Panasonic DMR-EH50S DVD Recorder with 100 GB Hard Drive Recording
Great Alternate To Cable DVR Or Tivo
My father purchased one of these units for Christmas and I helped him set it up.  I want to clear up something another reviewer said about not being able to use the TV Guide if you don't have a cable box.  Don't listen to this person as they obviously have no clue what they are talking about.  This unit WILL download the TV Guide whether or not a cable box is present.  There are setup instructions if you do or don't have a cable box.  The unit will also work with analog or digital cable but won't receive the TV Guide if you have Satellite.  You do have to leave the unit off for 24 hours for it to do so but unless your cable company doesn't send out the information, it should download.  As for the rest of the unit, the only couple complaints I have is that words can be difficult to read on the white background when you hit the \\"info\\" button.  It also would have been nice if the unit had 2 TV tuners so you could watch TV on one channel while recording on another.  The picture quality on standard cable was greatly improved by this unit's S-Video output as well which was an unexpected surprise for my Dad.   <br /> <br />Pros: <br />Easy to set up <br />Useful TV Guide <br />Easy to record to HDD <br />Can Improve Picture Quality If S-Video Is Used <br />HDD record quality is very good. <br />DVD playback is perfect. <br /> <br /> <br />Cons: <br />Manual isn't always clear. <br />Some on screen lettering is difficult to read. <br />You may have to manually rearrange the channels in the TV guide as they downloaded in the wrong order. <br />Takes 24hrs of standby to intially get the TV Guide. <br />A few channels never showed up correctly in the TV Guide. <br />