Panasonic DMR-E80H Progressive-Scan DVD Player/Recorder with Hard Drive , Silver
I love this thing
If you like a lot of TV shows and want to record them to DVD for high-quality storage and easy access, this is your machine.  I almost bought this unit's predecessor, the DMR-HS2, on more than one occasion.  When the E80H came out at half the price and twice the hard drive size I was sold.  <br />I am not particularly technically adept, yet the unit is pretty user-friendly if you take the time to read the manual.  The editing functions are easy to get down.  It took me a couple times with the manual by my side to memorize the controls and procedures, but now I can edit out commercials and other junk in a matter of minutes.  <br />I bought this unit both to record several TV shows and to archive old VHS tapes.  It's done great with both so far.  I find the LP recording speed to be the best compromise between space and quality.  LP gives you about four hours per DVD-R and dang good picture quality.  The shows on VHS that I've recorded to the hard drive have actually improved in quality somewhat.  I have analog cable and the unit also seems to improve the signal quality.  <br />The DVD-Rs I have burned so far have been compatible with my four-year-old RCA DVD player and every other player I've tried.  My three-year-old Toshiba laptop occasionally has trouble with them, but it does play them, so I'm willing to chalk any problems there up to old age.  <br />I have my complaints but they are few and inconsequential.  There is some slight pixelization during fast-moving action scenes recorded at LP, but not enough to be annoying.  I also wish there was a USB 2.0 port, but I can live without it.  The fact that you can't copy your DVD-Rs back to the hard drive is kind of irksome, but there are ways around it.  <br />These quirks aren't enough to keep me from giving the thing 5 stars.  I was out of the country for a month and had it programmed to get every show I wanted, and it came through with flying colors.  I would unequivocally recommend this machine to anyone.