Panasonic DMR-E80H Progressive-Scan DVD Player/Recorder with Hard Drive , Silver
Great piece of electronics
I bought this DVD recorder about a month ago and so far I think it's great.  I have read about some of the problems that others have had and I honestly have not had many of these issues.  This unit does pretty much exactly as the manual says it will.  You will really need to read this manual and then keep it close by for a while as you get used to the machine.  I can see how it can be confusing (and was for me too) at first, but with a little time this unit will seem less complicated.  <BR>I won't go into everything it does because that seems to be covered in all the other reviews, but I do have a few comments to make.  <BR>1.)someone wrote about &quot;the dirty little secret&quot; of this drive, refering to the fact that it converts whatever signal it is receiving into analog and then back to digital when recording to DVD-R (or RAM too I guess).  I would like anyone's comments about this process if they care to share them.  <BR>The salesperson at the store (J&amp;R) told me that there is actually no way to get a digital signal into this unit.  As there is no firewire input, I was told that only Analog will make it's way in (or it's converted).  I really don't understand to tell the truth.  The salesperson did go on to say however, that this is basically the way all such units are as they do not accept digital signal except via the firewire and this is only for home videos being fed into the machine via a camcorder.  <BR>2.) I have used store brand DVD-R's for under a buck a piece and so far they work with this panasonic, my Sony, and my Imac's DVD drive.  Memorex also worked well.<BR>3.) I wish it had Component video in, but I really have not seen any player that does.  <BR>All in all, a great machine that I am enjoying immensly.  I recommend it highly.