Panasonic DMR-HS2 Progressive-Scan DVD Recorder/PVR with 40 GB Hard Drive (Silver)
A Very Expensive Machine Not Worth Its Price
I have been trying to buy a recordable DVD player for the past few years.  This animal wasn't available until two years ago.  As of now, the price is still very expensive, but I couldn't hold out any longer.  I broke down and bought the Panasonic DMR_HS2 a few weeks ago.  I choose this unit because it has a 40GB hard drive, which can be very convenient feature for recording.  Unfortunately, I am not pleased with this model's functions nor with its performance.<br />My requirements for the recordable DVD are:<br />· Record programs from the TV:  The Panasonic unit works perfectly in this area.  It works just like a VCR.  It has additional features such as allowing you to record a program directly to the hard drive and store it there.  You can also edit the recorded program to erase all the commercials before dubbing it to a DVD disk for permanent storage.  You can also create chapters.  But doing these jobs can be a very time-consuming and tedious process.  You can only create chapters on the hard drive or on a DVD-RAM disk, which isn't compatible with most commercial DVD players.  Nevertheless, these nice features are available.<br />· Transfer VCR tapes to DVDs:  I would love to transfer all my old VCR tapes and store them in DVD format.  DVDs last much longer and they are more compact.  My objective is to retire the VCR.  The Panasonic unit basically did the job, but at the expense of quality.  I am well aware that the quality of the dubbed DVD can be as good as the source VCR tape.  However, I was very disappointed to find out that there is a very noticeable degradation in quality from the tape to the DVD.  The ironic thing is that I can accomplish this function, but I still cannot throw away my original tapes because their quality is better.<br />· Create music DVDs with all my favorite songs:  I have always wanted to create a few DVDs with all my favorite songs in them.  These songs will be taken from the music DVDs that I own.  Too bad this unit doesn't have this feature.  In fact, it doesn't allow DVD dubbing.  Mind you, what I want to do is perfectly legal.  This function, if it is available, is protected under the \\"fair use\\" doctrine in the U.S. copyright laws as long as you own the source media.<br />Overall, I think this Panasonic model is over-priced for what I am looking for.  I'm hoping that future recordable DVD systems can do what the dual-well recordable CD players can do today.