Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I've got a great new 1080p HD TV, a decent surround stereo set-up, and an HD cable box with DVR. But the DVR was running out of space, and I wanted to save some of the shows and movies I recorded. So, basically I wanted a unit that could record from my cable box/DVR, but I also wanted a unit that could upconvert DVDs to 1080p to take advantage of the new TV -- and convert old VCR tapes to DVD. After a lot of reading and research, I bought this one. First, the unit has an HDMI out, which is great. However, for some reason, Panasonic recommends that if you connect the unit to a TV (or stereo) using the HDMI, you also connect component cables, which sort of defeats the point of getting rid of cable clutter. Well, you don't need to; the playback works as supposed to without it. (And contrary to what the first tech rep told me, the VCR WILL playback over the HDMI cable if that's your only output.) Depending on your stereo, you may find the lack of a digital coax audio out a bit frustrating; since my stereo has only digital coax for DVD input, and the unit has only digital optical, I need to run the audio through the HDMI to the TV, then run a digital cable from the TV to the stereo, so there's a slight time lag between sound and picture. If you output sound through the TV speakers this won't be a problem. (You could also hook up the digital optical to another input you're not using, like TAPE input, but then you don't get full audio features, at least on my stereo.) A much bigger problem is the video input. There is no component input (let alone HDMI input). So, if you have Tivo'ed or DVR'ed an HD show, the best you can do is send it via S-video to the Panasonic recorder (then you need separate L/R analog audio cables as well). (If you don't have s-video, you can use the composite or RF, which is what..1970s technology?) I know DVD recorders can't record HD, but still, there's no reason to make us downgrade the signal that much. (I recorded to DVD+RW; they're cheaper then VCR tapes and much better, so why record to VCR?!) That brings me to the DVD recording. Once you figure out the menus and system, it's pretty easy. BUT, after 1/2 hour on the phone with Panasonic tech support, even they couldn't explain why it was converting full-screen recordings (on my DVR) to letterbox format on the DVD. Turns out it just does this with HD channels; if you're recording digital (non-HD) then it doesn't do the letterbox trick. But that annoyance is making me look for a new unit. That being said, it records double layer (DL) DVDs, which buys a lot of extra recording time without sacrificing quality. And the (nearly) one-touch VCR-DVD dubbing is nice (though I think all brands now have this). Unfortunately, so far the EZ48 does a lousy job of upconverting pre-recorded DVDs. It's 1080p upconversion of DVDs does not approach the quality or resolution of similar programming on native HD channels (in lower resolutions of 720p and 1080i). I tried dubbing one VHS tape to DVD. It produced a horrible scratching sound, not present when I play the tape in my old Sony VHS machine. If you're going to buy a unit to convert VHS to DVD, it should play VHS tapes in better quality (the Sonys have 4-head units). Finally, when I went to turn the unit off, it did -- then turned right back on. After 5 minutes of turning it off, watching it say "BYE" then watching it turn on again, I just unplugged the damn thing. Happened again today. Tech support was not particularly helpful with this one. (Then again, tech support also insisted the first time I called that the 4:3 TV settings were important, even though I have my unit outputting via HDMI to a 16:9 TV. At least today's tech support acknoweldged the woman yesterday was wrong.) This unit definitely has some problems. So far, I haven't seen that it's worth the money to do what its competitors can do (most for less money) -- although few others can record to DL DVDs. So, looks like I'm biding time until someone comes out with a Blue-ray that records DVDs, has HDMI input for Tivos and DVRs and both digital optical and coax outputs, and turns off and stays off....