Panasonic DMR-E80H Progressive-Scan DVD Player/Recorder with Hard Drive , Silver
The Future is Brilliant!
This DVD Recorder is exactly as it should be. It's better to record to the HARD DRIVE, the acceptable quality of LP speed is about 70 hours - enough for most people. You do have to use the remote but you can trim off the beginning and middle of shows (commercials). After editing, you can the transfer to a blank DVD-R (you can fit 2-4 hours on 1 disc). Other thanthat, it works exactly like a VCR but there are some additional great differences. For instance, with this Panasonic, you can be recording something on the air now and start to watch something you recorded last night or you can even switch and watch a DVD and it does NOT affect the recording going on (be careful - some recorders do NOT have this feature!). It has a great 100x forward and back so you can skim through a movie in a 5 minutes in perfect clarity. If you want a more indepth review, click on the info about us - metroxing and there's an url with a more indepth review (I'm guessing Amazon doesn't like outside urls in the middle of reviews).<br />But now, to answer some of the questions for people unclear on what they're getting. <br />If you have premium/digital channels - yes, this unit cannot change channels on your cable/satellite box - not Panasonic's fault - it's the cable/satellite company!<br />Picture quality - just because it's a DVD recorder does NOT mean you will achieve the quality of a retail DVD movie. You will essentially get a reasonable facsimilie recording of the exact reception you are getting now - which is actually pretty good. Yes, your cable/satellite reception is compressed - most channels are 5 to 8:1 - most premium movie channels (HBO/Showtime are only compressed 3:1 so they always look better). And yes this DVD/HDD recorder compresses a little bit more - store bought DVD's are also compressed from the original film - on the major releases, they go through frame by frame to adjust it - buy a cheap DVD disc and you can see where they save money. As with compression, you will not get perfect blacks - in a perverted twist, it's because the quality is better, you can see it, VHS tapes with their much lower quality obscures this. <br />So, yes, it's not as good as a major studio DVD but on the other hand, with blank DVD-R's costing about $1.00 each, that's about $.25 per hour for a pretty nice quality disc with all the functionality of a DVD (fast searches, etc ...). I'm not sure why some people believe they would get a better recording that what they're watching - it's just NOT possible with any machine! But keep in mind you are either taping something because it's cheaper than buying retail or because it's not available, what better way that a tiny disc that holds 4 hours of footage?!<br />It also has lots of plugs - a set on the front is perfect for hooking up your camcorder and transfering to disc. <br />If your expectations are in line, this is a great machine and really well designed in setting up recording and using ... it's not a miracle machine, it's just a great DVD/HDD recorder!