Panasonic DMR-E55K Progressive-Scan DVD Recorder/Player , Black
Best of the under $300.00 class
I just ordered one of these last week to transfer/archive my ever growing pile of 8mm &amp; Hi8 to DVD. The picture quality of the copies are great, even on 4hr mode. A couple of hints which the manual does not cover very well. When recording to DVD-R, which has few editing options compared to DVD-RAM, use &quot;stop&quot; to break the recording into separate &quot;titles&quot;- otherwise you will get one long title broken into 5 minute segments which don't appear on the title navigator (menu) as separate thumbnails. The other hint, especially on dubbing, is to make a (-R) copy first. After finalizing, use this as your master. Play it from another DVD player to your recorder and edit in real time by &quot;pausing&quot; out unneeded material or &quot;stop&quot; for title breaks. On (-RAM) just let it run and go back later to edit it. Use the edited (-RAM) as your archive, to view off the Panasonic machine, or run another (-R) copy for use on a standard player. If you are looking to make multiple copies, or do extensive editing of the master, you might want to spend the extra $300.00 for an internal hardrive machine. This unit will handle all your typical VCR needs and basic dubbing at a reasonable price.