Yes I own a Panasonic HS2, Panasonic E50 and a Philips DVDR1000. The HS2 is my main Sky+ recorder at home, the E50 is my Freeview timeshifter in my London apartment and the Philips DVDR is my kitchen clock/DVD player.
only thing that puts me off abot the pana is the dvd ram and no dvd/rw
That's understandable. If you want to share recordings on re-writeable media then DVD-RAM is a disadvantage as it will not play on most DVD players. But effectively before recording on either the Sony OR the Panasonic models you have to make a decision: do you want to edit/use other non-linear features or do you want to make a compatible recording?
The reason for this is because you only benefit from features such as editting on the Sony unit if you record onto DVD-RW in VR Mode. This, like DVD-RAM, is also incompatible with most DVD players (although as it conforms to the DVD-ROM structure it is slightly more compatible than RAM).
Of course with the Sony unit you can record to DVD-RW in video mode (or onto DVD-R) which is largely compatible. On DVD-RAM models you can also record onto DVD-R which is largely compatible.
I would suggest if you want to lend lots of recordings then the Sony is the best choice. If your not too bothered about sharing then many of the features found on the Panasonic machines DVD-RAM make it an excellent choice for day in day out use.