Some steps forward, some back

The DMR-EZ37V is the update to the ES35V which we have owned.

Media:

The ES35V would record to dvd-ram, dvd-r, dvd-r DL, dvd-rw, dvd+r, and dvd+r DL. The EZ37V adds dvd+rw. The drawback of DL recording with the ES35V was that the first layer had to closed before the next layer could be recorded and this took about as much time as to finalize a single layer disk. This meant that the ES35V could not record continously over the layer change with DL ( double layer, dual layer ) disks. The EZ37V can but not perfectly. A noticeable glitch occurs at the layer change. Dvd-ram is the only recording medium which can be edited.

Tuner:

The ES35V had standard analog TV tuner. The EZ37V adds a digital tuner that downconverts HD to standard definition ( it cannot passthrough the original HD signal ) and does include a QAM tuner for receiving local broadcast off cable in HD. Panasonic does not make it very clear that it can do this for some reason. Cable providers are required by law to provide these channels in HD even if you subscribe only to analog cable.

Recording modes:

One of the ES35V's most redeeming features was that it could record in flexible recording mode from the VCR side to a dvd. This means it allowed an hour and 10 minute tape to fill a dvd simply by telling the recorder that the tape was one hour and 10 minutes long. The EZ37V has lost this feature. The VCR can record directly to dvd only in XP, SP, LP, and EP modes. The same hour and 10 minute tape now has to be recorded in SP ( 2 hour ) mode leaving 50 minutes of space on the dvd. The bitrate for the recording is lower than necessary to provide that wasted space. Flexible recording is available but only at the external inputs. I called customer support and found this is also true of the bigger brother to the EZ37V which is the EZ47V. The EZ47V includes an HDMI interface and SD card reader. The EZ37V has neither.

Some recorders drop resolution at LP mode ( 4 hours ), but the EZ37V maintains the same resolution at LP mode as XP and SP ( 720 by 480 ) and lowers the bitrate.

Inputs:

S-video and composite inputs front and rear, DV 4 pin input in front. No SD card reader like the EZ47V. I tested the DV input by transferring one and part of another tape from a Sony mini-DV camcorder to dvd-ram. The transfer worked fine. The biggest difficulty was finding an IEEE1394 cable with the small, 4 pin connectors on both ends. I had to order one online since all the local stores had either 6 pin to 4 pin or 6 pin to 6 pin cables.

Outputs:

S-video, composite, component. No HDMI like the EZ47V.

Miscellaneous:

1. The EZ37V does allow, like previous Panasonic combos, the common dvd/vcr output to be sent to external hardware such as a color corrector, and then back into an external input like IN1. In this configuration, flexible recording mode is available.

2. This is the first Panasonic recorder combo or otherwise, that locked up so bad that it had to be unplugged from the wall to get it up and running again. It has done it twice.

3. The recording quality is quite good and the build quality a step above an LG RC797T tested not too long ago. The LG did perfect DL recording however, with no hesitation at the layer change and did allow editing dvd-ram, dvd-rw, and dvd+rw.