Panasonic  DMR-ES40VS VHS / DVD Recorder Silver
So far so good!
I read many reviews of various products before purchasing the Panasonic DMR-ES40VS VHS/DVD recorder which seemed to be reliable and reasonably priced.  I have had the product for approximately one month and so far it has done everything I have asked it to.  It plays tapes well and records well off the TV for both DVD and VHS.  I have recently started to dub my collection of VHS tapes to DVD (which was the original reason for purchasing this product) and I couldn't be happier with the result.  I have been using the DVD-R discs and have not had a problem with them playing in my other DVD players (after finalizing).  Supposedly they prefer the DVD-RAM format, but I have had difficulty finding these discs in the store and not all DVD players are able to read the DVD-RAM format.