Panasonic DMRE85HS Progressive-Scan DVD Player/Recorder with 120 GB Hard Drive Recording
Was promising while it still worked...
When it works the ability to record and edit with a hard drive is a whole new experience in time-shifting, and is heads above using a VCR in terms of convenience. Recording to the HD (and editing out commercials afterwards) is great (no more searching for an empty tape to record on).  <br /> <br />But don't get rid of that trusty VCR just yet because the love affair might not last - from day one it has acted more like a temperamental WinME PC than the reliable Panasonic products I'm used to. Mine is currently just a huge paperweight due to some sort of infinite self-check loop, and Panasonic customer support so far has been lackluster (understatement). Email support is slower than snail mail, and today the estimated hold time to even talk with phone support for this model is 38 mins (and counting)... <br /> <br />The E85H has a lot of capability (when it is working), but you should read the entire owners' guide (which is not very \\"user-friendly\\" to start with) thoroughly before attempting to use it.  It can do a lot of things, but figuring them all out takes time. The built-in TV Guide comes with it's own manual, if that gives you any idea. <br /> <br />During the first 2 months of intermittent use it continually suffered various glitches and lockups, some of which could only be remedied by unplugging it. Many owners have apparently experienced the exact same problems, which seem are apparently related to the unit's firmware. Until the latest problem, these glitches were all recoverable and after a reset the unit would still work. <br /> <br />Dubbing from hard drive to a DVD-R is *very* unreliable, sometimes crashing the unit bad enough that it totally resets itself (losing all TV Guide and setup info). Have not tried recording directly to DVD-R. When it works, high speed dubbing from HD to DVD (or DVD to HD) is nice. Recording to/from DVD-RAM seems to be less problematic. <br /> <br />Sharing your recordings with others is basically limited to using a write-once DVD-R, unless maybe they happen to also have a DVD-RAM capable machine - even then I'm not sure since there isn't any way to finalize a DVD-RAM disc.  You can add several programs to the DVD-R before it is finalized. This means there isn't a way to share that missed TV show with someone without using up a re-writeable disc (e.g. since the DVD-RAM isn't finalized you can't just simple copy it to the more common DVD-RW or DVD+RW to share). I have friends with other brand DVD+RW recorders and theirs will finalize the RW disc, allowing us to swap shows we may have missed. <br /> <br />The Built-in TV Guide is nice in that it marks recordings with program information, but is so integrated into the operation of the unit that, in this reviewer's opinion, is generally more of a pain than it is worth. Allow several days (more than the 24 hrs suggested) for the TV Guide to sync up, and don't be surprised when the Guide info is intermittently lost for unexplained reasons (requiring another couple of days to re-sync). This often happens after a dub to DVD-R fails and the unit runs a self-check and totally resets itself (if you're lucky). All timer recording capability seems to be based on whether or not you can get the online TV Guide to work, e.g. if the TV Guide won't sync you must decide to NOT use TV Guide before you're allowed to perform any timer recordings. In fact, the first thing you must do before you can even use the unit is setup (or disable) the TV Guide. Do not allow timer recordings to overlap because it's likely that neither program will record. Back-to-back timer recordings will lose about 30 seconds from the beginning of the second program. Most of this is explained in the owner's guide if you read it closely. Boot up is rather slow, as is ejecting a disc when the unit is off. Editing features provide a lot of capability and work pretty well. But editing seems to be when many of the problems occur. <br /> <br />There is a firmware update available which shouldprobably be loaded asap after purchase. My unit is currently locked up in some sort of \\"boot loop\\" where it continually runs a self-check over and over, with no way to interrupt it. Panasonic support has so far been useless (they emailed a 6 meg firmware update, even though I noted during my initial contact that I am undable to get the disc drawer to open).  <br /> <br />*If* the firmware update fixes all the glitches it would probably be a very nice unit, well worth the money. Newer units supposedly have the new firmware already installed, but mine was purchased off the shelf just 2 months ago yet was manufactured in March '04. More recently manufactured units may work better. Right now mine is just an expensive dust collector and is unusable. Based on all the problems I've experienced and seen described on the web I would probably not buy another E85H, but would still be willing to try one of the other Panasonic hard drive models that seem to have demonstrated fewer problems.