Panasonic DMRE85HS Progressive-Scan DVD Player/Recorder with 120 GB Hard Drive Recording
Not as good as the older DMR-HS2.
I bought my unit because I needed a second for my other home and wanted a DVD-RAM compatible machine. I thought about buying another HS2 as I have found it to be almost perfect and easy to use. I can even describe to my non-techie wife how to program it over the phone, it is so intuitive. And, I thought such a sharp company as Panasonic would make nice impropvements to the HS2 in the current models. WRONG!!! <br /> <br />The aforementioned intuitive programming was trashed, replaced with a goofy TV Guide screen that is useless and requires many more steps to program a show. 8 days of programming is woefully innadequate. I have shows set up 30 days in advance so TV Guide is an empty suit for me. In addition, I greatly resent the innability to hold down the button to scroll quickly. Also, you cannot input the name of a show when programming it. Am I missing something here?? TV Guide appears to name it after it is recorded. Also, if you make an error in the programming steps, you cannot simply correct it, as with my older unit, but have to delete and redo it. Also, after programming a month's 15 or 20 shows, you have to hit the up arrow 15 or 20 times to get back to the window to set the next show. It would be so nice, like my old DMR-HS2, to simply hold down the up arrow and rapidly scroll back to the top. Aggravating. <br /> <br />Conclusion: I would like it to record HD and exile the obsolete TV Guide interface to Siberia. I like Panasonic and am about to get one of their new Plasma TV's with cable card. Without the programming/TV Guide issues, it's a 10, or 5 stars.  <br /> <br />