Pioneer DVR-520HS DVD Recorder + 80GB Digital Video Recorder
Not perfect -- but lots to be happy about
I've had the unit for about two weeks now, so am still exploring, but am happy with it so far, especially after the saga of purchase.  Originally bought a Hitachi, discovered it wouldn't work without activating TIVO, then went through TWO Panasonic EH-85s without either one ever working right (tech support finally hypothesized that the factory got a bad batch of chips, installed them in consecutive units, and shipped a bad batch to the retailer). <br /> <br />I bought this primarily to archive home movies -- some going back 25 years to when my Navy son was taking his first toddling steps.  The VHS tapes are deteriorating, so I wanted to get the footage digitized, and it's now cost-effective to do so.  And though the editing functions are tedious, I've been happy with the results so far.  The machine also really shines at time-shifting broadcast TV for later viewing and if that were the only purpose for the purchase it would have still probably been worthwhile. <br /> <br />Good points: very easy to use for timed recordings and it will record over 100 hours at the lowest quality (which is fine for us for time-shifting; it's about the same as 6-hour mode VHS recording on a good machine).  The \\"fine\\" and SP modes (1 hour and 2 hours per DVD, respectively) offer less recording time but much higher resolution and less graininess -- the SP mode is virtually indistinguishable from a commercial DVD.  Editing of video is straightforward, moderately intuitive, and easy to learn as it's menu-driven.  The machine has a couple of neat features I didn't expect -- if the TV channel provides the info, the 520 will automatically title what it records off the air with the name of the show, making it very easy to find the shows we want to watch a day or two or ten after broadcast.  It also plays back JPEG CDs made on a home computer, so we can show friends our digital photos on the TV instead of on the computer. <br /> <br />Less-than-good points:  I haven't yet been successful in getting the VCR+ to work despite help from tech support, but we've got another couple of things to try and the lack of VCR+ is trivial, since it's so easy to set the manual timer.  The editing functions are EXTREMELY tedious -- it uses hierarchical menus which require the user to go to all the up to the top level and back down several other levels to change functions.  Editing out a commercial, choosing a frame to use as a title thumbnail, and then titling the segment require about 15 thumb presses instead of 3 or 4, due to the multiple trips up and down the menu hierarchy (plus many more thumb presses to actually input a name using the \\"arrow key cursor\\" with the on-screen virtual keyboard).  It made me long for keyboard and mouse inputs on the recorder!  Lastly -- the disks it makes in SP (2-hour) mode have played on all the machines with which I've tried them.  The disks made in slower modes only play on about half of the other players, so I guess I'll just buy a few extra blank disks and use SP mode when I make copies of home movies to share with family. <br /> <br />Overall -- I'm glad I bought it and like it so far.  For heavy-duty editing, I'd probably be happier doing it on computer.  For light-duty editing, such as archiving old broadcast tapes or digitizing home movies, it's tedious but works just fine.  For time-shifting broadcast TV to view later, it's a HUGE leap forward from a VCR with 6 hours of capacity requiring linear searching to find the desired program.  I'm pleased with unit, feel I got my money's worth, and recommend it.