Posted by P T on 12/29/05 09:02

I bought this unit a couple weeks ago for about $350 from Amazon. It is
a dvd burner with a 100gb hard drive.

Pros:
-It's slick, being able to record to a hard drive. I recommend it over
a basic dvd burner.
-This unit lets you burn hd--->dvd at high speed, a few hours of
recording in about 15-20 minutes (with certain limitations.) Nice.
-Picture quality is good enough for me at high, medium, or low speed.
Haven't tried extra low speed.
-a TV Guide program schedule that you can use to simply set up
recordings.

Cons:
-I have spent HOURS hooking this up and learning to work it.

-I still frequently consult the owner's manual when using it. Never
before have I had to consult an owners manual more than once or twice.
The only machine I know that is more complicated is a computer, and
frankly a computer may be more user friendly. If this is typical for
these devices, I predict that they will never achieve wide popularity.

-The remote control is confusing. In the instruction manual I found the
statement, "Press the 'Green' button." Right in the middle of the
remote is a BIG green button that I pressed repeatedly, with no effect.
After a long while I realized there is a small button with a very small
green dot on it, which is the green button they were referencing. I
swear that sometimes the same operation on the remote produces different
effects on the recorder.

-I can generally make the device do what I want, but there are still
things I don't know, and sometimes I don't know why the machine works
the way it does.

-TV Guide On Screen is slick if it works. Some report having trouble
with it. God help you if it doesn't work: How do you get help?
Fortunately, I think you can program it without the TVGOS.

-I'm not sure how this will work with HD signals, etc., but this
statement worries me: "16:9 aspect programs are recorded in 4:3 aspect"
[on dvd.]

Part of the problem is that this is really 2 machines in one: a HD
recorder and a DVD recorder. The directions for each are different and
unique, and then there is another set of instructions for making them
interact.

I'm glad I bought it. tI clearly is superior to a vcr, but it's WAY
more complicated to operate.

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