Panasonic DMR-EZ27K

I thought this was a great recorder at first, but set the timer to record and returned to find on display "Stop". I could not get the disc ejected and the recorder would not respond manually nor with the remote. I now have a message that says "U99". I tried manually to reset it but nothing. Very disappointed. I liked the recorder but now I will take it back.

This is my third Panasonic DVD recorder. They all have similar recoding protocols which makes life easy. This unit worked fine for about 15 days, approximately 15 hours of recording TV shows. Then a "U99" message showed up and NOTHING would work. I disassembled the unit to retrieve the disk, reassembled the unit and plugged it back in. The recorder seemed to be functioning again. I inserted a new disk and recorded a show. When I returned the display read, "Stop". The display returned to "U99" as I was trying the remedies in the manual. My experience sounds exactly the same as cmatheson08's review. The 800 Service number only provided a list of service locations rather than a live person. Unfortunately, the automated voice is garbled and I don't live anywhere near Trinidad, their first recommendation. When I took the recorder back for a refund neither Best Buy, Circuit City, Walmart nor Sears had any EZ27 boxed units. Maybe Panasonic recognized the problem and have quietly stopped shipping new recorders.

I was excited when I heard that it had a digital tuner but was disappointed when I found out it down converted HD signals, although this issue is not just subject to Panasonic but to all brands on the market. My biggest issue with the tuner is that it is very slow and if I loose the signal or adjust my antenna I get a U99 error forcing me to reset the unit, it also lacks a signal meter. Other cons are slow start up time and no eject on the remote.

Having a Panasonic Plasma I opted for this unit over Samsung to take advantage of the Easy Sync feature. As for recording quality the unit does an excellent job, I record at LP (4 hours) and the quality is absolutely excellent. Setting up program recording is fairly easy and allows you to label it.

Movie DVD playback and 1080p un conversion (HDMI) the unit does a great job on making my DVD’s look great on my 50” screen and having an Optical out to send thru my Surround sound system helps. Prior to buying this unit I was strongly leaning to blue ray or HD but I will now hold off until a clear winner emerges, as I am more then able to live with Movie playback from DVD

After having this unit for over a month now I find my self very happy with recording quality and DVD playback and can live with the short comings with the Tuner, but was truly surprised and would hope the next generation of DVD recorders improves upon these issues.