadcast program while watching a second program. DVD record/playback, Accutune digital/analog tuner, super multi-format record and playback support, 2X LP horizontal resolution, Dolby Digital and dts surround sound via optical output, DivX playback, DV auto recording.

I’ve been using my new Panasonic DMR-EZ17K for around a week now. As expected for the price, it’s got some features that are great, and some that are not. Here are the unexpectedly positive highlights:

(1) The ATSC tuner picks up perfect widescreen digital over-the-air channels, under conditions where an analog NTSC tuner can receive mostly only static and snow. This feature alone - even without the DVD recorder - nearly justifies the cost of this unit.

(2) The quality of the recorded image in LP mode (4 hours) is truly exceptional - it’s nearly indistinguishable from the original 480p off-air HD digital signal. Kudos to Panasonic for this one.

(3) Using 480p outputs, and playing a downsampled off-air digital HD widescreen recording (EDTV), the recorded image quality nearly equals that of a 780p digitally-upsampled standard (non-HD) DVD. From 8 feet away on a non-huge screen, the image looks nearly as good as a true HD broadcast.

(4) Plays and/or displays JPEGs and MP3s burned to CD (but not DVD).

(5) With a certain amount of fiddling, and the use of the proper recordable medium (DVD-RAM), you can achieve chase-playback and “pause live TV” capabilities. While not nearly as convenient or seamless as a TiVo, it *can* be done with this recorder.

(6) With the use of the proper recordable medium (DVD-RAM), you can record one TV program while watching another (or the same) recorded program. Combine that with the 60-second commercial-skip button, and you might just never have to watch another commercial again. Nice!

Panasonic DMR-EZ17K Negative highlights:

(1) Panasonic seems to have maliciously omitted certain ‘free’ features merely for marketing parity or to cost-justify the other products in its lineup. Examples include an HDMI output connector and digital upsampling - features found even on $35 Chinese DVD players.

(2) Even though Panasonic DMR-EZ17K includes an ATSC tuner, which picks up high-definition terrestrial signals by default, Panasonic has chosen to disallow the received high-definition signals from being passed through to a connected HD monitor. Live signal video quality is needlessly reduced/downsampled to 480p, which is standard definition (but digital) EDTV.

(3) DMR-EZ17K literally takes 10 seconds to change digital channels.

(4) The ability to record the free, on-air Dolby-Digtal 5.1 signal broadcast with certain HD programming seems intentionally crippled, perhaps for anti-piracy reasons. This Panasonic DMR-EZ17K recorder down-samples the 6 digital channels to only 2 (ordinary stereo) when recording. So you can never record off-air Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. You can, however, play it back when viewing commercial DVDs, using the built-in optical output (no cable included, of course).

(5) No digital inputs OR COMPONENT VIDEO inputs; the highest quality external video you can record is S-Video! There are also no digital video outputs whatsoever, although the component video output quality is decent, and there is a DV input for your camcorder.

(6) The manual is sketchy; while comprehensive and well-illustrated, Panasonic DMR-EZ17K still contains some remnants of Asian grammar, and resolutely refuses to explain any usage models or DVD recording theory, focusing instead on acronyms and a context-free explanation of the minutae of each individual button and menu option. You will need to be thoroughly familiar with DVD recording and digital video concepts and theory BEFORE attempting to use this unit effectively, or the manual WILL NOT make complete sense.

(7) No digital zoom during playback means you can’t always eliminate the horizontal or vertical black bars present on most widescreen analog (NTSC) broadcasts or recordings.

Overall, due to the ATSC tuner and superb EP recording quality, this recorder is a fantastic buy. I would buy it again.

—– By vacuumtubejazzpro