Panasonic DMR-EH75VS (80 GB) DVD Recorder / VCR / HDD Recorder

Pros: VHS/DVD conversion, hard drive editing features
Cons: TV Guide feature is very limited

My wife and I have been searching for a convenient way to compile our old VHS tapes in organized fashion. The standard VHS/DVD combos seemed okay, but having a hard drive with editing capabilities drew us to this Panasonic model. I was pretty concerned ...

Pros: Powerful! Lots of functionality and great flexibility (if it actually worked).
Cons: UNRELIABLE, POOR QUALITY + Bugs and frustrations, some critical, and lousy tech support

Save yourself some reading- DON'T BUY PANASONIC! If you want to know why- read on. Sad- Panasonic used to be a quality brand. This unit can record or copy to/from Hard Disk (80GB), VHS, and DVD (most formats). It has high-speed copy ...

Pros: Cable-ready, Nice to have so many features in one unit
Cons: start slow and learn, it takes time

I bought the Panasonic DMR-EH75VS for the primary purpose of converting old VHS tapes to DVDs. I have it connected to the entertainment center via an HDMI cable now, but at first had it connected to another TV unit. The HD unit accepted the unit at ...

Pros: Record/playback quality on HDD; versatility; TV Guide feature without subscription; reasonable price for feature set
Cons: Switching drives slow and cumbersome. No HDTV tuner.

We bought the unit primarily for the hard-drive recording and DVD recording facilities, but it also replaced a VCR that was being used both for playback of old tapes and time-shifting. Thus far it has performed without problems. Hookup was well ...

Pros: Quiet, rich features, good picture and sound, plenty of inputs, easy recoding setup
Cons: price, terrible manual, should allow for less than 1minute commercial skip

I've had this unit for a few weeks now. I would not have paid the $500 list price, but couldn't say no to an open box item at Circuit City for $250. In general, this box does a whole lot. Here's a few things I find most useful... - I can backup my ...

Pros: Comprehensive, EXCELLENT do-it-all unit
Cons: NONE that I've found

Contrary to some reviewers, I've had absolutely NO problem with this unit. In fact, I bought a second one for my other tv! The manual is long but not really THAT complicated. If you can read, you can figure it out. If I can do it, so can anyone else. ...

Pros: Has VCR, DVD, and a HD.
Cons: Can't record directly to video tape from a TV channel???????

It is interesting the review titled "BUYER BEWARE! by fogul ,Jun 28 '06" on the Panasonic DMR-EH75VS. I got an RCA recorder (DRC8052N) for Xmas, and it is horrible. (All of the VCRs I've had are/were better.) - It is difficult to schedule ...

Pros: Nice features BUT IT DOESN'T WORK.
Cons: Did I mention IT DOESN'T WORK? Ineffectual tech support.

The unit worked well for 5 months. Then it broke, big time. It froze. It wouldn't play a commercial DVD. It would not eject a DVD or even turn off. I had to search the manual for a way of retrieving the DVD. Then began the lengthy and as yet unresolved ...

Pros: Reliable, number of features, six way recording, hard drive
Cons: not quite user friendly, can be costly

The only way I see this DVD system being marked so low by other users is if they bought the unit when it first came out. Or if they went to one of these big box discount retailers (Costco, Kmart, Walmart) where the goods aren't taken care of as they ...

Pros: Can trim off extra video of recorded video and ability select different menu colors.
Cons: Not easy to use, confusing menus, hard to type titles, no ability to stop recording

This is such a great idea. Combine a VCR, DVD recorder and hard drive into one unit with the ability to go from any source to DVD instantly and in real time. Only one problem, you just can't stop it... It took me many a try to actually understand ...

Pros: Free TV Guide scheduling, Hard Drive,
Cons: I can’t use the SD card feature because my camera uses a flash card.

I want to thank the original reviewer for such a helpful review. I recently bought this machine (Nov. 2006) and have it connected with my cable and a regular (non HD) television.

So far two features that I really like are the hard drive and the free TV guide. You have to be patient when setting up this unit. If you have a plug-n-play mentality you will be frustrated. It can take 24 hours to complete the TV guide download. And for some strange reason it took several hours to initialize the clock, but in the end it is working.

12/10/06:After my original review I have learned a few more things. The issue I had with not being able to schedule a recording to VHS is not a glitch. That’s the way it is designed because you can record to hard drive or DVD. Also, if you are going to play your DVDs on another machine you need the kind that can be “finalized”. I have used the DVD -RW variety without any problems. The more I use this machine the more I like it. It really deserves 5 stars.

Pros: Does everything but walks your dog!
Cons: It has a guideline, not a manual!

I have to admit it was a nightmare until I learned how to use it, but it was all because of an unfriendly users manual. If Panasonic would rewrite their manual and make it user friendly, or at least where it could be understood, this would be the best unit on the market. But, if you use the Biblical Method where if you seek you will find, it is a simple unit to operate!
UPDATE: Well, I might have spoken too soon! 90 days of trouble free performance and it went to that "Big Burner" graveyard in the sky! Panasonic is going to stand behind it, however, and warranty it again!

Pros: Easy to copy to DVD or VHS. Easy to digitize Camcorder.
Cons: Not totally intuitive. Requires reading (and re-reading) the manual

I think there are products out there that are easier to use, but overall I'm pleased with this purchase.

I read, and then re-read the manual. After the second reading I felt like understood only about 85% of what I wanted to understand. While the manual was complete (and I actually like reading technology manuals) there were a few unanswered questions that might remain unanswered.

Based on discussions with Tivo owners, this product has great features but is much harder to use. I dread having to train my wife how to record something.

But I hate subscription models for products that don't justify it. In my opinion Tivo doesn't justify their monthly charges.

Everything worked fine. Installation was straight forward. Video and sound quality are great. There are a handful of features I would like that don't exist, but I'm not complaining. This is a great solution for people who are migrating from a VHS environment.

Pros: Picture quality, copy old family tapes to disk, TV Guide
Cons: Can't record TV for viewing later because of copyright restrictions.

Outside of channels 4 (NBC) & 5 (CBC) TV schedule showing the same lineup, I haven't had much problem with the TV Guide. Because the screen is so small it is hard to use and find things, but I can still use cable's guide to find what I want. Copying some old family VHS to DVD worked very well, but it’s the TV Guide recording I find most frustrating. I was under the impression this would make a nice Tivo replacement (although I have never used one) with the build in hard drive, but I have yet to find anything I can record from the TV. What is the point of being able to schedule recordings via the TV Guide if the machine won't record them because their copyrighted? I could see not being able to record them to disk or tape, but I don't see why I can't record them to the hard drive for viewing later. I guess I am left wondering what the purpose of this machine is if you can't record anything off the TV. For $500 it maybe a nice feature rich machine, but if you can’t record for later viewing what the point?

Pros: Sounds Good
Cons: Tech Support, Extremely Dense Manual

Has lots of great features and can copy to from and to anything. I wanted to be able to copy movies/shows burn a DVD and watch anywhere.I was really looking forward to copying all my Digital Video to DVDs

I live in NYC and despite 3 tries and long waits on Tech Support cannot get the Ch 5 Fox to list. It lists 500 other channels. 1st Tech answer - only downloads popular Channels. Ok Fox is Home to NFL, American Idol, House, etc. 2nd Tech apologizes for 1st and says retry. Still same problem. Copied TV show using high speed from HDD to DVD - and DVD gets stuck about half way through.

I will give it another week, maybe a bad device, then return it.