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

I purchased this unit Dec. 2007 from Sears and I purchased the 3-year extended warranty. I have had nothing but problems. I started having problems with this unit keeping timer recordings. It would be setup and not record anything. Also, the unit froze completely when I was just pulling up the navigation menu. It is very erratic, you might go one week and it be fine and then the next it would lock up several times. Then I started having problems with the digital tuning(if you are using this on cable, be aware). In our area, we have the 46 music channels that come through clear on a Sharp HDTV. When I went in Setup to rememorize the channels, over half of the music channels were gone. Also, you can't simply add and delete a digital channel to this unit, you must go through Setup and run the entire scan all over again. Anyway, I was losing other channels as well that my HDTV was still getting. Then I started having problems with DVD-RAMs working with this unit. It would show a message that the disc was unreadable and would lock down. That's when I took it back to Sears and use the warranty that I purchased. After 3 weeks and them telling me nothing was wrong with it, I sent it to Panasonic directly. They replaced the DVD-Drive and digital board in it. I just got it back 2 weeks ago and I started having problems with it again. So, buyer beware on this particular model. Some of the earlier models that I have purchased in the past are okay. Just this particular model so far.

Does pretty much what I wanted. One problem........no controls on the machine. So, if you lose your controller, you're SOL.

I have used the DVR daily for just over a year.

Pros:
DVD RAM format superior to +/- R
Digital Tuner
Overall features

Cons:
No HDMI on this model (some have it)
Slow (annoyingly so) to change channels
Unreliable
Prone to lock-ups requiring resets

Who should buy this unit? Avoid this unit, especially used ones.

The unit regularly crashes requiring a reset. It does this about once a month. This was okay to deal with. Just after a year of owning it the unit refused to eject a cassette I had checked out from the library. I searched the internet and found this was a common problem. I opened the DVR and manually ejected the cassette and it was fine, turned out it was a jammed cassette (I don't know why it couldn't eject it instead of throwing error codes).

A week after the cassette problem, the unit failed to eject a DVD. Same problem, looked on the internet and saw this was a fairly common problem. No electronic device should be this much fuss, especially one that cost me $280 new.

Delivery was prompt and quality was like new. The unit is solid and sturdy and works fine. You may not get all the bells and whistles, but it gets the job done.

The downconverted video that it records doesn't look like HD, but it is a noise free, ghost free recording, which is what I expected.
Just FYI, it will not allow you to record any digital broadcast to VHS.