JVC DRMH30S DVD Recorder with 160 GB Hard Drive (Silver)
No TV Guide?
After my Panasonic DMR-E85H gave me the dreaded \\"U99 error\\", I decided to get my money back and go for a different unit. It was between this (the DRM H30S) and the Toshiba RD-XS34.    I decided to go with the JVC, and as expected, the image quality is excellent. I always recorded in \\"XP\\" mode on the Panasonic, and \\"SP\\" mode on the JVC looks just as good if not better. The user interface is really quite straight forward, after the normal learning curve. Basically, the JVC has so few features it's really tough to get lost.    The calendar for recording is a nice touch, really quite unique.    The images here make the unit look really nice... too bad it's a bit different in real life. The blue light on the DVD drive is REALLLLY bright. The light also only comes from one side, and there's a very obvious difference in where the light is vs. where it's not. The display on the unit is tiny and dim. It's a good thing it's so useless (anything you want/need to know can be seen using the on-screen button). Sure you can adjust the brightness... but it's adjusts both the DVD drive light and the display light... why can't I adjust them seperatly?    But really the kicker for me is no TV Guide functionality. This was probably the single best thing about the Panasonic unit. With TV Guide all you have to do is find the show you want to record, and tell it to record. Even tell it how often, it's like VCR+ on steroids. You even have the ability to see a week+ of programming. Plus it really takes the usability of the unit to a whole new level, it lets you do so much more then just record stuff. Sure, the Toshiba has TV Guide, but you HAVE to set everything through the TV Guide, which is also a VERY big downfall (since no cable = no TV Guide, and no TV Guide = non usable device). The Panasonic lets you do either TV Guide recording or manual recording.    All in all I'd say I'm happy with the JVC. If great recording quality is what you desire, look no farther.  If you want a feature filled unit, get something else... but if you get the Panasonic DMR-E85H make sure it was manufactured in 2005 to avoid the U99 error (...)