Cyberhome CH-DVR1600 DVD Recorder
For a hundred dollars more
...I wouldn't bother buying a different burner.  This is a great unit at a great price, assuming it lasts at least a year.  I like this thing so much that it's prompted me to write this as my first hardware review anywhere.  After blowing countless hours futzing with computers, video files, pass-through devices, and balky burners, I've found this to be a _tremendous_ time saver.    Key points (in no particular order):  -Solid construction, while being compact and lightweight.  -FOUR inputs !!  (firewire, composite in the front, composite with S-Video option in the back, and RF).  -Easy to use menus.  -Many quality settings (1hrs and up per disc).  -Easy titling and ability to leave discs for later finalization.  -Compact remote control.  -Clock display when on standby.  -Chinese-made players like these play nearly ANYTHING.  Not picky like the Sony's, Pioneers, etc.    So far, I have no cons to note, just caveats:    -The box indicates the latest BIOS, currently at 540/105N, as well as the model number.  At my Best Buy, there was 1600MU and 1600MU1.  -I got the MU and was able to make it region-free.  -A full burn does not necessarily mean a full disc.  -2hr \\"SQ\\" recording is \\"better than VHS\\" in the manual, but is somewhat disputable and subjective.  -NOT ALL DISCS WORK WELL.  NOT EVEN NAME-BRANDS: I wasted several Memorex +R's trying to figure out a problem, only to use generic CompUSA media without a hitch.    -Use Nero CDSpeed to find out the true mfr of the media (that Memorex was Ritek, while the CompUSA was Ricoh, Your mileage will vary).  -When buying media, buy Taiwan or anywhere else, just NOT Chinese made, if at all possible.    (**If you like to do video editing, go out and get Ulead Video Studio 9 and up.  It allows you to import the video files from your DVDs!!! No more hard drive thrashing and eating up computer time waiting for transfers to finish!!!  Just drag and drop your .VOB files over and you can edit and save at will!!)    **Lastly, a note regarding burners in general:  I have found on 3 totally different burners (computers and the Cyberhome) that occasionally a series of bad burns will happen.  What seems to have fixed this for me is to burn ONE TIME onto a +RW.  It is almost as though the +RW mode forces the internals to recalibrate.  I can't verify the validity of that, but it's a trick that has worked for me on several occasions.