Panasonic DMR-EH55S DVD Recorder with 200 GB Hard Drive, HDMI, SD Card, and DV Input
Lower Your Expectations
I bought this DVR DVD recorder with high expectations.  Previously I had a pioneer dvr dvd recorder with Tivo and it was a real workhourse.  I used it for two years without a problem.  I decided to upgrade to the panasonic for several reasons.  HDMI output was one; also if the TV Guide programing work as well as Tivo, I would save 12.99 a month on Tivo fees. Also I might mention that I have an excellent skill level with hooking up my home theatre equipment.  First I must mention that the instuction booklet must be the worst ever written.  This unit is theoretically capable of many operations.  I would venture to say that the instruction booklet was written for a product engineer to decipher.  I could not get the TV Guide programing to function no matter how many calls to panasonic tech support and each time you must shut down the unit for 24hrs to reset the TV Guide.  It would not record from my SD card onto the Hard Drive as it is supposed to do, it would not read my SD card.  It cconstantly changed channels while viewing and on occasion when manually programmed to record a specific channel at a specific time would record a differnt channel.  I finally had to throw in the towel, it was just taking to much energy to deal with this unit.  I was within the grace period for a return and shipped it back a wiser and more experienced person.  I will replace it with a Tivo unit which unfortuneately won't have an hdmi output but after the panasonic debacle I have lowered my expectations.