Customer Reviews

Panasonic DMR-EZ37VK DVD-Recorder/VCR Combo with ATSC Tuner Black

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I bought this to copy my old VHS tapes to DVD. Right out of the box I did thirty in a row without a hitch. Easy to use when you get the hang of it and perfect for my purpose. I also use it as a recorder for taping from TV and timer et al works just fine. I am happy with it.

This is the 2nd Combo DVD/VHS recorder I own, and it lacks 2 good features of my 1st unit: (1) when copying from VHS to DVD (or visa versa) you cannot skip over commercials so they are also copied. (2) you cannot determine the length of copied movie.

This unit plays and records VHS and DVDs and you can copy from one to the other. Playback is quiet and there's no annoying hum like some machines have. It's easy to operate (although I did find the set-up instructions confusing.) Programming scheduled recordings is simple and if you do make a mistake, a message pops up to tell you what's wrong.

The buttons on the remote are clearly marked and easy to use. This is a reliable machine and I'm pleased it, but I recommend shopping around; it is priced much lower elsewhere.

I wanted to convert my vast VHS library onto DVDs, so I purchased this unit in October and quite easily was able to accomplish this goal. The video and sound quality of the DVDs is even better than on the original VHSs. I used Maxell DVD-R and had zero problems.
Now I am using the unit to timer-record my favorite weekly TV programing onto DVD-RW. This way I don't miss any episodes while I'm at work. I very much like the ease of the timer recording menu.
My only suggestion to make this unit a 5-star item would be to re-write the manual. Most of my answers were in there, but not easy to find sometimes. Too much of sending you back and forth to another page. In general the manual is too much "you can" and not enough "how to."
Still I am 100% satisfied that this unit did exactly what I wanted the unit to do: make DVDs of my old VHS tapes.

I bought the recorder because it had the digital tuner. A lot of these recorders do not come with tuners.
Pros
Easy to use
Can use most types of DVD media
Does not look or feel cheap
Tunes over the air HD channels
Does the job

Cons
Slow to channel surf (You can press the channel up several times before it moves up.)
It can get confused when switching from DVD to VHS to fast (It once locked up so the only thing I could do was unplug it)
The status information sometimes randomly displays while watching DVD's
(No big deal but you already know that you have a DVD in the drive and that it is playing, why tell me when I did not ask)

I got this hoping to have my final component for the digital transition next year - a digital tuner in a VCR/DVD recording combo. With an ATSC tuner, I thought you could record digital programming to VHS tapes as well as to DVD. WRONG! You are only allowed to record analog stations to VHS tapes, which means VCR recording will be useless in 2009. It'll only be useful to play back previously recorded tapes.

Other than this issue, the unit works fine. It's simple to use once you get the hang of it. Just keep the manual nearby at first.

This machine has run 24-hrs a day copying VHS tapes since I purchased it for the office. It has performed marvelously.

Since the arrival of DVD recorders with ATSC tuners, I have tried three of them. I wanted to like this one, but it has too many flaws and limitations.

Pros:

Good picture

Good build quality

Good fast tuner -
It receives all my stations, including one which causes trouble for some tuners.

FR record mode -
It is nice to be able to get maximum quality for 1.5 or 2.5 hour movies, without wasting space by using the next longer standard mode.

Cons:

Auto clock setting never worked; I had to set it manually. Auto clock worked on the other two ATSC recorders and even on my old analog recorder. So, it isn't my local broadcast situation.

The first timer recording I attempted didn't work - still don't know why. When I came home, the unit was on, with "stop" displayed and no error code or further explanation. The event was gone from the schedule. My second attempt worked.

[Edit: From other users I now think I know the problem. If you lose signal for a few seconds during the recording, it stops. Thanks.]

Crippled RW -
Forget trying to use all the functions you expect from RW. There is no real VR mode. To do any editing or chapter work, you need to use RAM discs. I like my recorders a little more versatile and compatible than that.

Clunky dubbing -
-You find the start point, then stop the tape, then start dubbing. Other machines let you start dubbing from a paused tape - far more accurate. Dubbing from stop gives you about a +/- 2 second error as to where your recording will actually begin.
-Once your tape is cued and stopped, you now have two choices to actually begin dubbing. Either start dubbing by holding a dubbing button on the machine itself for several seconds and then switching to the remote to make a couple more selections, or, to use only the remote, you dive into the main menu and get to the dubbing section to make those choices - needlessly complicated and lame.

No FR mode for dubbing -
It would be nice to have this option when dubbing tapes. Those 2 hour 10 minute movies could look a lot better. Granted, most machines don't have this feature at all, but to have it for OTA, input, and timer recording and not for dubbing is very disappointing.

Quite easy for an amatuer like me to install.The remote is well designed, and its signal is strong. While I am still learning the operations it performs, thus far it performs as advertised.

We got this particular brand because it had a digital tuner. We don't have cable and would have had to buy a converter box anyway.

It's a very complex piece of machinery compared to a VCR and like a computer it can sometimes take a while to process different commands and occasionally has to be rebooted. The manual covers the basics but there a lot of ways you can do things wrong and they don't give you any on-screen messages to figure out why things aren't working the way you want. Plus, the terminology on the remote is not intuitive, so I always have to have the manual nearby (why is the button I use to watch my shows on DVDs called "Direct Access?").

I definitely am liking the concept of digital recording over videotaping tv shows. It's easier to find the particular show you're interested in and there's not as much worry about accidentally recording over another show. My preference would have been getting a machine with a hard drive, but TiVo is the only real option and I don't want to pay a subscription fee.

I'm old enough now to be flustered by new technology but now that I seem to be getting the hang of it, I'd say it was working out fine.