Panasonic DMR-E80H Progressive-Scan DVD Player/Recorder with Hard Drive , Silver
Great recorder, here's some tips.
I've written some tips based on the reviews here and the problems that I've had.  I  hesitate to write them, because it makes the Panasonic DMR-E80GH seem so  complicated.  It's true that it is more complicated than a plain DVD-player, but  it does so much more!<br /> 1.)  The Panasonic DMR-E80H has a hard drive similar to a computer.  So it   helps to treat it like you would a computer.  Get a high quality surge   protector and plug the DVD player into it.  If you turn the DVD-player off or   unplug it, wait a minute or so before you turn it back on or plug it back in.   You want to allow the hard drive to power all the way   down before you ask it   to power back up.  I unplug it (and all my home   entertainment equipment)   during thunderstorms, just like I do my computer.   Sometimes the DVD player   needs to finish what it is doing before it will   respond to a new command from   the remote or a button on the machine.<br />2.)  There are two important buttons:  HDD (hard drive) and DVD.  Whichever one  is active will be lit (on the DVD player).  So, if you press a button  on the  remote and you don't get the expected response, check to see which one is  lit.  For example, if DVD is lit, then pressing 'stop' then 'enter' won't stop a  program from recording to the hard drive.  So you have to push HDD first, and  then 'stop' then 'enter'.<br />3.)  Consider keeping the old DVD player hooked up for children.<br />4.)  For DVD-Audio, the default setting is typically stereo 2.0, and you must go  into  the set up menu of the DVD *disc* to change to 5.1 or DTS.  <br />5.)  For playing some DVD-Rs, I've had to go into the DVD *player* set-up menu  and  select 'disc', then 'DVD-video mode', then select 'on'.<br /> What I like:  <br />Panasonic DMR-E80H has a higher quality picture than our previous two DVD players, one of which was progressive scan.  The recording quality is  much better than TiVo.   I like the fact that it has several inputs.  I have  inputs from  my vcr, two cable boxes, and TiVo.  I love the editing functions (which TiVo  lacks). When my brother-in-law was Iraq, he wanted news programs.  I recorded a  news show every day, edited out what he wasn't interested in, and mailed him  the discs.  He loved it! <br />I've used the cheapest DVD-R's that I could find locally (not on the internet).  They work fine.  I recorded a program related to work and passed it out   to  everyone at work.  The discs played on everyone's DVD player.  We've had no  problems with compatibility (yet).<br />If you push play twice, it plays at 1 1/3 speed.  It still plays the speech,  which we can generally understand.  This is great for watching something  when  we're in a hurry.  Unfortunately, this only works in HDD mode, not on  DVD's.<br />What I don't like:  <br />It doesn't change the channel on the cable box like TiVo does.  Once I wanted  to record a program and I pushed the record button.  Well,  about 10 minutes  later, it stopped recording the show to record a previously  programmed show.  It doesn't warn you (like TiVo does).<br />I highly recommend this DVD-recorder.  I love it.