Panasonic DMR-E80H Progressive-Scan DVD Player/Recorder with Hard Drive , Silver
Great digital VCR with DVD burning and no subsc. fees
I have had this product for about a month.  Almost all of the TV watching that I do is for time-shifting purposes.  This is *so* much easier than using a VCR-- programs are there in full quality, and no searching around the tapes for a program.  Hard drive can store up to 17 hours in full quality (no perceptible difference between live, even for basketball game, in my opinion).<br />I have had no quality problems.  I have used both VCR plus and manual entering of times (I do the latter mostly because the networks tend to run over with scenes from next week's episode, etc.).<br />I have not encountered a problem with broadcast flag (copy protection), but the networks have the capability to send a signal in the future that restricts your ability to tape a show.  So far, nothing has been blocked from me.  I recorded a movie off one of the movie channels, edited out the commercials, and burned a DVD-R.<br />My relatives have a TiVo and they love it.  This costs about as much as a TiVo with lifetime subscription.  But it has less of a cutesy interface and has many more features, especially capability to burn DVD-Rs.  And you don't have to subject yourself to TiVo advertising which seems to be creeping in to their service, nor do you need a phone line hooked to it (no usage information beamed back to the mother ship).  Download the manual and see for yourself.<br />This is one of those products that makes you never want to go back to what you were previously using (VCR in this case).