Panasonic PV-HS2000 ShowStopper 30-Hour Digital Video Recorder
what tv should be like for everyone
We've had our unit well over a year.  Two weeks ago part of the software froze up, and, since it was out of warranty, I called in to see how much it would cost to get it fixed. They said, send it in and we'll send you back a new one -- we want you to be a happy customer. I sure am happy, a new unit just came back today (free!) and prompted me to write this review.<br />I did a lot of research originally to choose between the tivo based systems and the replay based systems. Replay wins on features and user-friendliness (it is impossible to overestimate the value of the commercial skip button on this unit, compared to fast forwarding). When we first got this, my wife was very skeptical (to say the least), but now she makes sure it records all her favorites. We also use it to keep a couple of current kids' shows so they can watch only things we approve. It records daily news shows for me (I like the BBC world news, but it's on when I'm at work), movies, etc. etc.  We also keep some very broad search criteria going for custom channels, which frequently find interesting stuff that we would never have looked for otherwise. I have come to strongly dislike watching live tv because you can't skip the boring parts, can't review the interesting parts, and all those ads!  I had forgotten how spoiled I really was by this thing until I had to do without it for a couple weeks.<br />On the point of video quality, it really does record 30 hours and the &quot;normal&quot; (low) quality setting is just fine for most everything you will want to watch. Occasionally there will be a something that you want to transfer to keep permanently, or a movie with something special, so use the high quality setting for that rare show.<br />The search engine works really well.  It takes about 30-40 minutes to set up the first time for a bunch of custom show search channels, but then requires less than 5 minutes a month to maintain all your search parameters and keep your recording preferences current.<br />This is what tv should be like for everyone, and I'll be a repeat customer for certain.