Panasonic DMR-E80H Progressive-Scan DVD Player/Recorder with Hard Drive , Silver
why 5 stars?
We bought the Panasonic DVD recorder three months ago; we still haven't pressed all of the buttons on the remote. And it still functions beyond our expectations. We wanted to save old VHS programs and we wanted to time-shift television programs to watch later (a VCR). Perhaps very little to expect from a device that costs $500 but over twenty years ago we paid $1000 for a Mitsubishi top-loading, two-head VCR. Enough history.<br />It took almost three hours to hook up to a VCR, a Sony receiver, another DVD player, two TVs and the digital cable box. But when it was turned on, it was fantastic. We used the hard disc drive immediately. Playback was broadcast quality. We dubbed from the VHS to DVD-R; the quality actually improved. We recorded a test DVD-R disc from a commercial DVD and VHS and those both played back flawlessly. The big test came when we recorded a TV program onto DVD-R for a friend who didn't have the cable channel. Her old Sony player played it.<br />The instruction book is intimidating; read what you need and just keep the book handy. The prompt screens are somewhat intuitive. The most important buttons (after three months of use) are the 'Functions,' the 'Enter,' the four arrow buttons and the stop-pause-play buttons. We expect to learn more the longer we use the recorder.<br />The Panasonic recorder (with Hard Drive) is an excellent piece of electronic equipment. Well worth the price and deserving 5-stars.