Panasonic DMR-ES10K DVD Recorder , Black
Great for someone new to DVRs
I tried to get this model online but found it was sold out or shipping was too high.  Happened to find it (silver model) at CostCo store (August, 2005)for $180 and grabbed it. <br />   <br />So far no problems at all transferring VHS to DVD (used DVD-R, DVD+R, and DVD Ram) or from TiVo to DVD (I have the Directv/TiVo combo).  Manual was a little bit confusing at first but after I actually read and followed the directions it all worked out.  Checked whether I could play the finalized DVDs on my computer and they ran fine. <br /> <br />The reason I didn't give it 5 stars was that you cannot set it up to record for a specific amount of time unless you 1)use the defaults of 1, 2, 4 hours or 2)want the machine to automatically adjust the type of recording (ES, LP, etc.) in which case it will use all the remaining space on the DVD.  Nice feature if you only want to put one title on a DVD or if it's the last thing you need to put on the DVD but I had to do a lot of editing when, for example, I tried to transfer my 6 hour VHS tapes to only 4 hours of what I wanted to keep.  Good thing for the DVD-Ram - it made the editing pretty easy. <br /> <br /> <br />