Panasonic Was Good Quality - Not Any More

I purchased a Panasonic DVD Recorder EZ17 about 4 months ago. I bought it based on Panasonic's reputation for quality products. This product is buggy to say the least. It will randomly hang up. By that I mean freeze, picture, controls, you name it. The fix is to pull the power plug out and let it reset. Secondly, the sound will randomly stop working especially dialog. You will only hear commercials and background sounds in whatever you recorded (and sometimes just listen to while watching TV). I have a friend who owns a similar unit (EZ-27) and he reports the same problems with his. Panasonic support line was NO HELP and claimed the sound problem was with the transmitting station (funny, other devices seem to pick up the sound OK, which I mentioned and Panasonic Support ignored). I suggest anyone interested in this or similar Panasonic product Google EZ17 and sound. There are other reporting similar problems. ..One more good company down the drain.