In the corrupted words of Mark Twain, ‘reports of the death of VHS are greatly exaggerated’. A number of high-profile brands are still making videotape players, although they tend to be combined with hi-tech digital recording to add some up-to-date credibility.

The reason why this analogue technology prevails is simple: people still have hordes of treasured tapes that they either want to watch or transfer to DVD disc. Enter the DMR-EZ47V, which combines a DVD recorder with a VCR in one rather chunky unit.

Features

Despite the lack of a hard disk, the deck is still packed with features, although there are a few omissions. On the DVD side, it will record onto every format going, including DVD-RAM, which opens up the possibility of non-linear editing.

Those of you upgrading in time for digital switchover can rest assured that this deck features a digital terrestrial tuner. Aside from the full Freeview channel roster, the digital tuner gets you MHEG text and a seven-day EPG, but unlike Sony and Pioneer, Panasonic hasn’t yet added series link to its recorders.

Among the sockets on the rear is an HDMI output that, bizarrely, enables you to watch VHS tapes in hi-def resolution.

The HDMI output is joined by progressive scan-capable component output and two Scarts, enabling you to output and input RGB signals (essential if you’re planning on recording from an external digital set-top box). The deck can also be hooked up to a home cinema system using the optical digital or analogue stereo audio outputs.

A terrific range of connections, then, but the front panel lacks an SD card slot or USB port for playing back a digital media collection (and it won’t play DiVX or WMA from discs). But there are DV, S-video and composite video inputs for transferring footage from peripheral devices.

The deck offers just four quality settings: XP (one hour), SP (2 hours), LP (4 hours), and EP (8 hours). You can roughly double these times when using a dual-layer disc, and Flexible Recording lets you fit a programme exactly into the remaining space on a disc.

Recordings are stored in the Direct Navigator menu, which uses moving thumbnails and provides access to a range of editing options, including partial delete and playlist editing, which allows you to organise chapters from any recording into a new sequence without affecting the originals.