Panasonic DMR-EH50S DVD Recorder with 100 GB Hard Drive Recording
Worth the price
I have been researching for a hard drive based DVD Recorder. I have read about the Philip 615 for $199 at costco, Toshiba dx34, and lite-on lvw5045.   <br /> <br />I read many negative reviews on TV guide, and I told myself i could just ignore the feature, since i am just interesting recording daily shows and burn on DVDs and share with friends and family. However, the TV guide, did come in handy ( one touch recording, sort programs by catergories, and each category has it's own subcategory (ex: movie->action, comedy; sports-> baseball, basketball). TV guide isn't hard to set up, punching in zip and answer few yes and no, and started working the next day. <br /> <br />I have tried 6 hrs recording which looks a little degraded on picutre quality, and i settle with 4 hrs recording.  <br /> <br />I was able to use the basic features right out of the box. after two week of usage, I am capable of dividing a recording into parts and delete parts i don't want, cutting out commericals, making commerical-free dvds. <br /> <br />I haven't tried the SD card slot yet.  <br /> <br />this machine will record max at 8X on dvd-r and dvd+r, and 4X on dvd-rw, and DVD-ram which i am fairly satisfy with the speed. I wished it could record 8X on RW, but there isn't 8X -RW yet, at least i haven't seem any. (This machine can only record on single layer disc.) <br /> <br /> <br />Pros: <br />1. easy to use <br />2. records on DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD-RAM <br />3. 2 sets of video and audio outputs <br />4. programmable commerical skip <br /> <br />Con: <br />1. no firewire, IEEE1394 connection <br />2. remote isn't as sensitive as other remotes. <br /> <br /> <br />Button line: i am keeping this machine. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />