These days, things are getting a little stagnant on the DVR front. There haven't been any technological breakthroughs beyond the usual hard drive capacity and connectivity upgrades. Without relevant broadcast services, it may be a long while before the venders bring in their digital tuner-loaded and HD-compatible models. That said, there are always exceptions such as the Philips DVDR9000H and StarHub HubStation. If you just need something convectional with all the essential features plus a little extra, the Panasonic DIGA DMR-EH67 is probably one of the new generations worth checking out.

Pros

This DIGA is a recent entry in the Asian market to wear the promising 1080p badge. No, it does not playback Blu-ray or record in HD, but rather it upscales DVD and onboard recordings to such high-resolution output through HDMI. This, compared with its predecessor, is a timely but incremental upgrade since the former is already 1080i-capable. On the other hand, Viera Link or HDMI-CEC is also available, handy for one-remote cross-component operation between compatible Panasonic A/V products. Such lineups include its Viera flat panels and HTIBs.

Another enhancement lies in its customary SD slot which now offers the latest SDHC format compatibility. This opens up options for inexpensive high-capacity cards in excess of 2GB, great for the latest generation of space-hungry, high-megapixel digital cameras. Speaking of which, the DMR-EH67 has inbuilt photo storage and viewer functions for channeling your albums onto the big screen. You could even transfer MPEG-2 recordings onto the inbuilt hard drive and DVD-RAM recordables for subsequently TV playback.

For those who care less about the above-mentioned, this DVR features picture performance-oriented 500 line-resolution LP recording. On paper, this is easily twice the details delivered by its competitors, promising near-SP-quality at double the video footage (222 hours) via its 250GB hard drive. In the unlikely event that you are short of space, the recordings can be archived to just about every type of DVD recordable on shelves. These range from the affordable -R/+R to rewritable -RAM/-RW/+RW and 8.5GB dual layers.

Cons

We are pretty sure Panasonic can further capitalize on the generous 250GB hard drive. Since Pioneer had digital jukebox function quite a while back, it sure would be nice if something similar could be found on the DMR-EH67. That's provided the pricing is not dramatically affected by this new addition. Last but not least, we could somewhat forgive Philips for throwing in European SCART connectors for its products but not for a Japanese-designed, Asia-centric recorder. To make matters worse, there is not one but two of these reserved for A/V inputs.

Conclusion

Minor gripes aside, the Panasonic DIGA DMR-EH67 is a balanced all-rounded DVR with most of the essentials covered, from a sizeable hard drive to high-performance HDMI connectivity. Best of all, it's also one of the most affordable 1080p-enabled models in the market going for S$849 (US$558.95). If the enhanced LP recording mode does deliver as advertised, the Japanese company has definitely a high flyer here in the making.