I have been an avid Panasonic owner for over 30 years.
Along with my brother, we both purchased a 37" Panasonic plasma together with a Panasonic HDD/DVD recorder (within three months of each other).
Surprisingly, while the plasma keeps on working, both of our Panasonic HDD/DVD recorders died within a few months of each other.
At the time (twelve months ago), I could have chosen the newly released Panasonic pvr - but I chose the Humax instead (and my brother opted for a Sky HD box instead).
What is more, at that time, Humax appeared to offer better support for their product in terms of software updates compared to Panasonic.
I have been very pleased with my Humax, and glad that I chose it instead of Panasonic...
...but the choice is yours.