Panasonic DMR-HW220GLK

Great unit – Purchased 2012 after 3 Topfield machines failed.Great unit easy to use and understand,No problem with storage. Is used a LOT,nearly always recording 2 programs.Also have a Samsung in another room purchased 2017, Am about to replace it with a Panasonic as it is useless.Will always buy Panasonic from now on.  Show details

It's a Personal Video Recorder that's better than Topfield but not as fancy as Foxtel's IQ – I set this gift up for my mother who is happily using it daily at 81 years of age. I know because I wanted one too after researching what to buy, other than the Topfield that my sister had bought for me. While setting it up, I certainly found it better than the Topfield that I had been using (until it broke as per my review in 2015). It had… Read more

a a good Electronic Program Guide that integrated well, possibly due to her Panasonic TV, but they usually function separately, in my experience anyway.

It's only a Personal Video Recorder and not as fancy as Foxtel or Austar IQ's (I have subscribed to both in the past at a cost).

Note: I don't have the receipt as it's with her in Sydney for warranty purposes, but as I did the research for the purchase, my records show:

$347 Harvey Norman, 4.9.14 Deposit paid $147, Balance $200 due next month,

Panasonic 1TB Full HD PVR DMRHW220GLK 8887549474026

Easy Peasy Setup and Intuitive to Use – EDIT: the electronics inside the remote control have degraded. The pasticisers or whatever have broken down and exude a liquid which wets the circuit board and interferes with the signal/function. It NOT a spill from a drink or food. Pretty disappointed in the lack of longevity in the remote control. Someone else I know also had the same issue.… Read more

---------------‐---------------- Purchased this 1terabyte HDD PVR yesterday and it was a no brainer to set it up and use. I used the basic settings only as I already have the TV connected to the internet. The basic setup didn't take long - maybe 10 to 15 minutes while I was chatting on the phone to a caller. The stations were automatically searched for and figuring out how to schedule recordings and then play them back today was relatively straight forward. There is a USB socket so you an play movies, view photos etc from the USB stick. It was a nice surprise to see you can connect to the internet with either a lead or wirelessly. This unit cost us $389. So far, very pleased that we spent that bit extra to get a PVR that looks like it will be headache free. We went straight from a VCR which is very basic so this seems like a dream machine in comparison. There are other machines with a lot more bells and whistles but this was within our budget.

Someone else said they cannot record two programs at once but we do this regularly with no issues. If we also wish to watch a third program we have to change the source back to digital TV and watch it directly via the TV instead of through the Panasonic. You have to make sure your program times do not overlap so you are, in effect, trying to record three programs simultaneously, even if the overlap is even just one minute as it will shut one of the recordings off so only two are being recorded. Easy no fuss setup and it is easy to figure out how to use it. Nice clear picture. Love the fast forward button. Love the fact it can record two shows while we watch a third all at the same time. The antennae cord supplied is only about 1 metre which is too short for our TV cabinet. You also have to buy the HDMI lead if that is what you are going to be using. And you can only record 7 days ahead.

A Mistake – Since the main purpose of this unit was the EPG (for me, and probably most people), the EPG should be easy to use, however Panasonic have completely removed the EPG Portrait mode from this unit. This was a good feature on earlier units. As a result it is awkward to use (compared to earlier Panasonic units that I also own). The support of… Read more

YouTube also ceases at the end of April 2015 (according to the notice within the Panasonic unit itself), so don't buy this unit expecting YouTube videos.

great machine – I purchased this machine after returning two Kogan 500gb PVRs back to them, I have nothing but praise for this Panasonic, it has everything I require, the people who have knocked this product must be so nit picking, the EPG is terrific to use,( try Kogans) the quality of video is excellent, I am an HD fanatic the recording quality it exceptional,… Read more ·  1

What do these negative individuals want? you just cant please some people. the ex HDD is no issue even if its got to be registered, I use the external drive next to the PVR for special programmes I want to keep, The negative comments should remember the VCR s of a few years ago and compare the performance of this PVR you all sound like spoilt brats get a life

Pretty good – Easy to set up, good features for the money. Only negative is the long lag time to get to the internet - 13 secs after hitting the button. Oh and there isn't a mute button. Other than that, seems pretty good. Even controls my 8 year old lg tv. Worth a look. Value for money, features No mute button, long lag time to get to the internet.

Completely unfit for purpose – I bought this PVR from The Good Guys. It was $340, there were a number of other PVRs around the $250 mark, but this theoretically had better features and Panasonic has an excellent reputation in this area. The Good The unit is extremely easy to set up (but then every other PVR I've used has been as well). The basic functions are simple and… Read more

easy to use.

The Bad

Series recording is standard on PVRs these days, but this unit lacks it. For a device with so many theoretical features, the instruction manual is woeful. It simply doesn't mention most of the advertised features. In many instances it warns that a particular process must be undertaken before doing something, then gives no hint as to how that may be done. Features must be discovered by randomly pressing buttons.

The Deal Breaker

The system has 2 USB ports which are essentially just for show. To use a USB device it must be registered to the PVR. This process wipes the drive and renders it unusable by any other device. There is no way of transferring files from this device or watching files recorded elsewhere. The slots therefore serve no purpose whatsoever and their presence is misleading. I've seen plenty of retailers advertising that they can be used to watch files on a USB stick (a logical assumption), but this is simply not true.

Summary

It's good for recording and playing back TV content, but if that's all you want to do there are plenty of units around the $70-$80 mark that will do it just as well and will give you the ability to transfer files off and on to them as well. Easy to set up, Intuitive menu system No ability to transfer files from device, Can't watch files from other sources, No series recording, Almost non-existent instruction manual

Almost perfect – I have had a few different PVR's over the years and needed to find one for an elderly relative. I chose this Panasonic because the remote control is well laid out with nice big buttons for play, stop etc. So far so good, I have only had one phone call. Only small complaint would be no series record, but you can set Monday to Friday or record on the same day every week. Panasonic PVR's have also been reliable. Easy to use. No series timer record

Love this PVR – The packaging is labelled DMR-HW220GLK, but the manual says it is DMR-HW220, so it may be that these two are the same. The Panasonic DMR-HW220GLK is everything I've been looking for in a PVR. It has dual tuners that allow recording of two different channels at the same time. While you are recording one or two shows, you can simultaneously watch… Read more ·  3

something else that has previously been recording, or begin watching one of the current recordings while it's still recording.

Setting programs to record is easy. Adding extra time to the beginning and end of a recording is easy. Up to 10 minutes extra can be set as a default, but any amount longer can be set manually.

Built in networking connected automatically to my home network without fuss.

Built-in ABC iView and BigPond Movies is the icing on the cake for me.

It also supports Netflix, but I am unlikely to subscribe to that.

Playback of 3D is also available, but I haven't been able to test that as I do not yet have a 3D television.

It has a one terrabyte drive built in, but you can also use an external drive plugged into the USB port. But the unit has to 'register' the drive before it can be used. During the registration process all existing data will be deleted. And a 'registered' drive will not play back on a normal computer. Only a maximum of 8 external drives can be registered at the same time. To add a 9th drive, one of the registered drives must be de-registered.

After putting up with a single tuner Kogan PVR that was quirky to use and had many design faults, and then trying a Dxtreme DX-480 that was not fit for the purpose and so returned to the retailer, it was refreshing to plug in the Panasonic DMR-HW220GLK and find that everything just worked, and it was easy to use. Easy setup, easy to use, reliable, ABC iView, BigPond Movies If you add an external hard disk drive, it must be registered to the machine and then will work only on that machine.

All Show, No Go – This unit is fine for watching and recording digital TV but nothing else. According to specs it can do all this whiz-bang extra stuff but none of it seems to work very well and the actual extra stuff that I would like it to be able to do it can't do (remote record & series record). When I first tried to log in to my YouTube account through this… Read more

unit it wouldn't let me log in and then suddenly I get a warning from Google (who own Youtube) that someone in India has tried to log in to my account and that they blocked it. [censored word removed]? Why would my PVR in Adelaide be getting routed through some place in India? I imagine that would do wonders for high quality video streaming! Not to mention that now this feature is completely useless because I can't even log in to it.

No remote record