Panasonic DMR EX75EB-S

Author's product rating:   

Sound Level	Excellent
Instructions	Helpful / Easy to Follow
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Records on harddrive and recordable discs .
Disadvantages:	None as yet .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Panasonic
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The company was founded in 1918 in Osaka, Japan by Konosuke Matsushita.
It employs 260,000 people worldwide.
And is the 3rd largest electronics company.
Their first product was a two-socket light bulb, and now they have15,000 different products.
They are promoting themselves as an environmentally friendly company, by building energy and waste efficient factorys and energy efficient products.

Due to a few comments saying i did not require all the technical data, i have removed them. If you require this information go to http://www.panasonic.co.uk/dvd-recorders/dmr-ex75eb-s/index.htm

What you get
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DMR-EX75EB
Remote control with batteries
AC mains lead
Audio/Video cable
2 RF coaxial cable black (aerial cable)
1 RF coaxial cable grey
Operating instructions
Quick setup guide
Reference guide.

Looks
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Brushed silver with a sloping front and smoked glass LCD screen make this recorder look more stylish than other box shaped recorders. 43cms wide, 30cms long and a depth of 6cms. These measurements make it smaller than my Sony DVD recorder and my Toshiba video recorder.

Setup
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The quick setup guide is 4 pages long and very straight forward.
First of all it tells you what you will require to connect your TV and Satellite/cable.
They do supply you with 1 set of audio/video cable but these are the most basic type of cables you can get. I would recommend if you do not already have any to upgrade to scart leads. 1 if your only connecting to a TV, 2 or 3 if you are connecting to TV and satellite/cable. These will give you superior picture, sound and integration with your TV and satellite/cable.
The quick guide shows where to connect your scart leads with the use of pictures and written text.
The rear of the recorder is clearly marked where each scart should go.
Now turn on TV and recorder, this will start the auto tune.
First it searches for the digital channels. If you are not sure if you have the signal strength for digital go to http://www.ukfree.tv/transmitters.php enter your post code and it will bring up the transmitter details for your area, and if you need to upgrade your aerial.
After digital is tuned in analogue channels are tuned in.
You should now be up and running if everything was followed correctly.
Altogether it took me about 30minutes from unpacking to finishing setup, but i already had a recorder connected so it was just a matter of swapping 1 for the other. Your probably better off allowing at least 1hour so you can take your time and get it right first time and not getting stressed because something is not working.

I have now upgraded to HDMI cables as i have now got a new TV with HDMI and AV receiver with HDMI, this type of cable is meant to be superior to all others with no loss of quality, and i have to agree there is a definite improvement.

Remote control
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The remote is about 134 grams in weight, 20cms long and 5cms wide.
It fits comfortably in the hand.
The top is silver with black text. Buttons feel like rubber and need a definite press to work them. The remote does not have a back light or glow in the dark buttons this can be a problem, as i like to watch TV in the dark.
It is clear what most of the buttons do: stop, pause,play, and guide to name a few. But others will need to be learned :input select, drive select, functions and direct navigator.
The operating instructions give a comprehensive guide on how to use the remote, and i would keep this at hand for a few months until you get used to the recorder.

Recording
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This is the main reason i bought the DMR-EX75EB It has a very large hard disc drive 160gb and you can record onto recordable dvd's.
There are a number of ways to record, the best for me is from the guide. Press the guide button on the remote, a display will come up on your telly with an 8 day guide for all the digital channels. To record scroll to the program you want to record and press enter, this will take you to another screen that gives you details of what you are recording, name, time, length and if there is enough disc space. Press enter to confirm that you want to record and it takes you back to the guide. A clock will be placed on the program you have chosen to record. You can carry on picking programs you want to record the same way. It even warns you if a program overlaps so you can choose which one you want to record.
Videoplus is another option. Beside programs in TV listings in papers or TV magazines are a set of numbers if you press videoplus on your remote a screen will come up enter the numbers from the program you want to record, if it is a digital channel you are recording from, it will ask you to enter the channel number then press enter to confirm.
There is an instant record button to record what you are watching now.
Also a manual record were you enter all the details yourself.
But the easiest is recording using the guide.

Recording quality
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With the large 160gb HDD i normally leave all the recordings set to XP this is DVD quality. Only when you try LP do you see a inferior quality recording, but still better than video recording.

Playback
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If you are upgrading from a video recorder this will be a marvel to you. No more fast forwarding to see what is on your tape or rewinding back to the start.
With the press of the direct navigator button on your remote a screen will come on your TV with all the details of each recording, scroll to one of the recordings and the recording will start to play in a small screen. Just pick which one you want to watch. You can delete adverts from here rename programs or even delete the whole recording.
You can also watch a program you have started recording but has not yet finished, press the direct navigator button on the remote scroll to the program that is recording and press play, if it is a program that has adverts in you can fast forward, pause if you need to do something and it will not effect the recording. Now that is state of the art stuff.

SD card reader
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At the front of the recorder is a SD card reader, lift up the flap and insert the card and you can view your photos as a slide show, record them onto disc or harddrive. Tried this and my photos looked a little squashed on the TV, probably needed to change my screen settings. But it was nice seeing the photos on a large screen.

Front panel
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On the front of the recorder is a flap that you pull down, under the flap is a DV input, S video input, AV3 input terminal and channel select button. These make it easier to connect external devices like camcorders, cameras and games consoles.

Other features
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MP3 PLAYBACK, MP3 is a digital audio that has been compressed, so you can fit more tracks onto a CD.

DVD PLAYBACK RESTRICTION, if you enter a password into the recorder then set a security level from 8-plays all titles down to 0-blocks all titles.

UPSCALING, converts a standard DVD to match a high definition TV,s pixels resulting in a higer quality picture with more detail and better colour.

PROGRESSIVE SCAN, gives higher resolution and fewer artifacts in video with motion compared to interlaced video (better picture)

AUTOMATIC SOFTWARE UPDATE, if a new system download is required it will automaticaly download.

REMOTE CONTROL, has a child lock. You can also enter a code provided in the operating instructions to make it control your TV in a limited capacity.

ERROR MESSAGES, the recorder will show error codes if it malfunctions, check the operating instructions at the back. Follow the instructions on what to do. There is also a comprehensive problems page.

Conclusion
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This is a very high spec recorder that i am very pleased with. The setup was straight forward. All the basic functions are easy to learn after only a few times of use. Some of the more advanced features will have to be learned over time with the help of the very easy to understand operating instructions book.
It took me along time to decide on this recorder and for me it was the right choice.
Cnet editors choice 8.3 excellent
Home cinema choice 5 out of 5 for the DMR-EX85 the only difference is the EX85 has got a 250gb HDD.