Compare Prices : Panasonic DMR-EX75 -

I got the multi-region version of this and it is an absolute gem. The TV guide is easy to navigate and you can set up several "profiles" and switch between them - this way you can channel hop only through those channels in which you are interested.

The hard disk drive has more space than I'll ever use and it is easy to program recordings straight from the TV guide.

The multi-region version handles regional coding enhanced (RCE) discs with no problem at all - except that for some reason it doesn't read one side of my R1 copy of "The NeverEnding Story". Since it is happy to read the widescreen side, I presume I have a dirty disc.

It also looks a nice piece of kit and, having a built-in Freeview tuner, frees up an extra SCART socket on the back of your TV.

It will record onto all DVD formats, although to enable the disc to play in another machine, you have to "lock" it, meaning that you won't be able to write over it again. I find that I use the hard disk far more than the DVD section, so for me that's not a problem.

The only gripe I have is that it doesn't have an auto select feature when it comes to multi-region. Some discs it seems happy to realise are NTSC and thus play them properly. Most, however, it detects are NTSC and then tells you to go change the picture output. In the meantime, it refuses to play them. Also, don't change the picture output to NTSC when you're going to be recording something from Freeview, as the recording will be messed up as well.

This particularly annoys me as my old Toshiba multi-region DVD player (bought at least 3 years ago) had 3 settings: PAL, NTSC & AUTO. If anyone can put me right on this score and there *is* an automatic setting, please do say so here!

Overall, well worth what I spent for a machine that I intend to keep for a good few years without need for upgrade - I shan't be going to high definition until the format wars are sorted.