Panasonic DMR-E55K Progressive-Scan DVD Recorder/Player , Black
Plenty of features and easy to use
I can't comment on the longevity of this product, as I've only had it for a few days. But I can comment on the features and ease of use which are excellent. Contrary to the reviewer who said it is extremely hard to set up, I say the opposite. For the rest of us who can easily work a microwave or an electric shaver without incident, this thing is as easy as you'd want. Here's the 'exceedingly' difficult set up routine: <br /> <br />1. Plug in all the cables (make sure you get them in the right holes...) <br />2. Turn it on. You'll get a menu asking you what language you speak. Then let it go for a while and it'll set the channels and time for you.  <br />3. Whew..we made it past that. Now to program something to record: Press the 'funtions' button and go to the 'timer recording' mode.  <br />4. Choose the channel, ENTER, start time, ENTER, end time, ENTER, record mode, ENTER. You're done. Wow. Hard. <br />5. To watch a recorded program, press the navigator button and choose a recording. ENTER.  <br />6. To watch from the beginning while you are still recording, press the Time Slip button. Then control it as a regular recording, or press stop to go back to live TV. Easy. <br /> <br />For the price this seems to be a great unit. The picture quality is great and it works as advertised. I don't really see the necessity of the 'feature' of being able to use double sided DVDRam discs, because you have to flip them over anyway, so it doesn't really let you record twice as long without intervention.  <br /> <br />One more note : It says on the box that it supports DVDAudio discs, (music CDs specially split into 5.1 channels). But it specifically says in the book that they will play on this unit on only 2 channels. That doesn't really seem like support for the standard.  <br /> <br />Overall, it is a great replacement for my piece of junk VCR and is indeed easy to use. Can't go wrong here.