Panasonic DMR-XW380EBK 250GB HDD DVD Recorder with Twin Freeview HD Tuners

I purchased the DMR-XW380 twin tunner freeview HDD tv recorder from Amazon after reading the reviews of Amazon site and other sites.

Firstly let me say its a dream to set up and takes only 10 to 15 easy minutes and I am no electronics expert.There are only three cables to plug in i.e. mains,HMDI and tv arial in the basic connection mode were you only require to connect to a TV.

Much has been said about the adverts that occupy the programme select screen. This is a window left of the programme menue and is not too large.
However I did not like the idea of having adverts displayed to me this way and after reading one of the reviews which said that when setting up if you did not put your address and postcode into the set up menu the adds would not appear and the advertisment window would remain grey showing no adverts.I followed this advice and indeed I can state that I receive no adverts with the advert display window remaining grey. You are told by the operating booklet that by putting in your address and post code you improve the chances of having the recorder returned in the event of having the unit stolen.It seems that there may be a secondary reason for getting you to put in your address and post code!? Perhaps if you have entered your address and post code you cannot then go back so may have to "suffer" the adverts but I have knowledge if this is the case.

Instructions booklet was easy to read and fairly clear to understand. I stayed away from blue ray versions of this device since I dont think the "juice is worth the squeeze" on additional cost. Recorded blue ray are so expensive and this unit employs upscaling which promotes a pretty high def picture anyway from standard recorded DVD. Yes you can put loads more info onto a blank blue ray disc so this might provide a reason if you copy a lot to DVD discs.Yes the disc copying function is not a fast process but it is easy to perform.I found this no problem at all.

Another area of concern to some people was the cut off point when recording tv programmes. For some reason you are told that up to two minutes may be lost from a programme if you select the recorded times presented on the recording menu (ie two back to back recordings). I have not yet lost any recorded info this way but it is very easy indeed to increase up to a max of 10 mins the recording time and this is achieved on the same screen menu.

Some criticism is seen of the recorders speed of use. I find its speed of carrying out the required function is OK...yes it can take a few seconds moving from one screen menu to another but really no big deal and no show stopper.

If you have selected power save options in the initial set up screen then you will not be able to select "quick start recording" from the standby mode and indeed this will slow down the "instant" recording of a programme since it takes longer to boot up. I agree there are quite a few keys to press to edit out adverts when downloading to a blank DVD but there is a learning curve to everything in this area. The operating instructions clearly show how to carry out this function.

If you get parental guidance alerts then you must have selected to have them since this option is presented to you when you initially set up the recorder.I chose not to have them and I dont receive them.

So by not putting in your address and post code and not opting for power save or parental guidance you will set up the recorder in the quickest mode when recording from standby and you will not receive the adverts or parental guidance. This I can say is found in my case with the freeview twin tunner version stated above.

Yes perhaps not cheap but I find the recorder a slim device that is easy to use and is a quality recorder. The 250GB hard drive is plenty big enough for most peoples requirements.

There are plenty of other things you can do with this recorder e.g. music and alternative connections to router etc but I have not as yet looked at these features.

Hope this helps

I have had this DVD recorder a few weeks now. The picture quality is excellent. It also up scales the non HD TV pictures very well. Sound it fine but I'm not into surround or that stuff. There are a lot of features on this machine and I haven't used them all yet. It is a vaste improvement over the Sony DVD HDD recorder I have been using. Not only better quality pictures but much more useful in terms of its feature. There is a down side though. The instruction manual is very poor. There are a few translation issues which are easy to get over but it is not totally comprehensive and the index and contents pages leave so much out, you find yourself flicking through trying to find the bit you want. And I'm someone who likes instruction manuals! There is a quirk that can be overcome. If you butt end two recordings, it will cut off the last minute of the first one. Not sure why. To fix this just either extend the first recording by at least one minute or start the second one a minute or more early. Obviously you can only do that if there isn't another program needing to be recorded at the same time. The adverts on the Guide screen are a drag but I don't even notice them now. It has the odd feature of giving series recorded programs a code rather than the program title although you can still see the program details if you press 'i' for information on it. Also I can't see how you can stop a series record once you have set it up. Nothing in the Manual. The parental guidance also irritates me, because I don't have kids and I don't want to have to keep entering the code before I watch a program but I can't turn that off either. Even with these irritants I would not hesitate to recommend this machine although I think you need to get it at a good low price as I did otherwise there can be slightly cheaper competitors.

I bought this to replace the Sony RDR-DC200B which Sony have agreed to refund after continuous problems. The Panasonic DMR-XW380 is excellent when compared to the Sony. It is quiet when dubbing, responsive to commands from the remote and powers up quickly. The upscaled picture quality is excellent. The volume from the system is also adequate. The auto-tuning of freeview channels was quick and it found all the expected channels. Setting programs to record is very easy and also simple to adjust manually if required. The documentation mentions that for two consecutive recordings the last minute of the first recording will be omitted. This can be easily overcome by adjusting the times manually. The manual is good and easy to use; so far it seems comprehensive.

Problems I read about in other reviews don't seem to exist. They seem to be early reviews and Panasonic must have fixed them. I haven't tried all the features yet but have tested enough to know that all those I have tried out-perform the Sony in every case.

If, like me, you want to use the recorder to copy programs to DVD then this machine is very good. It is quick and easy to use; I have had no problem recording movies and dubbing them to DVD. Editing out adverts is also very easy and efficient. This is a quality product and I have no hesitation in recommending it.