Panasonic PV-HS2000 ShowStopper 30-Hour Digital Video Recorder
TV time machine
I bought the Panasonic PV-HS1000 about 2 weeks ago and I love it. The main difference between this and a VCR is that you can use an onscreen tv guide to choose what to record (your unit needs to connect to a phone line to download the programming info). No more selecting day, date, time etc to record something. Of course this unit also gives you the ability to pause live TV. This is accomplished by playing what you watch at a slight delay, in other words &quot;live tv&quot; means delayed by 2-3 seconds as the unit is recording what you are watching in case you need to pause or rewind. As for the negative, my main gripe is that you loose some resolution, I would guess about 5 percent, when your TV signal routes through the unit. Not much, but still noticeable. I have AT&amp;T Digital cable and when changing channels I do get a delay which is also annoying. I tried splitting the cable signal, 1 to TV and 1 to showstopper, but this hasn't worked. Despite this, I say this is a great buy, no monthly charges like TiVo!