The latest in a best-selling line, Panasonic's DMR-EX78 is its first UK DVD/HDD recorder with DivX playback. Also new is Freeview Playback, which delivers PVR-style functionality.

Other key attractions include 1080p upscaling via HDMI, a 250GB hard-disk (for up to 441 hours of recording), a USB port for playing photos and MP3 files stored on memory devices, FireWire for digital camcorder dubs, multi-format DVD recording and the neat ability to act as a music jukebox. It's enough to make any AV fan salivate.

Sophisticated styling

Appearance-wise, the EX78 is so businesslike it should wear a suit. Few controls are presented to the outside world; of these, the most obvious are the eject and standby buttons angled into the top of the front panel.

It's easy to activate these accidentally by brushing against them, so be careful - if you knock standby, prepare yourself to wait 30 seconds for the EX78 to shut down, and another 30 to restart.

Under a front flap sit the USB and Firewire ports, plus convenient analogue AV inputs. The remote handset is sensibly laid-out, and solidly-engineered for a long life. Just as well, because there's little that you can do without it.

Simple installation

Unlike earlier models in the DMR range, this newest Panny recorder doesn't feature an analogue TV tuner. If Freeview - there's no pay-TV upgrade path - isn't available in your location, you'll probably want to avoid it.

Installation is simplicity itself - the EX78 automatically finds and stores digital channels when it's first plugged in. I can't fault the layout of the menus, which include setup functions like HDMI and analogue video-output modes, recording and DVD playback preferences.

They're largely identical to those of previous-generation Panasonic recorders, but, if it ain't broke, then why try to fix it?

Feature-packed

You can explore all Panasonic's EX78 has to offer within 10 minutes. But what a lot there is!

Thanks to Freeview Playback certification, you can enjoy benefits like 'Guide Link' (which compensates for late-running schedules), Series Link recording, schedule-clash protection and 'split programme' (which automatically deals with, for example, the tendency of certain broadcasters to insert news programmes into movies).

Unlike most high-quality PVRs, the EX78 only has a single digital tuner - two programmes cannot be recorded simultaneously - but you can still pause (and subsequently manipulate) live TV, using the HDD as a 'buffer'. Regrettably, a pointless graphic is displayed at all times.

Furthermore, you can't save the contents of the buffer should you decide the programme's worth keeping.

The 32-event/one-month timer can be scheduled directly from the friendly GuidePlus EPG - manual timer-setting and modification is also allowed.

Recording modes

Recording can also be triggered by the timer of an external AV source, like a Sky box - a welcome feature.

Four recording modes accommodate between one and eight hours per blank single-layer DVD, and all formats - DVD+RW/-RW/RAM and +R/-R - fall within the EX78's recording remit.

Dual-layer recording is also supported, but not directly - you have to record first to the HDD, and then dub. All but the lowest-quality modes record at DVD's full 720 x 576 resolution, for optimal capture of detail.

Editing options

If you choose to record to the HDD (as you will probably end up doing more often than to DVD) a sensible range of editing and dubbing facilities are at your disposal.

Recordings can be 'trimmed' or split (which, by default, puts the divided sections into a new subfolder). They can then be copied losslessly to DVD at high-speed, or to a lower-quality mode in real-time.