Panasonic PV-HS2000 ShowStopper 30-Hour Digital Video Recorder
The Jury Is Still Out...
DirecTV box...VCR...DVD player...TV. Too many sources, too few inputs. However, it's an incredible box. One star: if you're playing back a &quot;stored&quot; program and hit stop, the next time you come back to it, you're given the choice of starting where you left off, or start from the beginning. One star: no monthly fee. You pay more for the box, but the trade off is no monthly fee. One star: Zones. They search for the types of programs you want to record. The downsides: minus one star for the remote...it's a little much for the novice. Minus one star: controlling the satellite box. There's something to be said for an all-in-one box. It's more reliable than the DirecTV on-board scheduled recording program, but there's some features missing, like Favorites. Also, you have to manually de-select the channels you don't subscribe to. And with the channels labeled differently from the way the SAT box labels them, it will take some getting used to. Over all, I'd say it is a marvel of modern invention. Three levels of record quality, 30 hours of storage (at lowest level), and it can combine three remotes into one. If you're a TV-addict but can't see all the shows all the time, it's worth the money.