Astar DVR-2100 Progressive Scan DVD Recorder w/ USB port
STAY AWAY!
The ONLY good thing about this machine is its sound quality (5.1-very good). Beyond that, the machine is a piece of junk. The remote is big and clumsy and not user friendly. You must stand within 5 meters and less than 30% from the machine in order for it to work. Some menu options are written in broken English and are sometimes VERY confusing. Once you set up any timed recordings (the whole point of the machine), this power symbol pops up on the bottom right hand of the screen and STAYS there regardless of what you are doing...watching a recording, a purchased DVD, or even the TV cable through the player. It is not a warning to turn off your machine for a recording either, because it's there even if you are not due to record anything for another day or so. If you are performing an action on the player, like using zoom during a movie, the action word stays on the screen and will not go away. The machine locks up repeatedly, and you must hold down the power button in order to get it to work again. It also gets EXTREMELY hot, so much so that I worry for the equipment around it. The recording quality is very poor, looks worse than a VCR except on \\"HQ\\" mode, which only allows you 1 hour of recording time. Manual is also in broken English, and not very clear. There is a backup memory for the timed recordings if it gets unplugged, but the clock isn't saved, so nothing will record on time anyway! I must say their customer service answers quickly, but unfortunately they are unable to help with these problems, as they are part of all the machines. DO NOT BUY! I will be returning mine.