Panasonic DMR-HW220

Problem – I find this product very difficult to use. After the third try and alongside a Panasonic TV, I thought this would be ideal. No. We still needed a DVD player to start with, so now we have three appliances and three remotes, all very confusing. We cannot mute the DMR, very frustrating. I cannot work out how to quickly record something I see on the… Read more

TV that I like the look of. Mess around and it's over, missed it both ways. Also it doesn't record what is put into the pre selected program - if the previous program runs overtime it records that and then cuts off the program we wanted early.

Still working well – We have had this for two years and no troubles. Admit we don't use it like the other reviewers- we don't want to read off or record to USB. We just record tv shows, fast forward and rewind real time tv and other non-complicated things. This set top box has been working longer than most others and doesn't take any time to load up (like previous set top boxes did).  Show details

Not as expected – I have had this unit for 3 years and today I have found that the tuner stopped working. This model was not ready to be offered on the market. I managed to connect it to internet wifi but I could not make it browse internet or show netflix, though they were promised. I am not going to buy another Panasonic PVR/DVR. To be fair, I am enjoying… Read more

Panasonic plasma TV for 7 years already. Works perfect.

I wish they could provide the same quality with the recorder.

Below acceptable – Terrible, inadequate and not fit for purpose. They advertise a USB socket, but it doesn't play from a USB drive (I have tried 3 of them!!). It simply asks you to format your drive. That's right - the friggin' Panasonic wants to format your drive full of media files! I contacted Panasonic support and apparently it "only supports USB key drives",… Read more

not USB hard disks, whatever that means. I don't know how it can tell whether the device contains solid-state or disk media, but for some reason it does. Secondly, there is no volume control, meaning you need a TV and the box remote to make watching TV possible. Thirdly, when you record something and delete it, you only get a portion of the used space returned. It's a joke, and Panasonic aren't interested in helping me at all. Finally, that Viera connect crap is a waste of time too.

Terrible if you ever want to record 2 things at once – Purchased this after our strong pvr died after 5 years of full on use - editing, multiple recordings etc. This Panasonic unit is unable to record two programs at once successfully even if you edit your timer to ensure a lack of duplication - and it said it was a twin tuner!!!! There are a few positive features in terms of being able to fast… Read more

forward in time blocks but - you buy a twin tuner so you can record two things at once so it fails for the things you need it for. Don't buy it. Panasonic please do a software upgrade.

Magic PVR – My last hard disk drive recorder was wearing out, the remote was not always working and it was very annoying that it did not have the TV Guide functionality which makes setting up recording so much easier and faster. Sticking with Panasonic again since they integrate so well via Vierra Link with Panasonic TV's I bought this device and highly… Read more

recommend it. The TV Guide function is great. Only complaint with the T V Guide function is that sometimes the TV networks change the timetable a bit or cancel the show, the machine is not smart enough to adjust accordingly. The machine does allow the user to personalise the timer settings so that you can start the recording X minutes before the TV Guide and it continues recording X minutes afterwards. This is great since networks often run late.

I would definitely recommend this particularly for Panasonic TV owners, you only need to use 1 remote most times.

Not a good choice – While these units record and playback TV well, this DMR (and in fact all the Panasonic DMRs) have a problem that is not mentioned anywhere and you should understand this before you buy any of them. When you delete a title (say a 60 minute recording) you only recover about 40 per cent of the deleted time for new recording, say 20 to 25 minutes The… Read more

other 40 minutes is "lost" by being retained within the recorder's cache. So very soon you find your are running out of any available record time. There is a solution, and that is to reformat the HDD, but that means EVERYTHING recorded on the HDD is wiped. If you buy a model with a DVD recorder included, at least you can transfer titles to an external drive before you reformat (a big job, but possible). Best solution is buy something else, but verify they don't have this same issue.

Awful. Big mistake buying this – I hate this recorder. What I hate is that if you pause a live program, you can't record it. And, if you pause a live program, you can't access anything else you've recorded. So if you pause then leave the room for sometime, you have to watch it or lose it. That sucks! The Foxtel IQ unit lets you pause, and if you desire, you can save everything… Read more

for later viewing. Why couldn't Panasonic do that? What else it can't do is transfer anything saved to another medium (except a USB which can only be used in that machine). That sucks too. If only I'd known about these limitions before I bought it. Lesson learned.

The picture quality is great, but the problems mentioned above make this the worse recorder I've ever bought. Picture quality. Can't save paused program. Can't watch anything else if you've paused. Can't transfer recording to other medium

Waste of money – Waste of money. Picture quality is horrible. Sound keeps cutting in and out for no apparent reason. Returning tomorrow. Manufacturers tried to tell me it's my aerial. Little do they know Before purchasing this rubbish i just had brand new aerial installed and pick up every channel perfectly. What a joke. Don't waste your money. Doesn't work

Ok machine – Great picture, easy setup, didn't like the series record takes to long to setup also didn't like that you are limited to how many programs you can record. I have taken it back along with a topfield ( I didn't like anything about the topfield)and bought a humax 7500t great machine. Picture Series record,limited recording

Best PVR you can get – Don't listen to the negative reviews, this is the best PVR you can get. Panasonic is a high quality brand you can trust. I recently bought a Topfield & Bush PVR & took both back for very poor reception and functionality. Scrambled channels, badly designed tv guide and things just not working as they should. Panasonic was my 3rd attempt at buying a… Read more

new PVR and i,m pleased to report i could not be happier with this machine. If you've had a panasonic tv or dvd before you will be familiar with the menus and tv guides. This is a well made solid piece of machinery - that works! From initial set up to recording everything is simple and easy. The TV guide is simple to use, recording you just choose the show from tv guide, then you can increase the finish time, change to weekly, mon-fri, mon-sun or daily. You can record 2 channels. Once recorded they can be found on the "direct navigation" button. Again so simple even a geriatric could figure it out. It also has wireless internet so you can watch youtube, abc iview, skype video calling as well as watch normal tv channels. The tv guide channels can be re-arranged into a favourites order. You can easily edit the tv show too. I highly recommend this PVR. steer clear of all the cheap branded PVR's. It's well worth the extra money to have something that just works. Everything - it works, easy to use, reliable Nothing so far, i love it