Panasonic DMR-E80H Progressive-Scan DVD Player/Recorder with Hard Drive , Silver
Great addition to my home video system
I've had the Panasonic E80S for about 3 weeks now, and have had the opportunity to record over 50 programs and movies on it.  I have it hooked up to a regular Toshiba 32 inch TV, using Directv (I also have a broadcast antenna), and a Panasonic VCR.  I time shift about 50% of the stuff I watch on TV.  Anyway, I have very few complaints with this unit so far.  It has done just about everything I've asked of it.  The unit records in 4 modes - XP, SP, LP, & EP.  The XP mode records a picture which is virtually indistinguishable from the original, as far as I can see.  The SP mode is nearly as good.  The LP mode is probably good for most things, except maybe fast action like hockey or basketball, and probably gives you picture quality similar to SP on your VCR.  The EP mode looks terrible and is useless, as far as I'm concerned, so I wouldn't use it.  You can record approximately 17 hours worth of video on the hard drive using the XP mode, approximately 36 hours using the SP mode, 73 with the LP and 106 with EP (which I wouldn't use).  A DVD will hold 1 hour in XP mode, 2 hours in SP mode, 4 hours in LP mode, and 6 hours in EP mode.  This unit programs similar to a VCR, so if you can program a VCR, you should be able to program this unit.  It has 3 line inputs, which also have S video, I believe, and also it has component video outputs, which I'll use when I upgrade to HDTV. The line inputs are labeled L1, L2, & L3, and then you cycle through your regular channels - in my case that would be channels 2, 3 (Directv), 4, 5, 9, 11, 30, & 50.  I also have my Directv hooked up directly to L1, to try to get the best picture possible, using S video, and a pair of audio cables, and it does a very good job, in my opinion.  The nice thing about this unit is that you can play something else you've recorded, while you're recording something else, and also can walk in, say 20 minutes late on something you're recording, and watch it from the beginning, without waiting for the entire program to record.  I'm sure it has plenty of other features, which I've not had time to investigate yet. <br />I was very pleased this past weekend, when I was able to copy a VCR VHS recording of an old holiday classic from the 1940's called \\"It Happened On Fifth Avenue\\" onto the hard drive of this unit, edit out the commercials, and make a DVD-R out of it.  This VHS copy was 17 years old, & I was always worried that something would happen to it, and you can't buy a copy of it.  IMO, it looked every bit as good as the original VHS recording, and maybe a little better (if that's possible).  One of the drawbacks  I see to this unit, is the speed of dubbing from hard drive to DVD-R.  For instance, it took me approximately 51 minutes to dub the aformentioned movie to DVD-R, and the movie was 1 hour & 57 minutes long...and I haven't finalized it yet, which can take up to 15 minutes more.  So, dubbing to DVD can be time consuming.  The other drawback is that my Mintek 1600 dvd player in my bedroom, which plays a lot of different formats, won't recognize a DVD-R made on this machine, even after finalizing it.  FYI, I just bought my brother a Panasonic S25 DVD player, and it plays the finalized DVD's fine. All in all though, it's just a great addition to my home video system.  One final note, someone down below had asked if it recognizes channel 503 on Directv and no, it doesn't.  You hook Directv up to one of your line inputs, and can see it on that input channel(L1, L2, L3).  So, you have to set your Directv to the channel you want to record...that's probably the one \\"Pro\\" that Tivo has over this unit.