Best of Freeview & DVD Viewing (Panasonic Diga DMR-EX89EB-K)

Member Name: Good_Guy

Product:	Panasonic Diga DMR-EX89EB-K
Date:	15/10/09 (240 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Enhanced Picture Quality but Neater and Quieter

Disadvantages: One of the pricier options

The Panasonic DMR-EX89 is in essence an updated DMR-EX88 with a massive 400Gb Hard Drive, a Freeview tuner, 1008 upscaling and multi-format. So what's new? Well, for a start, something Panasonic call " Intelligent Auto Standby"; means that it automatically goes into a power save mode (a low 2W) when you go back to watching TV. A "Quick Start" function will turn this unit on/off when TV is turned on/off but only if you are using it with a compatible Panasonic TV with 2009 Viera Link. A bit more compact than the previous model and is claimed to be quieter, looks pretty smart too; maybe no beauty but its plain simplicity appeals to me.

This model joins a stable of models; EX-769 = 160Gb Hard Drive EX-79 = 250Gb and, this one, EX-89 = 400Gb, take your pick or, perhaps your purse will decide but remember more capacity will mean more TV, films, music and photos! It is worth remembering that storing High Definition quality recordings will take more disc space so it's a case of the more the merrier. By the way I've noticed a downward shift in the prices of all three of these Pansonic models; now ranging from around £210 for the 160Gb, £250 for the 250Gb and £310 for the 400Gb.

VIERA LINK
The Viera Link facility is beneficial as basically you don't need to keep two remotes to hand, the link allows for recording control using the TV remote. Haven't figured out all that can be controlled but seen enough to know it's a convenient feature. Plus, of course, gives you the Intelligent Auto Standby capability. You can access "Pause Live TV" from the VIERA remote control which means the program is temporarily saved on the hard disk drive so you can watch, precisely from the stopped frame, at a later time. Pause Live TV lets you freeze TV programs just like pausing a DVD, by selecting "Pause Live TV" on the VIERA Link menu.


FREEVIEW PLAYBACK
All of Panasonic's Hard Drive models have features designed to make TV recording super convenient, including detection of schedule changes and series recording. So no need to miss any recordings because of program delays, in effect any changes are tracked. One click selects "series recording" which will ensure all future programs in series will be recorded, thus you will never miss any episodes of your favourite soap.


UPSCALING
Adaptive HD Enhancer enhances your DVDs and digital recordings to HD like images and there is an HDMI output port to ensure best reproduction on your TV screen. This up scaling was my main motivation for getting the DMR; picture and sound are amazing so no disappointment on that score; DIGA's original i/p conversion and up-conversion functions solve this problem. These functions convert SD signals from DVD discs or its own hard disc drive into 1080p signals that provide high-resolution images. The conversion process boosts the amount of image information by about 5 times, so pictures are clear and beautiful.


TUNER
The fact that there is only one digital tuner in this unit is a bit of a drawback; I would really have liked the flexibility that two tuners would offer. In practice with Freeview and Analogue tuners in the TV the disadvantage hasn't actually been an issue. Other features of benefit being the serial recording and ease of use of the EPG for viewing or recording which make finding and recording your favourite programs an absolute


MUSIC & PHOTOS
Data from music CDs and USB devices can easily be transferred to the DIGA hard disk drive; titles and artist names are automatically saved together with the music CD data. There is a USB port to facilitate this. It also supports the ID tagging of title information embedded in MP3 music data. The new DIGA is like a jukebox filled with your favourite music. DIGA recorder can also play JPEG, MP3 and DivX files stored on a USB device, and can transfer JPEG, MP3 data onto hard disk drive. The JPEG format is just the ticket allowing for storage your photos for viewing on you large TV screen.

Summary: Quality & Performance in a neat new package.

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