Panasonic DMR-EZ48VK

Pros: Records HD

Cons: Records HD widescreen, but only on DVD-RAM; DVD-RAM is proprietary, very few drives recognize; system locks up once a week, misses scheduled recordings because of it; HDMI output to TV has intermittent signal

Summary: Don't buy this recorder, unless you want a bunch of headaches. Sure it records HD widescreen, but only on DVD-RAM. DVD-RAM is proprietary to Panasonic. Most other computer DVD drives are not compatible, so you can't share the recordings with others. The system locks up solidly and randomly once per week. We've lost a lot of scheduled recordings because of it. And the HDMI output to the TV is inconsistent, the TV says there is no signal even though the Panasonic and TV acknowledge an HDMI connection exists. We have to power down the Panasonic and power back up to actually watch what we wanted on the TV. I've called Panasonic numerous times. They said they would send a disc with the latest firmware. They did not ever send it. I downloaded from the web site and put on disc. Apparently the Panasonic already had the latest, because it wouldn't accept it. But, there is no way to check what version you have, no magic buttons to press. So, now we are stuckwith this inadequate, $400 waste of money.